章 29: Chapter 29: It all leads back to Him
"Let us go over the plan one last time."
A group of hooded figures sat around a table, one looking to have some kind of horns poking from under, and hummed in acknowledgment, one somewhat reluctantly.
"Steel has shown them the way. With Mechanic's help, the path has now been paved." One of the figures stated.
"As Team Mayhem distracts their forces, Steel will recruit under the cover of the Coven Day Parade." Another figure chimed in.
"I do not appreciate the use of children in this plan. Given the circumstances, however, I see that it is unavoidable." The third figure spoke up, notably the reluctant one.
"Once Mayhem's team gains their attention, all hell will break loose. Mayhem should be able to hold their attention for a while though as Demon and Worm make their escape." A fourth voice spoke up.
"The Raven is to be on standby, in the event Steel requires further assistance," The second figure spoke again.
The horned figure spoke up. "No plan survives first contact. There are sure to be unexpected variables that complicate things, especially since Demon, Worm, and Beacon are unaware of their roles in this operation."
"Where the BATs failed by hollow bones, the RATs survive by wills of stone." The horned figure concluded.
The area was quiet for a moment before the third figure sighed. "Still better than CATs."
Luz and Flint can be seen sitting on the stairs of Hexside, with Gus and Willow sitting a few steps below them. Luz was scratching Stringbean's chin, the palisman sitting in her lap as Gray sat on Flint's shoulder.
"Say, I saw there seemed to be a lot of coven scouts around town earlier when we were coming to school this morning. Is something going on?" Luz asked curiously.
Willow spoke up. "Oh, that's probably for the annual Coven Day Parade."
Flint and Luz tilted their heads in confusion. "'Coven Day Parade'?" They both repeated. They then turned to each other and pointed at each other. "Jinx! Double jinx! Triple jinx!"
Gus looked at them in confusion. "Um, why are you guys trying to give each other bad luck?"
Both of them waved it off. "Just a human thing." They said in unison, their eyes widening again as they both prepared to do a repeat. Gray deadpanned, pecking the back of Flint's neck and causing him to yelp before they could start.
"Jinx! Ha ha! I win!" Luz said triumphantly as Flint grumbled swears at his palisman.
Willow chuckled at their antics before continuing the explanation. "The parade's got all sorts of things. Floats, streamers, fireworks-"
Flint's scoff interrupted her. "So, it's basically just a fancy way to kiss the Emperor's ass?" Flint said with a raised brow.
"Pretty much," Willow confirmed, unsurprised by Flint's remark.
Flint stared for a moment. "I take back what I said. He already ripped it off a long time ago." Flint remarked, drawing confused looks from all but Luz, who groaned as she rubbed her face.
"Flint, please don't try to put that image in my head." Luz pleaded.
Flint shrugged. "Hey, we don't even know what the guy actually looks like. Besides, if I wanted to put an image in your head…" Flint donned a more-than-mischievous smile. "-it wouldn't be that, ~" Flint remarked.
Flint's statement caused Gus to look on in confusion, Willow to want to bash her skull in, and Luz to do a pretty good impersonation of Amity.
After calming her blush down, Luz decided to shift the conversation as she focused on something Flint had brought up. "Say, there's something I've been wondering about. What does Belos look like under his mask?" Luz asked.
Gus shrugged. "No one knows. Personally, I think he does it cause he's shy. He's just evil and shy. It happens."
"I heard there's just a mirror underneath." Willow began before leaning over. "The real emperor was society all along," Willow whispered.
Flint stared at Willow for a moment. "Have you been talking with Nosa?"
Willow raised a brow at him. "And you're any better regarding the water supply?" Willow countered.
"Touché plant queen. Touché." Flint relented.
"Ooh! Maybe he's so handsome people have a hard time focusing on what he says. I get it. I can relate." Gus said before looking at Luz and Flint. "Were you not able to see anything?"
"We were mostly just trying to fight for our lives honestly," Luz admitted in a lightly apologetic tone.
"Besides, it doesn't matter what he looks like, I'll kill him all the same," Flint said darkly.
"Madelyn-like murderous tendencies aside, Flint's right. It doesn't matter what he looks like, he needs to be stopped." Luz stated with a determined look.
"I heard he's scarred from wild magic," Amity said, her head poking between Luz and Flint. The action startles Luz and causes her to fall over, but Stringbean slithers out of her hood and turns into a pillow that her head lands on."
"Good snake-shifter." Luz praised, getting a hiss of joy from her palisman before looking at the new arrival.
"Ami-whoa! What's up with your hair?" Luz asked.
Amity's hair was still in the same style, but it was currently a darker purple than before and consistently the same color, not to mention it waved around on its own without any wind. Neither Flint nor Luz recalled her hair being like this in class earlier though.
"I've had a few lessons in trying to use my Abomutation form with the abomination coven head. I don't know what he has against my dad, but he was still willing to teach me…I was feeling some serious tension from him as he stared at Dad though. Anyway, he was impressed I had even managed to do it on my own. It's a very rare ability that isn't used much because it's just too complex to master. To help, he suggested keeping a part of me transformed constantly to get used to transforming, so I chose to do my hair like he does." Amity explained. "I just wasn't doing it during school since it would've been distracting me...when I was awake, that is. Today was really boring."
Flint hummed. "Well, it certainly gives the term 'wavy' a whole new meaning," Flint noted, his tail wagging.
"Cool! I like it!" Luz complimented with a bright smile before giving her a peck on the cheek.
Amity went tomato, her hair wavering faster with her emotions as she did her best to keep it transformed. "Th-thanks," Amity said bashfully. "And thanks for letting me tag along to the Human Realm the other day."
Willow and Gus gasped. "You went to the Human Realm?!" The two exclaimed.
"Are the plants actually green?" Willow asked in excitable curiosity.
"Why didn't you invite me?" Gus asked in a betrayed manner.
Amity's focus on her hair was officially lost as it returned to normal in her fluster from the two rapid-firing questions at her. Flint came to the rescue though.
"She helped us finish it when she came over with her father," Flint answered.
"Things are looking a lot better now. And even though someone neglected to tell me our moms already knew we were here-" Luz shot a heated glare at Flint who whistled as he looked away. "-you have no idea how much of a relief it was. Plus Stringbean hatched when we were there!"
"Amity!"
The group looked to the source of the voice to see Lilith, with a new look, descending on her staff as she hovered just above the ground. She had taken to wearing glasses and switched to a pale green shirt with short poofy sleeves with a gold button on the chest. She also had on a brown vest, a maroon ankle-length skirt, purplish-gray tights, and brown high-heeled boots. But among everything in her new appearance, Gus noticed something unusual about the woman.
"Are you ready for our lesson?" Lilith asked.
Amity nodded as she pulled out her own palisman staff and hopped on, turning to her friends. "I'll see you guys later," Amity said, bidding her farewell.
As the master and student flew away, Flint got up from his spot and stretched, eliciting a few pops across his body. "Well, we've got some stuff to do with Eda, so we should get going," Flint said, as Gray fused with him, summoning his wings and taking to the sky.
Soon after, Stringbean flew out from Luz's hood and went staff mode, with Luz mounting the staff. "Later taters! Byyeeeee!" Luz bid her farewell as she headed off after him.
Willow smiled as she watched them all fly off. "It's crazy just how much things have changed since we first met them, isn't that right Gus?" Willow asked, turning to her friend to see his face scrunched in thought. "Gus? Is something wrong?" Willow asked.
Gus seemed to snap out of his thoughts. "Oh, no. At least, I don't think so. But there's something strange I noticed when Lilith showed up." Gus told her.
"What is it?" Willow asked curiously.
"Well..."
Flint and Luz met up with Eda and King in the sky as they headed to Bonesborough.
"So, how was your day?" Eda asked.
"Kinda boring honestly. Classes didn't have much going on because of the parade happening later." Flint answered.
"Magic classes are never boring," Luz said, staring intensely at Flint.
"Luz…even Amity fell asleep during class today. And you know she's one of the most attentive in classes among our friends." Flint deadpanned.
The group landed near the Belos statue in the marketplace, dismounting their staffs and dismissing their palisman, with Stringbean hiding away in Luz's hood and Owlbert into Eda's hair. King then scrambled onto Flint's shoulder.
"Onward my faithful servant!" King declared, eliciting a chuckle from the others as they followed Eda through the market.
"Not gonna lie, I kinda feel bad for whoever has to keep repairing that statue," Flint remarked as he walked backward, staring at the statue in question.
Eda waved his concern off. "Don't. I heard they've been paying the guy pretty well for each time he rebuilds it. Gotta say, old Bob's son really knows his way around construction magic."
Flint snorted. "What, is he called 'Bob the Builder'?" Flint asked rhetorically.
"Yes actually," Eda confirmed.
"…what?" Luz and Flint said, blinking in confusion.
Eda continued, oblivious to their looks as she cupped her chin. "His son Felix went to Hexside before I dropped out. I heard he finally earned his title after all the times you've busted it lately. He goes by Fix-it Felix now."
The two Earthlings could only stare at that explanation in silence.
"…Anyway, what did we come into town for again? Was there something we forgot in our parade preparations?" Luz asked, changing the subject.
"Nah, we've got that covered already. I need to meet up with Tiny for something." Eda replied as they came to an alley. "You guys wait here for a bit while I go talk to her," Eda said as she walked down it.
As the trio waited, they saw Kikimora in another alley nearby, appearing to talk into a crow to someone.
King groaned. "Ugh. Not her again. How did she survive anyway?"
Flint scoffed. "Don't know. Don't care. I'll make sure Kimokira isn't part cockroach or cat next time we fight." Flint grumbled.
Luz and King looked at him in confusion. "Her name is Kikimora." Luz said with a furrowed brow.
"That's what I said," Flint said with a confused look.
Luz and King shared a look and King shrugged. "He got it wrong last time too," King explained, not bothering to question Flint's antics.
Luz gained a thoughtful look at that before her thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling out to her.
"Hey guys!"
The trio looked over to see Lilith and Amity (her hair now abomutated again) approaching them, the latter of which had been the one to call out to them.
"Oh, I thought you were off to have a lesson," Luz said with a confused look.
Lilith corrected her glasses. "I need to discuss something with Edalyn and she told me to wait for her here," Lilith replied.
Amity nodded. "Lilith was only going to give me a shorter lesson today since the parade is happening tonight. Would I be right to assume you plan to cause some mayhem tonight?" Amity asked.
"Guilty as charged!" King declared proudly.
"Well then, mind if I tag along?" Amity asked, drawing a stunned look from Luz.
"You want to help?" Luz asked in surprise.
"Of course. The parade is a dedication to the Emperor's ego after all. Anything that can screw with his plans is good in my book." Amity answered before she donned a wicked grin. "Plus, even if I get caught, imagine the look on Odalia's face and the PR nightmare that would come from the news."
"…I'm starting to realize just how much of an effect you two have had on Amity…and how lucky I am not to be so high on your shit list anymore," Lilith stated after a beat of silence.
"Huh, the world must be ending." Eda's voice pierced through the conversation as the group turned to see her approaching.
"Why?" King asked.
"Lily swore," Eda said as if it explained everything…and it did.
Luz looked at Eda and noticed her haunted expression. "Is something wrong Eda?" Luz asked worriedly.
"No. No, everything is…" Eda turned to stare at Flint and King, her gaze shifting between the two. "…fine," Eda stated.
"Gus, I think your eyes might've just been playing tricks on you," Willow said, walking alongside her friend. It was now sundown as they walked through Bonesborough on the opposite side of where the main festivities were being held.
"They aren't! I swear! I know what I saw, or in this case, didn't see." Gus exclaimed defensively.
"Gus, she must have been wearing a concealment stone then, because removing a coven sigil is impossible," Willow stated matter-of-factly.
"Since when has that done anything to stop Luz or Flint though? We thought standing up to the Emperor was impossible, but Flint kicked his butt!" Gus defended.
"That's different." Willow insisted.
Gus crossed his arms and looked at her with a raised brow. "Oh yeah? Then why would Lilith wear a concealment stone to hide a sigil? Shouldn't it be the opposite way around?" Gus countered.
Willow tried to think of a defense, but then she thought about it. Gus was right. Even if Lilith had been wearing a concealment stone, it wouldn't make sense for her to bother hiding it. In fact, doing so would attract moreunnecessary attention to her.
"Okay...I think I'm starting to see your point, but why are we heading so far from the parade?" Willow asked.
Her answer came in the form of a flyer that Gus handed her. It said 'Want your sigil removed? Come see Prometheus the Purger, and have your limits broken!' Beneath it was the address, stating that whoever this mysterious person was, they would have a stall during the Coven Day Parade on the other side of town.
"'Prometheus the Purger'? I've never heard of anyone like that. Why haven't they shown up before then?" Willow wondered.
Gus looked at her in disbelief. "Isn't it obvious? It's Flint!" Gus emphasized. "Think about it! Of all the years of the parade, they decide now to show up? The name too, doesn't it remind you of Flint's Pentagram name?" Gus asked.
Willow scratched her head sheepishly. "Honestly, I don't really involve myself with Pentagram all that much, but I do think I recognize his being similar," Willow admitted.
"And then there's the big one: we know that he has experience messing with sigil gloves. I mean-" Gus gestured to his Grafters. "-he made the Grafters from them."
Willow's eyes widened in realization. "Which means it wouldn't be farfetched for him to make some that did the opposite!" Willow breathed out. "Holy crap, you're right! It must be him!"
Gus nodded rapidly. "Exactly! Flint must've figured out how to remove them and tested it by removing Lilith's! Now he's doing this as a way to secretly remove people's sigils!"
Willow frowned. "But wait, wouldn't that flyer just tip off the Emperor's Coven?"
"He must've put them up earlier to advertise it while they were busy setting things up for the parade. With them busy doing that, they probably didn't have so many people patrolling. He must've only figured it out recently." Gus thought out loud.
"Wow, you've thought this out pretty well." Willow complimented.
Gus waved his hand with a light blush. "Hehe. I've just gotten used to figuring out how Flint thinks. And being an illusionist requires you to pay attention to the little things most people would overlook. It's no big deal, honest." Gus sheepishly tried to play the praise off.
Willow raised a brow. "And you were able to deduce all of this in less than a day, even with how convoluted and confusing Flint can be? That's not something to scoff at Gus."
Gus scratched the back of his neck. "Well, when you put it like that..." Gus trailed off, beginning to see her point.
The two eventually reach the spot designated by the flyer. They are met with a small stand with a line forming. There was a witch, the same one that had been branded back at the Covention with an illusion sigil, hesitantly holding his hand out to a young woman standing behind the stand. They watched as the girl said something and gestured with her right hand, wearing a glove looking almost the same as sigil gloves. The key difference of the glove was that it was fingerless.
The girl's glove lit up with a solid circle of scarlet energy on the palm. When she pressed her hand over the sigil on the boy's hand, his veins glowed blue like when he was first branded, the glow starting from his chest as it flowed toward the sigil. The glow faded as if it was being siphoned out of him and his skin regained a bit of color to it. The girl released his wrist and revealed a blank silhouette of the sigil's shape remaining where his sigil once was.
The boy became overjoyed, rapidly shaking the girl's hands in thanks as she smiled shyly. She said something to him and he nodded before running off as she beckoned the next person to come forward.
Gus and Willow looked at each other. Neither of them had ever seen this mystery girl...is what they would say if they hadn't been in the Hall of Mirrors back at the carnival. The two nodded knowingly as they walked up to the stand.
The girl noticed the two as she finished removing the sigil of the next person in the line and seemed to tense a bit before regaining composure just as they approached from the side. "Sorry folks. If you want your sigil removed, you'll have to go to the end of the line." The girl said apologetically.
"We don't have sigils. And we'd actually like to have a word with you privately, Flint." Willow said, whispering the name but firmly.
The girl laughed. "'Flint'? I know I get some comments about resembling the Scarlet Phoenix, but please. My name is Korra Prometheus." Korra greeted.
The two witches gave the girl a deadpan look. After a moment of silence, Korra's shoulders slumped. "Fine," Korra muttered, turning back to the line. "Excuse me for just a few minutes, okay?" Korra said to them before casting a spell that drew curtains behind the stand.
Willow and Gus were then caught off guard as they felt something on their legs. Creeping from beneath them, some scarlet-colored abomination sludge coiled up and around them, encasing them before they suddenly appeared behind the stand, with Korra looking at them with an upset face.
"Okay, how did you figure it out?" Flint's voice erupted from the girl's mouth, sounding just as displeased as the voice sounded wrong from 'her' body with crossed arms.
"I noticed Lilith's sigil was missing when she arrived at the school earlier. Then I saw the flyer." Gus answered, showing off the aforementioned flyer.
"Also, maybe next time you choose a name, don't make it your Pentagram tag," Willow added.
"Son of a-" Korra/Flint began, cutting her/himself off and pinching the bridge of her/his nose before looking back at the two. "Man, I really did red pill you guys."
"I don't know what that means," Willow responded bluntly. "Why are you doing this? And why the disguise?"
Korra raised a brow. "Isn't it obvious? I'm sticking it to that bastard Belos. Look, call me crazy-"
"Crazy." Both witches interrupted.
Korra stared at them for a moment. "Realizing now that I've taught you too well," Korra muttered. "Anyway, these sigils are his way of controlling people. Anyone branded with one can have it activated to incapacitate them in an instant, and I think there's something even worse still." This reveal caused both witches' eyes to widen in horror as Korra held her hand up and gestured to the modified glove. "I finally managed to crack the code and make this. The Sigil Cleanser. As for the disguise, I had to. I've got too much of a rep now." Korra said. [For reference, I'm just gonna describe based on the disguise as long as it's applied.]
"Okay...but why choose a girl for your disguise?" Willow asked. The rest she could understand, but not the choice of disguise.
Gus was actually the one to answer. "Obviously because people would be less likely to suspect him under a genderswapping disguise. Learned it in Disguising 101." Gus answered casually.
Korra pointed at him with a finger gun, clicking her tongue with a smile of approval. "Bingo," Korra said before clearing her throat. "Plus people are often drawn more to a pretty girl's face and voice," Korra said in her disguised voice. "Although...now I understand just how much guys hitting on you like that, including a few creepy old men, makes a girl uncomfortable," Korra said, returning to Flint's voice as her body shuddered.
"So then, is there anything else you should tell us?" Willow asked.
"Probably...but I can't yet. It's classified. All I can say is that cleansing sigils is part of the plan." Korra replied.
Gus and Willow shared a glance before smiling and turning back to him. "We want in." They said in unison.
Korra blinked. "Say wha?" Korra asked, stunned at their statement.
"We're against the coven system too you know," Gus stated.
"Besides, someone has to keep an eye on you. We could help speed this process up." Willow added with a matter-of-fact tone.
Korra rubbed her chin in thought for a few moments before smiling. "Alright then. It would be best to give you guys some disguises too if you're gonna help out." Korra cast a spell with each hand, the left summoning two more Sigil Cleansers and the other casting two illusions to pop up behind so they would see what they would look like. "So, let's get this party started," Korra said with a wicked grin.
Raven watched from a distant rooftop as the two teens disappeared into abomination sludge with a calculative gaze.
"Hm. Unexpected. Though this may not be lost yet. In fact, this may play to our favor." Raven thought to herself.
It wasn't a secret among the group that they needed more members. With Mud, Songbird, Beast, and Team Mayhem preoccupied it meant that the large majority of their primary might was busy. It left her as one of the few left who could oversee their recruitment efforts. The line had grown unexpectedly, leaving many people in waiting…too many people. At this rate, they would get the attention of the Emperor's Coven in no time, even with the parade distracting most of them.
Raven watched as the curtains were pulled away behind the stand, Flint appeared in his disguised form while accompanied by two new figures, ones she didn't recognize at a glance but knew exactly who they were, even if she wasn't sure which was which at the moment.
Each figure now donned one of the Sigil Cleansers as they spread out, allowing the line to turn into an inverse funnel. When one of them was open, they would beckon the next person in line forward.
'With Park and Porter's unexpected assistance, this will help greatly. This line should end up dwindling in time thanks to their presence. Perhaps we should look into recruiting them as well. Mud will undoubtedly be displeased, but these two put even a majority of their specialties' coven members to shame.' Raven thought.
"I agree."
Raven's eyes widened at the sudden answer, swiveling to attack but her body freezes as she feels a shiver run across her body. Against her will, she falls to her knees and removes her Glyph Grafters. Once done, stone rose from beneath her as her body was encased in it. She feels the cold leave her body as her captors smile at her.
Korra stood behind the stand with two 'new' people to either side. There was a girl to her left and a boy to her right. The girl was a redhead with green skin and an attractive slim body. The boy had blue skin, curly black hair, and wore a crown-like headband with two golden ram horns. Each of them had someone in front of them, as well as a stack of papers, and the main line stopped a bit behind the three ahead.
The redhead finished with her customer, who she handed one of the papers to before she headed out. The redhead then turned to the line and gave a wave to the large male Hexside student in the front.
"I can help you out over here big guy.~" The redhead's sultry voice said with a smile.
The student quickly rushed over, enthralled as the redhead got to work getting the sigil removed.
The boy finished with his and looked over to the line. He grunted before snapping his fingers, getting the next person's attention. "Well? Come on! We don't have all night. You want it gone or not?" The boy said in a haughty, slightly British voice, airing his annoyance and impatience.
The next person, who was the Eye-eating prisoner (Flint later found out his name was Eyevan), rushed forward.
Korra smiled in the middle. "Thanks for the help Ivy, and you too Loki."
"Of course, darling. Anything for a friend." Ivy replied.
Loki let out a scoff. "Where would you be without someone as amazing as the master of mischief?" Loki said pridefully. [I'm sure you can tell by now, but their disguises are meant to be like Poison Ivy and Loki from DC and Marvel. Ivy is pretty consistent design-wise, but the Loki disguise is Kid Loki from the Loki series but with blue skin like his heritage.]
'Damn. These two really got into character.' Flint thought in surprise. Flint hadn't expected Willow or Gus to play the part so well. Sure, he'd show them some clips matching his nicknames for the two, but even with Gus being in illusions he hadn't expected this.
In the line, someone near the back looked behind them only to pale and step out of their way in fear. Many more people did the same as they seemed to recognize the figure, stepping out of the way or even running off in fear. The short man's eyes peeked over the end of the table. Ivy and Loki seemed to notice the odd shortage of customers and looked toward the unknown man, their faces paling as they saw him.
Korra turned, unaware of the newfound tension in the air as she greeted the man with a smile, reaching her gloved hand out. "Hello, good sir! Ready to be freed from the oppression known as sigils?" Korra greeted happily.
The man grunted and held his arm up slowly, revealing a Construction Sigil on his wrist. As their hands were about to meet, the man suddenly lurched forward, grabbing Korra's wrist instead with a vice grip. The man yanked her forward and over the table, slamming her to the ground with a thump as she yelped.
Korra glared at the man holding her down. "Ow! Bastard! What the hell was that-"
"Oh, I'm certain you know exactly why we're here." An old man's voice called sinisterly from nearby, interrupting her.
Korra looked up to see Orsan, head of the Oracle coven was the one who spoke. When she looked at the one holding him down, she finally recognized him as Mason, head of the Construction coven.
Korra let out a drawled-out sigh. "Ahhhhhhh...crapbaskets," Korra swore, returning to Flint's voice.
Orsan raised a brow at her reaction. "What? Not going to try and play coy and lie to us about what you were doing?" Orsan was responded with a grunt from Mason. Orsan thought for a moment before shrugging. "Fair enough. I suppose the infamous Scarlet Phoenix would understand that doing so now would be futile," Orsan agreed.
Korra huffed as her form morphed, revealing Flint as he glared at them.
"Big whoop. I'll kick your asses so hard your childhood will feel it." Flint said defiantly.
Orsan just grinned as he snapped his fingers on one of his free hands, with fifteen coven scouts appearing in poofs illusion magic, all with spells ready.
Flint raised a brow. "And? I took down more and then fought Belos immediately after."
"Perhaps...but not with nigh-indestructible magic dampeners on you," Orsan said snidely.
Flint blinked as he looked at his wrist where Mason was holding him, noticing the two shimmering metal cuffs attached to his arm.
"Ah...that complicates things," Flint admitted.
"Now then, if you surrender yourself to us we'll leave your little friends alone. The Emperor wishes you alive...if only to kill you again himself. It's quite surprising actually how much he despises you, boy." Orsan stated.
Flint glanced over at Ivy and Loki. "What do you two think?" Flint asked.
Loki scoffed. "Do you even need to ask?" Loki asked.
Ivy cracked her knuckles. "Can't say this is how I thought today would go. Oh well." Ivy shrugged, her eyes starting to glow green.
Flint grinned as he turned back to Orsan. "If the answer wasn't obvious: Hell. No," Flint answered. Suddenly, the back of his throat lit up as he shot fire breath at the ground beneath, jerking his head back to slam into Mason's face, causing the man to stumble from the unexpected blow.
Ivy raised her hand as vines rose from the ground, wrapping around the feet of the nearby scouts and pulling them off their feet. A puff of smoke appeared around Ivy and Loki as Willow and Gus stood in their places. Gus threw his hand forward and a mild flash of light put spots in the eyes of everyone nearby.
Orsan was unaffected by the flash as he summoned various spirits to his aid, commanding them forward. Mason pulled out a power glyph and slapped it on himself before slamming his hand on the ground, causing a large wave of stone toward Willow and Gus.
Gus saw the incoming attack and threw his hand to the ground with an ice glyph, but the power of the glyph seemed to have dampened as the wave of ice was smaller than he was going for. Thinking quickly, he pulled out his palisman staff. Tracing out a large spell, the ground at his feet shifted in a burst of construction magic and met Mason's wave, canceling it.
"Thank you Mattholomule and Cole," Gus muttered under his breath. He'd been secretly meeting up with Mattholomule and one of the best construction students in the school, to learn a bit of construction magic; in return, he would help teach both about illusions. Gus had seen it as a way to expand his skills in a way that would complement his illusions. After all, the main thing that makes illusions considered weak compared to others is that they are merely tricks on the senses. But if you were to make something solid hidden among an illusion, it would only improve it.
Meanwhile, Flint was fending off the spirits sent at him, trying to use his magic only for many of his attempts to sputter. As a result, he summoned Gray and merged with him, causing him to return his power to roughly the same level he was before his first day at Hexside. Channeling his palisman's magic through him, he summoned a flaming disc that he threw at one of the spirits. The disc bashed into the spirit and knocked it, but reflected haphazardly into the air afterward.
"Damn. It ain't as easy as Cap makes it look." Flint muttered as he summoned his Phoenix staff (minus Gray at the end) and used it to bat away another spirit coming at him.
Orsan huffed in annoyance. "You certainly don't stay down easy." Orsan acknowledged, tracing a spell and firing a spectral fireball at Flint.
Flint used his staff like a baseball bat and slammed the incoming fireball into one of the nearby spirits, killing it. "It's part of my charm," Flint responded with a grunt as he dodged another swipe from a spirit's claws. Flint flapped his wings and sent himself over to Willow and Gus.
Willow summoned a large mass of plants all around them in tandem with Gus' construction fortification. "You know, I had a feeling that things were gonna go wrong," Willow noted.
"Oh yeah? And how's that?" Flint asked, throwing a fireball toward the side as Willow expertly made the plants open a hole, nailing a charging scout in the head and causing him to land flat on his back.
"It was going too well. Nothing ever seems to go too well in the beginning if you or Luz is involved." Willow answered as Gus used his staff to launch a brick at another scout in their stomach.
Flint shrugged. "Honestly, fair." Flint then pulled at the cuffs on his arm to no avail. "Either of you guys think you can get these off me?"
Gus looked at the cuffs briefly before sharply inhaling. "No can do. Those are magic suppressers. They're infamously hard to remove outside taking the whole limb off in the process. Judging from the glow, those are high-tier ones too. I'm honestly surprised you could even use any spell with one, let alone three on you." Gus explained, mildly impressed.
Flint cracked his neck as he groaned. "Great, looks like I'm gonna be nerfed for this fight then." Flint then gave a predatory smirk. "Which means it'll be even more embarrassing if we kick these fools to the curb even with me suppressed."
The fight continued for a while, neither side giving up as Flint and his friends held off both coven scouts and the heads alike. Unfortunately, no matter how strong they were, they couldn't hold out forever. Flint was suppressed, Willow's plants were burning, Gus' illusions and minor construction skills only went so far, and all three of them were getting tired. Not to mention none of the three had the same level of experience as either of the coven heads. Orsan alone had been the head of the oracle coven since its inception, and Mason's power glyphs were no joke. Eventually, the three teens began to wear out.
"We can't keep this up forever," Willow said as she sluggishly blocked another oncoming blast.
"Speak for yourself. I could…I could do this all day." Gus said wearily, trying to portray a sense of false confidence.
"We have…to keep fighting. We can't let these…stooges get…the better of us." Flint said through labored breaths. His body ached, the cuffs on him weighing him down as his body desperately attempted to draw from magic that he simply couldn't. "These cuffs…are no joke."
"Of course not," Orsan stated from nearby as he sat back, his spirits doing most of the work during the fight. "After your little skirmish with Emperor Belos, we spared no expense or second in planning your capture. As an oracle, it was my duty to look into all the possible futures I could to find the course of action that would ensure your capture."
Flint huffed with an animalistic smirk. "I'm flattered."
"Which is why it is now time to put an end to this little game. Abomatons!" Orsan ordered.
Six new coven scouts showed up with abomatons in tow. All three of the teens were swiftly restrained by two abomatons each, Willow and Gus being brought next to each other as Flint managed to get about forty feet away before being captured and slammed against the ground. Willow and Gus' palisman were taken from them by two scouts that came over, while the damage Flint had taken forced Gray out, causing him to be captured too.
Mason gave a grunt as he walked over, clamping another suppression cuff on the boy's right arm. With it, Flint's energy faded to the point he could barely move.
"I'll have to agree with my colleague. You have given us quite a bounty. The Emperor will be pleased to add three more palisman to his collection." Orsan agreed as a coven scout brought over a familiar glove to the four-armed witch. "Now then…" Orsan approached Flint wearing a branding glove on his hand. "Let's see how you fair with an Illusion sigil, shall we?" Orsan said menacingly.
Willow and Gus panicked as they were held down. "No!" "Don't!" They cried out.
Orsan continued his approach. "I will admit boy, you have quite the magical and technic prowess, but I'm afraid I'll have to strip you of the former. The Emperor does not appreciate wild witches, especially not ones as troublesome as you." Orsan said.
"S-stay...a-away from-" Flint's mouth was suddenly forced closed with a muzzle before he could attempt to shoot flames at his assailant.
Orsan reached down and pressed the sigil against Flint's left wrist, placing it on the boy and causing his veins to glow. Flint sluggishly struggled in his place as he screamed as well as he could with his mouth muzzled. His skin began to pale as the glow in his veins spread across his body, his expression and will fading with his magic as his body went limp, his eyes' sclera returning to normal before rolling in the back of his head. A moment later, he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Orsan scoffed. "A true shame. Such wasted potential. Only those with such immense power would be harmed by the process you know, you must've been quite the capable witch. Unfortunately, that also makes you dangerous."
"Y-You bastard!" Gus screamed in rage.
"How could you!?" Willow screamed, tears of rage welling in her eyes.
"It was not my decision child, it was the Titan's will. I am the head of the Oracle Coven. I am the one who is to foresee problematic individuals who pose a threat, and prevent them from doing so." Orsan turned to them. "And seeing that you two so adamantly tried to defend this boy, I believe I have no choice but to prevent your magicks too." Orsan declared.
Gus and Willow's eyes widened. No, this can't- this can't be happening!
Orsan approached, his glove switching to an Abomination sigil. "My scouts and I have done extensive research on the Scarlet Phoenix and his allies, which means I have seen your records, girl. You switched from the abomination track and suddenly your grades went from the worst to top marks. So what say I take you back to your, for lack of a better term...roots?" Orsan said in a devilish tone.
Willow squirmed in the abomaton's grip, trying desperately to free herself. In her panic, her eyes glow green as plants sprout from the ground in response to her distress to defend her-
Only for Orsan to swat them away with a wave of spectral fire.
"I daresay, you might've been able to even usurp Snapdragon with your plant magic at your current level. So think of this, not as a punishment...but as mercy. Terra will do anything to keep her title as the 'Queen of Green'. This will protect you from being targeted by her. Directly, that is." Orsan stated, impressed by the girl's prowess, but his 'mercy' did not match the expression of glee on his face.
Willow and Gus looked at each other, sharing a feeling of hopelessness. Was this...was this really going to be the end of their ability to cast their magic? The two looked at Flint's still form-
Only to see his body begin to twitch unnaturally.
The two watched on half-relief, half-horror as their friend's body lurched up to its feet as if he was being possessed, his left arm twitching into odd angles the entire time.
Mason noticed this and looked at the sight warily. Mason let out an alarmed grunt, getting his fellow coven head's attention.
Orsan rolled his eyes. "Ugh. What is it now Mason?" Orsan asked, not pleased with being interrupted.
Mason simply pointed toward Flint as Orsan followed his gaze, only for the Oracle Head to stare in confusion.
"What? But I- my visions said nothing of this. How? How are you back on your feet?!" Orsan said in shock.
Flint's back was turned to them, pulling his wildly twitching left arm in front of him as he leaned over it, his body shaking. A moment later, they got an answer.
RRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
The boy's head tilted upward, shattering the muzzle as a primal roar erupted from him, a column of dense dark violet fire firing into the air like a beacon to the heavens. All across the nearby cities and towns, a sheer powercould be felt in the air. All across the Isles, the booming roar like thunder could be heard by the people and animals that made it home.
And even on an island quite far from the Isles, the power could be felt in waves.
Orsan and Mason could only watch in horror at the sight before them. As Flint's column of fire began to clear, a stream of it whisked off-course and swirled down his left arm, making contact with the sigil. His veins glowed again on his arm, centralized at the point of contention, causing the image of the sigil to burn away, leaving no trace of it behind. But the fire wasn't done yet. After removing the heresy of the sigil, the fire encased the boy's hand as it began to slowly crawl up the boy's arm in a half-foot thick wave of fire. As his hand came out the other side, it was changed.
Though still bearing four discernable fingers and one thumb, they were now sharp and claw-like, looking like they were made purely from ivory-colored bone. His hand was bare and from the palm and crawling up his rapidly burning away sleeve, yellow-gold fur took the place of skin, with the flames dispersing halfway up his tricep where his jacket sleeve's burning ended as well.
The fire completely dispersed as his mouth closed, long trails of smoke leaking out from the corners with a hiss. The cuffs clasped around his right arm warped as they dripped off, having turned purely into molten metal, melting the ground it fell to as well. Flint slowly turned to the group with his eyes closed. When he was now fully facing them, his eyes shot open, both sclera now black abysses, his lavender irises glowing like neon, and scarlet-colored fire glyphs in his pupils.
Everyone nearby looked on in shock. No one knew what had just happened to the boy, but Orsan and Mason could tell, even without Orsan's oracle magic, that this was a bad omen for them.
"H-h-how?! This is- this is impossible!" Orsan exclaimed.
Mason grunted once more as Orsan gave a resigned sigh.
"You're right Mason. It appears that if we are to put an end to the threat this boy possesses, we must snuff out his fire, for good." Orsan said firmly. "I'm rather against murdering a child, even if we were ordered to bring him to Belos so he could be executed, but I'm afraid we have no choice."
Mason nodded in agreement, slapping three more power glyphs on under his shirt and surging with power as he handed two to Orsan, who also quickly applied the items.
The entire time Flint just...stood there. The scarlet glow of the fire glyphs in his eyes expanded until the entirety of his sockets glowed with the same energy, though darker. He took a deep breath and let out another roar, but this one let out a shockwave of power not unlike the sonic attack King could create, knocking large chunks of debris away from him. He inhaled again, his mouth glowing before a wave of scarlet and violet-black flames blasted the abomatons holding Willow and Gus to the ground. Flint ran forward with an animalistic snarl, hunching low to the ground as he ran toward them.
Orsan summoned a spirit to attack the boy, but he reached up with his clawed hand and grabbed the spirit by its 'throat.' Light glyphs and fire glyphs glowed to life in the air around the hand before the hand lit with violet-black fire. The spirit screamed in agony in the boy's grip, its corporeal form vaporizing as the fire spread across its body, leaving nothing behind in its wake.
Orsan looks on in horror at what just happened. "N-no. What!?"
[Warning! Gore incoming!]
Flint charged forward as Orsan raised his front right hand again to cast a spell. Unfortunately, the man was going to find casting spells with that hand would become...difficult.
Flint opened his mouth, baring his sharpened canines, and bit into Orsan's wrist.
Orsan screamed in pain as he felt the nerves in his arm being torn apart, looking at Flint in fear. Flint began to pull his head away from Orsan, but his jaw was still locked around the witch's wrist with a death grip, his intention now clear.
"N-no! Don't!" Orsan cried out desperately.
His cries were on deaf ears though, as Flint pulled-
And took the coven head's hand with him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Orsan screamed in pure agony holding the now-lighter arm with his remaining hands.
Everyone bold enough to stick around to watch looked at the scene in horror. Flint still had the hand clenched in his mouth as the blood oozed from the hand, dripping down his neck and straining his shirt and jacket. He finally spat the hand to the ground as his teeth and the area around his mouth could be seen covered in blood, a small puddle forming below him with the limb as it dripped off his chin. It truly made him look more like a beast than a man.
Mason managed to find his footing, turning tail and running away with his instincts screaming at him. Sadly, the man wouldn't get far as a searing pain shot through his right leg, stabbing through before wrapping around the leg. The sudden action caused him to faceplant. He looked down at his leg to see a cuff connected to a chain that led to the boy's forward-facing palm, the entire contraption made purely from his fire. Flint's arm wrapped around the chain before yanking it, causing Mason to fly through the air toward his assailant who caught him by grabbing him by the face with his left hand. Flint's claws dug into his skin as he slammed Mason into the ground before him, causing the ground to splinter from the force.
Mason looked up in fear as an ominous light began to grow. He saw Flint through the eye not being covered by the boy's hand, his mouth agape as fire grew in the back of his throat. Mason flailed in Flint's tight grip, trying desperately to remove the hand from his face as the fire grew hotter, while the heat it radiated made him even more desperate to escape.
Just before Flint was about to incinerate the coven head, he was struck by a baseball-sized ball of ice.
Flint didn't flinch from the sudden blow, but it did distract him, causing him to halt his assault before slowly turning to the being who dared to interrupt him.
Gus and Willow trembled, the illusionist's arm outstretched as an ice glyph faded from his glove. They saw how Flint turned to them with his glowing eyes, slowly turning to them in a display of silent rage. Gus glanced down at his arm and quickly put it behind his back as if to attempt to hide it. Flint simply growled at the two with an animalistic look.
"Gus?" Willow asked fearfully.
"Y-yeah?" Gus responded.
"I don't think that was a good idea," Willow said in horror as Flint's gaze ripped apart most of their belief they might get out of this alive.
Gus gulped. "Yeah...me neither."
Raven struggles in the stone restraints. She had been trying to free herself from Mason's bindings ever since he and Orsan left to go after the stand.
"Come on! I can't even move my fingers!" Raven said angrily.
Suddenly a blast of fire erupted from Flint's location and near her, causing wind to kick up and blow Raven's hood off, revealing a stunned Lilith.
"This is bad," Lilith muttered. "Look. I know you don't like me, but Flint and the others are in danger. If we want to save them, I need you to cooperate with me like your counterpart is with Eda." Lilith seemingly began to speak to herself.
Ever since splitting the curse, they had found that the version Lilith had acquired was like a copy of the one with Eda. The original and her copy were even capable of communicating with each other when in range akin to telepathy. Eda had shown her ability to change into a harpy form and tried to guide Lilith through the process as well, but Lilith's version of the curse wasn't being cooperative. She attempted to get Flint's help as he'd done for Eda and Owlfred, but he wasn't the most helpful either.
'You're the one who cursed Eda in the first place.' Flint had reminded her with a scoff.
Lilith never bothered asking for his help again after that. Amity had even been willing to try and help but Lilith denied it. Flint was right. This was her mess, so she needed to clean up after herself. No matter how much that therapist or her mother said it was unhealthy.
The beast screeched angrily in her mind, causing Lilith to sigh. "Fine, what is it you want in return? Voles? I know Edalyn was complaining about that to satiate Owlfred." Lilith asked.
She received a screech in response before groaning. "What more could you even want?!" Lilith exclaimed. "Aside from freedom. I will get back on that after all this stuff with Belos is done though, just for the record." Lilith added with a shrug.
The beast cried out in her mind and the response she got left her staring forward with a flabbergasted look etched on her face.
"You've been denying me all because...you wanted a name?!" Lilith asked in sheer disbelief. "That is incrediblypetty."
The beast screeched angrily at her in her mind. Apparently, it was jealous of Owlfred for having a name. Also, it was calling her a hypocrite for the petty comment. It was true, even Lilith would agree, but is now really the time for this?!
RRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
Suddenly Lilith heard a roar from the direction of the battle nearby. She couldn't quite see what was happening, but there was an overwhelming energy permeating the air around her. It made every instinct of hers scream in terror, begging her to get away as fast as she possibly could.
"I don't have any ideas at the moment, but I promise you that I will discuss this with you later to find you a name, okay?!" Lilith begged the beast.
The beast was quiet, before letting out a cry of acceptance. This caused Lilith to let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
Lilith then took in a deep breath, closing her eyes as she felt the beast's strength begin to glow across her body. She let out her breath as she opened her eyes again, the sclera having changed to black as she looked forward with determination.
"Let's do this."
Flint growled. Though the glow of his eyes made it impossible to physically see where he was looking, his gaze was clearly locked on Willow and Gus: his new targets. His body tensed as he lowered himself to the ground, tail shooting straight behind him as he got on all fours. His hands cracked the ground beneath as the blood from Orsan's arm caked his mouth, neck, and shirt. After a moment, his eyes seemed to gleam as he suddenly started running on all fours at his friends, intent on mauling them. Orsan and Mason managed to take this moment of distraction to their advantage, quickly fleeing the scene with their scouts as fast as they could and dropping the group's palisman in the process.
Willow and Gus fell to the ground. Willow tried summoning more plant life but Flint simply barreled through them like a living drill. They looked toward their incoming feral friend as he lunged, bracing for his incoming attack...but it never came. A figure blitzed through the air and Flint was suddenly kicked off-course and to his right, crashing into a nearby building. The two teens cautiously looked up at the figure that landed on the ground in front of them, wondering who it was that had come to their rescue.
"Eda?" Willow asked, seeing the familiar silhouette.
"Wrong Clawthorne." The figure answered, turning back to look at them, orienting in such a way as to show their appearance while keeping an eye on Flint. Willow and Gus looked in surprise to see not Eda, but Lilith, in a different but familiar form.
Lilith's irises had turned back to a piercing mint green surrounded by black sclera, her hair became fuller, and her ears longer while donning the same small ridges her beast form had. Similar to Eda, her outfit seemed to merge with her. Dull spikes protruded from the sleeves of where her shirt sleeves would end. Dark green fur crept up her neck and the sides of her face. The wings sprouting from her back were owl-like, their main body coated with black feathers, and their undersides were brown. Her feet were now covered in brown fur and black owl talons, with her hands becoming monstrous with matching small black claws, her arms switching from dark green to chocolate brown at the elbows. And of course, she had retrieved her Glyph Grafters. [I tried to think of the best combination based on her 2B appearance since the outfit worn seems to have an effect on transformations.]
"Whoa," Gus said in awe.
"You said it," Willow added, equally surprised.
The group heard shifting sounds and watched as Flint's clawed hand erupted from the rubble, then pulled the rest of himself out of the debris as he glared at them. Even from a distance and with his current mental state, they could see the calculative look in his eyes as he analyzed his new adversary.
"I'm a little late to the party, what happened?" Lilith asked, having turned to fully face Flint and cementing herself in position between the animalistic teen and the two witches.
"Orsan and Mason forced a sigil onto him, but then it did this to him!" Willow said quickly. "The sigil burned away before he changed. And he nearly killed them both!"
"And then he attacked us when I stopped him," Gus added.
Lilith hummed as she got on guard. "I see. Whatever the sigil has done to him caused his beast heritage to be dragged to the surface. He must be driven purely by instinct right now and can't recognize you." Lilith thought aloud as Flint stalked slowly, glaring at her.
"Then what do we do?" Willow asked worriedly.
"I'll hold him off. You two should find Team Ma- I mean Edalyn and the others. Perhaps Luz will have a solution, knowing him the longest." Lilith told them. They nodded and Gus quickly grabbed Willow's hand and helped her to her feet as the two ran to cover, not before swiping their palisman and Gray first though.
Lilith then focused her attention squarely on Flint. "So, your transformation has driven you to your animal instincts. If you're in there, I would like to apologize in advance…" Lilith began, her claws baring as she bore a feral smile. "Because I could use a test for this new form, and I'm not sure how much I can hold back at the moment." Lilith finished.
Flint growled before lunging forward at the woman, who caught his arms as he attempted to slash at her face. The impact of the collision caused Lilith's feet to burrow an inch into the ground, her arms stinging from the force.
"Okay…maybe I don't have to worry about hurting you after all," Lilith said to herself. Lilith retaliated with a knee to his stomach, causing him to fall to the ground. Not even a second after hitting the ground, he was already snarling as he pounced, causing them to tumble across the ground and through some of the debris. As they tumbled, Lilith had to repeatedly move her face away from his as he repeatedly tried to bite at her.
Having enough of this, Lilith waited for him to pull his head back again before catching him off guard with a headbutt and stunning him before throwing him down the destroyed street. Flint shook his head as he regained his bearings, only to find Lilith almost on him. His chest rose as he did a sharp inhale. Lilith prepared to dodge the incoming fire, but then he did something she hadn't expected.
"WEH!" Flint roared, causing a shockwave of power to knock her a distance away.
Lilith shook her head as her hearing attempted to adjust from the sudden shout. Before she could process what Flint had done, she heard her curse warning her of his next incoming attack. She looked up to see him taking a deep breath, smoke pouring out from the corners of his mouth before a torrent of fire shot from his mouth. Lilith's eyes widened from the incoming attack but she reacted, stretching her wings out and flapping them downward, launching her into the air where she continued to fly above.
"Let's see you try to get me up here," Lilith said challengingly, causing Flint to seemingly glare as he began to send more volleys of flame at her. Lilith barreled to her right to dodge one before going left to dodge another. He continued to shoot them at her repeatedly as Lilith continued to dodge.
After a while, Lilith put her hands forward and made a combination glyph using her gloves. The combo glowed with power for a moment before emitting a stream of water that collided with an incoming fire blast, exploding into a cloud of mist between them.
"Please, Flint! You need to snap out of this!" Lilith called down to him.
The feral boy merely growled as his rage at his target grew. If his prey would not come to him, he would go to it. Flint's muscles tensed as he fell low to the ground, before leaping, the ground at his hands and feet breaking from the force of his lunge at the airborne woman.
Lilith's eyes widened as she barely brought her arms up protectively, causing his arms to each be caught by one of hers as he tried biting at her again. With his legs free though, he tried to kick her.
"This is getting annoying," Lilith grunted, her focus split between flapping her wings so they wouldn't fall while simultaneously dodging Flint's attacks.
Flint's own frustration only grew as his attacks failed to connect. He tried using fire breath again, but Lilith proceeded to yank him in some other direction so it wouldn't hit her every time. His blood boiled as he continued to try and attack, his pumping blood accelerating the changes to his body. Loud snapping sounds came from his right leg as it began to change forcefully. Skin tore apart as his bone took the forefront, his leg becoming skeletal. His leg was becoming mostly bone from the knee down, including his knee becoming like one big bone spike. His calf was splitting apart differently as the hairs changed into yellow-gold fur, the same as his foot. His shoes tore to shreds as his toes became claws and his foot was covered in more fur as his claw bones jutted out from the top of his foot. All across his leg was his violet blood due to the bone bursting from beneath his skin, some of it matting his fur.
With his newly transformed leg, he kicked at Lilith again and managed to land a blow to her gut. The blow hurt like hell from the dense bone of his leg and Lilith could feel a small cut left by one of the claws. The blow disrupted Lilith as the two descended to the ground, tumbling a few feet as Lilith pushed Flint off her before landing.
Lilith let out a frustrated scream. "For Titan's sake! With how stubborn you are, I'm surprised you can't just snap out of it yourself!" Lilith swore. "...I'm getting the strangest feeling of Déjà vu right now," Lilith muttered after a moment as she held her stomach, only to be surprised as she looked down at it.
The area around Lilith's injury had a violet-blooded imprint, but strangely, part of the area around the wound had reverted from her transformation back. Lilith lifted her hand from the injury and looked at it, noticing that the palm, her index, and pinky had also been afflicted the same way giving her hand a partially transformed appearance. Moments later, the hand shifted back to its transformed state as the remnants of Flint's blood dried or dripped off.
"Was his blood…neutralizing the curse?" Lilith gasped. The curse then spoke in her mind and told her how it felt briefly weakened as if the blood had temporarily canceled out the magic that had created it hundreds of years ago.
A sound akin to firecrackers drew her attention back to Flint as the violet blood coating his bony leg sizzled and popped, the blood combusting and leaving the ivory bone bare.
A cawing sound could be heard that drew both combatant's attention, looking over to see Gray getting up from the ground. He managed to get airborne with a visible limp as he flew over to his craver in an odd trance. The phoenix then wisped into him, causing a new change to occur. Two spots under his shoulder blades bulged and pulsed. After a few pulses, twin tears parted the way as wings sprouted from his back as his wings stretched out, the line where it went from bat-like to bird-like ebbed closer to the former rather than the latter. At the same time, his horns' length doubled from four centimeters to eight.
Flint's body tensed and with a mighty flap of his wings and a roar, he rocketed forward at Lilith, forcing her on the defensive once more.
"After them!"
Luz flew with Porta-Hooty strapped to her back, the bird-tube cackling like a madman. The plan was going great! They made a float that was put into the parade in a shoddy representation of Belos, fired some insulting fireworks into the air, and when the time was right, BAM! They destroyed it in a brilliant display of defiance. Of course, everyone fled it before it blew up, naturally. King, Hooty, and Luz had been operating what had essentially boiled down to a giant puppet as Eda and Amity observed from the rooftops as their lookouts. When they fled the scene, King ran over to Eda as the two flew away in the opposite direction of her and her awesome girlfriend, forcing their pursuers to split up to head after them.
A few bolts whizzed past Luz. Any that got too close were blocked by Hooty, who was draped in a cloth enchanted to deflect magic with eye holes, allowing him to bat the attacks back at their attackers. At the same time, Amity rode Ghost like a snowboard and abomutated her arms (Luz still thought that was awesome, by the way!) behind her to neutralize some attacks or to shoot globs at the scouts chasing them.
"Eat it you brainwashed sheep! HAHAHAHAHA!" Amity cackled with a near-sadistic glee. Luz idly wondered if the influence of herself, Eda, and Flint was starting to make her a bit insane…
Nah. Besides, where's the fun in being normal anyway? At least Luz knew Amity would never reach Madelyn's level of insanity. Flint had to learn it from someone after all, and Luz still sometimes has some nightmares about those revenge plans she'd found for that fiancé who cheated on her all those years ago…
And she had more nightmares about that sinister-yet-pleased smile the woman had on when she asked about it.
RRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
The sudden roar along with the accompanying shockwave and pillar made the whole area go silent, snapping Luz out of her musings. She and Amity came to a stop as they turned to see the pillar of energy, almost unnoticeable as a void in the night sky. All around them, the citizens and coven scouts also stopped in a mix of wary curiosity.
Luz's brow furrowed in confusion as she looked toward the commotion. That roar and the pillar were uncomfortably familiar to her. Whatever the case, she realized that this was the perfect distraction as she nudged Amity and snapped her out of her trance. Amity looked at Luz in confusion as Luz nudged her head in the direction of their set meetup point, causing Amity to realize her intentions. The two swiftly made a break for it, having easily lost their pursuers entirely as they eventually ducked into the alley.
"Okay, that was crazy," Luz said, breaking the silence as she got off Stringbean and set Hooty on the ground.
Amity nodded as she dismounted. "You said it. I have to say, if all that chaos is how Ed and Em feel when they mess around, I'm starting to see the appeal. It felt good to do that." Amity said.
Luz chuckled. "Yeah, it can be like that sometimes." Luz then became serious. "What do you think that roar was?"
Amity frowned in thought. "I don't know. But something didn't feel right about it." Amity stated.
"Say, wasn't that from where Flint's supposed to be?" Hooty asked.
Amity and Luz's eyes widened in panic. "Crap!" They exclaimed.
"Something must be going on over there!" Amity said in panic.
Luz suddenly jumped at the sound of her Pentagram scroll going off. She rapidly pulled it out, nearly dropping it in the process, before opening it. She saw that it was Gus trying to video call her. Luz looked at it in confusion for a moment before answering the call to see a mildly scuffed-up Gus on the other side.
"Gus, I'm kinda busy right-"
"Luz! You need to get over to Flint's stand now!" Gus yelled, startling her.
Amity popped up over Luz's shoulders and into the frame. "What's wrong? Does it have something to do with that roar we heard? Wait, how do you know about the stand?" Amity asked worriedly.
"It's Flint! Something happened to him and now he's acting like a beast! Lilith's holding him off at the moment, but we need you guys over here now!" Willow barged into the frame from Gus' right.
Luz's expression became determined. "Alright. We're on our way." Luz stated before ending the call. She looked over to see Eda duck into the alley with King. "Eda!" Luz cried in alarm.
"Firebrat went feral, didn't he?" Eda asked.
"Um, yeah. How did you know?" Luz responded.
"Lilith's half of the curse gave Owlfred the lowdown," Eda informed them. She then shifted into her harpy form as she spread her wings out. "Let's go."
King scurried up to poke out of Eda's hair. "Let's go save my big bro!" King declared, causing both Luz and Amity to let out a strangled attempt at a squeal and coo at the young demon's antics.
"You have no idea." Luz was able to barely hear Eda mutter as she took off. Amity got on her staff and took off, leaving her to stand there momentarily as she processed Eda's words.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Luz mumbled in confusion as she hopped onto her own staff and took off.
The quartet flew across the town until they reached the site of, well, what used to be Flint's stand. The area was positively destroyed with violet-black and darkened scarlet flames across the debris. The ground was misshapen with stone pillars that jutted from the ground in random spots, some intact and others that looked like they'd been sliced cleanly, and various burning plantlife.
"Whoa." Luz breathed out.
"It looks like a warzone," Amity said trepidatiously.
Eda scanned the area, noticing Orsan's severed limb on the ground which caused Eda's body to tense. "Orsan. So this is where he was. He must've foreseen all this and came here to arrest Flint." Eda realized.
"Guys!" Willow and Gus' voices called out to them as they looked down to see the two peeking out from cover and waving them down, both of them looking scuffed up.
"Willow! Gus! What happened?!" Luz asked quickly.
"Orsan and Mason came here to arrest Flint. He had magic suppressors put on him, then got a sigil branded on him!" Willow explained.
"WHAT?!" All four of the arrivals screamed in shock.
Gus continued. "He wasn't moving, but then he started acting weird. Then he suddenly got up, but-"
CRASH
The group all looked in the direction of the noise to see Lilith being knocked at them in her harpy form, her body crashing into the ground and leaving a trail as the ground broke behind her until she came to a stop right in front of them.
Lilith groaned as she slowly raised her hand to her head. "Ugh. This is not how I thought today would go."Lilith muttered.
Eda wrapped her arms under her sister's as she helped Lilith get to her feet. "You look like shit," Eda remarked, earning a surprising gesture from the older Clawthorne.
"You aren't the one getting beaten to a pulp by a feral hybrid, Titan damn it!" Lilith countered.
Speak of the devil, the aforementioned teen's growls could be heard and they looked to the feral boy, noting the changes to his appearance in mixed levels of surprise.
"As cool as he's looking, it'd be cooler if wasn't actively trying to hurt us, right guys?" Willow said, only to not receive a response. She turned over to see Luz and Amity with dazed looks and blushes on their faces. "Get a grip you two!" Willow screamed.
Luz snapped out of her fantasizing and smiled. "Don't worry, I've got an idea," Luz said confidently as she walked forward, lowering her guard to seem non-threatening as she slowly walked toward Flint.
"Hey, Flint. It's me. Luz. You remember me right? You'd never hurt me." Luz said softly, continuing her walk toward him with her staff in her left hand and holding her right hand out to him in a placative way.
Flint's vision was chaotic. It was like rainbow thermal vision, but the entire environment around him was cascaded in a dim yellow glow. His friends were merely outlines of a myriad of oranges, the Clawthorne sisters were a dull green, and King was oddly detailed in his bright lavender. As Luz stepped to him, her body was like a blank spot in the world, a void where magic did not exist.
However, her staff and cloak glowed red, while her gloves and the pads in her shoes glowed lavender...and Flint's instincts didn't like that. Every one of the beings around him had those gloves outside of King. It was an affront. Like someone was wearing his kind and mocking him by using their power against him. This being in front of him seemed to be trying to calm him. She felt familiar to him, but his blood boiled in rage at the thought of what these people could've done to make those gloves, not to mention she was armed with a staff chock full of magic too. He couldn't take any chances.
Flint's growls grew louder as Luz came closer, the fur on his arm standing on end and his tail rigid as his body tensed. Luz didn't notice the signs so well, but everyone else did, seeing him beginning to take a deep breath. Before she could react, Luz felt herself being pulled into the air by her staff just before a blast of fire shot at where she stood moments ago. She looked down in horror as Flint lifted his head upward as his wings prepared for flight only for King to run between them on all fours.
"WEH!" King yelled, sending one of his sonic screams at Flint, knocking him across the ground.
Flint shook himself off as he snarled, dodging a sleep spell attempt from Amity.
"Damn it! He's too fast and too aware of his surroundings!" Amity called out before swirling downward into abomination goo and teleporting beside Willow.
Luz looked down as the battle continued and everyone held Flint off. "It...didn't work?" Luz said in a distraught voice as she landed near Eda, who quickly looked her over.
"Luz! Are you hurt?! Please tell me you're not hurt!" Eda doted on her. Aw, she is a big softie.
"I thought...why didn't it work?" Luz wondered desperately as she fell to her knees.
Eda grimaced. "Sorry kiddo. This isn't like one of those Frightday night cartoons." Eda helped Luz back up to her feet before turning back to see the others keeping him busy. "His beast instincts are in control now, and he clearly doesn't recognize you."
"There's got to be something we can do to snap him out of it! I just don't get it, I thought if I talked to him I could break through to him." Luz said with a hint of disappointment and desperation.
Eda analyzed the fight before them as all but she and Luz fended off Flint. Gus prepared ice glyphs and was about to fire them off. Eda watched as his face twitched a bit. He caught a swipe from Lilith with ease, before jumping to the side and dodging the ice blast that Gus had fired, causing Lilith to get hit instead, knocking her away and freezing a majority of her body. Gus bellowed out an apology as Flint swiveled and sprinted toward Gus. 'It's like he knew it was coming.' Eda thought.
Eda noticed King nearby and saw that, oddly enough, he was completely unscathed. Now that she thought about it, had he ever even attacked him? Before she could think any further, the building he was near began to crack, having taken too much damage and was now about to collapse.
"King! Look out!" Eda yelled in worry.
King blinked as he heard the cracking too late as the building fell. "Weh?!" King cried out, too surprised by the incoming danger to prepare a sonic scream again.
All of a sudden a blast of scarlet fire shot toward him as the debris about to fall on him was destroyed before it could hit. Eda looked back at Flint in surprise, smoke coming from his mouth as he breathed heavily. This confused Eda. Flint was acting purely on instinct and attacking everyone in sight, and yet...he protected King? And that looks in his eyes as he did it. Eda knew she'd seen it from him before but from where?
Flashback Start
Eda watched the crystal ball. All the kids had gone to bed, but she wanted to see what exactly she had missed thanks to being knocked unconscious. Bump claimed that he was sorry if he hurt her, but she saw that satisfied glint in his eyes. He reveled in the opportunity the Owl Beast had provided him and had managed to exact a fragment of his revenge on her with her vague permission. She'd feel proud he learned from her if she wasn't mad she couldn't watch the fight live.
Eda sighed. "I don't understand what the curse has against that thing Grom turned into, but I will watch the whole fight this time," Eda said with determination.
She watched Grom transform into that bizarre hooded figure on the crystal ball.
After a bit, Grom sighed. "Oh well. I wasn't able to get much info from him, but I'll make do with what I've got. After all…" Grom trailed off, turning his attention to King above them. "I have a new target."
Flint's eyes widened as his gloves glowed with fire glyphs, flames licking across him. The flames formed wings on his back as he flew in the air towards King. Flint scooped him up just before a sharp tendril pierced the floor where the young demon had once stood.
Flashback End
'That's right! Grom draws from the most instinctual of fears. Even though Grom became one of those weird cloak guys and Flint didn't know who they were, Flint had that same look in his eyes when he charged to protect King from Grom. His fear must've had something to do with King getting hurt. And based on the results of those tests...' Eda thought, as everything was beginning to fall into place.
'Hey Owlfred, tell Lily to relay this to the other brats.' Eda said internally to the beast, getting a cry of acknowledgment as she informed the beast quickly. "I have a plan," Eda announced out loud, getting Luz's attention.
"Really?" Luz asked, perking up.
Eda nodded. "I do, but you kids need to be ready for my signal. You lot need to be ready with sleep spells the second I give the signal." Eda stated firmly before flying over to King. "King. I'm going to pick you up, but I need you to shout like you're in danger."
King blinked in confusion.
Flint growled lowly as he stalked the area on all fours. His attackers had managed to hide, but that wouldn't save them. Through his vision, he saw all of his prey in their hiding spots, but their disappearance had left him wary. His ear twitched as he felt the pull of those garments, not bothering to close his eyes as the flash of light came. His vision pierced the sudden shift of light as he glared in the three adolescents' direction. Fine then. If they wanted to be hunted so badly, he would indulge them. Slaughtering the void one would be saved best for last.
"Help!"
Flint's eyes widened in panic at the sound of the shout, frantically looking around the battlefield for the source until locking onto King being held up by Eda in her harpy form, holding him by the fur beneath his chin with her right hand threateningly (he didn't notice him actually just standing on Eda's left hand).
"S̡̨̡̪̻̱̭̬͈̼̻̺̦̰̒̃̐̓̈́͝Ǫ̴̨̧̳͉͚̳̦͛̂̒̿͂̃͛͝Ǹ̵̢̢̢͇̪̤̰̙̬̞̱̺͈̺/̢͖̹̜̮̱̰̃̾́͜B̶̡̳̦̩̩͚̫̘̻̥̰̳̥̌̅͒́̈́͌͋̚͝R̶̰̤̼̩͒̌͐̎̕O̶̧̥̺̫͆͐̂̌̋̏͊̅̇̕͝ͅT̶̤͕͎̲̐̈H̵̢̥̘̖͓̔͒͐̂̀̓͘͘Ě̶̬͕̳͒̍̈͐̃͛́̈͘R̵̘̣͇͈͇̯̮̻̳̤̃͌̄/̨͙̘̳̺̻̲̹̹̀̈́K̴̗̘̉͂̉́̑͠͝I̵̹̪̩̺͐Ǹ̷̗͚̯̘̤̣̖̂ͅG̷̥̝̩̰̰͖͎̀͊̇̅̑̒̈̒͛̀͜!̵̡̨̩͕͕̹͓̩͎͙͇͉͒̇͆̈́́͌̈̓̒̅̚͠͝ͅ" Flint roared with a primal rage as he blitzed at them like a bat out of hell.
In an instant, Flint vanished and appeared right in front of Eda with his fist cocked, throwing a powerful palm strike that sent her flying through multiple walls with Harpy Eda-shaped holes now adorning them. As Eda was sent flying, King was left to gravity as he flailed in the air for barely a moment until he was caught in Flint's protective grip, who curled himself entirely around the young demon.
The teens, upon seeing Flint run at Eda, understood this as the signal. All four of them traced large spell circles with their palisman and fired. Flint was hit with each one of them in unison, his eyes growing heavy. He attempted to get up to retaliate but was now too drowsy and was still trying to protect King. His body relaxed as the glow in his eyes dimmed until he finally fell asleep, cradling King close and protectively in his arms as Gray finally expunged himself from Flint, leaving behind a set of bat-like wings with a one-foot wingspan. The palisman flapped his wings with a drowsy look on his face as he flew slowly over to Eda and perched himself neck-deep into her hair before dozing off.
"Looks like it affected Gray too," Lilith noted.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief as the battle was finally over. Trying to corral Flint when he was in control was a hassle, but this? This was worse by far.
"Um...as comfy as I am, can someone help me out?" King asked, his head poking out from Flint's embrace.
"I don't know how good of an idea that is right now," Willow said. "He seems to be instinctively protective of you for some reason."
"We should probably get out of here." Gus pointed out, gesturing to the destruction all around them.
Amity nodded in agreement. "Everyone, group up on me, " she said. In a moment, everyone was surrounding Amity as she willed some abomination sludge to appear around them. In an instant, the group found themselves on a rooftop halfway across town, and Amity fell to her hands in knees panting.
"That...took a lot out of me," Amity said out of breath as Willow helped support her.
"Rather impressive even after a fight like that." Lilith commended.
"Thanks...I'm pretty sure I'm gonna pass out the moment I hit the pillow though," Amity said as she shook her head a bit to jolt herself awake only to wince from the forming headache.
Luz turned to Eda. "How did you know that would work? Targeting King." Luz asked.
Eda bit her lip for a bit. "Well, I noticed he wasn't hurting King at all. When King was in danger from some debris, he immediately protected him." Eda replied.
"But why me?" King asked.
"It must have to do with the connection you two seem to have." Amity pointed out. "I think you guys have more in common than your fur and tails being similar. Remember your island?"
Luz gasped. "That's right. Those golems never targeted either of you! Maybe you guys are even the same species of demon!" Luz said excitedly.
King's eyes widened. Was Flint really half of whatever species he was? Maybe that was why he always felt so safe around him.
"Ugh." Everyone flinched as they heard Flint groan. He began to uncoil himself, freeing King. He slowly began to sit up as he held his clawed hand to his head. "Did I get run over by a truck or something? Please don't tell me it was Truck-kun, and I'm in another world now," Flint said, his voice hoarse.
Flint opened his bleary eyes and looked around him to see everyone with their guards up, the other teens with spells ready to knock him out again.
"..." Flint stared at them with a surrendering gesture. "Did...something happen when I was out?" Flint asked hesitantly.
"Are you back to normal?" Gus spoke up.
"Define 'normal'." Flint shot back.
Everyone let out the breath they were holding. "I don't know about you guys, but that sounds like a 'yes' to me," Willow remarked with a deadpan.
Flint looked at them in confusion until he caught a glance of his arm. He pulled the arm in front of him as he inspected it, eventually trailing to his leg out of the corner of his eye. His wings twitched and he looked over his shoulder to see them.
"Huh…I am in a lot of pain right now, by the way." Flint finally said.
Eda snorted. "Yup. Firebrat is definitely back all right. We'll get you a painkiller potion when we get home though," Eda said, reverting to her normal form midsentence.
Lilith took the chance to revert her transformation as well, and it was then that they realized they were close enough to see Kikimora, Raine, and Terra standing on a podium in front of a crowd.
"Um, thank you, Bonesborough, for joining us during this year's Coven Day Parade. This year is extra special because the Emperor himself has an announcement to make." Kikimora announced gesturing to behind her as a massive projection of Emperor Belos loomed over.
"Thank you, everyone. Together we are perfecting the Coven System as the Titan intended. The Day of Unity will be in exactly one month, when the tide is at its lowest and the moon obscures the sun. At that time, we will journey to the head of the Isles, and there, the worthy shall inherit a utopia free of wild magic." Belos declared.
The crowd let out various gasps and whispers, some in excitement but some gave looks of trepidation. The fight between Belos and Flint still had echoes of doubt in the people's minds.
"Free of wild magic? How's he supposed to do that?" King asked.
Gus frowned. "Something's fishy about that, and I've never been a fan of seafood."
Belos then continued, his voice portraying a hint of nervousness. "There is one more thing I'd like to share with you. I've always hidden my face, out of fear. But because of your support, I can finally take off this mask."
Eda scoffs. "So phony. He's just trying to distract us from his crazy utopia talk!" Eda said.
Lilith huffed. "Indeed. Fortunately, it won't work." Lilith said confidently as both Clawthorne sisters crossed their arms smugly.
Belos then proceeds to remove his mask, revealing his scarred face with a soft smile, causing the crowd to gasp.
"Thank you, Boiling Isles," Belos said gratefully before the crowd erupted in cheers.
In perfect sync, six of the seven present smacked their foreheads (with Amity wincing as she regretted it). The only one who hadn't was Flint, whose face was shifting before thoughtful and a sneer.
"Happy Coven Day, everyone!" Belos finished before the projection of Belos exploded into fireworks. The crowd begins chanting Belos' name.
"Belos is definitely up to something," Amity stated. "I recognize that look from Odalia. Trying to play nice and relatable. What do you guys think?" Amity asked.
"The guy eats palisman. Of course, he is." Luz agreed, before turning to Flint and seeing his mixed expression. "Flint?"
Flint's eyes were moving rapidly, doing mental calculations until his head snapped up with wide eyes. "Oh, Titan…"
"What's wrong?" Eda asked worriedly.
"The Day of Unity…" Flint trailed off.
"The Day of Unity is the day mom found me."
Lilith flew Amity home, the teen having passed out from exhaustion, while everyone went their separate ways. Luz had a passed-out Flint leaning on her as the Owl House residents flew home.
"Hey, do you guys feel like we're forgetting something?" Luz asked suddenly as they landed.
King waved her off dismissively. "Meh. If we forgot, it's probably not that important."
Eda was about to agree until she looked forward, her eyes widening. "Um…I think I know what we forgot." Eda said blankly.
Luz and King followed her gaze, their expressions quickly matching the woman's.
Elsewhere
"Hello?"
Hooty sat in the alley, still in his Porta-Hooty backpack. He hoped the others would come back for him soon.
"Somebody?"
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