He hurried as fast as his old bones would let him, heading back out of the tunnel, where he found Hunter and Lucy waiting outside, looking down at the massive drop from the tunnel entrance to the ground far below. They both saw him hurrying towards them, and Lucy began to sign while Hunter opened his mouth to translate. Osran cut them off however; "No luck. No Titan Blood on the Island at all, but Elder Bill was kind enough to tell us how to leave. Back down to the ground now." he said hastily.
The old man hesitated as he stepped onto the rickety walkway to the drawbridge back to the elevator, but now wasn't the time for hesitance. He took a deep breath and powered on, grabbing the wrists of the two teens and pulling them along to the elevator.
"But what about our mission, Head Witch!? We need that blood!" Hunter protested.
"The Emperor will understand. There is none here, now let's go." Osran ordered.
Hunter looked ready to protest again, desperate as he was to be useful to his Uncle, but Lucy caught the look on Osran's face and realised something was up. She silenced her brother with a serious look, and Hunter finally caught on that something was off. He stopped protesting and the three immediately boarded the elevator and yelled up to the Trappers manning the crane, telling them to lower them back down to the ground. Before they could descend though, Bill and his guard came out of the tunnel and shouted after them.
"Hold on a second! We're coming down too! Hold the elevator!" Bill yelled.
The Trappers obeyed and Osran scowled, but forced a neutral expression on his face as Bill and his guard boarded the lift too, and Hunter took to his staff again so they weren't going over the weight limit. Then the lift did start to slowly descend, with Hunter leisurely floating down beside it. It was somewhat awkward, with Bill complaining about Osran racing off and almost making him have to wait, but his complaints were cut off by the familiar chime of a scroll. Bill frowned and drew a spell circle, summoning his scroll.
Upon seeing who was calling, Bill scoffed; "Tarak? What does he want; I thought he was having King help train the others!"
He finally answered, and thanks to his old age and poor hearing, he had the call on speaker, allowing Osran, Lucy, and Hunter to hear every word.
"Tarak, what do you want?" he yelled testily.
"Grand Elder, we've been deceived! King is not a Titan Trapper at all! He's a Titan! He repaired the talisman, made contact with the Huntsman, then broke it with a foul magical roar! He then destroyed our armoury with a gout of flame!" Tarak yelled.
Bill, his guard, and Lucy all gasped in shock, while Hunter almost fell off Flapjack from sheer surprise. Only Osran didn't react with surprise, which Bill took notice of.
"You knew!? That scrying spell… you found that little Titan Brat with it, then lied about it!" Bill snarled, pointing the claw of his Titan fur glove at the old Oracle. Hunter and Lucy looked to Osran, expecting a denial, but he offered none and merely backed a step away from Bill and the guard. They were in a precarious position, trapped with two Titan Trappers on a small platform that was still dozens of feet up in the air; hardly a good spot for a fight, especially since Osran couldn't use his magic with Lucy so close by, and Lucy couldn't use magic at all right now. Thankfully, Osran had a plan, though a quick glimpse off the side of the elevator to the ground below had him doubting it.
"I did know." Osran said, deciding it was pointless to lie; "And I will not allow you Heretics to slay the Son of the Boiling Isles!"
He then flexed the clawed hand on the back of his head and had it slash it's index finger (the claw of which he kept especially sharp for attacking those who snuck up behind him) through one of the ropes of the elevator. The elevator platform was held up by four ropes, so cutting one was enough to make it tilt sharply, causing Bill to stagger over before he could complete the spell circle he'd been drawing. His guard caught him before he could fall off the platform entirely, while using his over hand to hold on to one of the other rope supports. Osran then shouted to Hunter;
"Catch us, Boy!" he yelled, before closing his eyes and leaping off the elevator. He screamed in terror, but Hunter flashed under him and caught the old man easily, before settling him onto the back of Flapjack. Osran gripped the staff with two hands then threw his remaining two around Hunter's waist to make himself feel secure. With his eyes still closed, he then shouted; "Jump, Girl!"
Lucy didn't need to be told twice; she leapt off the edge towards Hunter, but she was suddenly snagged by Bill, who used some kind of strength-enhancing spell to turn his arm extremely thick and muscular, allowing him to grab her cloak and hold the girl easily. Lucy squeaked in surprise, and ended up hanging in mid-air by her cloak.
"Oh no you don't! We won't let you Titan loving freaks escape!" Bill sneered, his mask falling off to reveal his true face beneath it, exactly as Osran had seen in his vision. With his other hand, he brandished the Blessed Knife and tried to pull Lucy up so he could either slash her or threaten her to make Osran and Hunter surrender. With no other choice, Lucy untied her own cloak and promptly plummeted through the air, leaving the cloak in Bill's hands. Hunter was quick to flash beneath her and catch her on his staff, seating her behind Osran, but thanks to her cloak now being removed, her little cherub wings were clearly visible (noticeably glowing with a soft silvery light).
"She's an angel!" Bill snarled; "Gut her and mount her wings on my mantle!"
"She's not the only one!" the Guard added; "She has the same face as the girl Denasu took to be healed! That girl has to be an angel too!"
"I should have known! Three of Belos' Titan-loving lackeys show up with one of the lost children? That was always going to be a scam!" Bill seethed. He then yelled into his scroll (which was still active and floating beside his head); "Tarak, go get the other angel and put her down!"
"She is already fleeing, Grand Elder. She fled the Healing Hut with her girlfriend. Rakusa is trying to pursue her!" Tarak yelled back.
Hunter, Lucy, and Osran gained fearful looks; they needed to help Luz and the Baby Titan! Hunter prepared to flash them away so they could search for the pair, but first he moved over to the central rope that the elevator's four (now three) support ropes were attached too. Once he was close enough, Osran slashed his claw out to cut it, sending the elevator plummeting to the ground. Unfortunately, since the elevator had kept descending through all this drama, Bill and his guard didn't have very far to fall, and the Trappers waiting at the bottom after seeing the first support rope be cut had already prepared spells to catch them and soften their fall. Seeing Osran cut the ropes also revealed to all the mining Titan Trappers that the trio were now hostile, so they all began firing spells.
Hunter began to dodge the spells and prepared to race off towards the village in search of Luz and/or King, but that problem soon solved itself as Luz came running towards them, looking a bit winded as she chased something no one but her could see. Amity was following close behind, while a young Titan Trapper was a bit further off, calling out to the girls.
"Miss Luz, please! You're not yet fully recovered! You're straining your body!" the boy yelled. "Miss Amity, please stop her!"
"I'm trying, but I-"
Amity's words stopped as she spotted the scene ahead of them; the Trappers firing spells at Hunter, Lucy, and Osran, while several of them stood amidst the rubble of the elevator. She paled, especially as she noticed Lucy's wings were visible and several Trappers were turning their attention to Luz. They began to draw spell circles, so Hunter cried out to Luz;
"LUZ! THEY KNOW WHAT YOU AND KING ARE! RUN AWAY!"
Luz looked away from the Earth Cassiopeia Apparition she was chasing, and her eyes widened as she saw several Trappers firing spells towards her. She yelped and dived out of the way, unable to return fire since her magic was still impaired by the medicine she'd drunk. Instead she decided to take off the Concealment Stone and let her wings be seen, before flapping them hard and taking to the air to give her more room to avoid the next volley of spells. The Earth Cassiopeia took to the sky too, flying up towards the mines within the middle finger (her own finger, Luz realised) and pointing at a seemingly random spot amidst the expanse of white bone. It was near the tip, just a little below the mine tunnel Hunter and the others had explored, but there was no obvious paths or mine shafts at that spot, confusing Luz.
"How do I follow!? I can't get in!" she exclaimed, watching the apparition float through the bone of the finger and then turn and poke her head back out.
"LUZ! WATCH OUT!" Amity cried.
Luz snapped her attention towards her beloved just in time to see a barrage of spells aimed straight at her. She dodged to the side and the spells slammed into the Titan Bone directly where the apparition had entered the finger, causing several large cracks to appear. Luz smirked; now she had a plan!
She turned to find Hunter and Amity, who were both now flying around above the Trappers and dodging spells, while returning fire with whatever they could. Amity had created a few dozen Abominations, all of which were huge thanks to the extra magic provided by a Power Glyph (Mason had provided some to all the CATTs for use in emergencies), and were now fighting the horde of Trappers, led by Tarak and Bill.
"GUYS! COME UP HERE!" Luz yelled. "I'VE GOT AN IDEA!"
They didn't need to be told twice; Amity left her abominations to fight off the Trappers while she flew up, and Hunter simply flashed up to where Luz was. Once they reached her, Luz pointed to the cracked bone; "I need to get through here, but I don't have the magic to blast it! If we stay up here, we can make them shoot us then dodge the blasts!"
As if to punctuate her point, a volley of spells came at them, and they all flew out of the way, causing the cracks to worsen as they hit the bone wall behind them. They then flew back in front of it to bait more spells.
Lucy signed; "Why do you need to get in there?"
"No idea! But a vision of Cassiopeia, the Titan whose hand we're flying over, led me here and wants me to find something inside!" Luz explained.
Amity raised an eyebrow, while the Coven Trio all gaped at her. Luz was seeing visions of the Titan!? They also finally took notice of Luz's Raiment, which exposed her right leg and the new Glyph Marking that had appeared there since their last encounter in the desert. The last time such a thing had appeared on her, it had been when the Boiling Isles Titan blessed her, so was Luz receiving more blessings from other Titans too!?
Before they could question her, they all dodged another volley of spells, and the bone wall finally broke open a little (Titan Bones were extremely sturdy after all). The tiny gap revealed a small natural cavern, and as Luz peeked inside, she paled. It was absolutely full of Fool's Blood! It must have been formed from an old blood vessel that had since decayed!
Luz immediately yelled for them all to fly lower, as a single stray spell going in the cavern and setting off the Fool's Blood could bring the entire mine down on their heads! Having a whole finger falling down on them could devastate the rest of the island! She said as much to the others when they gave her questioning looks, though Osran then made a good point;
"Perhaps this is the will of the Titan? Perhaps she led you here to destroy the Rising Mines and bring it down on the Titan Trappers, who defile her body by living on it while hunting her kind."
"Maybe you're right, but there are innocents living on this island too! Children who don't deserve to die just because they were born into a clan of Titan killers!" Luz countered.
The other teens agreed immediately, and while Osran muttered about the angel girl's naivete, the Apparition of Cassiopeia went very still for a moment. Then, right before Luz's eyes, the Apparition split into two, one still made of bronze earth and minerals, while the other was made of silvery winds. The one that was made of wind flew up much higher, stopping just beneath where the Titan's finger tip began to curl inward towards the centre of the hand.
Luz watched curiously, wondering what she was trying to tell her, but she didn't have long to think; as she soon heard an even greater ruckus happened far below. There was a lull in the spells being thrown at her and the others, and Luz saw the reason for this; King was racing towards them, blinking in and out of visibility as he used his invisibility glyph combos to hide himself from a horde of pursuing Titan Trappers. They were firing spells at him, which would get close enough to break his concentration and make him visible, forcing him to use another invisibility glyph combo to disappear and then suddenly change trajectory, until the Titan Trapper's spells began zeroing in on him again.
"King!" Luz cried, "Over here!"
The little Titan heard her, his eyes widening as he immediately raced towards her. The Trappers previously targeting Luz's group were now focused on him too and began pelting him with spells, forcing him to dodge and evade barrages from two sides, leaving him unable to concentrate on his invisibility. Luz scowled and began flying towards him, shouting to Amity and Hunter as she went; "Cover me!"
"Got it!" they both yelled back, with Amity reclaiming the slime of her abominations (which had been splattered by Trappers already) and reforming them to keep some of them busy, while Hunter allowed Lucy and Osran to climb into the unearthed cavern so he could jump off his staff safely and use Flapjack to send a blast of lightning down on the Trappers. These two attacks gave Luz the opening she needed to swoop in and snag King, before darting back up high and reuniting with the others.
"Luz! Are you okay!?" King asked, looking his sister up and down even as she carried him to safety.
"I still feel rough, but it's nothing I can't deal with. The main problem is I can't cast spells right now." Luz said. "What about you? Are you hurt?"
King winced as he held out his paw, which had a cut on it that was leaking blue blood. He'd taken a glancing blow from one of the Titan Trapper's spells as he'd been fleeing, not long after they'd caught up with him again following his destruction of the armoury. He really wished he'd still had a healing combo, or the time to draw one, but at least it was only a minor injury. Besides, King already had a plan; "I know a way off the island! We need to get to that platform at the end of the long pier!" he said, pointing to platform in the ocean between the middle finger and the stump of the missing finger.
Luz looked where he pointed and frowned; there were already tons of Titan Trappers guarding it to stop them escaping! With only King, Amity, and Hunter able to use their magic, it would be next to impossible to break through their ranks!
"Even if we fly, we'll be swarmed and taken out as soon as we reach it! We need a distraction! A vision I had might have given me the perfect idea, but I'm not sure what to do!" Luz said, before quickly explaining about the apparitions, finishing up just as they reached Amity and Hunter again.
King listened to everything, feeling a little jealous that he couldn't see his Mom's apparitions. However hearing about what the Wind Apparition had done gave him an idea. He reached into his neckerchief and pulled out an entire stack of paper wind glyphs.
"I've got a plan, but you've got to get the Golden Goof and Amity to help out and do what I tell them to!" King declared, as Luz hastily swerved to avoid another barrage of spells. All the Trappers were aiming at her and King now; or at least all the Trappers who could afford to ignore the abominations and lightning strikes. King told Luz his plan, and while she had her doubts about it, she couldn't think of any other options that would let them escape without essentially wiping out the Titan Trappers, so she bit her tongue and agreed.
With a plan in mind, Luz slapped a couple of the wind glyphs onto the soles of her feet to give her an extra boost of speed, rocketing her back to the others, who all reconvened around the entrance to the small cavern of Fool's Blood. King used an ice glyph to make a large ice barrier to temporarily protect them while he and Luz told the others the plan. Once Amity and the Coven Trio had agreed too, they got to work.
Hunter blasted golden magic at the inside of the ice barrier, shattering it and sending the shards raining down on the Trappers down below, some of whom were beginning to try and climb the sides of the Titan's finger using ropes and the mining walkways. Amity ordered her abominations to hold them off, and the gooey creatures soon knocked all the Titan Trappers out of the mines and off the finger in general, then kept them out while Luz and Amity began to fly around the finger, slapping wind glyphs down wherever Luz indicated. These spots were actually chosen by the Wind Apparition of Cassiopeia, with Luz just showing Amity where they were. Once the wind glyphs were in place, Luz had Amity cast a spell on her to amplify the sound of her voice, allowing her to shout down to the Titan Trappers.
"Attention Titan Trappers! We are about to destroy the Rising Mines! If you don't want to die, you better run!" Luz ordered.
A few Titan Trappers actually did turn and flee back towards the village, but most remained (and decried those fleeing as cowards). That would soon change though, as Luz carried King to the ideal spot in the sky, before he fired a Sonic Roar at the Titan's Finger. He aimed the roar so it would hit the cavern of Fool's Blood AND one of the wind glyphs, setting up dual chain reactions. The Fool's Blood shattered, and began to rapidly degrade and decay, and as it was connected through rotting veins to all the Fool's Blood in the mines, the entire finger began to shake, crack, and crumble away. Under normal circumstances, the finger would have curled inward and landed fully on the palm of the island, destroying the Titan Trappers' village, but the wind glyphs saved them. Activated by King's roar (or another wind glyph nearby), they all produced a mighty gale of wind that blew the Titan's finger towards the sea with enough force to actually tilt it. The combination of the natural curl of the finger making it fall towards the palm and the wind making it fall towards the sea resulted in the whole thing simply crumbling down on the coast and mining camp, sparing the village but destroying the mine entirely.
The Titan Trappers began fleeing as soon as they realised what was happening, and thanks to Amity's abominations keeping them at bay, they were all able to escape in time… at least, almost all of them. Two Titan Trappers had been delayed; Bill, who had tripped and was slow to stand due to his old age, and Rakusa, who had stopped to help his Elder. Both were likely to be crushed by the collapsing finger, so Luz acted.
King screamed for her to leave them, but she instead tossed him towards Amity (who had been flying away alongside Hunter and the Coven Trio) and dove down into the rain of collapsing bone and rising dust. Despite feeling ill due to her sickness and being without spells due to the medicine, Luz flew with all her might and just barely managed to swoop in and grab Rakusa and Bill before they were crushed by a large chunk of bone. The two were too heavy for her to fly with properly, and the falling rubble and dust made it nearly impossible for Luz to navigate safely anyway, so she instead used her leftover wind glyphs to create a cyclone around them to keep the rubble from landing on them. This cyclone was only strong enough to keep the smaller chunks away however, so Amity came flying back on Ghost, using pink light spells to blast the bigger chunks while King sat on her shoulder and destroyed the chunks she missed with sonic roars.
Due to the sheer enormity of the collapsing finger and the speed that the Fool's Blood decayed, it ended up taking almost a full five minutes for it to fully fall apart and for rubble to stop raining from the sky. In that time, Luz's wind glyph ran out of juice, covering her, Bill, and Rakusa in bone dust. The dust cloud was so thick in fact that Amity and King had to fly back up and out, where they were joined by Hunter, Lucy, and Osran on Flapjack as they took in the devastation.
The middle finger was basically destroyed, leaving only a stump like the index finger. Evidence of the destroyed mines could be seen amidst the destruction in the form of broken walkways and shattered lamps, while the sea beside the finger was wild and unruly from all the bone that had just been dropped into it. The mining camp was also destroyed, though little evidence of its existence could be found since it was buried by rubble.
"This is insane… we just defaced a Titan's body!" Hunter exclaimed, "Is this sacrilege!?"
"No, Mom wouldn't have shown Luz that cavern of Fool's Blood if she didn't want this." King replied.
Hunter and Lucy looked at each other with wide eyes, the latter mouthing the word "Mom!?" with an incredulous face. Hunter shrugged helplessly, still trying to wrap his head around the fact he'd once fought and almost beaten up the son of the Boiling Isles! Heck, he'd called him a bird and a weird dog; he was partly afraid he'd be cursed, and like Osran, he was trying to wrap his head around Belos' actions towards the young Titan, though he was more inclined to make excuses for his uncle.
Neither Amity nor King really cared about that at the moment though; they were more concerned about finding Luz amidst the dust! They began shouting her name, while King began drawing more paper wind glyphs to clear the dust.
Meanwhile, Luz coughed as she flapped her wings to clear some of the dust around her. This let her see Bill, who was quietly muttering foul curses about her and King, while Rakusa helped him to his feet. The young Trapper noticed Luz and while his eyes were full of fear for the angelic girl, he also nodded gratefully, acknowledging that she'd opted to save his life rather than leaving him to die. Luz returned the nod, and both teens recognised that all debts between them had been squared; Luz saved Rakusa's life after he'd helped save hers with the medicine, and now they owed each other nothing.
At that moment, Luz heard Amity and King calling her name and opened her mouth to shout back to them while flapping her wings harder to clear the dust a bit more, only to pause when she saw the familiar Earth Apparition of Cassiopeia walking towards her out of the dust. The Apparition bowed her head to Luz, then pointed at something hidden in the dust, while gesturing for Luz to follow her. Obediently, Luz went in the direction she pointed and soon found something she hadn't expected; a large orange crystal of some kind that had been unearthed by the collapse of the finger.
The crystal looked somewhat like amber, but with a darker orange hue that was almost a metallic bronze. It was just barely transparent enough for Luz to see through it, and as she reached out and touched the crystal, Luz found it to be smooth and cool to the touch. It took her a moment, but she recognised it from a lecture in her construction track classes; it was Sun Glass. Sun Glass was a rare mineral formed when a Titan's flesh is flash-fossilised (usually by intense heat), instead of decaying naturally into Titan Earth. It had the same properties as Titan Earth, but with the density and strength of Titan Bone. In powdered form, it was a highly sought after ingredient in potions and medicines, while it was also valuable for use in crafting enchanted jewellery and tools. The crystal, which was large enough for the Owl Beast to fit inside, would be worth over 100 million snails!
As Luz took a closer look, she noticed blue powder surrounding it; the residue left behind by decayed Fool's Blood. It made her look curiously at the Apparition; "Is this what you were trying to show me before? Was it in that cavern?"
The Apparition nodded and said in a broken voice; "-y -o-n. -s- -t -i-e-y."
Luz didn't understand, but the Apparition then phased into the crystal and some kind of shadow appeared inside it. Luz couldn't make out what it was, and with no magic to cast a spell, she picked up a couple of pieces of rubble and used one to scratch a simple light glyph into the other, before tapping it. She pressed the resulting light into the crystal to try and get a better look at the shadow inside, but the entire crystal suddenly flashed with a bright orange light that had Luz reeling backward, blinking hard.
She rubbed the spots from her eyes, then gasped softly as something new, yet familiar, was etched into her mind's eye. A glyph!
Luz gasped in shock and delight, and immediately looked to the ground and began using a piece of rubble to draw the glyph she'd just seen into it. Once the symbol was complete, Luz tapped it and cheered with joy as a large clump of earth rose out of the glyph, which glowed with orange light.
"The earth glyph! I found the earth glyph! That was what Cassiopeia was trying to show me!" Luz exclaimed.
"LUZ!"
The girl looked up, once again hearing King's voice yelling for her. He'd shouted her name with a Titan Roar, which cleared some of the dust, giving them a clear line of sight of each other. Luz beamed and waved, shouting to him; "King! I found out what your Mama wanted to show me! She was leading me to a place I could earn the earth glyph! I've got another-!"
Before she could finish her sentence, she felt something grab her wrist and yank her around, forcing her to turn. She frowned as she turned and saw Bill's hand on her wrist, most of his Titan disguise now lost.
"Hey, what are you do-URK!"
Suddenly, all the breath was forced out of her as a horrendous pain slammed into her chest. The girl looked down shakily, and saw the hilt of a knife sticking out of her chest, having just barely missed her heart. A small bit of the knife attached to the hilt was visible poking out of her flesh, showing a black and jagged blade, with swirls of red within the metal, which seemed to emerge from it and waft around Luz's wound like a bloody miasma. She tried to breathe, but the blade had managed to stab into her lung, while also sawing through one of her ribs, causing her horrendous pain.
"Die, lackey of the Titan!" Bill snarled, suddenly yanking the jagged blade from Luz's wound. A spray of golden blood accompanied the blade, splattering Bill's cruelly grinning face. The red miasma of the Cursed Blade lingered around Luz's wound, and the girl fell to her knees. She struggled to take a single, ragged breath as the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, and Bill lifted a foot and slammed it into her chest, thankfully missing the wound by a fraction of an inch. Luz ended up on her back, and King and Amity both screamed.
"NO! LUZ!"
"RRAAAAGGGGRRRR!" King then bellowed, releasing not a wave of sonic power but a beam of pure magic energy, which struck Bill square in the chest and burnt a hole through several layers of skin just as he'd been raising his Blessed Blade to cut Luz's throat. Bill screamed in agony, and Rakusa surged forward, but to everyone's surprise, he wasn't rushing to help the Elder, but rather Luz. He immediately tried to put pressure on Luz's wound, and King very nearly blasted him too, only for Luz to weakly raise a wing to shield the Trapper boy. Seeing this calmed King for a moment, and both he and Amity fell to their knees beside Luz, Amity resting the girl's head on her lap and King gripping her hand.
"Luz! Luz, keep your eyes open, okay! Stay with us!" Amity cried, as Hunter, Lucy, and Osran finally caught up, all gasping in horror at the sheer amount of golden blood that had been spilled.
"Big Sis! Come on, you're not dying! You're not allowed to die! King commands it!" King yelled, tears in his eyes. His cut hand was stinging badly as the golden blood on Luz's hand got into the wound, causing a soft glow and a faint waft of steam that smelled oddly sweet.
Luz chuckled weakly at his orders; "I-I'll do my best…" she croaked, struggling to get the words out with a punctured lung.
She then whimpered in pain, and King turned to Rakusa with fury, seeing him trying and failing to cast healing spells; "FIX HER! YOUR ELDER DID THIS! FIX HER!"
Rakusa cried out in fear as he tried again to cast a healing spell, only for the circle to shatter as it was touched by the miasma around Luz's wound. "I-I can't! It isn't working!"
Osran turned his glare over to Bill, and saw the Cursed Blade on the ground near where he'd fallen. He scooped the blade up and examined it, noticing one of the serrated spikes was partially cracked and missing a tiny fragment.
"She has been stabbed with a Cursed Blade. Healing magic won't work so long as even the smallest part of the blade remains in her wound." he said, showing the blade to Rakusa, King, and Amity. The latter two then looked to Rakusa.
"You're an apprentice healer, right!? Can you operate on her and remove the fragment!?" Amity demanded.
"N-No!" Rakusa sobbed in terror, realising the enraged Titan might just kill him for admitting it; "I'm only an apprentice and without magic, and with a wound this bad, a fragment that small, and all this blood? I'll never find it before she dies!"
Bill coughed violently as he sat up, holding his own chest wound; "N-None of you will leave this island alive!"
Amity and King both turned to him, looking ready to kill him where he lay, but Luz spoke up weakly while gripping King's hand with all the strength she had left.
"H-He's just trying to…" she coughed violently, spitting up more golden blood; "… psyche you out. Don't let him make you into the monster…" another cough, and more blood; "… he says you are…"
King began to sob, suddenly reliving the trauma of the Petrification Ceremony and the things he'd learned at Zachael's tomb… someone he loved, someone who was family to him, was dying and he could do nothing to save her. Even if he had a healing glyph combo, it wouldn't work with the Cursed Fragment inside her.
"Luz please! Stay with us! You didn't come all this way to die to some old man and his crummy knife!" King pleased.
Luz smiled and removed her hand from King's grasp, lifting it to touch the side of his face and skull, inadvertently getting blood on it. "I… will… live. I believe… in you… Little… Brother…"
Her eyelids drooped as her eyes began to roll back in her head, and before she could say another word to comfort the others, she passed out from blood loss.
Passing out caused Luz to go limp, and for one awful, heart-wrenching moment; King and Amity both thought she'd died. With disbelief in his voice, King began to gently shake her.
"Luz? Luz, come on, you need to stay awake! Luz! LUZ!"
His sobbing grew louder, and Amity wasn't far behind. "Please don't let this be happening. Titan have mercy; let this be a nightmare!"
Rakusa gingerly raised a hand to the unconscious angel's throat to feel her pulse, very much aware of Amity and King's eyes snapping to him as they saw the movement. He gulped under their intense, tear-filled gazes, and said; "She still has a pulse, but it's weak. We don't have a lot of time." he whispered.
By this point, the dust had begun to settle and the little group were clearly visible amidst the devastation of the collapsed fingers, and the Titan Trappers that had fled earlier began to slowly return to search for other survivors. A group of them, left by one of Bill's two escorts from earlier, spotted the group and pointed their weapons at them.
"There they are! Save the Elder and slay the Titan and his angels!" he yelled, beginning to charge. Hunter and Osran instinctively moved Lucy behind them, while Rakusa looked like he was working up the nerve to try and stop his fellow Trappers, but before any of them could do a thing, Amity stooped and gently kissed Luz's forehead, then shifted herself out from under her the girl's head and stood up, her eyes beginning to glow a brilliant pink as her magic raged inside her.
She looked at Rakusa and the Coven Trio for a moment and uttered the words; "Save her.", her voice echoing eerily due to the magic thrumming through her body. Struck by a primal fear, all of them could do nothing but nod, before Amity looked back to the Titan Trappers advancing on her and waved her hand. Ghost (who had puffed herself up, looking like a feral street cat) turned into staff mode once again, and Amity spun her with one smooth motion, then slammed the base of the staff into the ground. Called by her overloading magic, the earth itself seemed to turn into abomination goo and spread outward, forming a massive swamp-like area that the hapless Trappers marched straight into. They began to get bogged down, sinking into the goo up to their knees and becoming trapped, while skeletal thin abominations began to rise out of it, each one appearing to be a witch-sized Titan Skeleton. The abominations clawed at the Trappers, stealing their weapons and breaking them, or slashing at the Trappers' armour, removing it to reveal their real witch faces underneath. Noticeably, the abominations attacking each Trapper had a skull that perfectly mimicked the skulls the Trapper wore, as if the spirit of the slain Titan was rising up from the grave to drag them down with them. They screamed in terror, and as they opened their unmasked mouths, the abominations began to force their way down their throats, suffocating them into unconsciousness in a hellish display of brutality.
The last of this group of Trappers had finally succumbed to unconsciousness by the time the next few groups appeared, and Amity stared at them, smiling eerily as her pink glowing eyes gleamed.
"Come… If my beloved goes to her grave… so will all of you!" she said, her voice calm and quiet, yet carrying a malice that sent shivers through all but King, who was still staring numbly at the unconscious Luz.
A few of the Trappers cried out in terror and fled from the young witch, but one managed to shake off the fear and yell out to the others.
"She is just one teenage witch suffering a Bile Overload! She cannot hope to match us all! Destroy her and take the Angel's hide!"
That Trapper was rewarded with a full power blast of light directly to his face; a blast that would have almost certainly killed him had he not been wearing a Titan Skull mask. Even the magic resistant bone could not fully resist Amity's rage-enhanced strength however, and it shattered, leaving the Trapper's face burnt and badly bleeding. Sadly, his words had still reached the other Trappers, and they surged forward. Some used their own abomination magic to solidify the abomination swamp Amity had made, while others threw weapons or ranged spells above it, forcing Amity to block with her limited barrier magic or her abomination creations, while returning fire with a mix of pink fire and light spells. She also coated her staff in abomination slime to turn it into a glaive with which she slashed and stabbed at any Trapper who tried to rush her, while also turning a couple of abominations into replicas of herself, staff/glaive and all, who helped keep the numbers in her favour.
However, as powerful as Amity was, especially while overloaded, the Trapper was correct; she was only one teenage girl against a small army. Slowly, bit by bit, the Trappers began to overwhelm her. They were getting closer with every attempt, and Amity's counter attacks were beginning to weaken; something the Trappers took full advantage of. They sent their weaker members in to absorb the damage while the stronger members waited in the wings to rush Amity, retreating again before she could actually harm them. They focused on destroying her barriers and abominations to drain her magic, and with every assault, they grew closer to finally landing a blow on the girl herself.
Hunter growled and turned to Lucy and Osran; "I'll help her! If Blight goes down, we're all in trouble! Focus on helping Luz!" he said, before flashing forward with Flapjack and entering the fray. His help immediately turned the tides again as he rapidly moved through the battlefield, delivering surgical strikes with lightning magic. He focused on the stronger Trappers who were hanging back, foiling their plans to wear Amity down. However, even if Hunter and Amity could keep up their momentum for long enough to defeat the Trappers, it wouldn't solve their main problem which was saving Luz!
Rakusa was trying to cast diagnostic spells to find the fragment of the Cursed Blade inside her wound, but even that counted as a form of Healing Magic that failed the instant the spell came in contact with the cursed miasma. Lucy began signing frantically, but only Luz and Hunter could understand her sign language, so Osran, Rakusa, and King had no idea what she was saying. Not that King was paying any attention at all; he was staring at Luz's face with a haunted expression, as if unable to believe what he was seeing.
Luz was dying in front of his very eyes and he could do nothing. Heck, she already looked dead, and King could do nothing! The world around him began to feel like a hazy nightmare; the frantic words of Osran and Rakusa became a distant echo in his ears, and all his senses became hyper focused on one thing…
His nose was filled with the metallic stench of Luz's blood. His eyes saw only her face, pale and still. His tongue tasted only bile, creeping up his throat. His ears heard only his own heartbeat, pounding wildly inside his chest. And above all else, he felt only the warmth of Luz's blood slipping through his fingers, and her weakening heartbeat as one of his paws remained over her heart, trying with all his might to keep it beating through sheer will alone.
He shakily lifted his other paw, the one that he'd cut earlier while fleeing the Trappers. The cut was still open, but his own azure blood was being kept inside him by a coating of Luz's golden blood… as if his sister was caring for him even in this state. The blood glowed softly where it made contact with his own, and the faint steam released by it smelled sweet and nostalgic, reminding King of a time when he and Luz had spent a lazy weekend baking a cake together, way back before there was a rebellion and Belos and danger around every corner. Nostalgia for that simpler time, where they could just be children, filled King's soul and his paw began to shake as the sight of Luz's blood coating it filled him with another emotion; one he could never hope to describe with words.
But then, sharp, clear, and cold; like a blade of ice, Bill's voice yelled to him over the din of the nearby battle, suddenly snapping King fully back to reality.
"This is what happens to everyone who gets involved with you evil monsters! Titans bring nothing but destruction and death!"
In an instant, the coldness that had been settling into King's body was replaced by a raging, boiling heat; as if his blood was surging like the Boiling Sea. He clenched his cut paw and the wound began to glow gold; a glow that spread into his veins. Bill, Rakusa, Lucy, and Osran all watched with wide eyes as every blood vessel in King's body began to glow a brilliant gold that was so bright that it shone through his flesh and fur, becoming clearly visible from the outside. This spread to his eyes too, which shone a brilliant gold as if he was suffering a kind of Bile Overload. Titan's didn't experience such things however; instead their linked emotions and magic simply raged within them.
It was similar to when King had gone into a rage against Lilith at the Petrification Ceremony, only with gold glowing eyes this time instead of purple. His muscles swelled just as they had back then, only this time instead of him taking a more animalistic, wolf-like posture, his stance was like a lycanthrope; half-humanoid and half-beast. He remained on his hind-legs as his body grew larger and larger, until he was almost the same size and proportions as Luz herself, having long, wiry, and deceptively strong limbs, while the horns and fangs of his skull became longer, sharper, and more feral in appearance. His every ragged, rage-filled breath carried a haunting echo that filled everyone who heard it with a primal fear, and finally, the light glowing in his veins began to fade and focus into two specific spots; his shoulder blades.
With a feral roar, beams of light erupted from his back and out burst a pair of silvery draconic wings, each almost as big as the rest of his enlarged body. The wings flapped fiercely, generating a powerful gale, and both Lucy and Osran noticed that they strongly resembled the draconic wings of Luz's Titan form from back when Belos had infected her with Titan Bile. However King's wings were larger and more traditionally draconic, as well as being a silvery grey colour that was pale enough to be almost white. Strangely, they also lacked the holes that were typical in the wings of a Titan.
Osran had no idea what had caused this strange phenomena, but Lucy noticed the cut on King's hand (which was still steaming) and saw the Angelic Blood around it. "Luz's ascensions were effected by Titan power… maybe King's Titan maturity has been effected by her angelic power in return!"
With incredible speed, King darted towards Bill and grabbed him by the throat, hoisting the diminutive witch up so they were eye to glowing eye. The enraged young Titan squeezed and Bill began to choke and terror filled his heart. For an instant, everyone witnessing the event was sure the old man was about to die, and that was certainly King's intention, but Lucy stopped him. She ran towards him and grabbed King's free claw, making him turn to her with a glare, though looking into a near-identical replica of his sister's face made him pause in his outrage.
Lucy tried to mime something to King, but he didn't understand, so she instead reached into Bill's pants pocket and pulled out the Blessed Blade, which she used to begin carving a message into the dirt.
It read; "Don't kill him. This knife transfers the lifespan of the victim into the wielder; we can use it and him to buy Luz some time!"
King had just enough reason left in him to growl and throw Bill into the ground beside Luz's prone form, making him impact hard enough to break a rib and groan in pain. Lucy then rushed to Luz's side and placed the Blessed Blade into her limp hand, before forcing her to stab Bill in the leg. The Ancient Trapper screamed in agony and his leg began to shrivel up and wither, while Luz's colour became slightly healthier. The blessing of the knife was not healing magic and so it wasn't effected by the curse, not did the Archivist Magic fit any known type of Witch or Demon Magic as it transferred life energy from Bill to Luz. However this also meant that it couldn't heal the wound Luz had suffered, instead only buying her time by giving her life force.
Seeing this, King opened his mouth and growled to Lucy; "Save her! She saved your life! Save hers in return!" he said, a magical echo to his voice.
Lucy nodded sincerely; Luz had risked her health to save her by giving her an Angelic Blessing while seriously ill, so Lucy would do whatever was necessary to return the favour!
Seeing her response, King left Luz in the girl's care, with Lucy immediately putting her hands over Luz's wound to try and stem the bleeding. King then let out a monstrous roar, which struck a paralysing fear into the hearts of all the Titan Trappers right before he flapped his new wings hard and darted through the air towards the Trappers fighting Amity and Hunter. Hunter's assistance of Amity had turned the battle back into their favour, but King's arrival turned it into a completely one-sided massacre.
The instant he entered the fray, King slashed his claws down on the face of the nearest Trapper, effortlessly shattering their Titan Skull mask and carving two gashes into their face. He then roared, blasting an entire crowd with a sonic blast, which then condensed into a beam that burned through the ground and any Titan Trapper it hit. Everything burned by the beam glowed a faint gold for a second, before an eruption of magic exploded out from them like a delayed bomb attack, devastating the Titan Trappers' numbers. King then held out his right hand and an unfamiliar glyph appeared there; a symbol that none of his companions had seen before and which didn't stick in their memories for some reason, fading from their mind's eye like fog on glass. The glyph clad his claws in light magic akin to Luz's light blades though, elongating them into three sword-length beams that shredded through the abominations, barriers, and other constructs the Trappers were trying to use against him and his allies. Like the beam breath, every slice from these blades left behind golden burns that promptly exploded, further diminishing the number of conscious Trappers.
Amity was still on a rampage herself, so easily fell into step with King, the two beginning to unleash combo attacks of immense power. They combined their light attacks to create spiralling beams of pink and gold, which drilled through any defence. Amity crafted King some Titan Bone-like armour with abomination slime to protect him from the few attacks to reach him, while King in turn defended her by roaring at her and causing a golden spherical barrier to appear around her, with four unfamiliar glyphs on its surface… or rather, three unfamiliar glyphs (that faded from memory like the design of King's light glyph) and an empty circle that glowed a dull white.
Nothing the Trappers did could pierce the barrier, and when it was lowered so Amity could counter attack, she conjured a replica of her staff/glaive out of abomination goo and tossed it to King, who immediately began wielding it with his tail as he flew around the battlefield. One of the unfamiliar glyphs appeared on his left hand too and his claws became coated in a black miasma that decayed all it touched, thoroughly destroying the weapons and armour of the Trappers.
Despite the brutality of King and Amity though, Hunter quickly noticed that neither of them were going for killing blows. They'd beat a Titan Trapper within an inch of their life but never take the final step to actually kill them, even after all the trouble and emotional pain they'd caused the pair. He didn't really understand the reason for their mercy (he hadn't killed any of the Trappers either, but his lightning magic was fairly good at incapacitating them without the need for lethal force), but he did have an odd sort of respect for it.
The majority of the Titan Trappers' weaker members had been defeated not long after King joined the battle; leaving only the stronger members who didn't rely solely on either magic or weapons, but could fight well with a mix of the two, and who were trained in techniques specifically designed to fight Titans. Without these techniques, King would have decimated them in the first few minutes, but with them the fight dragged on longer than it otherwise would. Lucy paid little mind to this however, as she, Osran, and Rakusa tried to figure out a way to save Luz's life.
"The bottom line is that we need to remove the fragment of the Cursed Blade." Osran frowned, raising the knife and examining it closely; "But how do we do that? Perhaps Rakusa could operate and search for the fragment while we used the Blessed Blade to sacrifice the lifespans of defeated Trappers to keep Luz alive?"
Rakusa shook his head vehemently; "No! I won't help you if you sacrifice my people! Bill is one thing; he caused this whole mess by betraying someone who'd just saved our lives, but the rest of my people shouldn't die for his mistakes! The destruction of our mine and armoury has damaged our community enough!"
Osran scowled at the boy, but seeing as he was no medic and had no way of summoning one, he had no choice but to concede. Lucy hadn't liked that idea anyway; she hated taking lives (which is why she'd only stabbed Bill's leg and not his heart).
The Trapper boy then suggested; "What about your magic? Word in the village before all this happened was you had access to Oracle Magic! Could you not use that to find the fragment in her body?"
This time it was Osran's turn to shake his head; "Oracle Spirits will not use their powers on or near Angels or Divine Beings. Undiluted Divine Magic can exorcise them, and most Oracle Spirits linger in this world because they fear moving on, so they won't go near Miss Luz, or the young lady here for that matter." he said, gesturing to Lucy.
Rakusa frowned fearfully; "Can't you at least try and force it? If Miss Luz dies, I'm afraid that Titan will really kill us all!"
That was a very real fear; in the event Luz died, only Amity would be spared King's wrath. Lucy, Hunter, and Osran could be partially blamed for Luz being in this predicament to begin with, considering Luz would never have gone to Eclipse Lake, or been left magically powerless if not for them.
With a grimace, Osran reached into his robes and pulled out one of the dozens of Oracle Stones he lined his clothes with. It was one that was new; a spirit he'd only recently captured and tamed, and which he could afford to lose if Luz's divine nature forcibly exorcised it. Focusing his magic into the stone, Osran willed the spirit to emerge only to find it resisting his call as he was accustomed to around Luz or Lucy. With a scowl, he used even more magic, but no amount could coax the spirit out of the stone of its own free will, so Osran was forced to use his magic slightly different. Most Oracles controlled their spirits by offering them magical power as sustenance, but if necessary, they could also use their magic to forcibly control a spirit; it was a form of Oracle Magic that worked ON a spirit rather than by using a spirit, so it wasn't impaired by Luz and Lucy's presence, but it was also clumsy and barbaric compared to most Oracle Magic and thus was no use for things like scrying and predicting the future.
Osran flooded the stone with his magic, forcibly dragging the Oracle Spirit out of the stone. It looked like any other Oracle Spirit, albeit a bit small since it was still weak, and it shrieked and howled and hissed at Osran as it tried to claw its way back into his Oracle Stone. The Old Oracle held the spirit in the grasp of his magic until it stopped making so much noise, then began to speak to it.
"Spirit, I require your aid. The angel before you is infected with something deadly that I must have removed; I require you to find it and either remove it yourself, or at least reveal its location to me so that I might remove it via other means. Do you understand?" Osran said imperiously.
The spirit shook its head in refusal as it continued to shriek, recoiling as far from the two young Angels as it could while still held by Osran's magic. The old man scowled angrily and reiterated his orders; "Enough foolishness! The girl cannot use her magic at the moment, and the other has no magic to use! You will not be exorcised, at least so long as you obey! Refuse to obey and I will seek to have you purged from this world!"
Osran's threat didn't have the effect he'd expected however; instead of responding with fear, the small spirit reacted with anger and a shout of "Lies!"
Just as Oracle Spirits tended to look alike; being bandaged figures with no personal features, their voices all tended to be the same androgynous, raspy voice, and the Small Spirit was no exception. It pointed one long, spindly finger at Lucy and hissed; "There is magic there! I feel it, dim and dark as it is, within her. It settles in her wings and heart and throat… I sense it there! It will grow and brighten! It will be stinging and burning! I will not help! My end will not be amidst Divine Light!"
Osran and Rakusa both stared dumbfounded at Lucy, who could only stare back with puzzlement; she had definitely felt a tingling in her wings and throat since arriving on the Island, but did that mean her magic was beginning to awaken!? Like Luz, had something finally kickstarted her stunted magic!?
Closing her eyes for a moment, Lucy reached deep inside herself. Normally when casting magic, she simply focused on what she wanted and the magic within her (either from her uncle or absorbed from an artificial magic staff) would react with the magic of whatever staff she was wielding to create the desired spell. It was basically no different than the way a witch or angel cast magic; it just had the extra step of needing an outside tool to make it work. With this and the words of the spirit in mind, Lucy reached inside herself to the magic that resided there; the magic that Luz had given her with a blessing. It was different than the strange, almost listless artificial magic of the staves, or the cold and cloying nature of Belos' magic; it was warm and comforting, like a warm summer's day. But there was also something distinctly different about it compared to Luz's pure magic. When Lucy had first felt it during the blessing, it had felt like a comforting massage out in the open sunlight, with Luz's presence feeling like the sun itself… but now it felt cooler and calmer. It reminded her of resting quietly in the shadow of a tree as the sun shone overhead, and the massage-like feeling was replaced by the gentle embrace of a spring wind. It was a shadow of the light, but still carried a feeling that could only be described as holy.
This feeling flooded through Lucy's body, pooling in her wings and heart, and rising up her throat which began to tingle so much that the girl found herself wanting to cough.
Unaware of what Lucy was doing, Osran tried once again to reason with his wayward spirit, opening his mouth to offer great rewards and promises of protection against Divine Magic, but the spirit howled in his face before he could get another word out.
"Do as thou wishes, but I will not risk my existence for a Divine Child!"
With that, the spirit shook off Osran's Oracle Magic (due in part to his shock at the spirit's defiance) and prepared to dive back into the Oracle Stone where it was (relatively) safe from any angelic magic. However just as it was about to disappear into the stone, Lucy's eyes flew open and she suddenly removed her hands from Luz's wound and reached out to grab the spirit's hand. Her hands, splattered with Luz's golden blood, both wrapped around the spirit's long, spindly fingers and she pulled it towards her, holding the hand as if she was praying into it.
The spirit shrieked in fear and surprise, while Osran and Rakusa watched on with curiosity… which became shock for the former as Lucy opened her mouth and words came forth for the first time since losing her memories and old life.
"P-Please!" she rasped, her voice soft and croaky from around a decade of disuse. The magic swirling through her core and into her throat feel odd, and every word was a bit of struggle to spit out, but with each one she managed to say, the next became easier.
"P-Please don't r-run away!" Lucy pleaded, her voice so much like a slightly younger, quieter Luz; "I-I know you're s-scared, but we n-need your help! That girl saved my life, and your master's too! I'll do anything you want; just please help us save her!"
Osran, still wrapping his head around Lucy's newly restored voice, wondered if this development was the result of some combination of Luz's blessing and blood, along with power potentially absorbed from the Wellspring. Lucy was personally certain it was a combination of all three of those factors, but for now all she was worried about was saving the one who had saved her!
The Oracle Spirit paused in its shrieking and its attempts to pull its hand free. It stared silently at Lucy for a moment and began to peer closely at her, almost looking through her to something deep inside. It used its free hand to gently tap a long claw against the girl's hands, getting some of Luz's golden blood on him then lifting it to his mouth, where a long tongue flicked out and licked it. Smacking its nearly non-existent lips, the spirit then pressed the same claw against Lucy's cheek, where she had suffered a tiny cut during all the chaos. It was releasing a trickle of red blood, which the spirit sampled, humming strangely at the taste.
"Same blood, but different blood. Divine Magic… but strange." the spirit uttered softly, leaning its face very close to Lucy. It suddenly made itself incorporeal to slip from her grasp and begin floating around her; "You have Divine Magic, but it is not bright and stinging. It does not burn… yours is cold, and soft, and gentle like the night. There is darkness… stillness of the grave… Not Divine Light, but Divine Darkness… Your magic is not of white and gold… but of black and silver…"
Lucy blinked in surprise; her angelic powers were truly that different? She knew she'd always had an affinity for darkness and its associated magic, but she'd also thought that darkness was the antithesis of Divinity and her original angelic nature. It had been a source of shame for her, and something her Uncle had said was related to her cursed, red-eyed nature… But this spirit seemed to think that her darkness was a part of her Divinity and not in conflict with it!
But that was something to focus on later; for now she had a job to do; "Please, noble spirit; I will swear not to exorcise you and protect you from others doing the same! Just allow Head Witch Osran to use your power to save this angel's life, and I will do anything you ask!"
To the surprise of everyone, the Oracle Spirit actually began to chuckle; a low, scratchy sound that made Osran's jaw hang open, Rakusa shudder, and Lucy smile. The spirit then said; "The Divine Darkness is that of death… it cannot sever the dead as the Divine Light can. Your power will not harm me."
That was another shock for Lucy, but she rolled with it and continued; "But it can protect you, right?"
"Yes… Your magic is lesser than hers, but a Divine's tongue cannot speak lies. You will protect me… we will make the compact."
Lucy opened her mouth to readily agree, but Osran quickly grabbed her and stopped her; "Hold a moment, child! A compact is not a simple thing! It is a blood pact between an Oracle and a spirit, usually only created when an Oracle is far too weak to capture and subjugate a spirit with magic alone! They are unbreakable unless both halves of the pact desire it, and can come at an incredible cost!" Osran looked at the spirit with a sneer; "This spirit is weak; it would never normally warrant a compact!"
The spirit hissed in response, but Lucy just shook her head; "It doesn't matter, Head Witch Osran. We need them to help us remove the cursed fragment from Luz! This is life or death for both her AND us!" she said, looking meaningfully over to the battle raging only a short distance from them. King was roaring like a beast as he battled a pair of massive Trappers, who'd used some form of strength-enhancing magic to make themselves grow much larger. Their size was helping them stay in the fight, but King looked to be toying with them rather than earnestly trying to defeat them.
Osran shuddered at the sight, and with no other options left, he looked to the spirit and summoned a quill and some black parchment; "State your terms, spirit! We will negotiate this compact!"
The spirit smirked at Osran; "My terms are simple… Myself and the anchor to which I am bound will be given into the care of this Dark Cherub. She will sustain my power with her own magic, and will take no action to have me exorcised, nor will she give me orders that might lead to my exorcism at the hands of another! In return, I will take this one time risk of exposing myself to the wounded angel, and after that is done, I will serve loyally. These are my terms… negotiation is not accepted."
That last part made Osran growl, but in truth there wasn't much to negotiate; Lucy would become the spirit's master and sustain it as any other Oracle would, and the only cost was not being allowed to use the spirit on another Angel or Divine Being ever again… Considering such a thing was normally impossible anyway, it seemed like a fair deal.
"I accept your terms." Lucy said immediately, before nodding to Osran. He sighed and prepared to write out the terms, only for the spirit to suddenly snatch his quill and dab its nib into Luz's golden blood.
"Write the compact with this. One written in the blood of a Divine will carry a far greater curse for any who breaks it!" the spirit said with a sinister smile.
Osran scowled, but did as he was asked and wrote on the black parchment with Luz's golden blood. It would have no consequences for the wounded angel; a compact could not effect an unwilling participant after all, but the magic in her blood would seek out and destroy either Lucy or the spirit should they try to break the terms.
Once the contact was fully written out, the spirit bit down on one of its fingers and scrawled something on the foot of the page with its own spectral blood. It was written in the language of the dead, which only the dead could read, but Lucy knew it was supposed to be its name. It was a strange fact about Oracle Spirits; almost all had forgotten their names and identities, yet all could write them in the script of death. Putting that thought aside, Lucy took Osran's quill and then stabbed it into her palm, wincing slightly in pain at the process, then wrote her own name; Lucy of the Emperor's Coven, beside the spirit's. Once both names were written, the black parchment rolled into a scroll by itself and promptly burst into white and purple flames, turning into ash that was inhaled by both signatories. Inhaling ash would normally be very unpleasant, but Lucy felt only rush of power, while the spirit sighed contentedly as its body grew slightly larger.
The Oracle Stone Osran had summoned it from began to burn with a purple flame, then flew from the old man's hand to Lucy, who caught it effortlessly. The flames continued to burn, but they didn't hurt Lucy, who instead felt even more invigorated, especially as the golden blood splattered onto her hand began to burn away and the minor wound she'd given herself when stabbing the quill into her palm began to heal. The flames then spread and engulfed her body entirely for a moment, before disappearing in flash of purple light.
When the flames were gone, Osran and Rakusa could see that Lucy had changed slightly; her red eyes had become a royal shade of purple, and her brown hair had also gained a purple sheen to it. Then there was her little Cherub wings which had grown much larger, though were still not full-sized. They were about the same size as Luz's wings had been after bonding with the light glyph; being just shy of fully matured. Strangely though, they had actually darkened from pure white to a kind of silvery gray, with an iridescent shimmer to them that made them almost shine with a lilac light when the sun caught them just right.
"Child… I believe you've finally ascended out of the Cherub stage!" Osran gasped, admiring her larger wings. Lucy folded her wings in front of her so she could get a better look at them, a radiant smile spreading across her face as she realised Osran was right; she could feel the magic in her wings! She could feel them absorbing the light from above, and even the ambient magic in the air, and converting it into her own unique magic that now pooled inside her heart.
Rakusa conjured a small mirror to show Lucy her new eyes and hair, and as she gazed at her altered appearance, a sudden question filled her mind. The rush of power she'd received had restored her voice, and now her stunted wings were growing again! Was it possible that…?
Swallowing thickly, Lucy raised her free hand and focused on her finger tip. It began to glow purple, and Lucy's heart hammered in her chest as she drew a circle in the air, focusing every fibre of her being onto the effect she wanted. When the circle was complete, Lucy willed the spell to form, and to her unparalleled delight, the shadows at her feet briefly rose up to form a simple black hand, which obeyed her will and waved at Rakusa.
"I can cast spells… Magic, I really have magic! I have magic!" she cheered, almost jumping with joy; "I-I really ascended a bit! I can cast spells! I-I don't need to rely on staves or Uncle's magic! I'm not a burden on Hunter any more! Finally!"
She began to tear up; "Is this a blessing from the Titan?"
Osran and Rakusa had no answers for her, though the former suspected it had as much to do with the Titan-blessed Luz as it did the Titan himself. Before Lucy could get any more overexcited, she shook herself; she would have time for celebrations and questions later! For now she had a job to do!
Throwing her new Oracle Stone around her neck, Lucy channelled some magic into it and her new Oracle Spirit immediately raced to her side, practically embracing her from behind.
"What is your will, Mistress?" it asked, merely out of showmanship since it already knew what she was going to ask.
"Please become incorporeal and phase through Luz's body to find the fragment of the Cursed Blade! Then either report its location to us or remove it yourself if you can do it without hurting her further." Lucy ordered, remaining courteous.
The spirit cackled loudly, then dove into the ground. A moment later, its head appeared from Luz's chest with a smile on its face. It rose out of her, its arm moving slowly until finally, a tiny fragment of black metal, coated in golden blood and thick red miasma popped out of Luz's chest wound. It was tiny; little more than the size of a pencil lead, yet it had caused them so much trouble! If the Blessed Dagger hadn't been draining life force from Bill and giving it to Luz (Bill was unconscious and noticeably shrivelled at this point), then the young angel would be dead and it would all be because of this miniscule chunk of evil metal!
Rakusa didn't waste even an instant; the moment the cursed fragment was no longer touching Luz's flesh, he dove back over to her side and began rapid firing healing spells, focusing first on deadening nerves so Luz didn't go into shock from pain, then closing blood vessels so she didn't bleed to death, before working on repairing the damage done to her lung and ribs, then finally dealing with the muscles and skin. The Titan Trappers were prone to injuring each other with weapons during training, so Rakusa was very well versed in healing stab wounds, even as a "mere apprentice". Once the wound was restored, Luz's breathing became easier and her expression relaxed while her pallor took on a healthier hue; she was still sick from the Mold and would likely take a few more days to get over it after this shock, but at least she was alive!
Once Luz was healed up enough, Lucy felt her pulse and sighed with incredible relief; she was no longer in danger of dying! With a deep breath, she turned towards the fight going on in the distance and screamed with all her might;
"LUZ IS ALIVE! SHE'S HEALED!"
It was the first time Lucy had ever shouted and it made her throat hurt to do it, but her voice (sounding so much like Luz's) cut through the sounds of battle and caused Amity, Hunter, and King to all freeze. They were each high in the air, raining spells or glyphs down on the remaining Titan Trappers, and as one they each turned their heads slowly towards the source of the shout. Hunter was the closest and saw Lucy's larger wings and gasped softly, before darting towards her with his flash spell. He got back to the others first, but before he could even get a word out, King and Amity came racing back too with remarkable speed. They both flew passed Lucy and the others and landed on either side of Luz's still unconscious body, where Amity immediately put a hand to where her wound used to be and felt Luz's heartbeat. King, beginning to release steam from his skin, lowered his head to Luz's and began sniffing gently, before pressing his snout to her neck and feeling her pulse.
The two exchanged overjoyed looks as they received proof Luz was alive, and began nudging her gently to try and wake her up. It took a few moments, but they eventually succeeded and Luz began to stir just as Amity's eyes stopped glowing and King's body began to shrink back to his normal size.
"Hey Amity… Hey King." Luz smiled tiredly; "I'm a little sleepy… but are you two okay?"
"We're fine, Batata. We're just so glad you're alive!" Amity smiled tearfully, hugging her as tightly as she dared.
King did the same; "Don't ever do that to us again! I was really scared!"
"I'm sorry… but I was right about believing in you! Also, what is with those wings!?" Luz grinned, perking up a little more.
King blinked and looked over his shoulder, finding that while he had shrunken back to his regular size (though perhaps he was a teeny tiny bit bigger), his pale draconic wings were still present though massively shrunk down to suit his much smaller body. However they were still sized to allow him to fly, and with a few flaps of his now little wings, King began to clumsily hover in the air.
"I-I'm not totally sure! I guess I hit my next growth spurt?" King shrugged helplessly. Now that he wasn't working on pure instincts, he found flying a lot harder. Thankfully Luz just smiled and gently grabbed him into a hug with one arm, then threw the other arm around Amity. The three held each other for a moment, then turned to thank Lucy, Osran, and Rakusa for helping to save Luz, but as they did they saw the last of the Titan Trappers that could still stand were heading towards them, being led by a limping Tarak, who had seen better days. The man's mask was missing, revealing his real bearded face, which was tattooed to look half dark blue, with a moon on the blue side of his forehead and a blue star on the side without tattoos.
"You all need to go." Rakusa hissed urgently; "They won't forgive you for all the chaos you caused! They'll kill the Titan and the Angels, and probably the rest of you too. Run!"
Amity and the others didn't need to be told twice! The youngest Blight put Luz (who was still holding King) on her back and hopped onto her staff, while Hunter pulled Lucy and Osran onto his own staff.
"What about you? Won't you be in huge trouble for helping us!?" Lucy asked, shocking the others who still hadn't registered that she could talk now.
Rakusa smiled and shook his head; "I'm not a fighter. I'll just tell them you threatened me and forced me to help. Father is best friends with the Grand Elder, so they'll accept it."
He pointed to Tarak, revealing him to be his father. He then whispered; "Run for the portal platform! I don't have a keystone, but one of guards on the platform should! Just keep an eye out for a small stone made of Titan Bone."
Tarak and the others were within earshot now, so Rakusa suddenly pretended to lunge at them; "N-No! I won't let you escape us!" he lied loudly, weakly grabbing at Hunter.
Hunter gave him a look of gratitude, then kicked him lightly to knock the young Trapper away. Amity and Hunter then flew away with their passengers, flying as fast as they could towards the portal platform. They heard the shouts of the Trappers behind them and ignored them in favour of the guards they were currently gunning towards. King jumped onto Amity's shoulders and roared, hoping to fire a beam attack, but it seemed he couldn't use that power, or his personal glyphs any more, so the roar came out as a normal sonic attack that knocked the guards out. Lucy then summoned up her new spirit and asked it to find the keystone for the portal, eventually finding a finger-sized totem of Titan Bone in one of the unconscious guard's pockets.
"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" they heard Tarak shout.
"Too late for that!" Lucy declared, stabbing the totem into a small hole in the centre of the portal platform; "We're going home!"
The entire platform began to glow, and a portal appeared in the sky directly above them. A beam of blue magic shot down from the portal and enveloped all of them, then began to slowly raise them into the sky. They were sitting ducks to spells and spears, but Hunter and Amity (both exhausted but still able to fight), used their own spells to block and deflect the attacks, saving them. There was a flash of lightning as they finally rose up into the portal itself, vanishing from above Titan Trapper Island and reappearing over an entirely different, far smaller island. They began to fall from the sky, until Amity and Hunter's Palismen staves began to float again, allowing them to slowly start flying down to the ground of this new place.
The island they'd emerged over was tiny compared to both Digale and Titan Trapper Islands, consisting almost entirely of a single massive index finger from a Titan sticking out of a narrow spit of land occupied only by trees. The island itself didn't appear to be made from a Titan, while the finger looked like a perfect match for the missing index finger from Titan Trapper Island. The finger also appeared to the source of the portal, which was in the sky directly above where the finger was pointing.
As the group flew down to the ground, Amity looked back up and saw the Titan Trappers through the portal, preparing to follow them through.
"We can't let them through! We need to close the portal!" she said determinedly.
"But how? And couldn't they just reopen it? I doubt that keystone was their only one!" Luz frowned tiredly.
"We need to destroy the finger! I'll bet my good ear that would permanently close the portal!" Hunter said, looking ready to give it a go.
Luz looked worriedly at King; "Are you okay with this? This finger is probably your Mama's…"
King nodded grimly, then shook his head; "I know, and it doesn't matter! We already destroyed one, and it's better than letting those murderers use it! I would have destroyed her whole hand if I could, to stop them living on it! But this'll have to do!"
Taking the deepest breath he could, King then roared at the finger with all his might, creating such a massive shockwave that Amity and Luz had to both help hold King so he was stable and not blowing himself away. The multi-coloured blast rippled through the colossal finger, forming cracks throughout it that caused it to begin crumbling and falling apart. The Titan Trappers that had begun to rise up into the portal found themselves suddenly falling back down on their side (thankfully low enough to avoid dying) and the portal itself destabilised. It shrank into nothing and the index finger came crashing down just like the middle finger had. This time, Lucy protected the group by using her newfound magic to drag everyone down into the shadows for a few moments, before spitting them back out when the dust had settled.
They re-emerged onto the island and looked around at the destroyed remains of yet another Titan Finger, then briefly glanced around for signs of Titan Trappers or other threats that might have made the island their home. They found nothing and after a few tense seconds, they all flopped down on the ground and sighed with relief.
"Finally, it's over!" Amity groaned; "This has been the longest day of my life!"
"Yeah… I'm actually looking forward to the earful Mom is gonna give me about not taking care of myself… at least it's better than dealing with more fighting!" Luz complained, holding Amity and King tightly. King didn't say a word; after learning the true fate of his Mama, talking to one of the people responsible, seeing his sister being stabbed, and then growing his wings and a host of other powers as a consequence of that and her blood, the poor little guy was tapped out! Neither he nor Luz even remembered that Luz had found the earth glyph!
"Uncle is sure to have noticed that Lucy and I are missing now too… In fact, I bet Kikimora has already reported us as dead, along with Osran!" Hunter growled, before smirking; "But she's in for a rude awakening! Extracting blood from the active wellspring was probably too much for her, so I bet she went home a failure! But when we go back, we can report that we stopped a cult of Titan killers, found a real Titan, AND awakened Lucy's magic!"
Lucy smiled softly; "Yeah… I've finally got magic! And my wings are almost good enough to fly with! And I can talk again! Oh, I haven't been able to talk since before I lost my memories! Uncle is sure to be pleased with us!"
Luz, King, and Amity exchanged worried looks; now that King's identity as a Titan was known to the Coven Trio, Belos would know too as soon as they got back! Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do about it; they didn't have the necessary strength to capture and hold the three of them (especially since all of them were tapped out), nor did they have the resources to make an Amnesia Tincture or anything else to erase their memories! The trio began to panic as Hunter and Lucy chattered on excitedly, but King eventually just sighed and shrugged.
"The Emperor was already gunning for us anyway, since you're an Angel and Mom has the portal. I guess this just means Belos will be after me just as badly. It doesn't make that big a difference… but I suppose we should tell the whole rebellion." King reasoned.
Luz blinked; "You're a lot calmer about this than I expected, King."
"It's been a long day… I don't have the energy to get freaked out." King groaned, nestling into Luz's lap.
That was something everyone could agree with as they all went silent for a moment and just rested. None of them had the faintest idea where on the planet they were; they'd gone through the Wellspring on the Knee to Titan Trapper Island, and then from there to this unknown island somewhere else entirely! They had no idea where they were in relation to the Boiling Isles or anywhere else for that matter, and so they had no idea how to get home. All they knew was that they were supposedly a few hours from the Boiling Isles, but they had no idea what direction it was in! They didn't exactly have the energy to go flying off in random directions either, and they couldn't even use their Oracle Spirits for directions since they can't cross salt water…
"I guess we're stranded until we've had enough rest to fly again…" Hunter frowned; "I'm in the best condition, so I'll gather firewood and make a camp before it gets dark."
No one argued, and they all rested while Hunter gathered the necessary materials to make a fire, while also creating a rudimentary shelter to keep any rain out, just in case. Once that was done, they all sat around the makeshift camp and told each other what had been going on when they were all split up; Amity spoke of her brief time with Rakusa watching over Luz, Luz described a portion of her visions (but she omitted the talk of finding and destroying Cassiopeia's heart, and saved the message she'd been given for King by his father until they had some privacy), King talked about his meeting with the Collector, and the Coven Trio spoke of both their talk with Bill and how they'd managed to heal Luz after she was stabbed.
Hearing of how King developed his wings and how Lucy began ascending into a full angel, Amity couldn't help but wonder aloud; "A lot of strange things seem to happen whenever Angelic and Titan Magic come together, Titan Magic caused Luz to ascend, and Angelic Magic made King mature faster too! There must be some kind of connection there."
"You're right… but that's also the second time King grew more powerful because I almost got killed." Luz said with a nervous smile; "The first time was on his island; I almost got skewered by the golems and he unlocked his roar power. Now I actually did get skewered and he grew his wings! The day I actually die, he's gonna become some kind of Super Titan!" she half-joked.
King frowned and poked her cheek with his claw; "Don't even kid about that! You're not allowed to die! You're an Arch-Angel that can live 10,000 years, right? Well Titans can live at least that long too, so you've got to stay with me as long as possible!"
Luz smiled softly and nuzzled against King; "I'll do my best, little brother."
Seeing the two having a sweet moment, Lucy and Hunter looked at one another too as they thought about their own lifespans; now that Lucy had begun to ascend into a true Angel, she'd live for at least a millennium, while Hunter would likely only live a century like most other witches… it was a sobering thought, and neither even wanted to imagine being forced to separate like that. Lucy felt it must be worse for Amity, whose entire lifespan was only about 1% of her lover's, but when she looked at the pink-haired girl's face, she saw determination rather than resignation. The young angel was curious as to why Amity would have such an expression, but before she could ask, something unexpected happened…
Amity's scroll appeared and began to ring.
Everyone stared at it with confusion for a moment, before Luz said; "Wait, how does that thing work out here? I thought those things only worked within the Boiling Isles? Or at least close to it?"
"They do! Well technically, they have a range of about the size of the Boiling Isles, which is why they still work in other parts of the world if other people are close enough. So unless we're actually super close to the Isles and don't know it or someone else is in range, it shouldn't be able to receive a call!" Amity mused, before looking at the caller ID. She gasped when she saw that it was her father, Alador.
Answering it immediately and putting it on video mode, Amity cried; "Dad!" as her father's worried face appeared on the screen.
"Mittens! Oh thank the Titan! It worked! Dar-"
Seeing her father about to call for Darius, Amity quickly shouted over him; "DAD! We're not alone! We're with three Coven members! Don't spill any secrets!"
Alador went pale and covered his mouth; "Oops, that could have been bad! Thank you, Mittens. Are you alright?"
"For the most part, yes. We're all exhausted and Luz is recovering from a bad sickness, but we're alive and mostly uninjured." Amity replied.
"Are Luz and King okay!?" came the sudden voice of Eda as she forced her way on screen by nearly shoving Alador out of the way and stealing his scroll; "Steve, Katya, and Rasiel returned and said you all fell into a Wellspring! They told us about Luz's sickness too; what's going on!?"
"We're fine, Mom." King said, "Luz is still a little sick but we're surviving. Things got a little crazy…"
"That's an understatement! Are those wings!?" Eda cried, noticing King's additions.
"Like I said, things got crazy. But how are you guys calling us? We thought scrolls didn't work outside the Isles?" King asked.
Alador pushed his way back onto the screen; "You can thank my genius for that! Plus an idea I received from your friend, Augustus. He explained how Human cellphones achieve such long range using signal towers and satellites, so I've been secretly working on my own versions while working on my other projects! Our HQ, and Bonesborough now have signal towers that massively amplify the range of all Smart Scrolls! We can now successfully call any scroll within the northern hemisphere!"
Luz beamed; "That's amazing! If you can call us, then Mom can also use the tracking feature on my scroll to find us!"King frowned and poked her cheek with his claw; "Don't even kid about that! You're not allowed to die! You're an Arch-Angel that can live 10,000 years, right? Well Titans can live at least that long too, so you've got to stay with me as long as possible!"
Luz smiled softly and nuzzled against King; "I'll do my best, little brother."
Seeing the two having a sweet moment, Lucy and Hunter looked at one another too as they thought about their own lifespans; now that Lucy had begun to ascend into a true Angel, she'd live for at least a millennium, while Hunter would likely only live a century like most other witches… it was a sobering thought, and neither even wanted to imagine being forced to separate like that. Lucy felt it must be worse for Amity, whose entire lifespan was only about 1% of her lover's, but when she looked at the pink-haired girl's face, she saw determination rather than resignation. The young angel was curious as to why Amity would have such an expression, but before she could ask, something unexpected happened…
Amity's scroll appeared and began to ring.
Everyone stared at it with confusion for a moment, before Luz said; "Wait, how does that thing work out here? I thought those things only worked within the Boiling Isles? Or at least close to it?"
"They do! Well technically, they have a range of about the size of the Boiling Isles, which is why they still work in other parts of the world if other people are close enough. So unless we're actually super close to the Isles and don't know it or someone else is in range, it shouldn't be able to receive a call!" Amity mused, before looking at the caller ID. She gasped when she saw that it was her father, Alador.
Answering it immediately and putting it on video mode, Amity cried; "Dad!" as her father's worried face appeared on the screen.
"Mittens! Oh thank the Titan! It worked! Dar-"
Seeing her father about to call for Darius, Amity quickly shouted over him; "DAD! We're not alone! We're with three Coven members! Don't spill any secrets!"
Alador went pale and covered his mouth; "Oops, that could have been bad! Thank you, Mittens. Are you alright?"
"For the most part, yes. We're all exhausted and Luz is recovering from a bad sickness, but we're alive and mostly uninjured." Amity replied.
"Are Luz and King okay!?" came the sudden voice of Eda as she forced her way on screen by nearly shoving Alador out of the way and stealing his scroll; "Steve, Katya, and Rasiel returned and said you all fell into a Wellspring! They told us about Luz's sickness too; what's going on!?"
"We're fine, Mom." King said, "Luz is still a little sick but we're surviving. Things got a little crazy…"
"That's an understatement! Are those wings!?" Eda cried, noticing King's additions.
"Like I said, things got crazy. But how are you guys calling us? We thought scrolls didn't work outside the Isles?" King asked.
Alador pushed his way back onto the screen; "You can thank my genius for that! Plus an idea I received from your friend, Augustus. He explained how Human cellphones achieve such long range using signal towers and satellites, so I've been secretly working on my own versions while working on my other projects! Our HQ, and Bonesborough now have signal towers that massively amplify the range of all Smart Scrolls! We can now successfully call any scroll within the northern hemisphere!"
Luz beamed; "That's amazing! If you can call us, then Mom can also use the tracking feature on my scroll to find us!"