The other girl sidestepped the blast since her shadow was currently trying to decay the barrier, and hopped on her staff and flew at Amity. She avoided the Oracle Spirit and went for Amity's abomination instead, landing on its shoulders (where her feet began to sink), then jamming her staff into its head so she could flood it with Dark Magic, causing it to blacken and crumble away to dust. Only the upper half decayed though, as Amity dropped her barrier and withdrew the rest of the slime to the pot on her belt. She also leapt onto Ghost and flew up high to avoid the resurgent shadow blades, and began channelling light magic through her Oracle Spirit.
The Oracle Spirit didn't like this, but since it wasn't holy light like Luz's magic, it wasn't hurt and in fact began to change. It's usual shape was like all Oracle Spirits; a wraith in bandages that tended to all look the same, with the exception of size and bandage placement. But as Amity's light infused it, the bandages faded and the spirit began to take on a form more akin to what it had been in life; a female witch-like figure. She was still not very distinct; her face was a silhouette with glowing pink eyes, and aside from pointed ears and long flowing hair (which also glowed pink), the spirit still appeared to be made of the usual Oracle Magic. However a ball of white light could now be seen in her chest as she flew at Silver.
Silver countered by infusing her staff with shadows to turn it into a black spear, which she tried to stab into the approaching spirit, but Amity's channelled light magic allowed the spirit to turn its long finger nails into miniature blades of light, akin to how Luz created swords and other things out of light magic. With this, the spirit was able to parry the stab, knocking Silver's spear aside with a backhand. The collision of light and dark magic once again caused a destabilising effect, but this time Silver was ready for it and fired the shadows from her staff at Amity, so when the magic exploded, it would hurt her opponent but not herself. Amity countered by capturing the projectile in a ball of abomination slime, which rapidly swelled up when the explosion happened, then decayed into nothingness from the after effects.
"Nice try, but I'm not a Top Student for nothing!" Amity yelled, running at Silver. She jumped in the air, coating Ghost in light to make her into a Light Glaive again, then blasted pink fire from the soles of her feet to launch herself at Silver. At the same moment, her Oracle Spirit lunged at Silver and began slashing at her with her claws, giving her two things to focus on. She dived under Amity's attack, descending into the shadows to escape her and the spirit, but then to her shock, Amity's Oracle Spirit reached into the shadows too and yanked her back out!
"No! Spirits like this are partly made of shadow and darkness magic! It can follow me!" Silver thought desperately, feeling more of her strength waning. But the light-infused spirit had still suffered side-effects from reaching into the darkness, as it's own hand began to destabilise just like other times light and dark magic clashed. Amity tried to stop this by willing her spirit to become incorporeal, but the effect happened too fast and the spirit couldn't make it's arm fade fast enough.
A massive explosion occurred, destroying the spirit's arm (at least until it regenerated on its own) and also blasting Amity back. She was able to protect herself with some abomination slime at the last minute, but the force of the explosion still sent her into the edge of the lake bed, where she hit her head and was promptly dazed. Silver on the other hand had managed to get away when the spirit released her to make its hand incorporeal, and she was just barely able to fly out of the way in time.
Seeing her opening, Silver switched tactics and began charging a spell on the end of her staff, before firing a bolt of purple lightning towards the prone girl. Amity's Oracle Spirit, currently one armed, blocked it with its body, resulting in it shrieking and convulsing, unable to turn incorporeal again to escape the electricity coursing through it. Its sacrifice bought Amity the time she needed to stand up, and she immediately helped it by using her own oracle magic to force it to become incorporeal, then return to her so she could pump more magic into it, restoring its lost arm.
Clenching her fists in agitation as she got closer and closer to running out of strength, Silver used her magic to summon one of the spears she'd made earlier, and infused it with both shadow magic and her dark purple lightning magic, before blasting it towards the Oracle Spirit at high speed, using a bit of wind magic to kick up a purple, shadow-like gale to accelerate it even further. She aimed it at the core of light magic Amity had infused into the spirit's chest, but Amity snapped her fingers and the spirit actually discharged all it's light magic, focusing it into the core in it's chest, then blasting the whole thing out towards Silver in a mighty blast of magic. It hit and vaporized the spear (causing a minor explosion as it destabilised the dark magic), and continued on towards Silver. Since it was a light beam, it was destroying the shadows long before it reached her, so Silver couldn't escape into them. Instead she had no choice but to drop to the floor and let the beam blast over her head, carving deeply into the other side of the lake. It had been so intense that it burned a several foot deep crevice into the edge of the lakebed!
Silver panted and got back to her feet, seeing that Amity looked a little bit winded now too. But the youngest Blight drew power from her Palisman, and channelled more light into her spirit to make it return to it's more witch-like form again. Then, to Silver's surprise, Amity manipulated her Abomination slime onto the corporeal form of her spirit, cladding it in a flowing dress-like robe, a cape, and a tiara with a crescent moon-like design. She also created a large staff with a simple orb on the end for the spirit to wield.
Luz gasped upon seeing it, having been watching the fight closely; "Hecate! She made her spirit look like Hecate from the Good Witch Azura! And it's the post-redemption arc Hecate too! So cool!" she gushed.
Amity smirked; "Anything to protect my Azura! Or should I say, Luzura?" she winked, making Luz blush. The girl then turned back to Silver and declared; "Give up now and I won't have to hurt you! But keep fighting and I won't hold back!"
The masked girl felt the exhaustion in her bones, and drained a little more magic from her staff, only for it to virtually splutter out. She was almost completely tapped, and definitely wouldn't be able to get home on her own now… but she had maybe one more good spell in her if she gave it all she had. Deciding to trust her brother to have her back, Silver decided to finish her duel with Amity with all she had!
Twirling her staff to create a massive dark purple spell circle, Silver then channelled all the remaining magic of the staff into her body, then into her right hand, which she placed palm out inside the circle. The circle shrank into her hand, and her glove began to decay and disappear as her bare hand turned pitch black from the shadows gathering there. A tiny ball of black and purple magic appeared in her palm, and as Silver slowly wrapped her fingers around it, every single shadow in Eclipse Lake began to move towards Silver, pooling together at her feet. Steve, Katya, and Hunter stopped their game of cat and mouse as they turned to watch what was happening, and to the surprise of everyone, the shadows (which now formed a massive black circle at Silver's feet) began to bubble like boiling tar.
Silver then raised her hand into the sky and the shadows rose too, melding together to form a figure. Amity had used light magic and abomination goo to make her Oracle Spirit look like Hecate, a figure she looked up to, so Silver did the same; forming the shadows into a replica of the Titan himself, complete with wings and tail. Since no one knew exactly what a Titan looked like while alive (save those who knew King's secret), Silver had made her Shadow Titan look skeletal, before it lunged at Amity and her spirit. The Shadow Titan dwarfed both Amity and her Hecate Spirit, but it truly was made of shadows made physical using dark magic, so Amity had exactly what she needed to deal with it!
Channelling more light magic into her Hecate Spirit, Amity caused veins of golden magic to appear in all its abomination goo accessories as it swung its staff up at the Shadow Titan. The end of the staff gave off an enormous flash of golden light, burning away much of the Shadow Titan but not destroying it completely. It's claws slammed forward, missing most of the evasive spirit while destroying the spirit's staff and tearing its robe, but as its claws impacted the ground, Amity revealed her own skill in Earth Magic (Earth was one of the elemental components of Abomination Magic after all) and caused the lakebed to soften and swallow the Shadow Titan's hand, trapping it. The Hecate Spirit then pointed its hands upwards and drew a spell circle of its own (using Amity's channelled magic), which it formed into another replica of Hecate's staff, this time made purely of light. The spirit flew up and jammed the staff up through the Shadow Titan's bottom jaw and into it's skull, then released an explosion of light magic.
As before, the clash of light and shadow caused a magical explosion that nearly consumed the entirety of Eclipse Lake. King used a set of plant glyphs to grab Amity, Katya, Steve, and even begrudgingly Hunter and Silver, and pulled them out of the lake and onto the shore along the outer edge of the cavern. Luz, pushing herself more than she should, then created a dome-shaped crystal barrier over the lake, just in time to contain the monstrous explosion.
The sheer might of the resulting explosion actually cracked Luz's barrier from the inside, and narrow beams of light and dark magic shot out from these cracks, before Luz decided to open the barrier at the very top, beneath the opening in the cavern roof, so the magic had somewhere to escape. This resulted in a massive beam of gold and purple magic rocketing into the sky. People all over the isles were able to see it, and for a long time afterwards, they would wonder what had caused the odd phenomenon.
But in the present, inside the cavern of Eclipse Lake, everyone was picking themselves up after being blasted off their feet by the eruption. It would have been much worse if Luz hadn't released the pressure upwards, but the blast had still dealt some damage to all of them. Steve was sore and bruised, Katya's Palisman Rumba had gotten a crack in him, Amity was exhausted, and King had been sent flying and was now stuck hanging from one of the tree-like blood vessels by his horns, which had gotten embedded in it. Then there was Hunter, Flapjack, and Silver; the former of whom was dazed as Flapjack pulled on his hair to try and get him up, while Silver was lying face down on the ground, apparently unconscious. Luz had it the worst though, as not only had she been blasted back, but using her magic had drained her strength even more and her body was struggling to fight off the mold even more.
"Ugh, that could have gone better…" Amity groaned, struggling to get to her feet. She briefly looked into the lake itself, and was surprised to find several patches of the ground were glowing faintly. The blast had destroyed much of the lakebed too, unearthing several old blood vessels that looked to be pulsating every so slightly. Amity dismissed this as the result of all the magic rattling around inside them from the explosion. Her Oracle Spirit had been complete vaporised, but she could already feel it slowly reforming inside the stone around her neck, so Amity didn't worry about it and instead turned to Luz.
"Batata, are you okay?" Amity asked as the other rebels picked themselves up.
"I don't feel so good…" Luz mumbled, looking pale.
Amity gasped and called out to Katya, who quickly came over to help.
"She hasn't made the Mold worse again, has she?" the girl asked fearfully.
Katya shook her head as she began casting spells to cure the symptoms again; "No; that only happens when trying to use magic on the Mold itself. But her body is using her magic to fuel itself as it resists the Mold, and using so much for that barrier has weakened her, so her condition is worsening. Thankfully it's not a critical situation yet, but we can't afford too many more incidents like that!"
Luz, who was starting to feel a little better thanks to Katya's treatment, sighed with relief as her symptoms subsided again. Meanwhile Steve helped pull King free from where he'd been stuck.
"I'm sorry about that. I wasn't expecting the reaction to be THAT big! That Shadow Titan must have had more darkness magic in it than I realised!" Amity said remorsefully.
"It's fine. King got us all to safety. Besides, I think that explosion knocked the fight out of those two." Steve said, nodding to Hunter and the Silver Sentinel.
Hunter had managed to get back to his feet, but he was clearly still dazed and potentially concussed, while his sister was just barely beginning to stir behind him. She slowly lifted herself up, but as she did so, chunks of her silver mask fell to the ground, broken by the explosion. She took deep, shaky breathes as she forced herself into a kneeling position, leaving more and more of her mask behind. Hunter had yet to see the condition of his sister's mask, and she was still too exhausted to register it either, but as she looked up and the rebels got their first glimpse at her face, they all went as white as snow.
"No way…!?" Katya gasped.
Hunter finally seemed to notice what they were all staring at and looked over his shoulder, going pale as he saw his sister's face.
"Sis, your mask!" he cried, hurrying to try and repair it and shield the girl's face from view. The rebels weren't going to allow that however; Amity immediately bound his arms to his sides with abomination goo while Ghost once again caught Flapjack, and Katya used her tambourine to blast out a powerful wind that blew off Silver's hood and the remains of her broken helmet, fully exposing her face to them all.
The girl looked at them all with wide, horrified eyes, and they looked back with just as much shock and horror. It was a face they all recognised… or at least one that was uncannily similar to one they recognised… and it was one of the faces who was staring back at Silver.
"You… you look just like me!?" Luz exclaimed, jaw agape as she fully took in Silver's unmasked features.
The Silver Sentinel really did look exactly like Luz, though perhaps a year or two younger and a bit skinnier, though that wasn't surprising since Luz had known the girl was underweight. Her skin was the same shade as Luz's (though currently it looked pale with a sickly pallor), her frame was just a skinnier version of what Luz was when she was 12-13 years old, and even her hair, which was cut short, resembled hers when she'd cut it a year before. It was short enough to have lost its curliness, but was still a little messy. But while she looked almost exactly like Luz, there were three key differences. The first was the hair colour, which was dark brown instead of white, similar to Luz's hair before she awakened her magic. The second was the colour of her eyes, which were a blood red that was closer to Hunter's own red eyes than any shade Luz had ever had. And third, and most rage-inducing for the rebels and Hunter alike, were a pair of scars on her face. Unlike Hunter, his sister wasn't missing a piece from one of her ears (though she did have simple black stud earrings) nor did she have Luz's eyebrow scar, but she did have a scar that ran down her right eye, starting just beneath the eyebrow and ending on her cheek. Her second scar was across the bridge of her nose, and while both had healed well and didn't look recent, Luz had a sinking feeling that her doppelganger hadn't gained those scars from her missions.
"Don't look at her! No one is supposed to see her face!" Hunter yelled, trying to get between the rebels and his sister even though he was tied up.
"I know what's going on here!" Katya exclaimed; "You're another Basilisk, aren't you!? Just like the one that impersonated me! You've been running around pretending to be Luz, haven't you! That's why you can't do magic on your own!"
Hunter and Silver both looked surprised by the Bard's accusation; one Steve also believed. "We know there are six of them in total, and only two are accounted for. It would make sense!" he said.
Silver shook her head desperately, while Hunter looked at the two like they were idiots; "She's not a Basilisk, you dolts! If she was, why would she wear a mask!? She could just shape shift and give herself any face she wanted! And if she was going to impersonate Luz, why give herself totally different eyes, hair, and facial scars!?"
That was a good point that the two adults couldn't refute. Luz then piped up, knowing the truth; "You're an angel like me, aren't you? From Crest Kindness?"
Slowly, Silver nodded and reached up to the clasp of her cloak, undoing it and removing it. The clasp had doubled as a concealment stone, and once it was taken off, there was a puff of cyan smoke from Silver's back as a pair of tiny little Cherub wings appeared. Amity, Katya, and Steve all cooed at the adorable, fluffy little appendages, while both King and Luz looked at them with nostalgia; remembering the wings Luz had when she first arrived in the Demon Realm.
Knowing that Silver (or whatever her real name was) was actually a Cherub from Crest Kindness like Luz, the others lowered their guard a bit, with Luz completely opening up. She smiled now that she was over her shock; "I've never met another angel from my Crest Order, except my Mom. I knew we were supposed to look similar, but I had no idea it would be this similar! It's pretty amazing!"
Silver's eyes widened at the acceptance, and began weakly signing. Luz understood what she was saying, but Hunter translated for the others.
"You're not disgusted by me? Even with these cursed eyes?" she asked.
Luz blinked; "Cursed eyes? I've never heard anything about that. But going by your eye and hair colour, and the fact you don't have magic of your own, I'm guessing you're in the same boat I was."
Amity frowned; "You mean she was born without magic, like you were?"
"Yep." Luz nodded, remembering her mother's story of her birth. "I'm guessing you're actually a half-angel?"
Silver nodded, still surprised. Hunter was just as surprised as he said; "We were always told that she had to hide her face, because if another angel besides Uncle saw her red eyes, they'd call her cursed and kill her. Uncle always said he was breaking a taboo by taking her in and caring for her. I always covered my face too, because it was a tradition of the Golden Guard, and because I wanted to support my sister."
Luz barely stopped herself from snorting; she'd never heard of any taboo surrounding red eyed angels! Her Mami and Rasiel had never said a word about anything like it, not even when mentioning that Luz had been unusual for having hazel eyes before her awakening as an angel. She suspected it was another of Belos' lies or delusions…
"I don't know anything about a taboo. If you really are a Half-Angel with a parent from Crest Kindness, then the other parent must have been a Witch or Demon, and like me you were born stunted, so your eyes and hair are like theirs. I had my Papi's eyes and hair colour before I came to the Isles and unlocked my powers." Luz explained. "I'm guessing you're related to Belos somehow?"
Silver nodded once again, and then signed to Hunter; "I'm going to tell them everything. Please help translate."
"Are you sure? You don't owe these rebels anything!" Hunter scowled, glaring at them.
The girl just smiled in response and nodded her head, then signed; "Two of them told you their stories too, so you could understand why they rebelled. Maybe if I tell them mine in return, they'll understand why we are loyal to Uncle, despite his flaws."
Hunter frowned, not liking it, but also not arguing; this was his sister's decision. "Alright… with you out of magic and me tied up, we can't escape anyway… I'll translate for you."
"Thank you, Big Brother." Silver smiled sweetly, before turning back to Luz and the rebels, and began signing, with Hunter saying the words aloud beside her.
"My name is Lucy, and like you said, I was born as the daughter of an Angel from Crest Kindness, my mother, and a Wild Witch of the Boiling Isles, my father." the newly introduced Lucy signed, making Luz gasp.
"Mother was related to Uncle Belos, though I'm not exactly sure how, and he tried to warn her frequently that she shouldn't be with a Wild Witch, after all the crimes they'd committed against angels. Father didn't know Mother was an angel you see, but she'd fallen in love with him all the same, and they had a child together. For three years, I was raised by them with Mother hiding my angelic nature along with her own. Uncle said I was cursed with red eyes and stunted wings because of Mother's sin of loving a Wild Witch…"
Luz and Amity both scowled, while King muttered darkly under his breath and Katya looked like she really wanted to smack Belos. Even the usually pleasant Steve has a look of anger on his face upon hearing that.
Silver continued signing though, seemingly lost in her own world as Hunter reluctantly continued translating.
"Uncle turned out to be right of course. I was cursed, and shortly after I turned three years old, Father learned the truth. I messed up and revealed my wings to him and he realised what Mother and I really were… he attacked us and murdered Mother. He'd have murdered me too if Uncle Belos hadn't come to my rescue, but he was too late to save me completely. I don't know what Father did to me, but when I woke up in Uncle's castle, I'd lost the ability to speak and all of my memories… if it weren't for Uncle Belos, not only would I be dead, but I'd also never have known what happened."
"Wait a moment, are you saying you don't actually remember any of this?" Amity asked.
Hunter answered for her; "Neither Lucy nor I remember our pasts. We both know our families were taken from us by Wild Witches, and we were taken in by Belos. We're related to him, though I'm not sure exactly how…"
"We're grateful to him. His illness makes it hard sometimes, but he cares for us. He raised us, trained us, and gave us a home and a family after we lost our original ones. He saved our lives! We know he must seem evil to you, especially you Luz, but he truly does want what's best for us all! The Titan has big plans for us, and Uncle Belos is the one who'll guide us through those plans!" Lucy signed with a smile, even as she still looked weak and sickly.
Luz (who was looking almost as weak and sickly even with Katya's help) found herself frowning severely; so that was why these two were so devoted to Belos! Neither Hunter nor Lucy felt like bad people to Luz, but they were definitely on the wrong side and Luz feared they were being lied to.
King clearly thought the same as he carefully climbed onto Luz's shoulder so he could whisper in her ear; "I'm not the only one who isn't buying this, right? Her looking like you, being from the same order and even having a similar name? It feels way too creepy! And her entire past is a story that Bonehead told her? Nuh uh, I don't believe it for a second!"
Luz nodded subtly as she whispered back; "I'm with you on that last part. Her name is probably just a coincidence, but the rest is definitely weird. Belos probably lied to manipulate her into being his loyal servant!"
She briefly wondered why Belos would even need her if he already had another angel in the form of Lucy, but then she realised that Lucy being stunted like Luz had been originally probably meant she was useless for his Day of Unity plan. If he needed uncorrupted Angelic Magic, then a magicless Cherub wasn't gong to be any good.
Amity leaned in to whisper; "You don't think she could actually be related to Cassiel, do you? She's not far from our age, which means she would have been born only a year or two after Cassiel disappeared. Could she be Cassiel's daughter and Belos kidnapped her somehow?"
Luz hummed in thought, then turned back to Lucy (who'd been silently watching them whisper); "Does the name Cassiel mean anything to either of you?"
Hunter and Lucy exchanged looks, then both shrugged and shook their heads. It looked like Belos had never mentioned her to them, so if she really had been Lucy's mother, the poor girl didn't know it.
Before any of the rebels could question the pair further, Lucy groaned and flopped forward, having to use her hands to catch herself and avoid face-planting the ground. She had grown paler and her eyes were becoming bloodshot as she broke out in a cold sweat. Hunter gasped in horror as he knelt beside her and noted the poor girl's laboured breathing and exhaustion.
"Is she sick too?" Katya frowned, coming to kneel beside the girl and treat her. Lucy may technically be an enemy, but she was still just a child! Katya couldn't ignore her if she needed help.
"No, she's out of magic! Uncle Belos didn't want her leaving the castle, so he hasn't given her any recently, so she's been surviving off of what was in the staff I gave her! But she used it all up!" Hunter explained urgently.
Luz, King, and Amity all frowned; just like Luz did before she came to the Demon Realm, Lucy needed magic from someone else to survive since her wings couldn't produce magic on their own to sustain her.
"She shouldn't be declining this quickly! She actually looks like she's about to die!" Amity cried.
"The staves we use are made with Artificial Magic. It can keep her going, but it doesn't work as well as proper magic!" Hunter explained urgently.
"So it stops the drain on her life force but doesn't actually restore it like real magic would." Steve frowned; "Can't she take some magic from your Palisman Staff?"
Hunter shook his head, beginning to really freak out; "Our artificial staves are designed so Lucy can absorb magic from them. We tried to do something similar with Flapjack, but it didn't work!" he looked to Luz with a pleading expression; "But you! You can save her! We heard the reports about you giving magic to the Owl Lady, Lilith, and Whispers! You can give Angelic Blessings! Please, give one to Lucy! Just a little to keep her alive!" he begged.
"Are you crazy!? Why would we help you? If we gave her magic, she'd just turn around and use it to try and capture Luz!" King argued.
"She won't, I swear!" Hunter pleaded, getting down on his knees in front of Luz; "She still needs a staff to actually cast magic, even with magic inside her!"
Luz knew that was true; when she'd been a stunted Cherub receiving blessings from her Mami, she'd still been unable to cast spells, and even giving Rasiel a blessing hadn't allowed him to cast without his wings. Giving Lucy some magic wouldn't let her fight back against her and the Rebels.
"Kid, I know you're worried about your sister, but Luz is really sick remember! Any magic she gives to Lucy is magic she can't use to fuel her body as it fights off the Mold! It would seriously worsen her condition!" Katya said, feeling sorry for the two teens but unwilling to risk one of her allies (and her mentor's precious niece) for the sake of an enemy.
"Would I die if I gave her a small blessing?" Luz asked seriously.
Katya grimaced; "No… but you'd feel a lot worse and even a tiny use of magic after that could leave you without enough to fuel your body at all, and that really could kill you!"
The moment Katya confirmed Luz would survive the blessing, Amity knew what her beloved was going to do. Hunter wasn't so sure though, and bowed his head to Luz with tears in his eyes; "Please! I swear that I'll take her home and leave you in peace! We'll retreat immediately and won't bother you again without a direct order from our Uncle! Just please save my sister! I-I can't lose her!"
Luz answered by allowing her Arch-Angel wings to flair out behind her as she conjured a ball of white and gold flames in her hands. The ball was as big as Luz could make it without risking her life by using too much magic, and the strain of creating it caused Luz to pale and collapse to her knees too, the glow of her wings dimming a bit. Still, she smiled and shuffled closer to Lucy so she could offer the blessed flame.
"Here. Just touch the fire and you'll feel better. It won't hurt, I swear." Luz said softly, even as her friends sighed with exasperation and Hunter looked like she was offering them the world. Lucy weakly looked up at the flames, uncertainty in her eyes. She lifted her hand to touch them, but hesitated.
Luz rolled her eyes; "There's no strings attached." she said, promptly pressing the fire into Lucy's hand; "I could never leave someone to die when I could do something about it. I was always going to save you."
She was being totally honest too; even if she knew there was a risk she could die, Luz wouldn't have been able to stop herself from trying to heal Lucy. She was an angel after all, and she liked to help people!
Both Hunter and Lucy gasped as the flames immediately engulfed Lucy in white and golden light. The most invigorating sensations flowed through Lucy's body as the flames burned and slowly sank into her skin, filling her wings and veins with the holy fire of Luz's magic. It felt so different from Belos', who'd always just had her drain magic from his staff; that had felt cold and stinging, like a needle being pushed into her heart to fill it with a burning sensation, while Luz's blessing felt like, well, a blessing!
Once the flames had fully sunken into Lucy's body, her skin regained its healthy colour and her little cherub wings had a soft glow to them. With a sigh of relief, Lucy was able to get back to her feet and begin stretching her body, feeling better than she had in years! Her throat, her wings, and her heart all felt pleasantly tingly too! It was wonderful!
Hunter looked ready to weep with relief as he tried to hug her without his arms, only succeeding in putting his head on her shoulder; "Sis! You're alright!"
"I am." she signed with a smile, before giving her brother a proper hug. She then helped Luz get back to her feet, though Amity and King both rushed forward to pull the weakened Arch-Angel back into their embrace, while Steve and Katya watched Lucy warily to make sure there was no funny business. Lucy made no attempts to stop them, and merely bowed her head to Luz.
"Thank you so much. After all the trouble I just caused you, you'd have been within your rights to let me die." she signed.
Luz, feeling awful, merely smiled and waved her off; "You're welcome. I was happy to help. Besides, we're both angels from the same crest order; that basically makes us family by angel standards! Plus I have a soft spot for the bad but sad boys and girls."
Lucy giggled while Hunter flushed; "Do you have to come up with the most annoying nicknames for us?" he whined.
"Considering she just saved your sister's life, I wouldn't complain." Amity smirked, making Hunter pout. Inwardly, Amity was actually relieved Luz had saved Lucy; the youngest Blight would have felt responsible if Lucy had died because she used up all her magic while fighting her!
Steve, who'd been quiet for the last few moments as he was moved by the sibling love, finally spoke up again; "So what do we do now? There's no Titan Blood here so our mission is basically a success. Should we head back before Kikimora and the coven get here? They can't be that far away now."
"We still need to wait for Rasiel to get back." Katya said, before noting the hole in the ceiling; "If only Rasiel had noticed that when he scouted this place out earlier, then he wouldn't have needed to go looking for an escape route!"
"Everyone makes mistakes; even ancient Seraphim spirits!" Amity said as she helped put Luz on her back again. Now that she'd used up more of her magic, Luz really needed to sleep if she was going to recover enough to fight off the Mold, so Amity decided to let her rest on her back. Besides, she enjoyed carrying her adorable girlfriend around! "But what do we do with these two when he gets back? Should we take them prisoner?"
King immediately nodded in agreement with that plan, while Steve and Katya weren't so sure. Taking Lucy captive would mean Luz would need to keep her alive with blessings, which would become an unnecessary drain on her magic. It would also mean Belos didn't have to provide those blessings, which would make life easier for him. On the other hand, taking the two elites prisoner could let the CATTs get some valuable intel and rob Belos of his two best assets.
Seeing them thinking about their fates, Hunter quickly said; "Look, I promised to take my sister and leave if Luz saved her. If you unbind me and free Flapjack, I swear we'll leave without trying to fight or anything like that!"
"You're okay with failing your mission and coming home empty-handed?" Katya asked.
"No, but it's better than not coming home at all." Hunter retorted.
Amity eyed the boy for a moment (she was avoiding looking at Lucy, as seeing a Luz-like face staring back at her made it harder for Amity to think rationally), and eventually said; "I say we let them go. It may not be the best move strategy wise, but it'd prove we're better than Belos!"
In truth, Amity was also worried about taking the two back to the Owl House or Digale Island, and then them escaping somehow. If that happened, then Belos and his coven would know about the CATTs' hideout, and potentially learn that Darius, Eber, and Mason were all traitors, on top of the releasing of the Petrified Witches he believed to be dead. Considering members of the CATTs had quite a few escapes from the Emperor under their belts, Amity wouldn't underestimate Hunter or Lucy's ability to match that feat.
"I agree with Hermosa." Luz said sleepily.
Hunter and Lucy both looked delighted, but before the adult rebels could make the final decision, they heard the sound of a roar coming from the hole in the ceiling above them. Having a sinking feeling, Katya hopped on her staff and flew up to glance through the hole and immediately gasped as she saw dozens of airships from the Emperor's Coven circling overhead, as well as a larger airship with the sigil of the Oracle Coven on the balloon, and Kikimora riding atop Princess alongside it.
Kikimora spotted her and grinned; "There's one of the rebels now! That beam of magic brought us right to them!"
Katya gulped and dived back down into the cavern; "We've got trouble! The EC is here! Amity and Lucy's clash showed them where we are!"
"Oh no! We're not in a position to fight right now!" Amity cried. Luz was down for the count and she was pretty winded too! Steve and Katya had seen better days as well! King was probably the only one fit for battle, and there was no way he'd be able to take down all those scouts and oracles, especially with Kikimora and Osran on their side!
Steve, as the leader of the team, decided to act; "Little Dude, whip me up a couple of those healing glyph combos." he said, looking to King.
The young Titan immediately handed over his entire stack; "Here! They're complicated so I can't make more on the fly, so make those ones count!"
"You got it! Amity, take everyone else back the way we came! See if you can find Rasiel too! Katya and I will hold off the enemy!" Steve declared, using an earth spell to launch himself up to Katya's staff, then using a pair of healing glyph combos to restore himself and Katya back to full physical health. The two then flew out through the hole in the roof and began an aerial battle with the entire fleet of airships.
They should have been outnumbered and easily overwhelmed, but not only did they have a lot more manoeuvrability thanks to riding an agile staff and not a cumbersome airship, but they also had the unexpected help of the Carbuncles, who came running out from their dens to climb up the walls and out of the cavern, where they began casting illusions and summoning up winds with their crystal horns. They were clearly unhappy with the Emperor's Coven encroaching on their homes and were not shy about sharing their displeasure! Their magic also interfered with the magic of the Oracles, further limiting their forces.
Still, Steve and Katya had no hope of actually winning and could only hold the enemy off for a short time, so Amity began carrying King and Luz towards the exit from the lake's cavern.
"What about us!?" Hunter cried, "Please, if Kikimora catches us like this, we're dead!"
"Relax, you're coming with us! Do NOT make me regret this!" Amity said seriously, snapping her fingers to release Hunter from her slime binding. She then summoned Ghost to her hand, releasing Flapjack and allowing Hunter to wield him once again.
With his Palisman back in his hand, Hunter seriously considered grabbing Lucy and making a break for it, but after Luz saved her life, he knew his conscience wouldn't let him, so he instead grabbed Lucy's discarded cloak and put it back on her, hiding her wings with the concealment stone in the clasp, then conjured a new temporary mask for her, just in case Kikimora got a look at her. This proved to be the right decision too, as an instant later Kikimora and Princess managed to slam down into Eclipse Lake through the hole in the roof, getting past Steve and Katya by sending waves of subordinates in to act as distractions.
From atop her Clasping Amphithere, Kikimora glared imperiously down on Hunter and Lucy, as well as the others, before looking around at Eclipse Lake. Parts of it were still glowing thanks to the magic eruption earlier, but the lack of any obvious Titan Blood had Kikimora's eyes narrowing.
"So, the Titan Blood is all gone!? That fool Osran predicted we'd find a source of it if we came here, but there's nothing at all! I'll be sure to report his failure to Emperor Belos!" she ranted.
Luz, Amity, and King all gulped; had Osran's prediction been about King!? He was technically a source of Titan Blood after all! Thankfully no one else present (not even Steve and Katya) knew that fact, so King was probably safe so long as Luz was close to him and able to stop Osran or another Oracle from scrying for his blood.
While they were worried about that, Hunter whispered to Amity; "Pretend you're my prisoner."
"What? Why!?" she whispered back indignantly.
"Because then I can claim I caught you and hopefully keep Kikimora off your back! Then you can "escape" when I take you out of here!" Hunter replied, not taking his eyes off of Kikimora, who had now turned back to him.
"Hunter…" Luz began, only for him to cut her off.
"I'm repaying you for saving Lucy. Besides, it would be bad for my sister and I if Kikimora got the credit for capturing you." he hissed.
Kikimora narrowed her eyes, seeing him whispering; "So, I finally caught up with you, Golden Guard! And your little partner is here too! Wonderful!"
Hunter brandished his staff (which he hastily concealed as a regular artificial magic staff using an illusion); "Kikimora! You almost killed me with that stunt of yours earlier! Thankfully for you, my partner and I managed to capture the Angel and two of her fellow rebels. We'll be returning them to the castle with them now; don't get in our way!" he said imperiously, before adding; "Unless you want me to tell the Emperor about your actions earlier!"
"Why wouldn't he tell him anyway!? That little creep tried to kill him!" King muttered darkly.
Lucy began to sign and Luz translated; "That's business as usual among the upper ranks of the Emperor's Coven. Without hard evidence, it's one person's word against another's and Uncle hates to be disturbed with such things. Kikimora has tried to kill each of us at least a dozen times. Hunter's threat is just to make her angry enough to be reckless."
As if to illustrate Lucy's point, Kikimora responded with a high-pitched growl and a flung spell. Hunter smirked and swatted it away with his staff, then flashed towards Kikimora, trying to smack her from Princess's saddle with an electrified strike from Flapjack. Princess protected her Mistress by raising her wings to block the swing, then flicking her tail at him, forcing him to flash between the fingers of her tail hand to escape. Kikimora spun around in her saddle and shot a ball of red and purple fire from her fingers right where she anticipated Hunter would flash too, and while she was ever so slightly off, the fireball did singe Hunter's cloak as it passed by him.
In response, Hunter flashed above Kikimora, then ripped off the cloak and tossed it, still smouldering slightly, over her head. She used the claws on her head to tear it apart and free herself, but the distraction had bought Hunter enough time to land on the back of the saddle and spin his staff to draw a spell circle and cast a powerful lightning spell down on both Kikimora and Princess.
Kikimora's ever-loyal mount protected her by shielding her with its wings, even as it roared in pain from the lightning. It's convulsions caused it to fall forward into the lakebed, making Kikimora roll off and hit the ground with an "Oof!"
Hunter smirked and conjured a quartet of spears, aiming to pin the little demon to the ground by piercing them through her sleeves and pant legs. His plan worked perfectly, at least until Kiki turned her head enough to let the hand on the back of her head open up and grab one of the spears, pulling it out of her sleeve and freeing a hand. She immediately used this hand to toss another fireball at Hunter, who swatted it aside while Kikimora got the chance to free her other hand too. With her arms free, she swiftly drew a large spell circle with both hands, creating a massive blood-red fireball that she tossed at Hunter at high speed.
His eyes widened slightly as he just barely flashed out of the way in time, then returned fire with some arcing lightning that homed in on the spears that still pinned Kikimora's legs. The lightning arched between the spears and jumped into Kikimora herself, making her scream and convulse. Princess, recovering from her own shock, roared and spun around, whipping its tail at everything in the lakebed. It aimed high enough to avoid hitting Kikimora (and King), but Hunter was knocked off his feet, and Amity and Luz ended up on the ground too when Lucy dived and dragged them down to safety.
They all quickly stood again, only to find that the spears had been broken by the tail whip too, freeing Kikimora, whom Princess picked up with her tail hand and deposited back in her saddle.
Kikimora pet the dragon's head; "Good work, my pet! Now hold still as I finish this gilded brat!" she ordered, stretching her body to draw the biggest spell she could in order to fire a massive red blast of pure magic directly at Hunter.
Seeing it coming, Hunter expertly twirled Flapjack and returned fire with the biggest stream of lightning he could manage, aimed directly at Kikimora. Their spells came ever closer to colliding, and everyone in the lakebed braced for the aftershocks until…
"HALT THIS NONSENSE!"
The sudden roared command made everyone in the cavern flinch, and Hunter and Kikimora's flung spells were both shot off course. However neither spell hit anything, as they were both suddenly sucked into a purple crystal ball that appeared in mid air between the two EC members. The crystal ball sparked with the magic it had absorbed, then fired it down into the ground in the middle of the lakebed, creating a glowing crevice right in the centre. Both Hunter and Kikimora looked up, the former with surprise and the latter with anger as Osran appeared, slowly descending into the cavern on a levitating book. Hunter and Lucy recognised it as the book he was always carrying around, though enlarged to be big enough to stand on.
"What is the meaning of this!? Why do you both fight each other when the Rebels are outside causing chaos!?" Osran demanded, his voice magnified with magic.
Kikimora sneered; "I was dealing with the brat who has interfered with and sabotaged our mission, whilst keeping me from capturing the Angel for Emperor Belos!"
"Liar! My Partner and I captured the Angel, her Dog, and the Blight girl! You were just trying to steal our accomplishment!" Hunter snapped.
Amity, deciding to see if she could get Kikimora in more trouble, innocently added; "And that was after she repaid you saving her life by trying to kill you, which let us briefly take you captive."
Kikimora glared hatefully at the two teens, while Osran looked thunderous; "You would dare defy the Emperor's will by sabotaging our mission with your petty vendetta!?" he growled at Kikimora, a surprising amount of strength in his wizened voice. He lowered himself all the way to the lake bed and stood between Kikimora, Princess, and the others, stepping off his book and shrinking it back to a normal size.
"Remember Kikimora, you were sent to lead the Emperor's Coven, but I was sent to lead you! Do not think to act so brazenly again!" Osran threatened, putting his foot down firmly.
"If you are here to lead, then why don't you lead our soldiers in defeating the rebels!? Or are two witches too much for you?" Kikimora goaded.
"Two witches and an entire colony of Carbuncles, which renders any Oracle Magic that relies on our spirits useless!" Osran corrected; "We are being outmanoeuvred which is precisely why I came to get you and your pet to assist us!"
Kikimora opened her mouth to retort once more, but something unexpected stopped her in her tracks.
Suddenly, the ground began to rumble beneath their feet, and large cracks began to form in the lakebed. Beams of light began emerging from the cracks, and the fragments of blood vessels that had been glowing began to swell and pulsate, almost like they were alive. Hunter and Amity frowned as they looked away from Kikimora and Osran and noticed the ground beginning to turn soft and spongy like mud, then both yelped and staggered as the shaking grew more violent and black liquid of some kind began leaking out from the lake bed. At first, they all thought it was Titan Blood but quickly changed their minds as they noticed the colour. Kikimora sneered at the stuff and had Princess take her back up into the air so it wouldn't get on them, while King similarly clambered back onto Luz's shoulder. Some of the liquid was on his feet though, and when Luz got a good look at it, she recoiled.
"That's Titan Bile!" she exclaimed; "Don't let it get in your system! You'll go on a rampage!"
The others all paled, and Osran once again got onto his giant floating book and began to hover above the slowly rising pool of bile, which was beginning to fill the lakebed. Amity and Hunter tried to get on their staves to do the same, but their feet had gotten stuck in the rapidly softening lakebed, and they couldn't pull themselves out properly thanks to the ever-worsening shaking. Lucy even lost her balance and nearly fell face first into it, only catching herself by grabbing her brother, who pulled her up and onto his back to keep her safe.
Finally, to make a bad situation even worse, one of the pulsated blood vessels burst and splashed blue Titan's Blood into the black bile, mixing the two liquids together. Hunter and Kikimora gasped, each wanting to get some, but it mixed with the bile too quickly and the whole lake began to glow. The rumbling grew worse as large spikes of white bone began to emerge from the lake bed, and more cracks opened up that released bursts of some unknown gas, causing the lake to bubble in places. As one of these white bone spikes rose from the lake beside him, Hunter grabbed onto it with Lucy still clinging to his back, and she in turn reached down and grabbed the collar of Luz's coat, dragging her and King into the air. Since Luz was also affixed to Amity's back, the pink-haired girl was pulled free from the mud as well, though Lucy squeaked in pain from all the weight she was forced to carry with one arm, only succeeding to keep her grip thanks to pure adrenaline.
"What's going on!?" Amity cried.
"Bone, Blood, Bile, Earth, and Breath… all the humours of the Titan are coming together here!" Luz gasped out as the liquid beneath them began to spiral and glow, forming a maelstrom.
"Eclipse Lake is supposed to be a Primordial Wellspring, but I thought it went dormant even before the blood dried up!" Hunter said in shock.
Lucy began to sign one-handed, and Luz translated since Hunter was preoccupied; "The spring has been re-awoken somehow!"
Osran, who was floating closer to the teens, commented; "That pillar of magic earlier… whatever caused it must have also pumped enough magic into the dormant wellspring to cause it to start flowing again!"
Amity and Lucy exchanged looks; their fight had reactivated the wellspring and got the Titan's humours flowing back in again!? This was their fault!? Or had Osran redirecting Hunter and Kikimora's last spells been the final tipping point?
"We need to get out of here, before the rumbling causes a cave in!" Amity exclaimed, trying to orient herself so she could start flying with Ghost.
Before she could, Osran flew closer and expanded his book a bit more, creating enough space for all the teens. He flew beneath Amity and called out to Lucy; "Release the Angel, Young Lady. I'll catch her and Miss Blight, and we can all get out of here together."
Lucy didn't need to be told twice; she let go of Luz's coat and the trio of Luz, Amity, and King fell onto Osran's book. Amity immediately pointed Ghost at Osran, but he just wagged a finger at her; "None of that, Miss Blight. If we fight on here, the book will burn and we'll all go tumbling into the Wellspring! Belos wants the Angel alive and I have no interest in abandoning a child, so respect your elders and sit their quietly." he ordered like a stern grandfather.
Amity blinked in surprise, but seeing as Osran was focusing on helping Lucy and Hunter onto the book as well, she decided not to comment and simply turned Ghost back into cat form to show her agreement, though she kept her guard up. Once Hunter and Lucy were safely on the book, Osran nodded approvingly at Amity as he said;
"I never thought I'd see the day that a child of Odalia Blight would be reasonable! The apple must have been practically thrown from the tree in your case!" he chortled.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Amity replied as Osran began controlling the book so it would rise out through the hole in the cave roof.
It was a slow process, since the book was technically overloaded, but Osran wasn't about to abandon any of his passengers. Amity was mentally preparing for what would happen when they got outside; if they could rendezvous with Steve and Katya, they might just be able to fly away before the Airships could give chase, letting the rebels escape.
Unfortunately, certain people had a different plan…
Kikimora, still flying atop Princess, watched as all her problems floated on one extremely flammable platform. She could get rid of the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel in one go, as well as that tiresome old goat, Osran! Plus she'd get her revenge on Amity Blight for that trick earlier! The only downside would be the loss of the Angel… Unless she acted fast!
Ordering Princess to fly forward, Kikimora shot two spells at the group with expert aim. The first was a spell she'd learned to get more use out of the Abomaton Mk I's, and when it hit the abomination slime that Amity was using to keep Luz securely on her back; it caused the slime to expand and then burst like a balloon, sending Luz and King flying off of the girl's back. They ended up being launched towards Kikimora, where Princess's tongue lashed out and caught Luz, while King clung to his sister's leg. It also sent Amity smacking into Hunter, causing Ghost and Flapjack to fall off the platform and towards the maelstrom below. Flapjack tried to catch Ghost by the scruff of her neck, but then Kikimora's second spell hit. The second spell hit Osran's book and immediately set it on fire, rapidly turning it to ash and causing Osran, Hunter, Lucy, and Amity to plummet into the maelstrom, with a chunk of burning ash also hitting Ghost and Flapjack, causing them to fall into the spiralling wellspring.
"NO! AMITY! EVERYONE!" Luz screamed, struggling weakly against Princess's tongue around her waist. She was still too drained and sickly, but King wasn't! He quickly clambered up her body and tried to fire off a fire glyph at Kikimora, but she was faster and shot him with a bolt of magic, knocking off Luz with a scream of "WEH!?"
Luz screamed again as she saw her brother hit the Primordial Wellspring and begin being spun around inside it along with the others. They were being spun around and shaken up by the persistent tremors so much that neither Hunter nor Amity could summon their Palismen to them so they could fly out, seemingly dooming them all to drown.
Kikimora watched with satisfaction; "Even without the Titan Blood, I have the Angel and my enemies get to die horribly! I'd call this a success!"
Luz grit her teeth, but she didn't have time to waste on the hateful little monster! She knew that every spell she cast now would drain her energy to the point that she might not have the strength to fight back against the Mold that infected her, but if she did nothing, her beloved, her brother, and a fellow angel would all die, not to mention another teenager and an old man who'd just tried to save her life! She would not allow that!
"Sorry Miss Dragon, but I've got no choice!" Luz cried, creating a light blade from her hand and slicing off Princess's tongue. The dragon screeched in pain and Luz fell into the Wellspring too, using vines as she fell to lasso everyone inside it together. She tried to fly with them, but even at full strength she wasn't capable of lifting so many people with physical fitness alone, so she instead plummeted fully into the Wellspring and erected a barrier around them all, ensuring they wouldn't drown.
However, now trapped inside this spherical crystal barrier, Luz and the others could do nothing but spin around helplessly before finally reaching the centre of the Maelstrom and sinking deep into the murky depths. Luz, who struggled to retain consciousness after using three spells in her terrible condition, held King tightly in her arms and spread her wings to try and embrace everyone else in the barrier, before there was a flash of light, the sound of shattering crystal as Luz's barrier broke from her lack of strength, and they all found themselves once again engulfed in the blood and bile of the Primordial Wellspring. This was the last thing Luz experienced before passing out entirely, leaving her and the others to an unknown fate.
[Sometime Later…]
Amity Blight felt like she'd just been put through a Human Washing Machine as she slowly regained consciousness. Her body was sore and she felt exhausted, and her clothes were soaked in a noxious mix of Titan Blood and Bile, which stank to high heaven. Not only that, but she felt uncomfortably warm and could feel the sun on her face as she began to open her eyes. It was far too hot for the Knee, so Amity looked around blearily, sitting up and trying to process what was going on and where she was.
She seemed to be in some kind of large circular pit, like the cavern of Eclipse Lake only without the cave roof above her head. The ground beneath her was hard pale stone of some kind, and only a short distance away was some kind of lake filled with an extremely dark blue liquid, which occasionally bubbled as jets of gas escaped from inside it. The gas smelled just like the gas that had been emerging from Eclipse Lake when it was going haywire, and the smell of the lake was just like Eclipse Lake as well! Amity looked at the stone beneath her feet and wondered if it was Titan Bone, and the earth beneath the lake was Titan Earth. If it was, then this lake was another Primordial Wellspring! And an intact one too by the look of it.
The youngest Blight briefly wondered how she got there, before looking behind her and gasping with joy as she saw Luz and King passed out just a short distance away. Osran, Hunter, and Lucy were all lying nearby as well, and everyone but Luz were slowly stirring awake.
"Ugh, what happened?" Hunter groaned, rubbing his head as he got back to his feet; "I feel like I got chewed up and spat out by a Slitherbeast!"
"Nope, but we did get swallowed and spat out by Eclipse Lake! Now I don't know where we are." Amity said to him, rushing over to Luz's side to check on her, since she was the only one not getting up yet.
Lucy hopped up a moment later and stretched, before realising the mask Hunter had made for her was gone, exposing her face to Osran. The old Head Witch took one look at it, then hummed curiously; "Ah, so that's how it is. I had wondered why Belos insisted you stay masked. You're another angel, aren't you?" he said, still laying on the ground.
Lucy began signing, and Hunter translated for her; "Yes. You mustn't tell anyone!"
Osran waved off their concerns; "I know how to keep secrets. In truth I've long suspected it; I once tried to use my magic to see your face, but none of my spirits would allow me to. I suspected you either had a salt-lined mask or some connection to the Divine Realm."
The old man then began to try and get to his feet, his old bones creaking and groaning as he did so. The moaned in pain, especially as his knees and back cracked and sent him flopping back onto the ground; "Well, that's unfortunate." he complained.
Lucy hastily hurried over to help him up, while Hunter searched around and found Flapjack and Ghost, waterlogged but otherwise okay. He picked Flapjack up and placed him on his shoulder to rest, then petted Ghost in thanks, as the Cat Palisman had helped protect Flapjack by holding onto him in the Maelstrom. She purred her thanks, then ran over to her mistress.
"Is everyone alright?" Hunter asked.
"I'm too old for such rough treatment! But I'm alive at least." Osran complained.
Lucy smiled and signed to her brother; "I'm fine. Actually, I feel great! I haven't had this much energy in years!"
It was true too; the girl had a bounce to her step and a bright smile on her face. She looked healthier and more energetic than Hunter had ever seen her! She was usually shy, demure, and timid when not in battle, but here she was looking almost like an excited child!
"I wonder if you absorbed some Titan Magic from the Wellspring? Luz supposedly unlocked her own magic thanks to the Titan's blessing, so a dip in the Wellspring could have refuelled you too." Hunter commented.
At that moment, King finally got up and shook his fur to get the residual blood and bile off of him. "Gross, I'm gonna need to take a bath now! That Kiki creep really hates you guys!" he complained; "She almost killed you and dragged us down too!"
Hunter scowled; "She won't get away with it either! By nearly killing both Luz and one of the Head Witches, she almost sabotaged the Day of Unity! Uncle won't be able to ignore that!"
"We need to find out where we are and how to get home before reporting her though." Lucy signed.
"Indeed. Our first order of business should be getting out of this pit and finding out where we are. Kikimora destroyed my book however, so we'll need to rely on your Palisman, as well as the young lady Blight's." Osran said.
However before they could begin flying out of the pit, Amity screamed out to them; "Help! We need help! It's Luz!" she cried in a panic.
King immediately ran as fast as he could over to where Amity was cradling the still unconscious Luz, followed swiftly by Lucy and Hunter as Osran hobbled along behind them. When they reached Amity, the reason for her panic was obvious; Luz looked completely dreadful! Her breathing was laboured and her cheeks were flushed even as the rest of her skin had gone deathly pale. Every breath seemed to be painful for the girl, and as Hunter gingerly leaned down to feel her forehead, he gasped and recoiled at how hot it was.
"This is bad! The symptoms of the Mold are getting worse!" Hunter said urgently.
"She has the Common Mold?" Osran questioned.
"Yes, but she accidentally made it a lot worse by using a lot of healing magic on it! She stopped before the Mold itself could develop into a terminal illness, but between giving a blessing to Lucy and casting magic to try and save us from the wellspring, she's used up all her body's strength and now she can't fight off the sickness!" Amity cried, desperately using some ice magic to try and cool Luz's fever.
Osran frowned and began checking the unconscious angel's vitals. He couldn't use most of his magic on her thanks to her angelic nature, but he was old and experienced enough to know a few mundane methods that were similar to human methods. He checked her pulse and found it weak, then opened one of her eyes to see it rolled back and bloodshot. He then looked inside her mouth and cringed at how red and raw it looked, before finally having Lucy help Amity shift Luz into a sitting position so he could put his ear against her back.
"Her heartbeat is weak and it sounds like she has fluid in her lungs. Combine that with the fever and the young lady may truly die if she doesn't get treatment fast." Osran said gravely.
King and Amity gasped; "No! We need to save her!" the former cried.
"Dang it, Katya and Steve were left behind at the Knee along with Rasiel, and we don't know where we are! How are we supposed to get help!?" Amity asked.
Hunter switched Flapjack into staff mode and got on, along with Lucy; "Let's get out of this pit first. Once we know where we are, we can head to the closest settlement where they should have some medicine."
With no other choice, the others agreed. Osran got on Hunter's staff alongside Lucy, while Amity lifted Luz carefully onto her back while getting aboard Ghost, and having King sit on her shoulder and apply ice glyphs to Luz's head to keep her temperature at a reasonable level. They then flew up out of the pit, finally getting a good view of where they'd ended up.
Stretched out before them was the giant hand of a Titan, still largely covered in purple flesh-turned-earth. It was just a hand though, and they could see four fingers curled up into the air, each a monolith of white bone with some small amounts of flesh still clinging to the tips, like the snow caps of a mountain. Off in the distance was a massive number of Titan skeletons too, all apparently uninhabited; like some kind of Titan Graveyard. However the Titan Hand they'd appeared on did appear to be inhabited; old sail ships could be seen docked along the coast in several places, and fields had been cultivated in the palm. A small village with a prominent tower could also be seen in the centre of the Titan Palm, and some kind of platform had been built off the coast, connected to the rest of the island by a long bridge.
Amity looked down beneath her and saw that the pit they'd flown up out of was formed inside the stump of the Titan's missing fifth finger; the index finger. She had no idea where it had gone, but it had left behind a plateau of bone full of holes, one of which was the pit that contained the Primordial Wellspring.
"Another Titan Island!? How the heck did we end up here!?" Hunter exclaimed.
King stared at the hand in stunned silence, while Amity answered him; "We learned from the Fire Temple that Primordial Wellsprings can act like portals to each other. When we fell into it and got sucked in, it must have spat us out of another connected Wellspring. This place either has to be another active Wellspring of the Boiling Isles Titan, or considering the surroundings… one of it's bonded Mate's."
Hunter, Lucy, and Osran all gaped at her; "This hand belongs to the Titan's mate!?"
"Yeah… the Lost Titan." Amity said, before looking at King's face.
He was tearing up slightly as he stared at the hand beneath him; "Mama… This is my Mama Titan's other hand." he whispered in a tiny voice.
"Oh King…" Amity whispered back. She dearly wished she could comfort him, but she was afraid that it would clue the other three in that something was wrong. Seeing King upset could expose him as a Titan, especially with numerous Titan skulls in the distant graveyard, which could potentially make them notice the resemblance to King's own skull. Them finding out he was a Titan would be a disaster, and today had already been enough of a disaster! In fact, Amity wondered if it was still the same day? It had been early evening when they reached Eclipse Lake yet it looked to be around midday at the moment. Had they been passed out for that long, or was this new island somewhere far away enough that the sun looked to be in a different position?
"This is the discovery of the century! Another Titan!" Hunter exclaimed; "And the mate of our own Titan too! I wonder if the Emperor could speak to them too if he came here?"
"Who cares about that right now!?" Amity scowled. She then pointed to the village; "This place is inhabited, which means they might have medicine for Luz!"
King, remembering his sister, snapped out of his funk and nodded in agreement with Amity; "Let's go and see them!"
Osran and Hunter nodded, while Lucy gestured for Hunter to fly closer to Amity. Once they were side by side, Lucy took the clasp off her cloak and handed it to Amity, much to her confusion.
"Your concealment stone?" Amity questioned.
Lucy nodded and began signing, while Hunter provided a translation; "This isn't the Boiling Isles so there's no telling what their attitude towards angels is here. Lucy's cloak can cover and hide her wings even without the stone, but with Luz unconscious, she can't hide her own. The concealment stone will do it for her."
Sure enough, Lucy's Silver Sentinel cloak kept her wings out of sight even without magic (the concealment stone was only there in case the cloak got damaged), and she wasn't wrong; if the Boiling Isles only liked Angels because of Belos' lies about them serving the Titan (and more recently, Luz's heroics) then there was a good chance the people here would hate and fear them still!
"Thank you." Amity said, handing the clasp to King so he could carefully use it to tie Luz's hair into a short ponytail. Her wings disappeared under the illusion immediately, showing the stone worked. Luz's hair was still white of course, but that alone wouldn't out her as an angel, so the others felt she was as safe as she could be.
With that done, they began flying towards the village at top speed and touched down just outside before rushing in on foot. The village was quite different from any on the Boiling Isles; it consisted mostly of huts that had been made either from the bones and hide of giant monsters, or the shells and remains of massive turtles. The village was also largely arranged into a crescent moon shape, with a simple wooden fence around it and a stone archway as the entrance. Inside the crescent was a large white tower covered in spikes, with a golden metal sun near the top. It was strange and primitive compared to what the Boiling Isles residents were used to, and something about the tower gave King the creeps.
As they entered the village, Osran called out; "Excuse us! Please, one of our companions is very sick! We are in need of assistance!"
Slowly, the residents of the village emerged from their huts, and began to crowd around them, anger in their eyes. If that alone wasn't enough to make their little group nervous, their appearances where. King's eyes widened on shock and horror as he looked at a sea of people with skulls just like his. The villagers all looked to be Titans like King, something that made Amity gasp in surprise; they had skulls like King's, with differing horns and fangs, as well as fur and similarly clawed hands beneath thick robes and other clothing that was quite foreign to the Boiling Isles residents. However King knew the truth and remembered the warning given by the final message left to him by his godfather Zachael;
"skilled hunters capable of trapping and killing a Titan and wearing their skulls like grim trophies."
Osran, Hunter, and Lucy looked between these people and King, believing he was one of their species of Demon, while Amity saw King's horrified expression and whispered; "These guys aren't actually young Titans, are they?"
King shook his head and squeaked out; "Titan Trappers!"