The angel of the owl house

Luz immediately obeyed, conjuring a bubble of ice cold water and sticking a cloth in it before wringing it out into the bubble and placing it on Viney's forehead. The passed out girl's expression relaxed as she felt some relief from the heat. Luz smiled at that, then blinked in surprise at Valtora's next instruction.

"This is going to sound weird Luz, and I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but you need to take Viney's shoes and pants off."

"E-Excuse me!?" Luz squeaked.

"Trust me, kid. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important!" Valtora yelled.

Eber then barked down the tube too; "Little Light will understand once she sees. Seeing easier, explaining harder."

Luz blushed but resolved to do what she had to to help Viney; "I hope you don't get mad at me for this!" she muttered, before grabbing Viney's boots and pulling them off.

The instant she did, Luz immediately realised why she had to do this, as instead of the normal witch-like feet she'd expected, she found the back paws of a snow leopard. Luz gasped softly, and with a new hunch in her brain, she undid and removed Viney's baggy orange pants, revealing the black boy shorts she wore underneath, and more importantly, the fur covered legs and tail of a snow leopard. From the waist down, Viney's body was that of a Snow Leopard Cait Sith, with pale silvery white fur and black ring shaped spots. The fur was thick, fluffy, and very warm, explaining why Viney had overheated so badly.

"I'd wondered why Viney appeared to be a full witch while having a Biped Demon parent! I guess now I know! What next, Captain?" Luz asked.

"Just keep wafting that icy air onto her. She'll cool off quick and bounce back soon. Just be ready for some freaking out; my Viney is a bit sensitive when it comes to her demon parts." Valtora said, before finishing with; "I'm signing off for now! Shout if you need any assistance!"

"Thanks Captain!" Luz replied, beginning to flap her wings gently to waft cold air from the ice onto Viney.

Just as Valtora had said, the cooling temperatures massively improved Viney's condition. The older girl's face soon relaxed completely and her reddened skin lightened to its usual shade, and within a couple of minutes, she began to stir.

"Ugh, what happened?" she mumbled as Luz conjured a cup made of ice and filled it with water.

"You overheated and passed out. Here, drink this." Luz ordered.

Viney accepted the drink and gulped it down happily, with Luz refilling it twice more with the same result. Once the girl's thirst was finally quenched, she slowly sat up, taking the cloth off her forehead, then froze as she looked down at her bare legs.

"O-Oh… I'm guessing Mom told you to do this." Viney said in a small voice.

Luz nodded; "She did. You overheated quicker than you thought, didn't you?"

"I did. I thought I could tough it out in front of you until the hottest part of the day passed, but I guess I was wrong… sorry."

"It's okay, we all make mistakes. But why were you trying to tough it out at all? You don't need to prove you're tough to me! I mean, look at you girl!" Luz gently squeezed Viney's bicep; "You are a rock! I gotta get your work out routine!" she grinned.

Viney giggled, before her smile turned sad; "I just didn't want you to see this…" she said, gesturing to her Snow Leopard lower body.

"I don't understand. There are tons of witches with demon parts inherited from their parents. What's so strange about yours that you'd want to hide them? If anything, I think they're kind of cool! Aside from the whole overheating thing." Luz replied.

Viney was mildly surprised by Luz's response, but she supposed that was just like Luz. She was the kind and accepting type, plus she wasn't a native to the Boiling Isles; she wouldn't understand.

"Cait Sith have some bad stereotypes surrounding them. They're stereotyped as being, well, like cats. People act like they're standoffish, selfish, and rude, as well as being mischievous. There are even stereotypes about them being thieves! Mama went to St. Epiderm as a child and suffered a lot of bullying because of it." Viney explained; "Mom went too, as well as her sister, my Witch Aunt. Remember how I told you that I had a cousin at St. Epiderm?"

Luz nodded, not liking where this was going. "Well, I actually went there too at first. Only for Kindergarten though. I had to deal with a lot of those prejudices against Cait Sith, but unfortunately there's also a lot of Hybrid or "Half-Breed" prejudice among the elites that send their kids there. I got bullied a lot…"

"Oh Viney…" Luz whispered sadly.

"If a prank happened or something went missing, it was blamed on me. The teachers were nice, but most of the other kids were stuck up snobs and bullies, and the few who weren't would just stand back and do nothing. One particularly bad bully even tried to cut my tail off! That was the last straw for Mom and Mama, and they moved from Cartilia to Bonesborough, and transferred me to Hexside. It's a lot nicer there, and Principal Bump assured us that there was a zero tolerance policy against prejudice, but there are still some jerks. So I guess I'm still a little sensitive about my Cait Sith side." Viney said, stroking her own tail out of nervousness.

Luz smiled softly and hugged the older girl; "I'm sorry that happened to you Viney, but you don't have to worry! I would never judge you, and neither would your other friends! And if anyone else did, we'd sort them out!" she said determinedly.

In truth, Luz understood Viney's feelings very well, considering she'd hidden her angel side for fear of prejudice too. But Hexside had proven to be attended by mostly good kids (and admittedly, the occasional jerk), and Luz had largely found acceptance for who she was; and she just knew that Viney would too.

"Thank you, Luz. And I'm sorry for worrying you… the only other people at Hexside who know are Jerbo and Barcus, and they found out by accident in the same way you did; it was a hot day in the Room of Shortcuts and Barcus was brewing a potion, and the cauldron was heating things up even more, until I passed out." Viney explained.

"Well, considering how my secret got outed to the school, I can hardly criticise!" Luz smirked; "But does that mean you haven't told Emira either?"

Viney shook her head; "No… I know Emira likes me too. I want to ask her out, which I know she's waiting for, but I didn't want to date her without revealing the truth, and I was nervous. Emira and her siblings are great, but their parents are a different story… who knows how they'd react?"

Luz grinned; "Oh, I wouldn't worry about them. Amity says her Dad is cool for the most part, it's just her Mom who sucks, and we've got that taken care of." she said, remembering the blackmail material she still had on the Blight Matriarch; "You should totally ask Emira out! I know she wouldn't have a problem with your body! Besides, you look totally awesome!"

Viney smiled and her tail swished happily, making Luz want to pet it. "You really think so?"

"I know so!" Luz declared; "In fact, why don't we make a bet? If I'm wrong, I'll do your homework for the rest of the school year! But if Emira says she likes it, then you have to let me cuddle with Puddles whenever I want! So long as she's okay with it too of course."

"Oh, now that is a deal I can't pass up! Either I get a hot date, or I don't have to do homework for the rest of the year! You've got yourself a bet!" Viney grinned, shaking Luz's hand.

With the older girl now cooled down and feeling more confident, she put on a pair of shorts and fished some specially made sandals out from her footlocker so she wouldn't have to put on her warmer clothes again, then went back up on deck with Luz. They stopped by the ship wheel to see Valtora, who smiled happily to see Viney comfortable in her own skin again, and thanked Luz before telling them both to eat some lunch with King before getting back to their posts.

They called King down and shared some food between them, and when King and Rasiel saw Viney's leopard-like legs, they barely raised an eyebrow. Rasiel didn't comment at all, and King just said; "Cool fur. Sucks to be furry in this heat, huh?", fanning himself with some ice glyphs. Their lack of reaction, treating Viney as completely normal, made the girl feel even more comfortable, and by the time lunch ended and they were all back at their posts, she was happily humming away as she mopped up soot, her tail swishing along behind her.

Not long later, they finally arrived at the midst of the Simmering Shoals. It was formed from an ancient Titan Archipelago that had been largely taken by the sea over the millennia, leaving it almost entirely submerged with only a few parts, which had once been mountain tops, now becoming islands peeking above the waves. The water around it was shallow and full of spikes from other submerged bones, as well as shipwrecks from those who hadn't been able to navigate the Shoals safely.

King had come down from the Crow's Nest to look forlornly at what little could be seen of the ancient Titan, while Rasiel spoke to him from within his medallion.

"Based on the size of this place and how much its been submerged, I bet this Titan was about 500 years old when it died." Rasiel commented. His spirit form had gone beneath the waves to examine the Shoals and help Valtora navigate the treacherous shallows, so he'd gotten a good look at it. "That would make it about the equivalent of a Witch Teenager, on the cusp of reaching its final growth spurt."

"Is this one of the Titans wiped out by the Archivists?" King asked softly.

Rasiel shook his head; "No. It takes tens of thousands of years for a Titan Archipelago to sink this much. This Titan likely passed away long before the Huntsman and his ilk appeared. Its original inhabitants would probably have migrated to another Titan long before the Boiling Isles Titan was born."

That was a small relief for King, who didn't know how he'd feel if this was the grave of one of his murdered kin. Luz and Viney came over, the former gently patting her little brother's head, as they looked at some of the shipwrecks. Most were of old sail ships, so had likely run aground and been sunk centuries ago, but a few were more modern ships like the Loving Leopard (though all were larger), and appeared to have been attacked. Holes had been punctured in their hulls by what appeared to be large spikes, and a few were on fire.

"Those are hunting vessels." Valtora said, walking to the side of the ship and hitting a lever beside a large spool of chain, causing the anchor to drop into the water and keep the ship in place; "The Emperor's been hunting for a Selkidomus for a long time, and as soon as this one was spotted, many of his navy came after it. The Shoals are difficult to navigate though, and this beast is clever; it tricked them into unfavourable surroundings and sank them. The crews that couldn't safely abandon ship were likely eaten."

Luz gulped and offered a silent prayer to the devoured sailors; "Is the Leopard going to be okay? Won't the Selkidomus attack it too?"

"It shouldn't do. They primarily navigate through smell, and Eberwolf paid to have the hull of the Leopard varnished with an oil made from Selkigris. The Selkidomus will just assume we're another of its species, and will ignore us." Valtora explained.

Viney nodded and added; "Selkidomus are usually solitary creatures, but they're not very territorial. They'd only investigate another one of their kind if it was their mating season, or they had a baby to protect. Nesting Selkidomus are known to attack even other Selkidomus!"

The instant Viney said those words, Luz grimaced as a bad feeling filled her stomach. Considering her luck, what were the odds that the Selkidomus had a baby and would see them as a threat?

Eber, who was using Beast-Keeping magic to give herself camouflage abilities so she could be out on deck without being identified by their Emperor's Coven stalkers, looked around at the nearby water as her ears twitched. She narrowed her eyes and barked, pointing towards the central island in the middle of the Shoals. Luz and the others looked where she pointed and saw the waves on the shore rippling as if something had just entered the water. A moment later, a pair of large dorsal fins emerged from the depths and began cutting their way through the water towards the ship.

"Is that the Selkidomus!?" King exclaimed.

"Something wrong. Selkidomus coming at ramming speed!" Eber barked.

"I knew this wouldn't be that easy! Everyone brace yourselves!" Luz cried, growing her wings back to full size and flying high above the ship. She conjured a massive crystal barrier around the Loving Leopard just in time to stop it from taking a full on collision from the Selkidomus, as it looped through the water and slammed its tail against the ship.

Since the barrier made it hard for people on one side to talk to people on the other, Luz used the telepathic link between her ring and Rasiel to communicate with those inside the barrier.

"Everyone okay in there!?"

"The blow shook the barrier, but aside from a bit of rocking, we felt no effects." Rasiel replied. "Eberwolf is asking what you plan to do."

Luz looked down at the Selkidomus' dorsal fin as it circled the ship, occasionally smacking the barrier with its tail. She'd been sent here to protect it from the Emperor's Coven, and based on what Viney had just said, if it was attacking them then it must be protecting its baby, so Luz was definitely not going to hurt it! "Tell Eber I'm going to try and calm it down and make it see we're not a threat."

There was a moment of silence as Rasiel passed along the message, then replied; "Eber wishes you luck. Be careful though Luz; this thing is quite different than the fox in the Human Realm yesterday!"

"Don't I know it…" Luz muttered. Her calming spell wouldn't work very well on its own, so Luz summoned her satchel and pulled out her Lapis Ocarina; if she mixed Bardic Magic with Beast-Keeping Magic, perhaps she could calm the raging Selkidomus!

Since Luz didn't know how to cast the Beast Calming Spell as a Bardic Song, she instead focused on channelling Beast-Keeping Magic to her Ocarina as she played a Song of Soothing. Her playing echoed across the Simmering Shoals, and a faint orange and red glow came over the Selkidomus for a moment, causing it to slow its attacks against her barrier for a moment. However the large beast quickly shook off the effects and began attacking full force once again.

"Dang, was the spell not powerful enough?" Luz frowned. "Or was it muffled by the water…"

Professor Beat had taught the class that Bardic Magic focused on effecting the mind would be weakened if the target couldn't fully hear it, and things like water would definitely make it harder for the Selkidomus to hear!

"I guess I need to get it's head above the water long enough to play the song! Easier said than done though…" Luz muttered to herself. She conjured some vines to grab the Selkidomus' tail when it next went to attack the barrier, but the creature barely reacted; it slowed its swing for an instant, then effortlessly pulled against all of Luz's strength and nearly pulled her down into the Boiling Sea, but Luz dropped the vines before that could happen. Since she lacked the strength to pull the Selkidomus' head above the waves, she decided to try and lure it back onto dry land!

"Sorry Girl, but this is for your own good!" Luz yelled, firing an aurora beam down into the water. The Boiling Sea was hot enough that it didn't freeze completely, but it did rapidly cool down and begin producing slush and water vapour, which had the Selkidomus rear its head out of the water and roar in displeasure. It looked around for the source of the attack and quickly spotted Luz, allowing the girl to get her first good look at it.

The Selkidomus looked like a giant mix of a seal, a shark, and the Loch Ness Monster; it's base body shape was that of a seal, but its size and elongated neck were more akin to the depictions of the Loch Ness Monster. It also had three shark-like dorsal fins along its spine; a small one on its tail, a medium one on the back of its neck, and a large one between them on its back. It also had whiskers that looked like a moustache made of seaweed, and a matching web of green algae that clung to much of its back and appeared to be a part of its body.

"Hey Big Girl! Over here!" Luz taunted, trying to get the beast to follow her. It instead roared in anger, and to Luz's surprise, it began to swell up until its upper body was like a balloon. Spikes then emerged from its flesh and were promptly launched at Luz, who yelped in surprise and threw up a hasty crystal barrier to protect herself. Even with the barrier's toughness, the spikes had managed to leave small cracks at the points of impact.

"Whoa, I guess that explains why these ship wrecks look like Swiss Cheese!" the young angel commented as she shot more aurora beams into the ocean around the Selkidomus. The already cooled ocean began to freeze enough that Luz could manipulate the ice into a series of curved ice walls around the Loving Leopard, preventing the Selkidomus from reaching it at all while also herding the beast towards Luz. She was forced to dodge another barrage of spikes as the Selkidomus roared, but her plan worked and it began to swim towards her.

Luz flew low, just high enough to be out of range of any sudden boiling splashes, but low enough that the Selkidomus could keep track of her and follow her. As she got close to the shore of the island the Selkidomus had come from, Luz flew low and waited for the Selkidomus to surface and use its spike attack. The instant it did, Luz froze the ocean beneath its belly, so when it fired its spikes (which she blocked with another crystal barrier) it flopped down onto the ice and couldn't immediately dive back underwater.

"Gotcha now!" Luz grinned, before focusing her magic. Her wings glowed blue with water magic as Luz drew a massive spell circle, sending her magic into the Boiling Sea to cause the water beneath the ice and the Selkidomus to erupt upwards like a geyser, sending the beast rolling onto the beach, where if briefly flopped around in surprise. Luz's wings were then coated in a green aura as she used a massive plant spell to grow roots from the beach and restrain the Selkidomus, preventing it from escaping or swelling up to use another spike attack.

The beast roared in anger, and Luz landed just out of reach of its jaws and began to play the Song of Soothing once more, filling it with Beast-Keeping Magic. This time, the Selkidomus was hit with the full effect of the song, and the aura of orange and red that surrounded it lingered until Luz stopped playing. It seemed to work too, as the Selkidomus stopped roaring and thrashing in its restraints, and began to whimper instead. Once the song was complete, Luz very carefully approached the whimpering beast and knelt beside its face, gently putting a hand on its nose.

"Shhhh, easy now girl. You're safe; I won't hurt you or your baby. We want to protect you both." she said softly, stroking the Selkidomus' snout.

The creature was intelligent enough to understand (at least the gesture, if not the words), and stopped its whimpering, instead leaning into Luz's touch.

"Good girl. I'll release you, okay? Just please don't attack my friends." Luz said, carefully casting a spell to make her roots unwrap from the Selkidomus and sink back beneath the sand. The beast used the opportunity to edge closer to Luz and nuzzle her body with its nose, making her giggle.

"Rasiel, I think I've got her calmed down. Tell the others they can come ashore." Luz spoke into her ring.

"Got it. Drop your barrier and we'll fly over." Rasiel replied.

Luz snapped her fingers and the barrier around the Loving Leopard vanished, and rather than try to melt the ice and sail closer, Valtora decided to just carry Viney, King, and the still camouflaged Eber over on her staff. Valtora's Palisman was a blue squid, and their staff form looked more like a fishing spear than a traditional staff thanks to the squid's pointy head.

"Cool Palisman, Captain!" Luz complimented as Viney and Valtora hopped off the staff, King on Viney's shoulder and Eber hidden on Valtora's. "They really suit your high seas flair!"

Valtora chuckled at the earnest compliment; "Careful little angel, you'll give him a big head." she said as her Palisman turned back into animal form and sat atop her head; "His name is Toa, and he's a massive wuss, aren't ya buddy?"

Toa clicked his hidden beak and crossed two of his tentacles like a pouting child, making Luz and Viney both giggle.

The Selkidomus growled softly as the newcomers approached, but a few scratches on the side of its snout from Luz had it practically purring like a kitten. Valtora, Eber, and Viney all let the Selkidomus take a good sniff of them, then they pet her too to let her know they were safe, before encouraging King to do the same.

"I didn't think a big scary monster could also be kinda cute." King thought aloud as the Selkidomus leaned into him as he scratched the top of its head.

"Selkidomus are normally docile and even friendly creatures if not harassed. The fact this one attacked us without provocation means she must have a baby nearby." Valtora said. "We should check on it while we're here. I also need to fill you and King in on part of the plan for the Emperor's goons."

Luz and King exchanged looks, while the still camouflaged Eber, cast a spell circle that caused her barks to take on a strange echoing effect as she spoke to the Selkidomus; "We friends. Show us den, we protect you. We protect baby. You can trust."

The Selkidomus slowly raised its head and stared at the spot Eber should be, before making a snuffling noise and slowly pulling itself along the beach with its flippers, leading the group into a cave entrance on the nearby cliff side. This entrance led them to a large cavern that contained numerous parts of old ships, which had been used by the Selkidomus to make a fortified den. The Selkidomus used these old ships like a slope to slide down into the depths of the cavern, where it had constructed a large nest out of kelp and seaweed. It smelled awful and both King and Luz had to struggle not to cover their noses, while the three experienced Beast-Keepers just smiled sympathetically.

"You get used to smells like this when you spend a lot of time with animals, or out on the open sea. You should smell Puddles' stable some time!" Viney joked.

Luz gave a sardonic smile, which soon become a look of pure glee as the Selkidomus made a song-like sound that caused her baby to emerge from the nest of kelp. It was about shoulder height to Luz, and very round, with only a single dorsal fin and a little sprout sticking out from the top of its head and little leaf-like whiskers framing its mouth. It's eyes were also huge and shone in the dim light streaming in from the cavern entrance.

"Oh, look at this little baby! They're adorable!" Luz cooed, happily hugging the Baby Selkidomus, which chirped as it hugged her in return, wrapping its flippers around her leg.

"Aw, looks like he likes you!" Viney said.

"The grown up looks cool, but this guy looks like one of Hooty's chowder dumplings." King said, significantly less impressed than Luz.

"You just like big monsters. But this little guy is the cutest dumpling I've ever seen! He looks healthy too." Luz said, giving the baby a once over before the mother gently pulled him back into the nest so she could begin grooming him.

"He does." Valtora agreed; "You can tell a Selkidomus' health by the condition of its plant. Those plants are technically a separate organism, but they're symbiotic and thrive alongside their hosts. The leaves are strong and a healthy green, which indicates this little fella is growing up nicely! Now we just need to deal with the Emperor's Coven and we can relocate these guys to a safer place."

"Right. You also mentioned a plan for the Emperor's Coven; what was that about?" Luz asked.

Eber, temporarily dropping her camouflage since they were out of sight, said; "Coven saw Little Light and King board Sea Friend's ship. Sea Friend will be suspect. Cover maybe broken."

Luz's eyes widened; "I didn't even think of that! Valdora, are you and your family going to be okay!?"

"We'll be fine. Eber came up with a cover story. While we've been sailing, I've been secretly using Crow Calls to talk to that frigate that's been tailing us. The Coven Scouts on board believe you asked Viney for a favour since you attend school together, and I agreed to bring you out here. The scouts think I'm spying on you to get information on the rebels, while sabotaging your mission. That way neither Viney or I will be suspected as rebels."

Luz grinned; "I get it! The Emperor's Coven think you're leading me and King into a trap, when really we're leading them into one!"

"That's right. But remember, neither I nor Viney and Eber can help you if it comes to a fight, both for our cover and for your trial. I also know for a fact that the Golden Guard and the Silver Sentinel are both a part of the group following us. This won't be easy for you." Valtora said seriously.

"That's fine; I was expecting that! After Belos, those two can't be that tough! Besides, I've got King with me and he's the best partner I could ask for!" Luz said confidently, making King puff his chest out proudly.

"You'll also have my help. I may not be able to fight, but I can watch your back." Rasiel said via Luz's ring.

A moment later, the Selkidomus suddenly looked up to the cavern entrance and growled, sensing intruders approaching. Luz was immediately on guard and put King on her shoulders; "I'll go up there to deal with the Emperor's Coven. Viney, you stay with the Selkidomus and keep her and the baby calm, okay?"

"You got it. No one will hurt these guys on my watch!" Viney said determinedly.

Luz then turned to Valtora; "Do Selkidomus shed their skin or scales at all?"

She nodded; "They do. Based on how glossy that baby's coat is, it probably shed only a few days ago. The scales should be in the nest."

The Arch-Angel immediately ran over to the nest and dove in, despite the stench. King complained at being dragged along with her, and when Luz popped out of the nest again, she was holding a large piece of shed Selkidomus skin, covered in silvery grey scales. Luz had a plan for them that would hopefully avoid a fight altogether, or at least lower the numbers if the Golden Guard had brought extra back up.

With her now as prepared as she'd ever be, Luz climbed back up to the cavern entrance with Valtora, who was carrying the once-again camouflaged Eberwolf.

Playing the part of the oblivious child walking into a trap, Luz happily skipped along beside Valtora as they left the cave, hands behind her back as she loudly declared; "Wow Valtora, thank you so much for helping me with my mission! I'm glad the Selkidomus is healthy! Now that I have some of its scales, I could turn them in for a reward from the Emperor's Coven! They'd be helping to fund their own defeat!" she said, technically not lying.

Of course, as expected, the moment they were out of the cave and under the cloud covered sky, Luz, King, and Valtora found themselves surrounded by about two dozen Coven Scouts with spells and spears pointed at them. Luz and King both gulped at the sheer number of them, having expected only a few alongside their bosses and perhaps the sailors who'd been sailing the frigate. The sailors weren't present however, and only one of the leaders was, as the circle parted slightly and the Golden Guard marched forward.

This was Luz's first proper look at the man, or rather, the boy; he was a couple of inches taller than Luz, and covered completely head to toe in his uniform, exposing not even a single bit of skin. That uniform made Luz shudder slightly, as it was very similar to the one that Belos had cast an illusion of when trying to make her agree to be his Platinum Paladin, only with the colours altered. His breastplate and faulds were gold, his boots and gloves were plain brown leather instead of armoured, his cloak and hood were white instead of gold, his trousers were black instead of white, he only had one golden pauldron on his left shoulder as opposed to a platinum one on each shoulder, and lastly, his mask was golden and owl-like, as opposed to being platinum. The Golden Guard also wielded a staff similar to Belos', only with a slightly less mechanical design; it was a red crystal embedded into a white staff top with a single white and gold wing attachment, atop a plain brown wooden rod. It was similar enough that the sight of it made Luz feel uncomfortable, as she remembered how Belos had hurt her with his staff.

The Golden Guard stepped into the circle and his scouts closed it again, while also closing the circle behind Luz and Valtora, trapping them completely.

"You have the Emperor's gratitude, Captain Valtora. Leading us here and helping us trap our errant angel is a truly great feat. I'll pass my compliments onto Head Witch Eberwolf." he said.

Valtora faked a smirk; "It was my pleasure. The girl even worked for me, so I got some free labour out of it."

Luz glared at her; "So you were letting the Golden Guard follow us? I should be surprised, but I'm really not." she said, again not technically lying.

"Don't be too upset with the Captain; she was doing her civic duty." the Golden Guard said, bowing his head politely; "Greetings, Lady Noceda. I don't suppose I could just convince you to come back with me peacefully?"

"You mean back to the place your Emperor tortured me and turned me into a monster to fight my Mom?" Luz asked angrily. "I'll pass!"

The Arch-Angel looked ready for battle already, making the Golden Guard shake his head ruefully; "The Owl Lady really has gotten her talons deep into your mind and heart… I'm sorry, Lady Noceda but if you won't listen to reason, I'll have to take you by force. This is for your own good." he said sadly, pointing his staff at Luz. "Will you assist us, Captain Valtora?" he asked.

Valtora immediately shook her head switched her Palisman to staff mode so she could fly out of the circle; "Apologises, Golden Guard. Helping you trap her was one thing, but fighting her is quite another! I've already had to keep Viney away so she doesn't find out what I did with her friend, so I'd rather not risk upsetting her more."

The Golden Guard accepted that; "Very well. Just keep out of the way; we'll collect Lady Noceda and deal with the Selkidomus, then be on our way."

"Wait!" Luz yelled; "You know I'm strong; enough that I had your Emperor on the ropes, so unless you guys are stronger than him, this is just going to be a painful loss for you! But I'd rather not hurt anyone if I can help it and I don't want the Selkidomus hurt, so I have a counter offer."

She reached behind her and pulled out the Selkidomus scales; "I'll give you this and you can go back to the Emperor and say the Selkidomus is dead. I'll make sure she moves to a safer place and doesn't attack any more of your ships. You can pretend you never saw me, then no one gets hurt and no one has to die."

The Golden Guard paused in thought, then held out his hand for the scales, which Luz tossed to him. He examined them closely, then leaned his head away as he groaned; "These stink! But they appear authentic… the Emperor would be pleased to have them… but orders are orders; the Emperor wants the full pelt, so that's what I'll give him. Now surrender, Lady Noceda; or I'll take you by force!"

Luz sighed; "Well, so much for trying to be nice and reasonable… I guess we're fighting now."

Before the Golden Guard or any of the scouts could act, the tree roots that Luz had grown earlier to restrain the Selkidomus suddenly shot out of the ground again and wrapped around all the scouts and their leader. While she'd been talking, Luz had been channelling plant magic into the ground to subtly manipulate the roots she'd retracted back into the ground so they were beneath the scouts and ready to trap them.

"Clever!" the Golden Guard groaned; "I should have expected you to be tricky after your fight with the Emperor! But I'm not so easily beaten!" he declared. His staff's crystal began to glow and his entire body seemed to vanish in a flash of red light.

"Behind us!" King yelled as the red flash appeared again behind Luz, and the Golden Guard appeared and swung his staff at her. Luz ducked under the swing with a yelp, then spun around and shot a beam of light at the Guard. He reacted incredibly quickly and swatted her spell away with the glowing end of his staff, then countered by shooting a red blast at her. Luz responded by growing another tree root to block it, then a second one beneath her to launch her into the sky.

The instant Luz was in the air, she grew her wings back to full size and transformed her cloak and outfit into her Holy Raiment; "You want to fight an Arch-Angel, then I'll show you what that means!"

The Golden Guard almost gulped as Luz conjured a cloud of leaves and coated them in light magic to turn them into a swarm of Razor Leaves. The Golden Guard stabbed the end of his staff into the sand and caused it to rise up and form a ball around him, blocking the leaves at first, however this didn't last long and the prolonged assault soon shredded the sand ball. However once the sand was gone, Luz frowned as she saw the Guard was gone too.

"Did he teleport again?" King asked, confused.

His question was answered by the sand beneath the spot Luz was flying in suddenly surged up in the shape of a giant fist and nearly punched her. Thankfully Luz was flying high enough that she'd had a few seconds of warning and could quickly dodge out of the way. The Golden Guard then burst out from the sand fist and pointed his staff at Luz, causing both the sand fist and the remains of his sand orb to reshape themselves into hundreds of little sand birds and launch themselves at the girl.

Luz frowned and focused water magic through her body, then drew a blue spell circle that coated her body in water. She then darted through the sky at high speed, actively trying to hit the sand birds, which became waterlogged thanks to her aquatic coating, making them lose their shape and slop to the ground as clumps of wet sand.

"Have a taste of my Aqua Jet!" Luz grinned, next darting at the Golden Guard with the intention of ramming into him.

"You have some weird spells!" the Golden Guard retorted, shooting lightning at Luz. It was far too quick for Luz to dodge out of the way, so she instead froze her water shell, turning her into a little ice bullet that blocked the lightning and continued shooting towards the Guard. He was forced to use his red flash teleport to avoid it, and once she'd missed, Luz thawed the ice and evaporated the water with a mix of water and fire magic, filling the air with water vapour that the Golden Guard couldn't see through.

"Ugh, now my fur is all wet." King complained; "I can't do much riding around on your shoulders! Let me off and I'll make sure none of those scouts get any ideas about escaping!"

Luz, who'd had to be careful with her moves so as not to endanger King, happily agreed. She turned some of the water vapour into an ice platform and lowered him to the ground, where he promptly scurried towards the cavern entrance, leaving Luz to continue the fight with the Golden Guard.

The Golden Guard began firing red magic blasts into the mist and steam, probing for Luz, who was being careful to avoid it. She conjured some snow with the ice glyph, then moulded it into a clone of herself and cast an illusion over it, making it look like the real her. The Golden Guard saw this clone walking on the sand beneath the mist and immediately moved to attack it, while Luz used his opening to get behind him within the mist.

"You're mine now, Angel!" the Guard declared, firing a huge blast of red magic point blank into the Luz Clone's back. His blast obliterated the illusion and the clone, much to his surprise, and before he could register what had happened, Luz attacked his back with an Aurora Beam.

"No, you're mine!"

The Golden Guard didn't react quickly enough to dodge or block, making Luz sure she'd won… until something appeared from the ground at the Golden Guard's feet and slammed into Luz's arm, forcing it up and making her Aurora Beam miss.

"W-What!?" Luz cried as what appeared to be a clone of the Golden Guard had emerged from the original's shadow. The clone pointed its staff at Luz and fired a blast of red magic, and Luz found herself screaming in pain as she was sent flying backward. She hit the sandy beach hard enough to bounce, but managed to correct herself afterwards to land on her hands and knees.

"That hurt… what was that!?" she winced, reaching out with her water magic to condense the mist into water that fell down on the beach like rain.

The "clone" of the Golden Guard turned out to be a different person entirely, though one that looked incredibly similar. They had the same outfit and staff, only with a silver coloured mask and armour, and a pauldron on her right shoulder instead of her left. They also appeared to be female rather than male, being of a similar build to Luz, if a little shorter.

"The Silver Sentinel! I'd wondered if you'd show up too! Did the Emperor really send his best to kill a single animal!? That's messed up even for him!" Luz frowned, casting a bit of healing magic on herself.

The Golden Guard sighed with relief; "Thanks for the save, partner. Fighting someone with so many types of magic is harder than I expected."

The Silver Sentinel's staff glowed, and a pair of illusory hands appeared beside her and began to perform sign language. Luz blinked in surprise, recognising it as American Sign Language, which she could actually understand.

They said; "No problem, partner. She fought the Emperor one on one, neither of us could beat her alone. We'll take her together. You attack from the front, and I'll attack from the rear and at range."

Luz narrowed her eyes but didn't let on that she knew what she was saying. Instead she slowly raised her hand to her face as if wiping away sweat, while she was actually whispering into Rasiel's ring.

"Warn King that the Silver one is gonna go for my back! I'll need him to watch it for me."

"Understood. I'll let King know." Rasiel replied. A moment later, Luz saw King tense over by the cave entrance, and a smile appeared on his little face as he began to draw something on some note paper.

Assuming it was just a glyph, Luz focused on her two opponents as the Golden Guard spoke up; "I don't suppose you'd surrender now that you're outnumbered?"

"Sorry Golden Goof, but I'm not gonna surrender while you and your quiet friend hurt an innocent creature!" Luz shot back.

The Golden Guard huffed at the insult, while the Sentinel's shoulders shook as she suppressed a laugh at her partner's expense. This laugh didn't last long however, as the Sentinel raised her staff and caused a series of small silver knives to appear out of thin air and land in her hand. She then began throwing them, and as the first one went flying at Luz, the angel raised a crystal barrier to block it. The knife bounced off her barrier harmlessly, but it was also the only one to hit it; the other knives had instead been thrown at the bound Coven Scouts! Each tree root was struck by a knife, and once all two dozen of them had a knife sticking out of them, the Silver Sentinel's staff glowed red as her hand glowed purple, and she snapped her fingers. The knives disintegrated, and the tree roots they'd been stuck in began to rapidly decay, freeing the Scouts.

"Hey! No fair!" Luz whined, shooting a light blast at the Sentinel, who responded by casually side stepping the blast.

"All's fair in love and war, Lady Noceda. My partner here doesn't have much of a green thumb, but she is quite the talented weed killer." the Golden Guard said with amusement, before turning to his freed scouts; "Storm the caves and take out the Selkidomus; the Emperor wants those scales!"

He'd said those words with a hint of displeasure, and Luz got the impression he didn't really like the idea of hurting the beast, but wasn't going to disobey his Emperor's orders.

Channelling light magic into her wings and blasting fire from the soles of her feet, Luz rocketed herself towards the cavern entrance to stop the scouts, aiming to plough through the Guard and Sentinel along the way. The former zipped away with his red flash teleportation and the latter sank into the shadows and immediately reappeared from Luz's own shadow, reaching up and grabbing her ankle. She wasn't very strong however, so she couldn't stop Luz and instead ended up being dragged along. As Luz flew at the Scouts, she suddenly performed a loop, dragging the Silver Sentinel with her into the air and causing her to lose her grip and go flying at the scouts. Several of the scouts were knocked down while catching her, and King promptly knocked the rest down with a Sonic Roar.

"Ha! All the Pinheads are down in one go! In Bowling, we call that a strike!" Luz cheered.

King didn't get it, but he cheered regardless, at least until he noticed that the Silver Sentinel wasn't in the pile of groaning scouts.

"Luz, the silver one is gone!" King yelled.

Luz frowned; "Did she run into the caves or teleport or something?" she muttered to herself, only to see red light at the corner of her eye.

She turned just in time to see the Golden Guard swinging his red glowing staff at her head, forcing her to drop to the ground to avoid it.

"I'd be more worried about me than my partner!" the Golden Guard yelled as he spun his staff and stabbed the base of it into the sand; "Maybe this will help you get the point!"

At his words, the sand beneath Luz's body turned red, so Luz quickly covered herself in her crystal barrier. She'd acted just in time too, as red glowing spears made from the same magic as the Sentinel's throwing knives suddenly launched out of the ground beneath her and would have impaled her wings and legs if she hadn't protected herself. As it was, the spears had thrust upward with enough force to crack Luz's barrier and send both it and her skyward. From the shadows cast by her barrier, the Silver Sentinel emerged and waved her staff, causing the sand around her to form into a giant arm and fist, which reached up and grabbed Luz's barrier, engulfing it completely. The Emperor's two elites then crossed their staves and fired a combined, intense blast of gold and purple flames directly at the sand fist, rapidly heating it and turning into molten glass, which they then cooled with a blast of freezing cold air.

Luz's barrier had protected her, but now she was trapped inside both it, and the now-glass fist.

"Looks like we got her." the Golden Guard panted; "That used a lot of magic… how's your staff?" he asked his partner.

The Silver Sentinel examined her staff, then used the illusory hands to sign; "Still mostly full. Yours?"

"Just over half." the Guard replied. "Let's hope this thing holds long enough for the Emperor to transport her back to the castle."

The Sentinel nodded in agreement, before manipulating more sand to create smaller sand hands to push and pull the Scouts back to their feet. King's roar had left them tangled and struggling to get up, so the Sentinel was forced to help.

Meanwhile King had seemingly vanished, and reappeared behind a nearby rock. Sure he was out of sight of the Emperor's Elites, he whispered to Rasiel in his medallion.

"Is Luz okay!?"

Rasiel passed the question along to Luz, who replied; "A little hot after that blast of fire, but I'm not hurt. I'm debating if I should melt or smash my way out; I'd have to drop my barrier for both and that could get me hurt."

King grinned; "Don't worry, keep your barrier up and I'll get you out!"

"Got it! I'm counting on you King!"

The little Titan peeked out from his hiding spot and saw the Scouts heading into the cavern, with Valtora subtly following them. He'd have to hope she and Viney would be able to protect the Selkidomus while he and Luz dealt with the Elites! He also sniffed the air and noticed Eber's scent up on the cliff face; she must have decided to leave the Selkidomus to Valtora and stayed to watch the fight.

Focusing next on the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel, King made sure both were looking away from him and then promptly took a deep breath and vanished. He reappeared a moment later behind the glass hand, then took another deep breath and jumped in the air as he screamed "WEH!", sending a sonic roar directly at the glass hand. Since he was airborne, he was propelled backward by his own roar, but this worked out for him as the glass hand promptly shattered, sending fragments in all directions. King was spared any damage, as was Luz inside her barrier, but both the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel were showered with broken glass, cutting them in many places. The cuts weren't deep or severe thanks to their armoured uniforms, but they still stung and bled, making both of them hiss.

"Ugh! That stupid bird! What kind of demon is he!?" the Golden Guard complained.

The Silver Sentinel didn't answer and instead sank back into the shadows just in time to avoid a huge ray of light that Luz shot through her barrier. The Golden Guard had to dive out of the way, losing the bottom of his cape in the process.

"I should have known this wouldn't be so easy!"

"To be fair, that was a pretty cool combo!" Luz complemented as she dropped her barrier; "And did you call my little brother a bird? Seriously, how do you look at him and think bird!? He doesn't even have any feathers!"

"He's got a beak!" the Guard yelled defensively.

"That's his skull, Golden Goof!" Luz laughed.

"Such childish insults are unbecoming of an angel, Lady Noceda!" he snapped back.

Luz rolled her eyes; "Angel or not, I'm still a teenager! And stop with the Lady Noceda thing! It's creepy! Besides, I'm a Noceda-Clawthorne!"

"I-I refuse to address you with that Wild Witch's name! She has corrupted you!"

"Yeah yeah, I heard this enough from Belos. Call me Luz then!"

The Golden Guard tilted his head; "O-Okay?"

Luz smiled, though that smile soon vanished as the Silver Sentinel suddenly leapt out of Luz's shadow and aimed a blow from her staff at the back of Luz's head. At the same moment, the Golden Guard suddenly flashed forward with his red teleportation spell and aimed a blow at Luz's gut. Luz was quick to throw up another barrier, but the Sentinel was too close, and while her barrier blocked the Guard's attack, the Sentinel was already within Luz's barrier. There was a loud thwack and Luz cried out in pain as the Sentinel's staff bounced off the back of her head, knocking her over.

"OW! That hurt, Stupid Sentinel!" Luz yelled, rubbing the goose-egg the blow had given her. She retaliated by releasing a huge blinding flash to both stun the two Elites and remove any shadows, preventing the Silver Sentinel from fleeing as Luz blasted her point blank with an Aurora Beam, freezing her from the neck down.

Luz then dropped the barrier and flew towards King while the Golden Guard was focused on thawing out his partner. Luz grabbed King and put him on her shoulder before flying high into the air; "Thanks for the save earlier, little brother."

"No problem Luz! Let me heal that bump of yours!" King grinned.

Luz blinked in surprise; "But you don't have healing magic." she pointed out.

"Don't I?" King replied, revealing his notepad. He flipped it to a page with a glyph already drawn on it, but Luz was shocked by its design; it wasn't actually a single glyph, but a series of ice, plant, and light glyphs arranged together on various circles and connected with lines in odd patterns. It looked a little like a circuit board made of glyphs, and when King pressed it, the odd symbol turned into a dark blue glow around King's paw, which he pressed to the bump on Luz's head. In an instant, she felt the pain fade and the swelling go down, completely healing her.

"W-What!? What was that!?" Luz exclaimed.

"Glyph Combos!" King cheered; "My secret project! I came up with it after seeing you mix the glyphs together and decided if you could do it with your glyphs, there had to be a way to do it with mine!" he said, looking so incredibly proud of himself, "It took some figuring out, but I got there in the end! I've got five spells worked out, including the healing one!"

Luz laughed and tossed King into the air, before catching him and twirling around, hugging him tightly; "You are amazing, King! This is incredible! I'm so proud!" she praised, rubbing her cheek against his skull.

King preened happily; "Yes! I am the King of Glyphs!" he declared, before looking down at the ground, where the Golden Guard had almost finished thawing out the Silver Sentinel; "Now prepare a cool spell and hold your breath! I've got another one to show you!"

Not sure why she needed to hold her breath, Luz nonetheless did what she was told and prepared a plant spell as King pulled out another glyph combo, this one using a couple of light glyphs and a couple of ice ones. He placed it against his chest and to Luz's surprise, they both turned invisible. Using this moment of invisibility, Luz swooped down and blasted both of the Emperor's Elites with her prepared plant spell, placing conjured seeds inside their clothing which immediately began producing thin ivy-like vines to coat them both. The vines glowed red and flowers began to bloom on them as they drained some magic from the two.

"Ha! How'd you like my take on Leech Seed!" Luz cheered, suddenly becoming visible again. "Great job on the invisibility combo, King!"

"I know, I am amazing! It only works when holding our breath though; I haven't worked out the kinks in it yet. Maybe its because its illusion magic and needs the wind element to be complete, but we don't have the wind glyph yet." King theorised.

Luz opened her mouth to agree, when she was distracted by both the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel suddenly attacking her again. The former had used his red teleport to escape, while the latter had sunk back into the shadows, only to pop out being Luz. Both launched kicks at her back, and Luz was caught so off guard that they both hit her and she staggered forward with a groan. She spun on her heel to blast the pair with twin light beams, but both vanished again. Expecting them to reappear behind her once more, Luz threw up a barrier, only for the Silver Sentinel to pop out of King's shadow, which was being cast on Luz's wings. Luz screamed in shock, her wing feeling ice cold where the Sentinel was emerging, and the Sentinel promptly spun her staff and conjured a long chain that she wrapped around Luz's wings, preventing her from flying.

King roared at her, but the Sentinel disappeared back into the shadows, then since Luz had been forced to land, popped out of her shadow cast on the ground. The Golden Guard then flashed over to Luz's barrier and both swung their staves with red magic flowing through them, hitting Luz's barrier at the same spot on both the inside and the outside. This proved to be an effective trick, as it promptly shattered Luz's crystal barrier like it was naught but glass.

Once again, King roared at them, but they once again vanished with their unique teleportation tricks. Luz channelled light magic into her wings, then empowered them further with the Destruction aspect of fire magic, allowing her to effortlessly destroy the chains binding them. She flew up high once more, and created a light ball to hover between King and her wings to prevent any more shadows being cast on her body, but this didn't stop the Golden Guard from flashing up to her and attacking with a bolt of red lightning. Luz, wary of having her barrier broken again, instead conjured some vines to absorb the spell and try to bind the Golden Guard, but then the Silver Sentinel leapt out of the Guard's chest, using the shadow cast by Luz, and she easily burned the vines away with purple flames similar to Amity's.

Sick of this shadow hopping, Luz released a huge flash of light to prevent any more of it and then shot a flamethrower-like stream of fire from her hands at the duo of elites. Once again showing their incredible teamwork, the Golden Guard grabbed his partner and spun around, using his cloak to shield them both from Luz's flames (which weren't very intense, since she didn't want to kill the pair). This provided the Sentinel with another shadow on the Guard's chest, allowing her to leap into it and get to safety, which in turn allowed the Guard to flash away again without exposing his partner to danger.

"These two are like flies that I just can't swat!" Luz complained.

"Sorry Luz…" The Golden Guard said, appearing above Luz in a flash of red light; "… but this fly will be swatting you instead!"

He pointed his staff at her and prepared to fire a blast of red lightning. Luz immediately moved to dodge, but the Guard had appeared directly between Luz and the sun, so his shadow was being cast over her body. The Sentinel partially emerged from Luz's chest, making her shriek at the cold feeling on her body, and swatted King off of Luz's shoulder with a gust of wind conjured from her staff.

"King!" Luz cried, trying and failing to fly to him with the Sentinel hugging her and grasping her wing joints. Thankfully, King pulled out another of his Glyph combos and slapped it onto himself, causing him to stop falling about a foot off the ground, before landing with a gentle "oof!"

The young angel sighed with relief, but this distracted her long enough for the Guard to shoot his spell, and the Sentinel immediately vanished back into the shadow so she wouldn't be hit.

Luz screamed as the lightning hit her, filling her nerves with the same stinging pain as Belos' spell. Stunned, she fell from the sky, and King screamed out to her. He quickly used ice glyphs to make a ramp, which Luz hit, allowing her slide down to the sand safely.

"Luz! Are you okay!?" King cried, running to her side.

"Ugh, I've been better… I hate that spell!" Luz groaned.

The Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel appeared on the beach a few feet away. "Sorry about that, Luz; it seems I was wrong! This bug zapped you instead of swatting you! My bad!" he said jovially, before his voice turned hard; "Please don't make me swat you too."

Luz stuck her tongue out at him, making him sigh and causing the Silver Sentinel to summon her phantom hands to begin signing to her partner; "The Rebels have their talons deep in her soul. Nothing we do can shake them; let's just defeat her and take her to the Emperor."

The Golden Guard began to sign back with his real hands; "You're right… still it feels so wrong to be beating up an angel, even one that's defying the Titan's will! Let's give her a minute; I doubt she has much fight left in her after that blast."

Luz snorted, but didn't let on that she could understand the pair, instead whispering to King; "I'm getting my butt kicked. They're not as strong as Belos, but their teamwork is incredible!"

"Then let's fight together! Our teamwork will beat theirs!" King whispered.

Luz shook her head; "No, those two must have trained for a long time to get that good; if we fight together, we'll lose."

King was surprised; he didn't have the faintest idea how they'd actually win, he just had confidence in his and Luz's strength. In his mind, that meant the two working together would have to be better than the Golden Goof and Stupid Sentinel! But clearly Luz wasn't as confident.

"So what do we do? If you can't beat them alone or with my help, how do we win?" King asked.

"Divide and conquer. Think you can handle one of them on your own?" Luz whispered.

King nodded confidently; "I can do it!"

Luz grinned; "Then here is the plan."

[Meanwhile]

Viney paced around the Selkidomus' nest, being followed around by the Baby Selkidomus, who bounced happily beside her, making adorable chirps and occasionally nuzzling against her, wanting pets. She was glad to indulge him every now and again, especially as she listened to the sounds of battle coming from the beach. The Mother Selkidomus was also listening, looking between her baby and the cavern entrance. Viney could have sworn that the look on the beast's face was one of consideration, wondering if she should trust the witches and angel, or make a break for it into the ocean with her baby. Viney wouldn't blame her for trying, especially with the sounds of combat echoing through the cave.

One particularly loud set of groans right at the cave entrance had the Baby Selkidomus whining in distress, so Viney knelt beside him and petted the plant on top of his head; "There there, little buddy. Don't worry; Mama and Viney will keep you safe. We won't let the bad guys get you." she cooed softly.

The noise from the cavern entrance grew louder, causing Viney to look up. She paled as she saw two dozen Coven Scouts surging into the cavern and begin making their way down towards the nest, each brandishing their spears. Viney quickly shoved the Baby Selkidomus into the nest of seaweed and kelp, and stood between the Mother Selkidomus and the approaching scouts.