26. Chapter 63: The Glandus War: The Invasion

Glandus High, Four Years Ago.

"Welcome on your first day of Glandus High, students! This is your principal Acne speaking, reminding you of the school's decree… those who strive to be strong shall be worthy to join a coven someday, perhaps even the Emperor's Coven! So keep up or you won't survive!"

Emily Tricks, who was in her Freshman year of Glandus, walked down the hallway while carrying her books. She was looking down with a sad gleam in her eyes, as this is her first time attending a public school after being home schooled by her foster father. As she headed for her class, she overheard a commotion.

"Stop! Let me go!"

Emily turned to see a young Stella being dragged by some bullies who pinned her to a locker. "We told you what would happen if you showed your face around here, Northstar!" the bully said while holding Stella at knife point.

"But-but I go here now," Stella replied as her pigtails were grabbed. "Ow! That hurts!"

The scene reminded Emily of one she had seen years ago and she knew she had to do something. She put her books down. "Hey!" The bullies turned to her. "Let her go… now."

"Or what, puke face?" the bully asked while Emily smirked at them.

"Why don't you take a look at my flames…"

Later, Emily managed to bring Stella out of the hall after dealing with the bullies. "You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for saving me," Stella replied. "I-I wasn't expecting anyone to step in."

"Don't mention it, I'm just glad that you're alright," Emily responded before she started to walk away. "Anyway, I should get going to my class."

"Wait!" Stella said, putting her hand on her shoulder. "I never got your name! And maybe we could, I don't know, hang out or something."

Emily looked back at Stella, surprised. "Really? You… want to hang out with me?"

"Of course, I want to show my gratitude and it would be smart to have a friend here that could watch your back," Stella replied. "My name's Stella Northstar. What's your name?"

The green-skinned witch smiled. "Emily Tricks," she said to her newfound friend.

Luz Clawthorne Presents:

CH. 63: THE GLANDUS WAR: THE INVASION

THURSDAY- THE DAY OF WAR.

Emily looked at herself in the mirror. In addition to her Glandus uniform, she was wearing a letterman jacket for this special occasion. Today was the day Glandus took down Hexside, and this was the day she would finally defeat Luz Clawthorne.

"Emily."

She turned to Stella, who was also in her uniform. "Yes?"

"Someone's waiting for you outside."

"Who is it?" Emily asked her.

"Sonya," she replied, making Emily smile.

"Well then, let's not keep my big sis waiting," Emily said as the two went to greet their guest.

Outside of their apartment complex a tall, tanned witch woman was waiting for Emily and Stella. She had narrow eyes and dirty blonde hair in the form of a ponytail with her bangs sticking out from her white headband. She wore a white sleeveless dress with two splits that showed her blue and white striped leggings and her crimson stilettos. On her shoulder was a yellow lion Palisman that had a brown horn.

The woman smiled when she saw Emily and Stella. "Well, well, how are the power couple of Glandus doing?" she asked, only to receive a hug from Emily, which Sonya returned.

"Doing great, but more importantly it's so nice to see you again!" Emily replied, excited to be getting a visit from the woman she saw as a big sister after so long. "How are things at the Beast-Keeping Coven?"

"Meh, it's pretty okay," Sonya responded. "You may have heard that we've got a new head."

"Yeah, Calypso. Her daughter goes to Hexside," Emily responded, while Sonya looked at Stella with a smile and Stella tried to hide her fear of the woman.

"And hello to you too, Stella," Sonya spoke to her. "Aren't you going to say hi as well?"

"Uh-um, hey, Sonya… it's been a while," Stella said while rubbing her arm.

"By the way, I wanted to give you something as a good luck charm for the war," Sonya remembered before handing Emily something. Emily's eyes widened and she smiled as she held up a knick-knack of a small deer dressed as a showman.

"I love it!" Emily said, treasuring this gift from her foster sister. "Thank you so much, Sonya!"

Sonya smiled and patted Emily's head. "You're welcome, sis. But I'm not the only one who wants to speak to you. He has something to say to you as well."

Emily's eyes widened as Sonya handed her crow to her, since Emily knew exactly who Sonya was talking about. "Sir?" she asked into the crow.

"My dear Emily… how are you doing?"

"I'm ready to take down Hexside and Luz Clawthorne, sir," Emily responded.

"I should hope so… you and Sonya are like daughters to me. I took you in when nobody else would because I saw your potential, because I thought you deserved better than living on the streets. Prove me right and make me proud by showing me what Glandus has to offer the Tarot Guild," the Boss told her.

"I understand, sir," Emily told her foster father. "And I won't let you down."

"I'm sure you won't," the Boss said. "I already have a good-for-nothing son who has disappointed me. He has no place in the Tarot Guild, unlike you… if you succeed. All of my hopes are on you now, Emily."

At the Hieron Household, Athena had received a letter from Glandus and was calling her wife.

"So you heard from Boscha?" Nicole asked through the crow.

"Yeah, I got a letter saying that Boscha's helping out a school project with one of their star students so she had to sleep over at the school with the principal's permission," Athena replied, looking at the letter in suspicion. "We did not give permission for this."

"I'm sure it's fine," Nicole brushed off.

"How are you not worried? We haven't heard anything about this from our daughter and we were given no notification prior," Athena pointed out.

"Thena, you worry too much," Nicole assured her. "Besides, you know teenagers like to keep stuff from their parents. Just let Boscha be."

Nicole ended the call, but Athena still has a bad feeling about the letter. She's already had a bad feeling about Glandus, especially with how they treated her daughter. And as she threw the letter aside, she found herself looking up toward the attic…

"I'm being summoned?" Kitsuni asked while using her crystal ball on top of Hexside.

"Yeah, Oberon has called for a meeting of the Order," Iago responded. "And it's mandatory too."

Kitsuni looked down at the students below who were arriving at Hexside early to prepare for their war. She sighed. "Alright, hopefully it'll be quick," she said as she took a few steps into the sky. She then grabbed something from her tail, a black hole that she threw up in the air and disappeared into.

At the Treasure Shack, Gus and Amelia had flown over there to meet up before going to school.

"So you said you wanted me to see you here before we go to Hexside?" Gus asked as they went inside.

"Oh um, well I just… wanted to show you around the old Treasure Shack," Amelia replied, looking around the place. "It's been a while since I've been here. In fact, besides the time we searched here for Skara, I don't think any of us have been here since our falling out with Boscha. Before the end of last semester, we used to hang out here all the time. Now not so much."

"I get the feeling. Me, Luz and Willow used to hang out at an old quarry when we were young, but then the Construction Coven told us we couldn't play around there anymore since they were building a new coven base," Gus recounted while Amelia brought out her scroll to put on some music "Of course, Luz unleashed fire bees on them after that."

"Huh, really?" Amelia asked as she picked her music, "Hey, why don't you find a bean bag to sit in?"

As the music played, both Amelia and Gus sat in their bean bag chairs. "So um, what is really the reason you brought me here?" he asked her.

Amelia brushed her hair to the side. "Well… Gus, I kinda like you."

"Oh, is that it?" Gus asked her, oblivious. "I mean, I like you too. Everyone seems to like me-"

"I mean, like-like you, like romantically," Amelia said, much to Gus's shock. "L-Like, you're the smartest in your class and you care about your friends a lot and you have a lot of knowledge on human history and I think you're cute. I think this started after we went to Grom together."

"Oh, w-wow, I… never thought I'd be liked that way," Gus admitted. "So how does this work?"

"I'm thinking… maybe… I would like to kiss you," Amelia said. "I mean, if it's okay with you."

"I've never had one of those before," Gus confessed.

"Then… I can show you." Amelia replied as she leaned forward. "Just… relax."

Outside of the Treasure Shack, someone was approaching. Their shadow was visible, including their flickering tail…

"Well? What do you think?" Amelia asked after she kissed her crush.

"Um, well… it was… nice," Gus replied, not sure how to answer.

"Oh, um so do you feel anything from it? Like a little flustered or…?"

"I-I don't know, Amelia," Gus said, rubbing his arm. "I'm not sure how I feel, I don't know if I share the same… I-I'm sorry that it didn't turn out like you hoped, but it's not you or anything."

"Hey, hey it's fine," Amelia assured him. "Honestly, I was a little too fast. It is just that Amity is living with Luz, Skara is dating Willow, and Cat is dating Simon, so I guess I just felt a little left out. But I also don't know if you're into girls or… what about boys?"

"Not really," Gus responded, though he looked worried. "I've never had any crushes or any interest in dating. You're not even the first girl who has asked me out." His eyes widened. "Could there be something wrong with me?"

"No, of course not," Amelia said, trying to stop Gus from getting upset. "There is nothing wrong with you, Gus. Look, you want to call Luz or Willow? We can head back to Hexside and talk to Ms. Traveler about it-"

Knock-Knock

The two looked at the door, wondering who was there. "Hang on," Amelia said as she walked over to the door while Gus hugged himself.

Amelia opened the door. "Who is it-" Her eyes widened as she felt the piercing sting of claws digging into her shoulders. "AAAAH!" she cried and Gus turned to see Amelia being pushed down by Nina Fangs.

"Morning, how is everyone doing?" Nina asked as she walked inside, eyeing Gus. "Hey, you're Augustus Porter, ain't ya? Emily wants to see you." She waved for him to come.

Gus stood up and backed away. "Get back! I'm not going anywhere with-" But Nina had him cornered as she kicked a table over and grabbed him by the collar. "Amelia!"

Amelia looked up and tried to stop the bleeding in her shoulders. She was lucky nothing vital was pierced, but she couldn't let Nina take Gus. She uses her magic to summon a block of wood to hit her in the back of her head, but Nina turned around and swiped her claws at the wood, turning it into splinters. "Let him go!"

"Oh you don't want to mess with me, minty," Nina said as her eyes narrowed, her back starting to hunch over as she began to transform. "You won't like me when I'm angry…"

In the headquarters of the Tarot Guild, Craig was trying to find someone. He passed by a bunch of beasts kept in containers. They roared at him and one tendril almost latched onto Craig, causing him to scream. "Yeeek!" Then the tendril was shocked, causing it to release Craig,

"Sorry they almost made you soil yourself, Craigy-boy," said Sonya, who suddenly appeared before him. She turned to the caged beasts. "QUIET!" she shouted, causing the beasts to fall silent and back away from her in fear.

"Do you have them? The creatures that I asked for?" Craig asked her.

"Follow me," she said as she led him to a room with several containers. Only the silhouettes of the animals inside were visible. "These were said to have gone extinct during the Scarrasic Ages. But when the Emperor's Coven managed to revive the basilisks, they had no idea what they had started. And fortunately for you, these creatures are just as deadly as they were back then…"

Craig looked at them, his eyes widening. "No way… these guys are perfect! How do I handle them?"

"You keep them in line with these shock collars and this remote," Sonya said, handing over an organic remote with an eye. "Just don't lose it or they will eat you. Slowly."

"Don't worry, I won't be the one gettin eaten," Craig replied as he took the remote and smiled evilly.

At the Emperor's Castle, the Coven Heads had gathered in the meeting room. Emperor Belos and the Coven Heads took their seats, Calypso ending up sitting beside Terra Snapdragon while Alador sat next to Terra as well with Scooter Crane sat next to Calypso on the left.

"Well this is going to be exhilarating," Terra commented while leaning back. "Watching two schools fighting and killing each other, and it's being broadcast all over the Boiling Isles! Don't you agree, Calyflower?" she asked Calypso.

"If you say so," the Brooke woman replied with a dry tone, which made the Plant Head frown.

"Hey, aren't your daughters fighting in this war?" Breathton asked. "If it makes you feel better, I've placed some bets for Hexside to win in the betting pool the scouts set up in the rec room."

"Really?" Terra said as she snapped her fingers at a nearby Abomaton. "You there, tell those scouts that I'm betting my rainy day savings for Glandus to win!"

The Abomaton nodded and marched away.

"You know this is a misuse of my Abomatons," Alador pointed out to her.

"Relax, Al," Adrian Gray told him. "The true purpose of this school war is to look for potential coven members that we can recruit from the surviving school. Though with Hexside lacking Abomination students, they probably won't stand a chance."

"Says the Hexsidian," Calypso pointed out. "Though if I may speak, Emperor Belos, out of curiosity, I'm surprised that you didn't take that Emily Tricks girl taken in after she exposed Luz Clawthorne's role in the… Boiling Zit incident. I assume you wanted that covered up for a reason, only for Emily to reveal the truth to the entire Isles."

Terra glared at Calypso. "You dare speak to the Emperor like that-"

"It is fine, Terra," Belos finally spoke. "To answer your question, Head Witch Brooke, there was no reason to bring Emily Tricks in at that point. The rest of the Isles already knew about the existence of Edalyn Clawthorne's foster daughter by then. The reason for the cover-up was to try to keep more witches from learning about Luz Clawthorne. Once her existence was known to all, there was no longer a reason for the cover-up. So there was no harm in Ms. Tricks speaking the truth about what happened that day and I saw no reason for her to be punished, especially if she might be of use to the Covens one day. Does my reasoning make sense, Head Witch Brooke?"

Calypso nodded. "Yes, my Emperor."

"Honestly, I used to think that Luz was Eda and Raine's secret child," Adrian said, causing everyone to turn to him. "What? Don't tell me that didn't cross any of your minds?"

"Hehehehe, one thing's for sure and it is that this Emily Tricks appears to be quite the enigma," Breathton stated.

"Yes, according to Lilith's report on her from last year, she's quite the upstart," Belos responded. "And she has quite the grudge against the Clawthorne girl."

"Are you… concerned for Eda's daughter, my Emperor?" Alador asked.

"I admit to having a soft spot for her," Belos told him. "I can't help but see a bit of myself in her. But I am not too worried. I have been watching her growth with great interest and I am confident that she will emerge from this conflict even more powerful than she was before. This war is perhaps just the trial she needs…"

In another part of the Emperor's Castle was a hallway filled with statues commemorating those who were no longer with the Covens today, while the names of fallen coven scouts and guards were etched onto the stone walls of the hall. The most recent memorial was one for Darius, his statue having been built next to Delara's.

Standing in front of the Darius statue was Hunter, dressed in the garb of a coven scout as he looked up at the stone features of his fallen father figure. He sighed and turned to face another Coven scout, who had brought a box with him.

"We found some more of Darius's stuff that we missed during our first sweep," Steve explained. "I was told that anything belonging to Darius should be brought to you so you can take it to his family. I don't envy you, having to deal with the loved ones of the dead can't be a fun task."

"You're right, it's not fun," Hunter said as he took the box. "But it is necessary. Thank you, Steve. I will make sure this gets to where it should be."

Steve nodded and glanced at the statue. "They got that up fast. It's not a bad job either. I think they captured his likeness pretty well."

Hunter didn't say anything. Because even if this statue was meant to honor Darius, he wished that it hadn't been built so fast since it meant that he was really gone, just like everyone else whose statues popular this hall. Including the statues of his parents.

"I should take this to his family right away," Hunter said, indicating the box. "It's better to get it over with sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, I get that," Steve acknowledged. "While I'm here, I think I'm going to pay my respects to the wall. There are a few new names there since the last time I was here. But good luck to you."

Hunter nodded and started to leave the hallway. Before he exited, his gaze drifted to two statues that were next to each other: one of the original Golden Guard and one of Head Witch Vina. In the past he came to this hallway to see his parents. Now he would come here to see Darius too.

He sighed and continued on his way.

In an alternate version of the Emperor's Castle, Darius and the Golden Guard were peeking around a corner.

"Okay, the coast is clear," the Golden Guard told Darius. "Let's keep moving."

Darius nodded and followed the Golden Guard, who seemed to have a better sense of direction here than he did. He had lost track of how many times they had done this… and how many close calls there had been with the creature that was hunting them.

"How are your memories?" the Golden Guard asked Darius. "Are you remembering more?"

"Yes," Darius confirmed. "For example, I remember your son. I have been watching out for him, by the way. He's grown into a fine young man."

The Golden Guard stopped and turned to Darius, his mask hiding his confusion. "My… son?"

"Hunter," Darius clarified. "You had him with Vina."

"Vina?" the Golden Guard asked in surprise. "That can't be right. I did have a son, but his name was Caleb. And… he died a long time ago."

It was Darius's turn to be confused and surprised. "What?"

The Golden Guard then realized something. "Wait… did Belos… no, he wouldn't have…" He then heard a distant cry and snapped out of his thoughts. "We have to go. Come on."

As the Golden Guard started moving again, Darius continued to follow. He decided not to continue pushing the subject of Hunter, despite his own confusion. It was more important for them to survive their current situation…

At the Nightshade home, Hunter was in Gavin's room as the teen went through the box of his dad's stuff. Hunter noticed an inscription on one of the items.

"Who's… Desmond Deamonne?" Hunter asked, spotting an old medallion with the name.

"Oh, that would be my great-grandfather," Gavin responded. "Dad mentioned him, the Deamonne name became disgraced back in the Savage Ages because of something dastardly he did. So since then, our family has been the Nightshades." He then heard a crow flying in and calling to him. "Hang on, it's for me."

Hunter nodded as Gavin went to speak to the crow, making a mental note to look into what Gavin's ancestor did as he overheard Gavin's talk with Angmar.

"Slow down, Angmar," Gavin said to him. "When was the last time you heard from Boscha?"

"Yesterday after school. But I didn't hear from her after that and she didn't show up at Glandus this morning, nor is she responding to my texts… something's up, and I don't like it, Gavin…"

Gavin gulped, fearing the worst. "You don't think… she ended up like Bria…"

"I don't like to think about it, man, but if that's the case…"

"I don't think there's anything we could do about it, Angmar," Gavin said. "But call me back if you hear something." He then hung up and turned to Hunter.

"Trouble at school?" Hunter asked him out of concern.

"Um… it's nothing really." Gavin tried to hide it, but Hunter wasn't buying it.

"Who's… Bria?" Hunter asked him, making Gavin nervous.

"S-She's an old friend," he said while looking down. "We got into some… trouble one night and I… haven't heard from her ever since."

"Is what happened to Bria happening now to Boscha?" Hunter asked him, but Gavin said nothing. Hunter glanced at Flapjack, who sat on his shoulder, and a determined look formed. "Gavin, is there something up around Latissa I should know about? Is it something at Glandus?"

"I… look, I don't want you to get involved with this, man. You don't have to do this," Gavin told Hunter.

"I have to, Gavin. As a member of the Emperor's Coven, I'm going to use my authority to investigate the school," he said as he started to leave, but he stopped as he turned to Gavin. "You're not in trouble, but I do want to help your friend," he said before he left.

Gavin gave a look of worry towards Hunter, his anteater Palisman sharing his concern. "I hope he knows what he's doing too, Artur," he said to his Palisman.

The rest of the students were arriving at Hexside as the defenses were being set up. Jerbo was summoning his plant Abominations to keep guard while the construction students were summoning up walls to fortify the school. Felicia has set up her ghost camera crew to broadcast everything for the Isles to see.

"This is Felicia Fox reporting to you live from Hexside School of Magic and Demonics," she said. "Since everyone knows that Glandus intends to make the first move, everyone has been preparing for the inevitable attack."

At the steps, Willow was using her spells to put up plant defenses for when Glandus decided to charge into the school. "What's up, general?" spoke Luz, causing Luz to turn and smile when she saw two of her best friends, Luz and Amity, walking up to her.

"Just setting up final defenses," Willow responded. "How are you two doing? And is that a new jacket, Luz?"

"Yeah, my mom gave it to me," Luz said as she showed it off to Willow.

"And we're doing great," Amity replied. "We had a bit of a fight last night, but everything is alright now and I think we are better for it."

"But enough about us," Luz said. "We want to know everything about your date with Skara."

"Yeah, and don't leave out anything," Amity added, causing Willow to chuckle.

"Oh you guys…" Willow said before she heard a commotion from the students outside.

Amelia was running up to Hexside, all scratched up and holding onto her bleeding shoulders before she fell down in front of the school.

"Amelia!" Willow and Amity shouted as Luz jumped over the steps and the trio rushed over to Amelia's aid. "Amelia, what happened? Where's Gus?"

"S-She… took him…" Amelia said, her voice pained. "Gus was taken to Glandus… by Nina… Fangs…"

Amity was horrified as she saw the scratch marks all over Amelia. "Willow, get her to the Healing Room immediately!"

"I will," Willow replied while she helped Amelia up.

"This has to be Emily's doing," Luz realized and Amity nodded in agreement. "We have to go get him-"

BOOM!

Luz was interrupted by the sound of an explosion… coming from inside the school. They all turned toward the building. "What the fuck!?" Luz cried out.

"What was that explosion!?" asked a snake teacher as he, along with other teachers and students, saw a gaping hole in the floor. "Who made this hole!?"

"We did." Jumping up from the hole was Tito. With him were Cain and some Construction students that were responsible for the hole. Following them were Kadabe, Ruth, Goregon, and Weaselton.

"It's Glandus!" a bird oracle student cried out.

"Die, Hexside!" Goregon declared, his arms forming Abomination cannons.

Goregon shot a ball of goop at the snake teacher, who was launched into a wall. He was knocked out as he fell down to the floor.

"Call Principal Bump!" an arachnid teacher screamed as she and Mrs. Mantis tried to fight back, but they were wrapped up in vines and thrown out of a window by Weaselton.

"What's happening?" Willow asked as the bird oracle student ran up to her.

"It's Glandus! They came out through the floor and started their attack!" he cried out

"We can't just leave Hexside during this… but Gus…" Luz looked hesitant and so did Amity.

"It's alright," Willow assured them. "The longer we leave Gus at Glandus, the more danger he will be in. Me and the others will hold it up here. But you two need to rescue Gus!"

"Are you sure?" Amity replied as they heard another explosion.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Willow told them, nodding to Luz.

Luz understood as she nodded back while Amity summoned her Abomi-cycle. "Just make sure to show those Glandus punks that we're not a bunch of pushovers!"

"You got it!" Willow replied as Luz and Amity got on the Abomi-cycle and took off. Willow then turned to Amelia. "Hang on, Amelia, we'll get you patched up."

"It's… my fault… I couldn't protect him…" Amelia said with tears in her eyes.

"Don't say that, you did the best you could," Willow said as she went looking for the Healers.

"Glandus has begun their attack!" Felicia reported. "The battle for Hexside has begun!"

Watching the news on the crystal ball, the Owl House were shocked by this. Eda stood up and started heading for the door.

"Mom, where are you going?" King asked.

"I'm going to help," Eda responded with a determined look. Lilith got up as well.

"I'm coming too," Lilith added.

"I don't know, Lilith, are you sure?" Eda asked her.

"Hexside was my school too, Edalyn," Lilith responded. "What others think of me doesn't matter. I want to help."

Eda smiled. "That's the spirit, sis," she said as she held up a notebook with Luz's glyph cards. "Hooty, keep the house protected until we're back."

"You got it, Eda!" Hooty responded.

"Be careful out there, Eda, Lilith," Camila told them as the Clawthorne sisters got ready to head out with their staffs.

But as they exited the Owl House, a light beam hit the ground in front of them, stopping the sisters in their tracks. "You're not going anywhere…" said the voice of Craig as he revealed himself to the Owl House residents. "Lilith Clawthorne… we meet again!"

Lilith looked confused. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Know me? I was under your wing back in the Emperor's Coven! I was your coven scout!" Craig shouted at her.

"Yeah, you gotta be more specific…" Lilith told him.

"It's Craig!" he shouted angrily, causing Lilith to remember.

"Craig!?" Lilith exclaimed in shock. "What… what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to seek revenge against you, and the Clawthorne family!" Craig declared, as those behind him started coming out of the woods. "And I'm not the only one…"

Appearing from the bushes was a large, pinkish pale octopus demon with a large head, black arms, two bulbous eyes above his cheeks and two narrow eyes that resembled nostrils and yellow orbs under his gruesome chin, with a mouth with no lips. "Eda the Owl Lady! You and your accursed family will pay for ruining my potions business and setting my home on fire!"

"Adegast?!" Eda questioned.

Captain Hook, Smee and the remains of their pirate crew appeared next. "So this is Amity's base… time to pillage and take their loot and blow up the place, boys!" Hook declared as his crew cheered.

"Oh crap, it's that crazy pirate I've told you guys about!" King pointed to Hook.

"Owl Lady!" spoke a group of blue demons with hexagon-shaped heads and shrimp-like facial features. They wore gray and yellow robes and held swords, bows, and crossbows with their three-fingered hands. "You will pay for stealing our spiiiiice!" the leader hissed.

"Spice demons!? You've stolen from the spice demons!?" Lilith exclaimed to Eda, who shrugged.

" YAAAAAAEEE!"

The sudden shriek caused the sisters to shriek as another member of Craig's group appeared. She was waring a yellow robe with red vein-like designs all around. Her pink fingertips were turned black. Her identity was unknown to them, since she wore a Haitian style mask to cover her face. The mask appeared to be animated as it shared her angered expression.

"Okay, I don't know who this one's supposed to be, but head back in the house!" Eda told everyone as they ran back inside. Once they were in, Hooty shut the door as he prepared to fight the intruders.

"You will all regret going against the House of Ga'Hoot!" Hooty declared as he faced off against the attackers.

Inside the house, Eda brought out some potions she had made and kept stashed. "Glad to still have my explosives," she said.

"And I got Luz's extra glyph cards!" King declared.

"Nice thinking, King," Eda replied before she saw a panicking Camila.

"What… what's going on? Why are we being attacked!?" Camila asked her and Eda sighed.

"Look, I've made a lot of enemies over the years, which is not uncommon for witches," Eda said as she pulled out a key and pulled away the rug showing a trapdoor in the floor. "But don't worry, this house was intended to protect me from those enemies and exes I don't wish to deal with. Still, it pays to be prepared." She opened the trapdoor, revealing a space filled with various weapons. Swords, shurikens, sickles, chainsaws… rifles.

"Where in the realm did you get these weapons!?" Lilith exclaimed in shock.

"From one of those exes, but now's not the time to talk about my past!" Eda shouted as she brought out a black rifle just as an arrow was shot through the window and hit the wall, causing everyone to duck.

"Oh my god!" Camila screamed in horror.

"AAAHHH!"

They all heard Hooty crying out and Lilith looked worried. "Hooty, are you alright out there?!"

"Get them off of me! Get them off of me!" Hooty screamed. Outside, he was being bitten and attacked by reptilian creatures… with furry, canine features for their heads and upper limbs. They looked like a cross between hounds and raptors, each coming as a different breed.

The siege on the Owl House had begun.

Hunter kept his mask on as he entered Glandus as a coven scout, having left Flapjack outside. While he did receive many stares from the Glandus students who were in charge of defending the school, he didn't let them bother him as he found Principal McScream.

"Excuse me," Hunter said to McScream. "But are you the one in charge here?"

"That'd be me," McScream responded, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Aren't you a little short to be a Coven Scout, kid?"

"I am the one with the sigil," Hunter said as he showed McScream his Emperor's Coven sigil on his right wrist.

"Yep, that checks out. What are you here for?" McScream asked him. "In case you didn't notice, we're in the middle of a school war here."

"I'm here to conduct an inspection of your school, sir," Hunter told him. "Just a little routine check for the Emperor's Coven. It won't take long."

"...Alright, let me give you the tour," McScream said as he led Hunter away, though not before sharing a look with Cooker, who stood nearby.

Outside of the Boiling Isles, Kitsuni was walking down a white hallway with several other beings. She smiled when she saw two beings she recognized. "Kebechet! Persephone!"

"Kitsy, glad to see you, you old vix!" spoke a black jackal humanoid woman with golden eyes, golden Egyptian markings around her eyes resembling the Eye of Ra, and a white toga top and short skirt, with golden bands on her upper and forearms, thighs and hindlegs, with the mark of Ankh on her bare stomach. Her left arm was covered in tattoos of Egyptian scripture. Her black hair was straight down with a golden headband. She hugged Kitsuni. "How's my brother? Have you seen him lately?"

"Yes, Anu's doing fine, and is back to being a genie," Kitsuni replied.

"I already heard about that from my father," Kebechet said. "Kore, aren't you gonna get off the phone and say hello to an old friend?"

"In a sec," spoke Persephone, a pink skinned woman with bright magenta hair tied to a ponytail. She wore a white business brazier suit with a white blouse, white skirt and heels. She was speaking to someone on a cell phone. "Listen, mom, I'm gonna have to call you back. Okay, bye." She hung up. "Sorry, you know how my mother gets. It is great to see you again, Kitsy."

"You too, Kore," Kitsuni replied as she hugged the goddess.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Kebechet said as the three entered the Hall of the Order with everyone else.

Kitsuni recognized someone and had to greet him. "A pleasure to see you again, great hero of the Yokai Realm."

"Nice to see you too, lass," spoke a white feathered anthropomorphic duck in a Scottish accent. He wore a black top hat with a gray band and he had a yellow bill, a small pair of glasses, and some feathers sticking out from the sides of his head like hair. While he was not there physically, he was attending via the screen of a computer monitor connected to a stick and roller. He rolled it to where his seat is, but it got stuck. "Oh for the love of, blast this technology!" cursed Scrooge McDuck, champion of good.

"Here, let me help you," said a tall, muscular humanoid-like creature with green skin. He had a large crystal for a head, two small blue crystals on his chest, green snakes for arms and legs, and one eye. He wore a long purple cape and purple underwear briefs. He tried to lift Scrooge's monitor up, but it wasn't easy because he had snakes for arms. He was Rhombulus, last member of the disbanded Magic High Commission.

"This better be good, I was summoned in the middle of a really good nap," spoke a monkey man in red and yellow Chinese armor. He was sitting on a cloud while holding a yellow pole. He had black spiky hair, blue eyes, and black pants with a red cape. He was known as the Monkey King.

"Too much sleep is not good for you, Sun Wukong," spoke an Indian elephant god with six arms, Ganesha.

"Alright! Let's get this meeting started!" announced a blue cloud of smoke that took the form of a large blue deity with pointy ears, black hair tied into a ponytail with a red band, and a big chin with his black goatee. He had a smooth brawn stature with a red sash around his waist, and a blue tail of smoke. "Hey there everybody, Genie here, how's it going?"

He changed his form to resemble Kermit the Frog before continuing. "Hi ho, welcome to this meeting of the Order. Thank you all for making it. You all know who I am, but let's not forget the wizard himself, Merlin!" He waved at a blue robed wizard with a long cone hat. He had a long white beard, small glasses, and blue shoes.

"Um, hello there," Merlin the Wizard waved.

Genie then shifted into Joan River. "And also here with us is the powerful sorcerer himself, the one who started it all! You know him, you love him, it's Yen Sid!"

In the spotlight appeared another man with a stern look. He wore a blue sorcerer hat that was decorated in stars and a crescent moon. He had a long beard, small eyes with tiny pupils, and he wore an aqua-colored vestment.

Yen Sid paid no attention to Genie's antics as he cleared his throat. "Can we get to the point of this meeting?"

Genie changes back to normal. "Not much appreciation for my showmanship, Yen Sid? Fine, have it your way." He cleared his own throat, "Now, is everyone here? Anyone need some snacks or water? No? Okay, now onto business."

Merlin adjusted his glasses as he stood up. "All rise," he spoke, as all the gods and deities present rose up. "This sudden meeting of the Order has been called by the Lord of the Fae of Avalon… Oberon."

Oberon flew into the center of the hall, front of the trio at the stand. "Yes, thank you here for coming on such short notice," he said, causing some to murmur among themselves while others like Genie, Scrooge, Kitsuni and Persephone just rolled their eyes, but he paid no mind to it. "The reason for this meeting is because, frankly, I have had enough." He pulled out a list, which rolled out onto the floor because of its length. "Now, to start from the top…"

Back at Glandus, McScream was showing Hunter around the school. Hunter noticed that most of the students gathered in the halls were armed with weapons of their choice. He also noticed some of the students not in Glandus uniform…

"Those students are from different schools," Hunter pointed out.

"Yeah, we've managed to get some allies," McScream stated. "We have to be ready in case one of those Hexside Hacks want to launch a counterattack."

"Uh huh," Hunter responded.

"Is there anything you would like to know more about? Like me?" McScream asked hopefully.

"Actually, I want to talk to you about some… concerns I have about your students," Hunter said, making the principal frown. "You may have heard about the disappearances that have been happening around Bonesborough as well as in Latissa. One of them was a student of yours, Bria Carpenter."

McScream feigned ignorance. "Well, it's… sad that Bria disappeared…"

"Boscha Hieron also did not return home yesterday and was not seen this morning," Hunter added. "I would like to talk to some of your students here, maybe pay a visit to your detention dungeon as-"

WHACK!

Hunter fell down after getting hit in the back of head and knocked out by Cooker, who stood behind him. McScream gave Cooker a thumbs up. "Excellent job, Cooker."

"These scouts keep asking too many questions," Cooker said as he grabbed Hunter's unconscious body. "What do we do with him?"

"Put him in the detention dungeon for now," McScream ordered. "We'll figure out what to do with him later."

At Hexside, things had taken a turn for the worst. Principal Bump was running down the hallway with several teachers and students.

"Blanc must have helped Glandus find the tunnels beneath the school!" Bump realized. "I can't believe he would betray Hexside! If I get my hands on him-"

"Worry about revenge later, for now let's focus on getting Glandus out of here!" Jane translated for Professor Redback. Suddenly, the gorilla was pinned to the lockers and sent crashing into a classroom. "Redback!" Jane cried out.

The demon gorilla looked up and saw a chimpanzee demon with an overly large cranium. He wore a purple tunic with spiral shoulder-pads, red pants, and his tail was a living cobra. 'We finally meet again, Redback!' he spoke telepathically, his wrists showing that he was part of the Oracle Coven.

'Professor Serkis!' Redback signed. 'I should've known my old rival would ally himself with that barbaric school!'

'This is a new dawn, Redback!' Serkis declared as he summoned ghosts to charge at his rival.

Meanwhile, the Shadowy Secret Expozers were setting traps around the school, which managed to get some Glandus students. "You know, this isn't too different from what we usually do," Korn told the others.

"Yeah, we're totally in our element right now, guys!" Linkin agreed.

"Wait, I smell something familiar…" Patty declared as she let out a growl.

"I smell it too… ugh, it's them…" Cyndi groaned.

"Come now," spoke a raspy voice. Floating down from the ceiling was the all-white ghost of a long haired, bearded man with tired looking eyes, wearing a ragged shirt and pants with blood stains on them. "Long time no see, Shadowy Secret Expozers. I know we're on different sides and all, but it doesn't mean we can't be friendly about it…"

"The Surreal Serial Killer Specter!" the goth group said in unison.

"Yup, and my emo-teens are here to take you guys down!" he declared as three teenage witches showed up with him. "Justine Timberwolf!"

A brown demon dog girl with a strong physique and Beast-Keeping Track colors on her uniform showed up, charging at Korn and Linkin, pinning them to the wall.

"Grittney Speer!"

Sioux saw someone popping up in front of her. She was a blond haired witch with pink eyes and black horns, wearing Potions track colors with a short torn skirt, yellow short-shorts, and black heel boots as she blew something on Sioux, causing her to cough out in disgust and back away.

"And finally, Gusher!"

Eve and the Cerberus sisters backed away, a dagger flying past Eve. She yelped and turned around to see a purple skinned demon boy who wears a hood over his head, his face has his mouth on top and his eyes on the bottom. He appeared to be in the Plant track from the colors on his shredded uniform.

"Shit…" Eve cursed as she held her rabbit staff up while seeing her friends incapacitated. It was just her and the Cerberus Sisters.

"How disappointing," Kadabe said while holding Celine up in the air. The moon girl was heavily injured while Tyler sat terrified in a corner. "You're supposed to be at the top of the Oracle Track here, and yet, you couldn't last two minutes with me!" She threw Celine into a wall.

"Celine!" Tyler cried as he tried to run over to her, only to be blocked by Kadabe. "P-Please… let me go…"

"Sorry, but weaklings don't get to run…" Kadabe told him with an evil grin on her face.

"Hello? Anyone?" Louis cried out while trying to find her way through a mist-filled hallway. She spotted the hooded, ginger haired girl from her Illusion class. "Scotty! Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, this mist is hard to see through," Scotty responded after Louis helped her up. They then saw a silhouette approaching them. "Hey, isn't that your boyfriend?"

Louis looked up and saw the green boy from Potions and something behind him. "Reggie, look out!"

"Huh?" Reggie asked before a white weasel bit him on the shoulder. "GAAAH!" he cried out, kneeling down while his bite became infected. "What… what's happening to me!? AAAAAAHHH!"

The two illusion girls saw their friend, Reggie, get turned into something horrifying. "REGGIE!" Louis cried while Scotty held her back and they were forced to watch him transform… into another pale white weasel.

"Hiiisss!" the Zombie-Weasel screeched, causing the two girls to flee.

"Why are you all running? My zombie weasels just want to have fun!" Weaselton cried out as he laughed, using his plant magic to create the mist, while his zombie weasels went around biting students and teachers.

Ruth found herself surrounded by Hexside students. "Alright, we have you surrounded! So hands up where we can see them!" one of them shouted.

Ruth smiled under her facial mask as she raised her hands up, dropping flasks of her potions on the floor. It sprayed red smoke around, which caused the students to feel their eyes and skin itching.

"AAAH! My skin! Why does it itch!?"

"My eyes!

"My tongue itches!"

Ruth then brought out a crossbow armed with tubes of her potions as she went around shooting at them.

"Woo!" Tito knocked a Hexside student into a locker with his powerful kick. He moonwalked as he shouted. "Yo Cain! I'm gonna look around to see if I can find some top students to break their faces! Wanna join?"

"No…" Cain responded as he spotted someone heading his way. "My brother's here."

"Oh, well then, I'll leave you to settle things with him then." Tito patted Cain's back while turning to the other Glandus students. "Come on! Weak havoc in this school! I want the Rumbler Brothers and the Shovelers to tear down the walls and bury these Hexside punks!"

"YEAH!" they all agreed as two gray demons with pile driver-like arms began to punch through the walls and floor of the school.

Cain was more focused as his brother. "You want to settle this outside where there is more space?" he asked.

"Yeah, grudgby field," Simon responded. The two then raced towards the grudgby field.

"Oi, Boss Cain's gonna fight his brother on the grudgby field!" one construction track student declared.

"Seriously? I would love to watch that, but we got a job to do," another responded.

Dusty and his beasts, the sickle-weasel and a unicorn, fought off against the invading Glandus forces along with some other students. "Alright, keep on fighting, you guys!" Dusty cheered before they heard some rumbling. His unicorn noted that something was coming through the hole that the Glandus students had come out of. "What is it, Eunice?" he asked his unicorn as a large creature came out of the hole.

"Oh shit, that's Glandus's mascot!" one Hexside student realized.

"RAAAAAWWRRR!" cried out the beast that came out of the hole. It resembled a troll with six gorilla-like arms, beady black eyes, a circular mouth with large teeth, a rigid underbelly, and hindlegs with claws. It roared at the Hexside students as it crawled out of the hole. It was as big as a Greater Basilisk.

"Stand back, everyone!" Dusty declared as he got in front of it. "That there is a grendletroll! I've never seen this one up close before, but don't worry, cause Dusty Bringems shall tame this beast!"

"He is the top Beast Keeping student," a capskull pig demon student pointed out.

"Yeah! Go Dusty!" the bird oracle student cheered.

"Alright, grendletroll, time to face-" Before Dusty could do anything, the grendletroll simply engulfed the poor boy with its worm-like mouth, lifting him up to swallow him whole, while Dusty's screams echoed. It then burps out Dusty's hat, which fell on the floor.

"How did he even make it to the top of his class!?" the Hexside students questioned in shock as they ran off and the grendletroll started chasing them around. "AAAAH!"

In Latissa, Luz and Amity were passing through the town as they headed for Glandus, setting their sights on the castle-like school as the glowing eye on the tower stared at them.

"So that's Glandus…" Luz commented. "You know, the medieval décor is quite fitting."

On a nearby rooftop, Meteora watched her two targets approaching Hexside. She smiled, thinking back to how she had instructed her top Beast-Keeper to capture one of Luz and Amity's friends as bait to lure them to Glandus. And it was one of Hexside's own who told Nina just who to capture, the weakest link that Luz would go to the ends of the realm for. For Meteora, this had played out nicely.

"Perhaps I should let these Glandus students have a shot at killing those two first. I'm sure Oberon wouldn't mind." Her shadow nodded in agreement. "But first…" Meteora then nodded her shadow and it slithered down from the rooftop to the ground.

The shadow went over to the girls riding their bike, extending its hands to grab the front wheel, causing the bike to tip over.

"AAHH!" Luz and Amity screamed, Luz spreading her wings to hold onto Amity protectively while they tumbled over the ground. "Ams, are you alright?" Luz asked her girlfriend afterward.

"Yeah," Amity responded as they got up. "Just some scratches, but no bruises."

"Looks like we hit a big rock," Luz commented as they looked at the downed Abomi-bike, Amity summoning it back into her gourd.

"If there had been a rock, I would have seen it," Amity responded before they both turned to look at the school they were in front of.

"After this war, we are so going to burn this school to the ground," Luz said while in her cambion form.

"No argument there," Amity agreed as she got into her Abomi-suit.

Inside Glandus, one student on the upper floors spotted Amity and Luz heading into the school. "They're here!" he announced on the intercom. "I repeat: Luz Clawthorne and Amity Goodfellow are here!"

Hunter groaned as he started to wake up, his head aching in pain due to the blunt hit on his head. "Ugh… what happened?" he asked. He tried to get up, only to find himself chained to the wall. His mask fell off, earning gasps from two of his fellow prisoners. As he got a sense of his surroundings, Hunter realized he was in a dungeon with three other teens. And two of them he recognized.

"Boscha? Gus?" Hunter spoke.

"Hunter?!" Gus exclaimed, though he didn't sound glad to see him.

"Wait, Hunter…" Boscha's eyes widened, putting two and two together. "You were at Gavin's house and… you two know each other!?"

"Let's just say we used to be friends," Gus explained bitterly.

"Gus, I'm sorry and… wait, what are you doing here?" Hunter asked him. "Were you part of some infiltration mission?"

"No, they captured me and made me their prisoner to lure Luz here," Gus explained. "Not that I care, but Luz is really not gonna like finding you here."

"Wait, wait, wait, are you saying you and Luz were friends with someone from the Emperor's Coven?" Boscha asked in shock. "Is he like her aunt's apprentice or something?!"

"Uh…" Hunter wasn't sure what to say, but Gus explained it to her.

"Funny story," Gus began. "See, he was an old friend of me, Luz and Willow back when we were kids. Until he bugged Luz's home and as it turns out that he's-"

"A spy for the Emperor!" Hunter interrupted, motioning Gus to not say anything more to Boscha. "I didn't want to deceive you, Gus, but my uncle, who works for the Emperor's Coven, asked me to plant that bug."

"Wait, your uncle made you plant a bug in a house full of mostly women and teenage girls? Ew…" Boscha said in disgust.

"It's not like that!" Hunter declared. "We were just… following Luz's progress-"

"You're really not helping your case, you creep!" Boscha pointed out.

"Yeah, yer not really helping yer case there, pal," said a blonde witch boy in Bard Track sleeves.

"Who's this guy?" Hunter asked in confusion.

"The name's Batters, I was imprisoned here on the account that Ms. Tricks didn't like the birthday roast I set up for her. Of course, it was Kadabe's idea, but I took the fall and I've been trapped here for… what Tuesday is this?" the boy asked.

Hunter decided to not delve into that as he turned to Boscha. "Anyway, Boscha, I came here because I heard you went missing. What is going on in this school?"

Boscha looked around and sighed. "Well, I doubt this is the ideal place to tell you."

"Chirp-Chirp!"

Hearing a tweeting sound, Hunter looked up and saw Flapjack flying down from a small barred window. "Hey, my Palisman came for help!" Flapjack landed on his hand. "Do you think you can unlock these chains for us?"

Flapjack flew down to Hunter's cuffed wrists. His beak tapped on the cuffs, causing them to be engulfed in golden light. After a few more taps, the cuffs opened, releasing Hunter from his captivity.

"Excellent, thanks!" Hunter said to the cardinal Palisman, who chirped in response. He walked over to Gus and had Flapjack unlock his cuffs as well. "I'm going to get you guys out of here. It's… the least I could do."

Gus looked unsure, but he gave Hunter a nod. "I think they're keeping our own Palismen somewhere, maybe your little friend here can lead us to them."

Hunter nodded while Flapjack unlocked Boscha's cuffs as well, releasing her. "Thanks," she spoke to the bird, before turning to Hunter. "What's your Palisman's name, by the way?"

Hunter looked at his cardinal Palisman. "Uh, I… I don't know."

This confused Boscha, but before she could ask Hunter about it she was interrupted by Batters.

"Hey, um, can I get out of here too, fellers?" Batters asked them. "Cause if I don't get out of here, I could get grounded."

"Don't worry, I'll put in a good word for you!" Hunter replied as he sent Flapjack to release the poor boy.

Punching their way through the front doors, Luz and Amity walked down the dark halls. Up ahead they saw a gang of students marching towards them with weapons like pipes, wooden planks, chains, etc.

"Luz Clawthorne!" spoke one student boastfully. "You think you can invade our territory?!"

"We've prepared two graves for ya!" another shouted.

"Where's Gus?!" Luz demanded, her eyes narrow as her black scales showed. "Tell me and I might leave your dicks intact!"

"We're not afraid of you! YAAAH!" One brawny student charged at them with a hammer. Amity jumped forward, her Abomination goop forming into a hammer which she used to knock him across the face, causing him to lose some teeth and crash into the lockers.

The rest of the Glandus students charge at the two. Luz and Amity nodded to each other while walking down the hall, splitting the students between them. Luz brought out her glyph cards, throwing electricity cards and shocking a group of students into unconsciousness. Amity shot out abomi-webs to trap some charging students against the walls.

Once they made it to the main hall, they were surrounded by both Glandus students and students from the much lesser known schools.

"Yo Clawthorne!" spoke a blue pale skinned witch girl with two others, one large and the other short. "The Graux Sisters are here for payback for you destroying our jackin' business!"

"Then go jack off somewhere else!" Luz barked as the leading sister charged at her with a fist to throw, but Luz brought out her bat, Brucy, to knock her in the face, knocking her teeth out. She saw the larger sister charging in like a bull and she Luz ducked down and tripped her over, and then used her wings to knock the shortest one out before she could perform a spell against her.

Amity saw some students coming downstairs and she fended them off with swords, her swords turning into mallets to hit one student when they got too close. As some magic beams were shot towards her, she formed her goop into a shield, her abomi-suit becoming more hardened for her protection. She then used an ice-glyph made of goop to shoot out ice blocks at them, knocking them back.

Luz flew towards Amity and they hooked their arms together so that they were back to back. Amity lifted up Luz who used her talon feet to slash at the attacking students. Luz did the same to Amity who kicked up at the students with her hardened abomi-shoes.

"Should be just around the corner."

Batters led the way through the dark halls with a light spell. Hunter was behind him, while Gus and Boscha were behind Hunter. They had gotten out of the dungeon thanks to a secret passage that Batters knew about. Hunter wasn't surprised, just like he hadn't been surprised about this castle having a dungeon. Castles were like required to have dungeons and secret passages.

Boscha turned to Gus, who was looking down lost in his own thoughts.

"So uh… how are you feeling right now, Gus?" Boscha asked him.

"Honestly, I don't know," Gus responded. "It all just happened really quickly. I was with Amelia when Nina came for me. Amelia tried to protect me but…"

"Amelia? What… what did Nina do to her?" Boscha asked him worriedly. She still remembered her own encounter with Nina…

Gus said nothing, the memory still fresh in his head.

Gus backed away. The Treasure Shack was completely devastated. Amelia, covered in scratch marks and blood, was held up by a beastly hand belonging to a creature covered in shadows.

"Still alive, I see. Good, because I need you to tell Clawthorne what happened here," Nina's voice came from the hulking figure. She turned to Gus, who tried to run. But Nina just tossed Amelia aside before pouncing on Gus. "Whoa, hold up there, kiddo. I got orders to take you in. Emily is just dying to meet you…"

"Gus? Gus?"

"Huh?" He looked up to Boscha. "Y-Yeah, just thinking about… Amelia. I hope she's okay."

Boscha sighed. "Yeah, me too." She was silent for a moment. "Amity told me that she has a thing for you. Is that why you were with her when Nina showed up?"

"Yeah," Gus admitted. "Before I was captured, me and Amelia kissed. My first kiss, actually. But… I didn't feel much from it. I don't know, I've just never had an interest in dating. I've never even had a crush on anyone before…"

"Really? Not even like, a glance at some pretty witches or something?" Boscha asked and Gus shook his head. "Well, there isn't anything wrong with that. But if it does bother you, maybe just talk about it with someone. Like your friends or Ms. Traveler."

Gus nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking of doing that. And I never got to say this but… I'm sorry that you got transferred here."

"Well, I don't need your sympathy," Boscha told him. "But what I do want is to make sure this school faces justice…" She moved up toward Hunter. "So what do you know about the Tarot Guild?"

One by one the Glandus students and their allies fell to Luz and Amity. Despite Amity being unable to conjure a proper Abomination, her abomi-suit was like a living pocket-knife. And Luz's cambion form proved to be too much for the students. The two were at each other's side as they turned to the final student… Angmar.

Angmar looked at them in fear. "Nope!" he shouted before running away from the two in a panic.

"Well at least one of them is smart enough," Luz commented.

"Alright, let's go find Gus and take down Emily," Amity replied as she turned to Luz. "What we need to do is-" She stopped when she noticed that Luz had vanished. "Luz? Luz where'd you go?" she asked, running down the hall while looking for Luz.

"Amity?" Luz called out while in the same hall where Amity once was. "What the… she was just here a second ago! There's no way she could run off!" she said while looking around for her girlfriend.

"She's not the one you should be worried about."

Luz turned to see Emily standing there with the Sword of Adam. "Hi there," she said coolly.

"You!" Luz flew towards Emily in a rage, drawing out her claws as she launched her attack on Emily. The Queen of Glandus held up her sword to block the attack. "Where's Amity and Gus, you bitch!? What did you do to them!?"

"Gus? Oh, you mean Augustus Porter," Emily replied as she swiped back at Luz, taking three steps back. "I wonder if you saw Amelia, Nina left her in a pretty bad shape. I can't imagine what she might have done to Gus by now…"

This caused Luz to growl angrily and try to slash her, but Emily used her sword to block each of her attacks. "As for Amity, I think she's going to be a bit busy with some old friends of hers… hopefully her panic attacks won't be the end of her…"

Amity ran around, looking and calling out for Luz. "Luz! Where are you?"

"She can't help you…"

Amity stopped, recognizing that voice as she felt a shiver up her spine. She turned around and her eyes widened in panic. "No… no you… you can't be here! You just can't!"

"But we are…" Bangles said as she stepped out of a classroom. She held up her knife. "Emily busted us out of the Conformatorium for this little reunion. Now then… let's cut that pretty face of yours…" Brian and Zephyr showed up behind Bangles, much to Amity's horror.

Nina was standing by the Detention Dungeon gate, watching the battle at Hexside on her scroll.

"This looks super cool," Nina commented, seeing footage of Cain fighting his brother. She scrolled up to see the zombies in the halls. "Man, I wish I was there, I should be conquering that school in my Beast Mode, not babysitting." Suddenly her nose picked up a smell. "Oh crap, the babies got loose."

She stash her scroll in her mane as she began the hunt.

"Hold up, hold up… what do you mean you saw the school's coach with an Emperor's Coven sigil?" Hunter asked Boscha.

"Yeah, along with some of our teachers here," Boscha revealed. "Some try to hide it but my third eye caught glances at them."

"And what is your coach's name?" Hunter asked her.

"Terry Grease," Boscha answered, causing Hunter to look pale.

"That… that shouldn't be possible, he shouldn't be working here!" Hunter exclaimed while Boscha and Gus looked confused.

"What do you mean?" Gus asked him.

"It's not a well kept secret that a witch who joins a coven can be kicked out for any given reason. Usually no other covens would accept them, so they're either sent to the Conformatorium or left to fend for themselves," Hunter explained. "Grease was a drill instructor in charge of training scouts. But because of his abusive behavior, he was dishonorably discharged from the Emperor's Coven and most of his magic was stripped from him besides the basic needs like the force field to protect him from the boiling rain. But Grease shouldn't be working at this school and he certainly shouldn't be around kids! Several of the scouts he abused… ended up dead."

"What about… Craig?" Boscha asked him and Hunter's eyes widened.

"Craig? You mean, the guy with the Emperor's Coven sigil tattooed into his face?" Hunter asked and Boscha nodded. "He was kicked out as well after an incident where he didn't break up a fight between two Hexside students that had gone too far…" Hunter saw the look of guilt on Boscha's face and it hit him. "Dear Titan, these things just keep coming full circle, don't they?"

"Hey fellers!" Batters called out as he stood next to the door. "I found the way out!" But as he opened the door, a large paw grabbed his face "Whoa-AAAH!" Batters screams as he was pulled out and thrown across the hall. "Yaaaaaahhhh!"

"Was that Batters just now?" Nina asked before shrugging. "Eh, I'll deal with him later." She turned to the rest of the group. Flapjack turned into a staff that Hunter held up defensively. "Move aside, scout."

"Boscha, take Gus with you!" Hunter shouted but their escape was blocked when Nina's arms grew larger to block their way. This caused them to back away as Nina cornered them. "S-Stand back! I am an Emperor's Coven official!"

Nina took a sniff, her eyes narrowing. "You smell funny," she said, sounding a little confused.

"I… what?" Hunter asked, also confused.

But rather than answer, Nina just shook her head and growled. It didn't matter what he smelled like, because that didn't change what he and the others were… her prey.

Back at Hexside, Willow, and Skara fought side by side against the invading Glandus students. They didn't stand a chance as Willow used her plant magic against them while Skara zapped them with her instrument..

"They're just too many of them!" Skara said.

"We have to get to the greenhouse," Willow declared as one Glandus student was about to attack her, but suddenly more Hexside students showed up to stop him from attacking their general and aid in fighting back the enemy wave.

"Finally, some help!" Skara said gladly.

"Thanks for the assist," Willow said to the Hexside students. "We really appreciate it."

"It's no sweat," one student said to her, a blue haired boy in Healing.

"Yeah, us Hexselios have to stick together, ya know?" a girl with striped skin added. "Come on, we're trying to regroup!"

"Then let's go!" Willow said as she, Skara, and their fellow Hexside students ran off. However, behind Willow and Skara several of the students exchanged looks and silently nodded, their disguises flickering for a moment to expose their light blue sleeves, though unfortunately nobody else saw them…

"Oi, what is with this teacher?" one Glandus student asked as they found Professor Snope laying on the ground, asleep. "It's like, one moment he's awake, next thing you know, he's passed out!"

"He's also the Abomination teacher, which means Professor Blanc wanted them," another replied as they picked up Professor Snope's body and started to drag out into the hall.

"I suggest you leave the premises at once," Julia told the horde of Glandus teachers and students that had invaded her office. "Or else you will have forced my hand."

"Well you're going to have to fight, sister!" shouted the Glandus potions teacher as he held up a scythe. "Because this is a war!" As he threatened Julia, she raised one of her eyebrows… and reached for her umbrella.

Meanwhile, Principal Bump has already taken out and contained several Glandus staff members and the students thanks to his Abominations.

"That takes care of them for the moment," Bump said before he went looking for more of his students and staff. But then when he entered a hall, he noticed that it was full of hall monitor bodies. "What the…?!" He noticed that several of them looked like they had their heads slammed into the wall. "What… what happened to you guys!?"

One hall monitor tried to weakly warn Bump. "T-T-Trouble…" it said while pointing up.

"What are you-?" Bump noticed the shadow looming over him before Coach Grease slammed his fists into Bump's side, causing him to hit the wall.

"I remember you," Grease said as he cracked his knuckles. "From the original Glandus war, all those years ago. I gave you a scar. How is it, by the way?" He raised his fist to launch it at Bump.

Bump felt the fist collide into his stomach with so much force it cracked the wall behind him. He gasped but managed to summon an Abomination that restrained Grease from behind. This gave Bump a second to cover as his demon cap floated off of him and formed his staff. Bump used his staff to fire a beam at Grease, which knocked him back.

"I will not let you lay a hand on my students and teaching staff, you barbarian!" Bump declared as he continued firing beams at Grease. But instead of being hurt by the beams, Grease instead ran toward Bump and took the beams head-on until he was close enough to slap the staff away.

"Do you actually think you can protect them from me?" Grease grinned madly, grabbing Bump from the collar and slamming him against the locker. "Your school is finished… and so are you. And we're not just going to beat you. We are gonna break you too." He lifted Bump up into the air and then slammed Bump's back on his knee.

"AAAAHHH!" Bump screamed in pain as he felt his back getting broken.

Cain and Simon were punching each other across their faces, both of them dawning their armored magic. While Simon dawned his rhino-like armor, Cain's looked similar to his brother's armor, but it was black with red lines on the spiked shoulder pads, armored plates on the forearms with black gloves. He wore an iron armored chest plate with black guard boots. Their punches were so impactful that they sent shockwaves around the field.

"So you've improved your armor magic! It looks similar to dad's," Simon commented.

"Stop trying to change the subject and fight me!" Cain declared as he summoned his hammer and slammed it onto the ground, creating a small earthquake. But Simon managed to stand his ground. He waited for the dust to clear, only to see that Cain had disappeared, a hole in the field where Cain had been standing.

'Oh crap,' Simon realized, but it was too late. Cain rose from the ground underneath Simon, his hammer connecting with the chin of Simon's armored mask. As Simon was launched up, Cain hit him again and sent Simon crashing into the bleachers.

"Is this really your strength, Simon?" Cain asked, seeing Simon's fallen form. "Has Hexside made you so soft that you would be so easily defeated by me!?" He turned his back to Simon, sounding disappointed. "I expected more from you, brother. I really did. Maybe that Plant Track girl will be more of a challenge…"

Upon hearing this, Simon started to stir. When Cain looked back, he had barely enough time to dodge Simon's fist.

"No!" Simon shouted as he attacked Cain. "You will not hurt my friends!" He managed to land several blows, each one knocking Cain back and cracking his armor slightly. "I don't know what has gotten into you, but you've left me no choice! This has to stop now!"

"You can't stop this!" Cain shouted back as he took a few hits and blocked a few more. "And you can't stop me! Hexside is finished and you chose the wrong side!"

The two brothers continued to trade blows, devastating the field around them in the process.

"I chose the right side!" Simon argued. "And I've chosen my family, unlike you! Because you cut everyone out of your life! You were so afraid of being hurt again like you were when mom died that you decided to stop caring about us! This isn't what mom wanted!"

"How would you know what mom wanted?! Cain demanded angrily. "She's dead!" And with that he hit Simon so hard that it knocked his helmet completely off, exposing Simon's bruised and bloody face. This caused Cain to pause.

"I know she would want you to be happy," Simon pointed out. "And Cain, I can tell that this is not making you happy. Maybe it makes you feel strong, makes you feel tough and harder to hurt. But it won't make you happy and feel good about yourself. Maybe I can't stop this, but you can. Please, before it is too late. Come home."

Cain hesitated, seeming to consider his brother's offer briefly. But rather than accept it, he chose to swing his armored fist into Simon's chest with so much force that it managed to completely shatter Simon's armor. Simon laid unconscious in the rubble of his armor, not getting back up a second time.

"You should have stayed down," Cain said. After making sure that his brother was truly defeated, he started heading back to Hexside.

Jerbo stood in front of the large Abomination made by Goregon. He saw the Glandus top Abominations student grinning. "Do you like it? This one is made up of Abominations made by other students. They let me have theirs for the war!"

"So rather than work on an Abomination yourself, you've decided to take everyone else's work?" Jerbo said disapprovingly. "You're nothing but a cheater!"

"The strong take from the weak! That is the making of a great witch!" Goregon declared.

"Well see about that!" Jerbo declared as he summoned a new blue abomination with mushrooms sticking out.

"Is that… your tail?" Tito asked while towering over Louis who had been kicked into the wall, and holding Scotty by her neck as she struggled for him to let go. All Tito focused on was Louis's rat-like tail.

"P-Please, stop hurting her…" Scotty begged her.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt her pretty little face," he said as he raised his leg, and kicked Louis down to the floor, knocking her out.

"Louis!" Scotty cried in tears.

"Relax, she's only knocked out. Though if she had a regular tail, I wouldn't hurt her that much," Tito assured his captive, while grabbing Louis by her hood. "Don't worry, just show me the way to the Healer's room and we'll have her treated."

"R-Really?" Scotty asked while shivering in fear.

"Yes… and so that I can do to those Healers what I just did to your friend!" Tito shouted as he held up the unconscious Louis. "But if you value her life, you will tell me where I can find your Healers..."

Outside of Hexside, Felicia Fox was listening to the explosions and the commotion coming from inside the school. She had sent her ghosts in with their cameras to record everything that was happening inside. While looking at the footage, a thought popped into her head. 'Say… since Glandus came up from underground and the war isn't taking place outside, I'm perfectly safe out here! I don't have to put myself in harm's way! I'm safer out here than those fools inside! And just look at these views!' She started laughing in relief.

"Hey, look at this fox," spoke a tall Glandus student. He along with his buddies were behind Felicia, who stopped laughing when she noticed them. "Wouldn't she make a fine pelt on our school walls?"

"Yeah, after we take her bones out with our teeth!" another grim student added.

"Let's saw her paws off and make dinner out of her!" a deranged hyena student holding a hacksaw declared, but Felicia had already made a run for it. "Hey! She's getting away!"

"Get her!" the first student said as they chased after her.

Felicia screamed as she ran away from the deranged Glandus students. "Stay away from meeeee!"

Back to Glandus, Luz and Emily continued to fight. Emily shot flames at Luz, who managed to block them with her wings. Emily then used her staff to disappear and then reappear in front of Luz, kicking her across the chest. Luz was launched back and she hit the lockers before using a plant glyph to try to entangle Emily, but she used the sword to cut through the vines. Luz noticed that Brucy was down and she attempted to pick him up, but Emily blocked her way.

"You won't be needing that bat anymore," Emily declared, kicking Brucy away.

"Brucy!" Luz shouted for him.

"Don't worry about me, boss! I'll find your girl somewhere around here!" Brucy shouted as he rolled down the hall.

Emily then turned to Luz, who charged and tackled her. But Emily used her staff to keep Luz's claws from slashing her. "Tell me, where are Amity and Gus!?" Emily, however, refused to tell Luz and she instead kicked her away.

Luz brought out her electric glyph card and tried to slam it into Emily, who dodged it in time and hit Luz again with her staff. Luz flew back but stopped herself, using her claws to slow down. She saw Emily flying towards her standing on her staff while raising her sword. Luz used her wings to block the attack, but when Emily took a swing of her sword at Luz's wings, it surprisingly left a cut. "AAH!" Luz winced as she stepped back.

"So this sword can hurt you," Emily commented while looking at the sword. "Interesting…" She looked at Luz with a terrible smile on her face.

"Like I'm gonna get taken out by a #%^$-ass witch like you!" Luz declared as she threw light glyph cards at Emily which exploded into balls of light. Emily shielded herself from the light but Luz got behind her in an instant. Emily turned around and used her staff to shoot a light beam at Luz, who dodged the attack. 'So far, she's using light and fire spells. Is she saving her most powerful spells as some trump card or something?' she thought while analyzing Emily's moves. 'What spells is she hiding?' She used another glyph card on Emily, sending ice spikes toward Emily which she slashed with her sword. 'If I could get that sword away from her…' She pulled a spray can out of her jacket and used it on the floor.

Emily went to slash at Luz again, who dodged the attack and continued to spray on the floor where Emily was. "What do you think you're doing?" Emily demanded to know, swiping her sword at Luz who dodged again. Luz continued to dodge and spray, much to Emily's annoyance. "If you want to do your graffiti, you could've sprayed me in the eye or something."

"As much as I like that idea, your eyes aren't what I'm aiming for," Luz said with a smirk.

Emily looked down and tried to make out the symbols Luz had sprayed. "What is-" She then saw Luz step on the symbols, causing it to light up. It was a glyph. "Shit!" Emily took a step back, but was hit by a surge of electricity that shot through her body. "AAAAAAHHH!" she cried as she dropped her staff and sword.

Once the electricity died down, Emily fell onto the floor. Luz quickly went over to Emily and grabbed what she had dropped. "Ha! Now I got your-" Luz looked at the item in her hand, it was Emily's staff. "What? But I thought I-" She looked down and saw the sword still in Emily's hand even after she fell down. "But… I just saw her letting it go…"

When Luz looked back at the winged-monkey staff, something started to come over her. A familiar… hunger. Her eyes flashed a glowing green. "No… no…" she said in horror, realizing what was happening to her.

DEVOUR.

As the deep voice from before echoed in her head, she managed to throw the staff away from her. "Get that away from me!"

DEVOUR.

Emily, who appeared to have gotten back up, looked confused as she picked up her staff. "Why? What happens if you're near my Palisman?" she asked, holding her staff up to Luz who backed away. Emily noticed that Luz's eyes were glowing green.

"You don't want to know… please, stop!" As Luz saw the winged-monkey staff drawing closer to her face, she felt her arms shaking. Almost as if they wanted to just grab the palisman and feast on its soul…

DEVOUR!

But then, to Emily's surprise, Luz's hands started to glow. A golden light engulfs her hands as they create two glowing spheres. But instead of using them to attack her like Emily assumed… Luz instead targeted herself with the light spell, using it against her own eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Luz screamed, having blinded herself rather than devour another Palisman, even if it is Emily's.

'Why did she blind herself?' Emily thought, shocked and confused by her enemy's actions. 'Though it does appear that she can do magic without those glyphs of hers after all.'

"I'm… gonna…" Luz was breathing heavily, but blinding herself had caused her to feel dizzy. She couldn't see Emily or her surroundings. But she did feel something…

Pain as something sharp was buried in her stomach.

Luz gasped as Emily pulled her sword out and looked at the blood on its blade. As Luz fell back onto the floor and started to black out from the pain, she heard Emily's voice.

"Do you hear me, Clawthorne?" Emily asked, not waiting for Luz to answer. "Don't worry, you're not gonna die just yet. I won't let you. Because we aren't done with you. Not yet. But don't get your hopes up. You along with your school and your entire wild witch family will be wiped out. I promise you that."

And with that, the darkness took Luz completely.