28. Chapter 65: The Glandus War: Masks Off(1)

Nine years ago.

A small rat came out of its hole. The three-eyed rat was sniffing for crumbs when it spotted a little piece of cheese laying on a small plate. The hungry rat ran up to the cheese and-

SNAP!

The rat was killed instantly, the cheese turning out to be an illusion. It had been caught in a mouse trap as someone stepped over to the dead rat. Kneeling over and grabbing the trap was an eight year old Emily Tricks, who was covered in dark red, circular patch scars around her face and neck that were there because of the after effects of the Boiling Pox.

She tried to make a fire spell, but couldn't. The only thing she was good at was illusion spells, which she had to make due with ever since all the food in the house spoiled while she was sick with Boiling Pox, leaving her with the choice of eating rats or starving.

She walked over to the stove and started it as she placed the dead rat on the frying pan. She watches as the rat sizzled and cooked, staring at it intensively. Because of her rat diet she was mostly skin and bones, having not had a proper meal in a while. And unfortunately for the eight year old, she no longer had her parents to provide for her.

Ever since they had been left, Emily had been living out of her dirty old home. She was sickly, greener than her skin. She was barely making by and as she ate her latest meal, she thought of her parents.

'Where are you?' she asked herself. A part of her still hoped that they would come back, that they would apologize for being gone so long and would embrace their daughter in a hug. A part of Emily didn't want to accept that they had left her to fend for herself and most likely die.

She heard the doors opening and she looked up, spotting a pair of witches coming in. "Mom? Dad?" she perked up… only for her hopes to be immediately dashed when she realized the two weren't her parents. Instead they were coven scouts.

"So the reports are true, someone does still live here," spoke the female scout.

"Just some kid," spoke the male scout. "Got a name, kid? And where's your folks?"

"My… my name is Emily Tricks," she spoke timidly. "And my parents… they haven't been home in a while."

"Those scars… did you recently recover from a case of Boiling Pox?" the male scout asked, causing Emily to nod in response.

"Oh you poor thing," the female scout said as she summoned a cup of water. "Here, drink this, young one."

Emily warily accepted the cup. After a moment of hesitation, she drank from it and started to glow, the water having a healing effect as her sickly green skin changed to her regular, emerald skin and the marks on her face disappeared. She sighed in relief, feeling better than she had in months. "Thank you."

"Tricks… wait, your parents wouldn't happen to be Margo and Hamilskin Tricks?" the scout asked her.

"Y-Yes!" Emily answered. "They've been gone for quite some time and… I never heard from them. I'm… sure they're coming back-"

"I'm afraid they're not coming back," she told her, shocking Emily, "You see, they're wild witches, and we recently caught them while they were trying to escape from the Boiling Isles."

Emily's eyes widened. "No… nonono, that's not right! Mom and dad would never-"

"Look kid, we caught them red handed," the male scout told her nonchalantly. "They didn't even say anything about a kid before they were petrified."

This shook Emily up. She looked down, tears streaming from her eyes as she started to cry.

"Oh now look what you did, Craig, you've made the poor dear cry," the female scout scolded her partner, smacking him on the back of the head.

"S-Sorry, Producer," Craig replied nervously, feeling the woman narrow her eyes at him from behind the mask. "I-I mean, The Producer."

She gave him a nod before kneeling down to pet Emily on the head. "There, there, it'll be alright, sweetheart," she told her as Emily looked up while still in tears. "Come, you shouldn't have to stay in this filthy pest-infested shed any longer."

"Am I… going to the Emperor's Coven?" she asked.

"Even better," the Producer told her. "We are taking you to… the Tarot Guild."

CH. 65: THE GLANDUS WAR: MASKS OFF

"Oh my Titan," Gus said after realizing who Emily was. "You've been an illusionist this whole time."

Emily, with strands of her hair partially covering her face, looked at Gus as she stood back up. Stella tried to comfort her but Emily just walked away from her. She stormed up to Gus, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him into the wall. Gus winced and saw Emily's angered look. Her eyes were heated and her pupils shrank as she glared at him insanely.

"Ha… ha…. hehehehehe," Emily started to laugh, disturbing Gus and Stella as it became more howling. "Eeeeeee… EYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You think you're so smart, little Gussy, do you?" she crackled insanely, forming a mad grin on her face. "You've discovered my secret, and we can't have you going around spoiling it to everyone!"

"Wha… why would you keep being an illusionist a secret?" he asked her while trying to escape from her grasp.

"Because there is no way this school would accept an illusionist being in charge," she said while calming herself. "But it's going to be okay, Porter. Because you won't be telling anyone what you know…"

She turned to dispel her illusion that covered a door, which opened to reveal a flight of stairs that went up. She started to drag Gus up the stairs, causing Stella to look concerned.

"E-Emily, wait!" Stella shouted as she followed her. "Where are you taking him?"

"Just for a little trip…" Emily responded while her grip on Gus tightened.

Elsewhere in Glandus, Amity was shocked by the revelation that she was not talking to Luz, but Maya instead.

"Maya?" Amity asked as she remembered the name of the Palisman that Luz accidentally killed. "W-Wait, are you saying you're a Palisman?"

"Well, I was," Maya said as she looked around. "By the way, where am I? Is this some kind of battle royale or something?"

"Wait, this can't be right," Amity said worriedly. "Hunter kidnapped Maya, then Kikimora had her broken and Luz…" She didn't know what to say in Maya's presence. "If you really are Maya, is Luz still… in there?"

Maya's expression fell. "Yeah, she's still in there. I managed to take control while she was being cut up by that crazy cow kid." Amity was disturbed by this, but Maya continued. "He was gonna cut out her eye but I stopped it when I took over and stabbed the guy with his own scalpel."

"Luz was… cut up?" Amity asked in horror.

"Yeah but don't worry, we're fine," Maya assured her. "But now that I'm in control, I ain't giving this body back."

Amity was shocked. "What? But why!?"

"She killed me," Maya pointed out. "She destroyed my old body and drained my soul from it, turning me into her prisoner. Well, now it is her turn to be my prisoner while I enjoy this sick new body. I mean, look at these wings!" She sprouted her cambion wings, which looked more sharp and on edge, then they shifted into pincers. "Talk about an upgrade!"

"Maya, Luz didn't mean to hurt you," Amity told her. "Kikimora and Hunter are just as responsible-"

"Yeah, I know," Maya snarled. "But Luz is still responsible for how I died, so it is only fair that she gets to learn what it is like to be trapped inside her mindscape!"

Amity gave a stressful look. "Maya please, look at this situation we're in. We are in the middle of a war with Glandus High and we are in Glandus because Emily had Gus captured! We need to find him and Boscha too!"

"You had me at war," Maya said with a smirk while cracking her neck. "So this Emily… what's her deal?"

"She's the self-proclaimed Queen of Glandus," Amity responded.

"Queen, eh? Then I say off with her head! Where can I find her?" Maya asked.

"I don't know, but I think it is more important that we find-" Amity stopped when she saw her shadow pointing in a certain direction. "Wait… Puck's shadow may be able to lead us to where we need to be."

"Who's Puck?" Maya asked.

"A friend," Amity responded. "He passed away, but his shadow seemed to have a mind of its own and I think it is trying to help us right now. It led me to you and it wants me to follow it again." She saw the shadow flying away and she turned to Maya. "Come on!"

"I don't know if I should follow you," Maya said, unsure. "After all, it's Luz that you care about. You are probably just going to try to make me give this body back to her."

"Well if we manage to find Emily, I promise to let you fight her," Amity responded, causing Maya to perk up. "And I doubt you would pass up the chance to take out a Queen."

"I don't know…" Maya said.

"Fine, you can stay here if you are scared-"

"But if you insist!" Maya declared, punching her own fists.

"Right, come on," Amity responded as she started following her shadow. 'Maya kinda reminds me of Boscha,' she thought to herself. 'But Luz… I hope you're alright.'

Luz gasped and found herself in a black void. She checked herself and found no wounds from Asi's blade on her body.

"Where… where am I?" Luz asked herself, her voice echoing, "Am I in my mindscape again? Did I go primal again?!" She looked around and shouted again. "Hello? Inner Me? Are you here?"

No one responded. Luz was completely alone…

In another part of the school, a locker looked a bit sickly. That food Nina Fangs fed him was starting to mess with its stomach. "Ooh, I think I'm going to be sick," it spoke before starting to cough, spitting out Hunter and his Palisman.

"Gah!" he cried as he fell on the floor. "Ugh, well that was something I never want to experience again," he muttered as Flapjack landed on his shoulder and chirped. "Yeah, yeah I'm alright. Come on, let's go find a crystal ball or a scroll to call reinforcements with." He said as he rushed down the hall, looking for a classroom to go into.

However, he and Flapjack didn't realize that they were being watched.

"Dammit, he escaped," McScream cursed as he watched them from his office. "And I can't have him calling for help. Maybe it's time to unleash my… baby." He gave a devilish smirk as his eyes glowed. "Hehehe, I am a genius…"

On another floor, Skara was blasting at Nina with lightning from her cricket violin.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Nina mocked while dodging her blasts. She then saw Viney riding on Puddles charging after her, but Nina grabbed Puddles by the head, and threw both of them down across the hall. "Or maybe not."

Nina then felt something crawling across her fur, something that made her itch. "What the… FLEAS!?" she cried out, realizing that Skara had used her violin to summon fleas.

"How's that?" Skara asked while playing her violin. "Just a little combo of Bard and Beast-Taming magic!"

Nina looked like she was in a panic as she was scratching the fleas off of her, but then she smirked. "You think that'll put me down?" Suddenly her fur started to shift into red scales, much to the two Hexgirls' shock. Nina completely shifted into a reptilian form, her hair and ears disappearing, her hind legs forming straight with her toes extending to her claws, her tail growing large and rigid. She had shifted from a werecat to a humanoid reptile cat. This caused the fleas to jump out of her.

"No way…" Skara said in shock as she stopped playing. "How… did you-?"

"There's a reason why I'm the Top Junior," Nina told her. "I have mastered a unique form of Beast-Transformation. You're looking at the next Queen of Glandus once Emily graduates." She smirked at Skara. "And what are you two going to do to have a chance of going up against me?"

"This!" Viney summoned a rope to wrap around Nina, but Nina's tail grabbed hold of Viney and slammed her into the wall. "Ah!" she cried out, holding her shoulder.

"Don't test me, you… healer-keeper… whatever you call yourself." Nina shrugged while Puddles charged into her, making Nina back off and jump up onto the wall, snarling at the griffin. "You wanna fight, birdy?" Nina asked as she bared her fangs, transforming back into her larger werecat form. She jumped from the wall and landed a slash across Puddles, who in response scratched back at Nina, who held up her arms to block it. Nina then jumped over Puddles and landed on top of her.

Viney got up and saw Boscha's limp body on the floor, bleeding out. "Boscha!" Viney rushed over to the Hieron girl, checking her wounds. She gasped as she saw the blood spilling out of her open stomach wound. "Shit, too much blood. Hang on!" she said as she summoned her medical kit, bringing out her bandages to wrap around Boscha's stomach after pulling up her shirt. Once she wrapped them up, Skara came up to her.

"Is she… is she going to be alright?" Skara asked.

"I… I don't know," Viney responded. "But I do know someone who could help."

"Really? Who?" Skara asked.

"Dr. Bride, she runs a clinic in Latissa," Viney explained while tending to Boscha. "She's Luz's personal doctor and while she is a bit eccentric and her methods are unorthodox, I think she is our best bet."

"Then we need to get Boscha to her as soon as possible!" Skara shouted.

They then heard Puddle's screech as the griffin was thrown over them and landed behind them, sliding across the floor. "Puddles!" Viney cried out before getting grabbed by Nina, who held her in a choke hold. "Hey, let me go!"

"Viney!" Skara shouted, standing up. "Let her go!"

"Oh I'll let her go… if you transform for me," Nina demanded.

"Transform…?" Skara asked, only for her eyes to widen when she saw Nina baring her fangs over Viney's neck. "W-Wait, stop!"

"Show me who you really are!" Nina told her.

Skara looked at Viney and then at Boscha, Nina wasn't giving her a choice. She took a deep breath and tightened her fists. "Fine," she said. "You win." For a moment, nothing happened. Then fur began to sprout all over her body and Skara hunched over, her eyes rolling back as she cried out in pain. "Gah...gyaaaahhh!"

Nina let Viney go as they watched Skara growing taller with her pinkish-gray fur taking over, partially covering her face. Her snout grew with a black nose as she bared her fangs, her pointy ears turned into wolf ears, and her claws sticking out. Her tail grew out her lower back. Her clothes were stretched out but remained intact as she took a step forward, snarling at Nina.

"Finally," Nina smirked as she filed her claws. "Now we can-" Before she could finish, Skara pounced on the werecat. The two started to fight, leaving Viney to get up and go get Boscha.

"I'm gonna take Boscha and Puddles out of here!" Viney said as she picked up Boscha, placing her on Puddle's back. "Hang on, Boscha," she said as climbed on as well. "We really need to get out of here."

Outside the Owl House, Craig's forces argued among themselves about what to do next.

"I keep telling you we can't blow it up!" Craig argued with them. "We need to find a way to get past the lockdown so we can get Lilith and her family!"

"Or, we take the easy route… we just set the place on fire!" the spice demon leader suggested.

"I agree, we can place a bomb in a present and leave it on their doorstep and then they'd be blown to smithereens!" Hook suggested.

"Okay, first off, nobody says 'smithereens' anymore," Craig pointed out. "And second, what's the point of blowing them up if you can't see your enemies suffer at your hand?! I want Lilith's neck in my grip, so I can force her to watch her family get slaughtered before I have the Labraptors eat her up while she's still alive!"

"And they say I'm crazy," Adaghast whispered to a Tarot Guild member, who nodded in agreement.

"How about a small explosion to blast our way in?" Smee suggested. "Adaghast, do you have a potion like that?"

"Why yes, I do!" Adaghast held up a potion and threw it at the spikes surrounding the Owl House. Once the potion hit, an explosion occurred and a few more potions led to a path free of spikes.

"Come on, let's go inside," Craig said as he led the way.

Once they reached the door, they used another potion to blast open the door. But as the smoke cleared, they saw Eda standing there in her harpy form.

"Hello, boys," Eda said with a smirk as suddenly she rushed past them with her claws extended. a slash sound echoed as Adaghast gasped and his eyes rolled over, sliding off of his body. His head was also sliced into three pieces that each fell onto the floor. "You boys want a show, I'll give you a bloody one." She grabbed two spice demons and slammed their heads together, making them splat and break their necks.

"AAH!" Smee cried out as he backed away.

"She's a siren!" Hook held up his gun, only to get it knocked out of his hand by a fire glyph "AAH!" he shouted, dropping the gun. He turned to see Lilith holding her crossbow.

"You boys picked the wrong house to raid," Lilith warned.

"Give up, Lilith, we… we have you outnumbered!" Craig pointed out as he led his men and the Labraptors inside the house. But one of them ended up getting jumped and repeatedly stabbed by a table holding a knife. "What the-!?"

"Household appliances," Lilith said to everything in the house that she had brought to life using animation glyphs. This included the blender, rug, fridge, couch, boombox, and an ax. "Get them."

"I was brought to life for this!" the talking ax cried out as it slammed into the cranium of a pirate, making him bleed out and scream.

A spice demon backed away and ran into the kitchen, only to trip and fall in front of the fridge. The fridge opens its mouth, showing its teeth as it starts to munch the spice demon. "AAAAHH!"

The others split up, Craig focusing on Lilith and chasing after her while the rest of his men were slaughtered by the animated objects and the Labraptors fought off their attackers, decimating the house in the process.

Outside, Harpy Eda was surrounded by the pirates, spice demons and Tarot Guild members. "You boys want to end up like Zoiberg here?" Eda pointed to Adaghast's sliced up body. "You're welcome to try."

One pirate yelled as he charged at Eda with his sword. She swiftly dodged the sword attack and raised her talon up, slashing him across the face which ended up cutting his face off. She grabbed the sword as another spice demon went after her, shooting at her in rage. But she flew over and sliced the hands off of the spice demon. She then grabbed his abnormally rectangular head and swung his body like a club to hit the other raiders before throwing him at a Tarot Guild member. She used her wings to block more magic shots from the pirates, then used some fire glyphs to set several of her attackers on fire.

"Is that the best you got?" Eda asked before she was then tackled by the masked woman to the ground. "Weh!?" she cried out and the masked woman tried to strangle Eda, who pulled her hands off her throat. "Hey, what's your deal, sister!?"

Downstairs in the basement, King heard the commotion coming from upstairs. "It sounds like they've broken in."

"Will Eda and Lilith be able to handle themselves?" Camila asked worriedly.

"This isn't our first siege," King pointed out while drawing a light glyph. "Even without her magic, I'm sure that Mom will-" He paused as he saw a couple of shadows moving on their own behind Camila. "CAMILA, LOOK OUT!"

Camila turned and screamed when she saw the shadows behind her. "Yah!" she cried out as the shadows headed towards her. She held the egg with Levi's sister protectively, but to her surprise the shadows ignored her completely and went straight for King like she wasn't even there.

"Hey, stand back! I got light glyphs!" King declared, only for one shadow to swat his glyph cards away. "Hey, weh!" He got grabbed by the neck as one pinned him down to strangle him.

Camila rushed to pick up the glyph cards. "Hang on, King!" she declared, touching the glyph card and creating a blaring flash of light.

The shadows screamed in pain and the one choking King released him as they dispersed and retreated from the light, slithering out of the basement.

King rubbed his neck and noticed that Camila was wincing in discomfort. "Hey, are you alright, Camila?" he asked her in concern.

"Yeah, just a headache from the flash," she said, rubbing her temple. "I wasn't expecting that to hurt…" She checked the egg to make sure it was safe and she sighed in relief.

King nodded. "But where did those shadows come from?"

The shadows had retreated to the masked woman, who was kicked away by Harpy Eda. The masked woman slid back, the shadows forming into a spear for her to wield. She charged at Eda with the spear, but Eda jumped over the shadow spear as it swiped at her and ended up beheading a pirate instead.

Harpy Eda dodged another swipe and brought out a light glyph to flash in front of the masked woman. Her shadow weapon dispersed as she screeched in agony, just as Harpy Eda kicked her in the face and knocked her on the ground.

The masked woman got up, revealing that the mask on her face was cracked. It was just enough damage to see part of the face behind the mask and Eda's eyes widened.

"No… it can't be," Eda gasped, since despite the black veins on her face she instantly recognized the triclops witch woman.

"Clawthorne," Nicole Hieron seethed.

Back at Hexside, the entrance to a potions classroom had been barricaded due to the weasel zombies haunting the hallways outside.

Inside the classroom Ms. Beaks, Barcus and Eileen were with a captured zombie weasel that they managed to lure away and strap down.

"Alright, we've managed to grab one of those ghastly things," Ms. Beaks stated. "So how do we find a cure?"

Barcus walked up to the book shelf and spoke to his raccoon Palisman.

'Rocko, get me the book on breaking mind control spells,' Barcus ordered as his raccoon Palisman climbed up the shelf to look for the book. The biped dog demon returned to a cauldron, using his teeth to slap on some gloves, a pair of goggles, and a lab coat.

Eileen did the same as well while her Palisman, Newton, retrieved various ingredients from the cabinets. Eileen glanced at the struggling zombie weasel and wrote something down. 'Shall we begin the trial and error?'

Barcus nodded while his Palisman returned with the book he needed.

Meanwhile, Snope was facing off against Goregon, who glared at the teacher.

"So you're this school's abominations teacher? Now I see why it only has two abomination students, you look unimpressive," Goregon stated.

"And yet your teacher is the one passed out on the floor," Snope responded with a yawn.

"What!? You defeated Blanc?!" Goregon asked. "Well, once I beat you, Blanc will reward me for avenging him!" He shot out his abomi-arm towards Snope, who slid back and ended up sliding up the wall of the school, causing him to stand on the ceiling. "What the… how are you doing that!?"

"I'm from the Abomination Coven, kid," Snope responded as more abomi-arms sprouted out to form boxing gloves. "You're too wet behind the ears to know some of the tricks I've learned."

His abomi-gloves swung down to punch Goregon's Abomination. Goregon formed shields to block the punches, then launched a larger fist at Snope. The Abomination professor slid away to avoid the punch, but when another fist was launched towards him Snope pulled himself into his own slime, disappearing before the punch could connect.

Snope rose up from the purple slime that appeared on the floor, teleporting behind Goregon. "Is that all Blanc taught you?" he questioned as Goregon turned around to launch another punch at Snope, who slid away swiftly.

"Grr, hold still!" Goregon shouted as he expanded his larger form. He formed his fist into a hammer to take out Snope, but then his hammer fist was blown away. "GAH! What was that!?" he turned around, his jaw dropping at the sight of what shot at him.

Coming down the hallway was a large tank made out of Abomination slime and construction metal. Sticking out was Puffer, who was piloting the tank. "I am not gonna let you Glandus punks ruin my dream of making it to graduation!"

"Alright, Puffer!" Jerbo cheered as he was released from the abomination sludge trapping him thanks to Lambi, who helped him up. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem," Lambi responded. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"It's not me you should be worried about," Jerbo responded while turning to Goregon who charged at the Abomi-Tank.

"So you've made some kind of contraption, big whoop!" Goregon declared as he continued to be shot at by the tank's cannon, his limbs regrowing as they were blasted away. The mushrooms in the Abomination were growing out more. "Nothing's stopping me!" he declared before he suddenly felt very pale and sickly. "What- cough, cough- what's happening?" he asked, his voice raspy as he knelt down, coughing violently.

"I tried to warn you about merging with the fungi-abomination," Jerbo said as he brought out an elixir. "Merging with it is a terrible idea, it could cause a very negativee chain reaction throughout your body. Good thing I always have the ailment with me for emergencies like this."

Goregon was dizzy, shrooms sprouting from his head. ."I… can't believe… that I lost…" He passed out, as his Abomination's melting off his body, prompting him to drop to the floor.

Jerbo went to check up on him along with Lambi, who turned Goregon's head up so Jerbo could could give him the elixir.

"He may be a jerk, but I don't want my victory to end in a death match," Jerbo said said while pouring the elixir down Goregon's throat. He noticed Lambi using her abomination slime to create a cast for his wrist.. "Thanks, Lambi."

"No problem," Lambi said.

Snope watched as Puffer was in his abomination tank, Jerbo was tending to the unconscious Goregon, and Lambi was creating casts with her abomination slime. He gave a little smile, leaning against the lockers while letting out a tired yawn.

Ruth was heading over to the boiler room, but found her path blocked by Morty who guarded the door.

"So you must be the Top of Potions," Morty states.

'You will fear me, Hexside hack,' Ruth signs.

'I know sign language as well,' Morty revealed, surprising Ruth. 'But if you wanna get past me, you'll have to beat me first.'

Ruth's eyes narrowed at Morty, who looked indifferent. The two were at a stand still, waiting to see who would make their move first. The silence lasted until Ruth pulled out her potion flask and threw it at Morty.

He quickly jumped away as the flask hit the floor. Morty placed one of his potions tube on his crossbow and shot out the tube, prompting Ruth to dodge it as it hit the wall. Morty saw from her flask had contained acidic properties that created a hole on the floor.

"For Titan's sake, a little over kill, much?!" Morty shouted at her.

'Next time you won't be lucky,' Ruth signed while holding four flasks of her potions between her fingers. She threw them up in the air and used her light beam spell at each of them, breaking the flasks. The combination of potions in the flasks formed into a cloud that shot lightning at Morty, who dodged each of the blasts.

"Son of a… that's a Cloud Nine Strike!" Morty shouted as he got zapped by a lightning bolt. "OOHH!" he screamed as he fell. He grunted, trying to get up but Ruth stepped onto his back.

Ruth raised her leg up to stomp on Morty again, but Morty turned over and held up a green capsule, summoning a water gun. He inserted the capsule into the water gun and pulled the trigger, hitting Ruth in the eyes with a green substance.

Ruth was launched back, the green substance blinding her. She tried to pull it off but it was stuck to her face. 'What is this!?' she thought. Morty took advantage of this as he grabbed another capsule from his pocket. He threw it underneath her feet. The capsule broke and a gooey substance emerged to entrap her. 'What… what's going on-GBBTT!' she thought while being entrapped inside the gelatin.

"Thank Titan it's the gelatin one," Morty said as he picked himself up and brushed himself off. "You're lucky I didn't choose the ice capsule there. Last time my grandpa used it, a former bully of mine was left in… well… in pieces."

Meanwhile, the three captured members of the Shadowy Secret Expozers were tied up around a pillar. The Specter floated in front of them while eating chips.

"You know, you emo kids did yer best but in the end it looks like we've finally beat ya at yer own game," he said while turning to his team. "Gotta say, great job in taking out the competition."

"But there is the girl and the Cerberus dog left," Gusher pointed out.

"Who, Bad Luck Eve? She probably tripped and fell into a closet or something," Grittney said with a shrug.

"In any case, after Glandus wins the war people will come to us to solve their mysteries instead!" Justine declared.

"Yeah, you got that right, sister," Blondie agreed while the Cerberus Sisters stood next to them.

"See, that's the enthusiasm you emo-teens needed- WAIT A SECOND!" Specter shouted as he, along with the rest of the team, just now noticed the Cerberus Sisters. "Where did you come from!?"

"Here, there, anywhere," Cyndi stated.

"But I bet you can't catch us!" Blondie said after smashing Justine's foot with a bass guitar.

"AAAAHHH!" Justine screamed, glaring at the sisters running away from them. "Don't just stand there, get'em!"

Grittney and Gusher chased after the sisters while Justine recovered from her foot injury and the Specter stayed behind to guard their prisoners.

Gusher and Grittney chased the Cerberus sisters who made a turn around a corner. Once their pursuers made the turn as well, they saw that the hallway went in two directions.

"Which way did they go?" Gusher asked.

"You take the left, I take the right," Grittney responded. But as Gusher went down the left hall, he stepped over a tripwire which set off an explosion from the floor.

"YAAAAH!" Gusher cried out as he was launched into the ceiling, where he was stuck there due to some overly large fly paper.

"Titans' crack, what the fu-!?" Grittney cursed until she spotted the Cerberus Sisters on the right side of the hall, heading through a door. "Come back here, you mangy mutt!"

Grittney made it to the door and saw that it led downstairs to where the Cerberus sisters were. She marched down to the stairs, but Blondie hit a switch to make the room dark. "Huh?" Grittney marched up to turn the lights on with a switch that was at the top of the stairs. When she started to go down again, Cyndi turned the lights once more. "Cut that out!" she shouted before marching up to turn the lights off again.

As soon as Grittney started marching back down, Patty flicked the switch again. The routine went on three more times, until Cyndi made a 'click' sound that made Grittney think that the lights had been switched off again, so without thinking she went to hit the switch. But since the lights were already on, she just turned them off and when she tried to go down the stairs she couldn't see where she was going and she slipped.

"AW! Ow! Eek! D'oh!" Grittney shouted as she fell down the stairs. The Cerberus sisters flicked the lights back on, revealing the injured Grittney lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. The three-headed dog demon then summoned some rope to tie her up.

"Grittney? Gusher?" Justine called out as she looked for her teammates. She then saw the Cerberus sisters come into view, sticking their tongue out and making fun of Justine. "Why you… where's my team, you bitches!?"

"Takes one to know one!" Cyndi called out as the sisters ran off while Justine chased after them. She chased after them for a while until she noticed something about the background. "Say, how many times have I passed that background?" she asked, looking down and realizing that she was running on a treadmill against a green screen and a projector on loop. "What the… HOW DID I END UP BEING TRICKED LIKE THIS!?"

"We learn from the best, as it Sioux and Linkin," Blondie stated. "Of course, it was Cyndi's doing."

"I sometimes dabble in some illusion magic," Cyndi commented.

"Well you won't trick me again!" Justine shouted as she stepped off of the treadmill, only to fall through a trapdoor. "WAAAAAAAHHH!" she cried as the trapdoor led to the Secret Room of Shortcuts, where Justine landed on and rolled down some stairs.

Inside the Secret Room of Shortcuts, Eve was waiting for Justine at the bottom of the stairs with a large fishing net. Once Justine was caught, Eve used her magic to levitate her to place her with the trapped Grittney and Gusher.

"Caught them!" Eve declared.

"Oh did you?" the Specter spoke from behind, causing Eve to jump up away from him. "I'm afraid that slapstick, visual comedy, and fishing nets won't have an effect on me!"

"I know, and that's why I have this!" Eve shouted as she opened a door and pulled out a vacuum cleaner. She pointed it at the Specter and turned it on, sucking him in.

"Nonononononoooo!" the Specter wailed as he was being sucked into the vacuum. "Oh crap, this place is dirty! Which to a ghost being in a vacuum makes me feel a little claustrophobic. Hey, no hard feelings, right?"

Having contained the Specter and his Emo-Teens, Eve and the Cerberus sisters went to free their friends.

"You did it girls, you defeated our rivals!" Korn declared.

"Well credit goes to Eve, the traps were her idea," Blondie said.

"Oh, it was nothing," Eve said with a smile. "But we can't celebrate just yet, we have a war to finish!"

"Run for it!" someone shouted as a few students were chased by the roaring grendletroll. Hiding behind an invisible shield was Edric along with two other illusionist students, a potions boy with vertically formed eyes, and a dark-skinned cyclops construction girl with black bob cut hair and a beauty mark.

"Alright, you guys know what to do," Ed said to them. "Maverick, Sceldon, you guys handle the troll bait."

Maverick, the illusionist with the light-blue pompadour, and Sceldon, the illusionist with the navy-blue afro hair and acne, created illusions of themselves to get the grendertroll's attention. The troll saw the two mocking it, causing the creature to chase after them.

"This is a piece of cake," the Maverick clone said confidently.

"Hopefully it doesn't eat us," the Sceldon clone added nervously.

"Gorgy, help me with the ingredients," Edric told the potions boy. "Grendletrolls have very sensitive digestive tracts and we need to get the mixture right so that it is appealing enough that the troll can't resist it while still being nasty enough to make it sick."

"Yeah, no pressure or anything," Gorgy said sarcastically while at his cauldron, following the instructions from Ed to the best of his ability. In his cauldron he created a mixture of raw meat, green and blue potions, iron shade, and dozens of eyeballs.

He finished just Maverick and Sceldon's illusions passed them by, prompting Gordy to duck out of sight after placing his cauldron out. The smell of its contents caught the grendertroll's attention. With little hesitation it drank its continents, just like they wanted.

"Naila, now!" Edric ordered.

The construction girl popped up from behind a wall, using a spell circle to summon metal structures around the grendletroll. The grendletroll noticed the structures and roared in displeasure, but before it could try to break free it started to feel a pain in its stomach. The grendletroll whined and grabbed his stomach, allowing for the metal beams to wrap around its arms and legs, restraining it to the floor.

"We got it!" Naila declared as Maverick, Scaldon, Gorgy and Edric joined her..

"Nice plan there, Edric," Maverick congratulated.

"Yeah, how'd you know how to trap a grendletroll like that?" Gorgy asked.

"Beast-Keeping's kind of a hobby," Edric responded, indicating Batric who sat on his shoulder. The grendletroll then started to growl and it rose its head a little… only to cough out Dusty Bringems.

"AAAH!" Dusty cried out, sliding across the floor while covered in slime.

"Dusty, you're alive!" Sceldon declared.

"Are you okay though?" Naila asked him.

"Yeah," Dusty replied, standing back up. "Don't worry, I'm still up to fight in the name of Hexside!"

He made it only a few steps before falling onto the floor, passing out.

In an especially dark hallway, a group of Glandus students were trying to find their way out.

"How the actual hell did we end up here?" one of them asked.

"I don't know, one second we were following some punk Hexside kid and the next…" a Glandus cheerleader responded.

"Say, weren't there two more of us in this group?" one asked, the group of six noticing that they were missing two.

"Oh man, Gill and Jean got lost!?" one of them spoke.

"Eh, I'm sure they're fine," the leader of the group told them as he turned and noticed a girl at the end of the hallway. "There's Jean right now!" He called out to her and led the group toward her, but the girl disappeared. "What the… where'd she go!?" he asked, only to find him sinking very quickly into the floor. "Wha-AAAAHH!"

"Josh, no!" the cheerleader cried, only for a locker to open up, hands springing out to grab her. "AAAH!" she screamed as she was pulled inside the locker.

"Run for it!" the remaining four shouted as they ran away. They decided to hide inside the nearest classroom, shutting the door behind them.

"Oh Titan, dear Titan, this school's fucked up!" one said while shivering. "And I thought Glandus was bad!"

"At least we're safe here," one commented.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?"

The gang felt a chill and they looked around. "Who… who said that?" the scared one asked.

"I don't know, it's just us and that weird doll," his friend replied, pointing at a weird fox doll on a chair that resembles Mai.

"Wait… was that really there when we came in?" another questioned, only for the doll's head to lift up, eyes glowing red.

"Shihihihihi, if you want to escape, better play my game!" the doll spoke to them while the door to the room was locked.

"What the fuck…!?" The Glandus students started to panic and one saw spikes popping out of the ceiling, which had started to descend. "WAAAAH! What is with this school!?"

They tried to force open the door, even using their spells to no effect, while the doll spoke to them. "In order to escape, find the key before time runs out!"

"Look around!" one student shouted as they all frantically looked for the key. The ceiling was starting to come down faster as someone found the key under one desk. "Found it!"

"Open it!" another student shouted as the one who found the key went to the door and managed to open it, allowing he and his group to get out of the classroom before they met their end.

"Glad that's over at least," one of them said.

"Yeah…" another replied, only to hear gurgling noises. They all turned and saw a bunch of little witchlings coming toward them.

"Candy…" they all said when they saw the group, imagining them as candy. "GIVE US CANDY!" the baby class demanded as they bared their teeth, running towards the group.

"No… no… NOOOOO!" They tried to run, only to find themselves surrounded by the zombie-like witchlings. "AAAAAAAAHHHH!" They all screamed as they were buried in a sea of hungry children.

The lights in the hallway were suddenly turned on, as Mai along with Scabrina and Moose came over to check their work. "That's the fifth group that came by here," Mai commented.

"And another win for Hexside in the battle against Glandus," Moose said while chewing on a candy cane. "At this rate the war will be over in no time."

"Yeah," Scabrina replied as she watched her classmates swarming over the Glandus students. "The things that sugar deprivation does to witchlings…"

Up in the Healing Room, Cat was pushed back against the wall while protecting her mouse Palisman. She dodged Tito's kick which left a dent to the wall.

"Hey wait, you're gonna ruin the medical supplies here!" Cat shouted at the steaming mad Tito.

"I'll stop once I get that rat of yours!" Tito shouted.

"Leave her alone!" Emira went to Cat's defense, holding a pole in an attempt to knock Tito out. But Tito bent his body angularity while grabbing Emira's wrists and restraining her. "AH!" she cried while being pinned to the floor, Tito's tap shoe on her stomach.

"Just for that, I could just crush you right here and now," Tito said as he lifted his leg up, about to bring it down on Emira until Cat called him out.

"Stop, wait!" Cat shouted. "I challenge you to a witch duel!"

Tito stopped before his foot landed on Emira's face, the Blight girl having shut her eyes in preparation. Tito turned to Cat with a questionable look. "You want to challenge me, little healer?" he asked.

"Yeah, the winner gets to do whatever they want, and I want you to stop attacking the healers and patients in here!" Cat declared while her mice Palisman laid on her shoulder.

"Hmm, it's been a while since I've been in a proper witch's duel," Tito replied while glaring at the mouse Palisman who hid behind Cat's hair. "Let's see how bad you can be, little healer."

"Cat, you don't have to do this," Bo told her.

"As Top Healer of this school's Healing Track, this is my responsibility," Cat said. "Let's take this outside."

"Fine by me, cause I brought my own jujubox," Tito said while summoning a red jukebox with teeth and large eyes.

'I'm starting to think you have a different kind of duel in mind,' Cat thought as she followed Tito outside of the Healing Room and into the hallway.

Tito placed his jujubox down and pressed a button on it. It then started to play upbeat sounding music. Tito stood straight up, placed his hat on his head and turned to face Cat who got in a defensive position.

OW!

Tito shook his shoulders while bending his knees as he followed the rhythm of the music. "Cha! Sho-cha-choo-cha!" he shouted as he marched up to Cat and swung a kick at her, causing Cat to dodge. He kicked the wall behind her leaving a large dent crack. He turns to her robotically, taking some steps as he snapped his fingers to each beat.

"As I came in the window- was a sound of- a- crescendo!" he sang along from the music, kicking up in the air. "I came into your apartment- I left the bloodstains on the carpet- you-ran-underneath- the table, I could see you was unable-!"

He did a swan kick at Cat who dodged again, but then he delivered another kick that hit her in her side. "AH!" she cried out in pain while Tito grinned.

"So you ran into the bedroom, you were struck down, it was your doom!"

Cat healed herself with a healing spell, then shot out ice beams which Tito dodged while continuing to sing. "Catty, are you okay? So, Catty, are you okay? Catty?" he asked mockingly while kicking her in the stomach, causing Cat to vomit out vile as Tito grabbed her and slammed her against the wall. "Catty, are you okay? So, Catty, are you okay? Are you okay, Catty?"

Cat struggled but was slapped across the face by Tito, making her glasses fall off. He then threw her onto the ground while singing. "You've been hit by-" He kicked her across the hall. "You've been struck by- a smooth criminal- OW!"

Cat struggled to get up, feeling her side hurt. 'Titan… I think he cracked a rib.' She then saw her mouse Palisman, who whispered in her ear. "I know, but how am I gonna-" Her Palisman whispered to her again before crawling up into her hair and pulling her locks, prompting her to rise up. "Gah! What are you doing, Mozz!?" she asked as she stood back up, Mozz the Mouse Palisman channeling Cat's magic to have her move by Mozz using her hair. "Are you… controlling my limbs with my hair? I didn't know that's possible."

"Hey, Catty, are you okay? Will you tell us that you're okay?" Tito continued to mockingly sing.

Cat faced Tito with a narrow look. "There's a sound- at the window- Then I strike you – a crescendo!" she sang while walking towards Tito "I came into your apartment- left the bloodstains- on the carpet- and then you ran into the bedroom- you were struck down, it was now your doom!"

Her hand swung at Tito, forcing him to dodge her icy looking fingers.

"Hey, am I okay? Hey, am I okay? Am I okay, 'verybody?" Cat asked herself while Mozz had her dodge more of Tito's kicks. "I'll be hit by-" She dodged another kick. "I'll be struck by-" She dodged another kick. "A smooth criminal!" Her finger then touched the corner of his elbow, causing Tito to freeze up.

"YOW!" Tito cried, feeling his left arm getting numb. "My arm… you little-" He then spotted the mouse Palisman that was controlling Cat. "RAT!"

'Oh crap, he figured it out!' Cat thought in a panic as Tito swung his leg into her. Cat was knocked down hard, causing Mozz to fall out.

The mouse Palisman rolled across the floor. The mouse Palisman then saw Tito marching up to him, his anger rising.

"I hate the sight of rats," Tito spoke while Cat picked herself up with a cough. She saw Tito cornering her Palisman.

"Mozz!" Cat cried out as Tito raised his tap shoe up.

"Say your little prayers, you rat!" Tito declared as he was about to go for the kill. But then Cat used a spell circle that turned the floor to ice, which she slid across while the frost underneath Tito's feet caused him to slip and fall. Whoa-whoa-Waah!" Tito cried out as he fell down while a sliding Cat managed to grab Mozz away from Tito. "Why you little-AAAAH!" He got up, only to be struck on the knee by Cat's finger, freezing up his nerves and making his left leg numb.

"It's you who's about to get it!" Cat declared, using her abilities of acupuncture magic to target the nerve points in his shoulders and right knee.

"Ah!" Tito shouted, unable to move. "My… body… it's numb!"

"Looks like you've been struck by- you've been struck by- a smooth healer!" Cat sang, finishing the song.

Tito fell on his knees and then face down on the floor, knocking himself unconscious. Cat pointed her finger at him. "Bang." She then turned to Mozz. "Are you alright, Mozzarella?" Her Palisman nodded as it squeaked. "Glad you're right, my little friend." She gently tapped Mozz's nose while turning back to the Healing Room, where everyone cheered for her victory.

Down on the first floor, the zombie weasels are under attack… by the L.O.W.T.H.

The platinum-haired leader swung her leg into a zombie weasel, then performed an ice spell to summon a wall, shielding her while she shot light beams in other directions to keep the zombie weasels at bay. Next she brought out a staff from her bag and swung at some weasels who were coming after Felicia who hid behind her. "Ghostina, how's your end?"

"I'm holding my position, Wonder Witch!" spoke the purple cloaked girl, Ghostina, who held her oracle ball that controlled several ghosts who phased through the zombie weasels, knocking them out. "Crowbar and Minos managed to make it through to Weaselton."

After the aforementioned heroes knocked out some groups of zombie weasels in their path, Crowbar, the gothic hero, and Minos, the one with the horns and brick arms, confronted Weaselton who had surrounded himself with large vines in protection.

"I don't know who you costumed newbies are, but you won't be able to get me!" Weaselton declared.

"You gotta come out eventually," Crowbar simply stated while baring his right hand with a crow. His crow's eyes glowed purple as suddenly Crowbar's arm formed into different kinds of crows to fight back against the upcoming zombie weasels, while his left arm turned into another murder of crows to target the vine shield.

Minos used his brick hands to punch the vine fortress as he ripped his way through. "Hey, Florella, we could use some help here!"

"I'm doing some crowd control!" the plant heroine, Florella, said as she summoned bushes to separate the fleeing Hexside students from the horde of zombie weasels.

Felicia watched this team of heroes defending the school in awe. She didn't notice a zombie weasel coming up behind her until it was taken out by a ghost punch from Ghostina. "Watch out!" she shouted as she grabbed Felicia away from the weasel. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Felicia replied before noticing that Ghostina's eyes and voice seemed… familiar to her. "Wait… do I know you from somewhere?"

"Uh… no, just your run of the mill superhero!" Ghostina replied, though Felicia didn't buy it.

"Wait, we were in class together-" Felicia paused as she noticed Ghostina's arm, causing her to step back. "Oh my Titan, Tina you're infected!"

"What?!" Ghostina looked at her own arm. "Oh no...Wonder Witch, help!"

"Don't worry, I'll-WAH!" Wonder Witch felt vines wrap around her, pulling her up in the air and bringing her towards Weaselton.

"So you're the ringleader behind this band of costumed freaks!" Weaselton snarled while Wonder Witch struggled with the vine wrapped around her.

"Let her go, you crook!" Crowbar declared, only to stop when Wonder Witch was held over the zombie weasels.

"Nah-ah-ah, one wrong move and I feed her to my weasels!" Weaselton declared while Crowbar and Minos looked at their leader, realizing they couldn't do anything. "Good…"

"Guys, don't worry about me, stop him!" Wonder Witch ordered as she was lowered.

"Hey- hey!" Crowbar said while Wonder Witch was raised away from the weasels. "We won't attack you, alright. Just don't hurt Wonder Witch." A zombie weasel then came up and bit his hand "Ah!"

"Crowbar!" Minos, Ghostina, and Florella cried out for him. Minos went to help Crowbar while Florella went to check up on Ghostina. Unfortunately, this earned the attention of the zombie weasels as they went after them.

"Guys! Get out of-hmm!" Wonder Witch was suddenly gagged by the vines.

"Watch as your friends become part of my zombie weasel army! Yahahahaha!" Weaselton laughed as Minos and Florella were bitten by the zombie weasels as well, while Felicia backed away into a locker, several zombie weasels approaching her.

"Crow, we're going to be alright," Minos assured him.

Crowbar just gave a smirk. "Looks like I won't be meeting my cousin after all…"

"Come on, Tina, hang in there!" Florella told her friend as she and Ghostina started to turn.

'Guys… I'm sorry I dragged you all into this,' Wonder Witch thought while Weaselton laughed…

"RUFF! RUFF!"

Suddenly a horde of ghost dogs with cauldron pots showed up out of nowhere. Weaselton and Wonder Witch were surprised by the sudden appearances of the ghost dogs, who covered the zombie weasels with a purple liquid from the cauldrons. It covered the LOWTH members as well and they noticed that the zombie weasels were starting to change back to normal.

"What the… what's going on!?" Weaselton demanded as he spotted Barcus, who had summoned his ancestral spirits, with Eileen. "You two!"

'We made a cure for your zombie weasels!' Eileen said with her sign up.

While Weaselton was distracted, Wonder Witch felt her bonds loosen and she managed to break out of them. "Hey, Weaselton!"

Weaselton turned and was met with a boot to his face, which sent him sliding across the floor. Once Wonder Witch landed on the floor, she turned to Barcus and Eileen.

"Thanks for the save, you two," she saluted to them.

"Ruff(It's no problem)!" Barcus barked.

'And we still have more than enough cure for anyone else who was turned,' Eileen said through her sign, indicating several other cauldrons of the cure.

"Florella, Crowbar, make sure that this cure gets to any zombie weasels left," Wonder Witch ordered. "The rest of us can tend to the turned back victims."

Felicia got a good look at Wonder Witch and her platinum hair. Her eyes widened as she remembered someone from her old school. 'No way… Donna!?'

Willow tried to catch her breath as she faced the two strong opponents before her. She threw her most powerful attacks at them, but Cain just smacked them aside with his hammer while Terry Grease just broke every vine and tree launched at him. The hall was now more covered in roots, branches and trees due to Willow unleashing her magic against them. But even as she went all out against them, they still stood.

"This is what Hexside has to offer?" Grease said while ripping through some vines. "A useless Plant Track girl that can grow a few weeds? Cain, smash her head in!"

Cain looked at Willow, who in response grew more spiked vines to launch against him, using them to wrap around his boots. However, Cain easily ripped out of the vines as he swung his hammer towards Willow, who dodged by summoning a flower that brought her underground. She popped up behind him and summoned two sunflowers that fired on Cain and Grease with bullet-like seeds.

Cain held up his arms up to block the seeds, but Grease was unbothered. He marched up and grabbed the sunflowers, ripping them out of the ground. Willow tried to summon more plants, but Grease grabbed her by the collar.

"Pathetic," Grease declared, slamming Willow to the floor which knocked her glasses off of her. He turned to Cain. "Smash her head in now!"

Cain looked at his coach. "But… isn't this going a little-"

"Boy, this is war!" Terry argued. "Smash her head in and you'll be the hero of Glandus!"

Cain looked hesitant, while looking at Willow who was still moving. "Don't… do it."

Cain gripped his hammer and raised it up. But even if he wanted to bring it down, he couldn't because it vanished from his hands. "Huh?"

"Looking for this?" asked a voice.

Cain and Grease turned to see Kadabe floating up in the air while holding the hammer with a levitation spell.

"Kadabe! What's the meaning of this!?" Grease shouted.

"Oh, you know, turns out Hexside is doing a really good job fighting back," Kadabe responded in a relaxed manner. "The tide has turned completely with some of our top fighters like Goregon, Weaselton, Ruth, and Tito being defeated."

"What? Tito was defeated!?" Cain asked in shock.

"That's impossible! There's no way our top students got easily handled by some Hexside Hacks!" Grease declared.

"Except they did," Kadabe said as she summoned a spirit from her crystal ball, the spirit smacking Grease away from Willow. "Which is why I'm joining the winning side."

"You are betraying us, Kadabe?!" Cain realized.

"I'm an Oracle, helmet head," she said. "I always saw that this was a possibility, so I was ready to switch schools once the odds were no longer any good."

Willow started to recover while finding her glasses levitated in front of her. "Uh, thanks," she told Kadabe.

"Less thanking, and more smacking these two bozos," Kadabe told her as she and Willow faced off against Cain and Grease.

Grease was first to charge, launching his fist towards the two. Kadabe and Willow separated as his fists hit a wall, leaving a hole. Kadabe waved her hands as her crystal ball rolled from her left arm to her right, giving off a blast of energy that shot Cain back before he could attack. Grease charged after Kadabe while she avoided his punch.

"When Emily learns of your betrayal, you're gonna get it!" Grease growled.

"If she wins the war, that is," the floating Kadabe said while delivering a kick to Grease's face, knocking him back.

"I will not allow you to disrespect me!" Grease shouted at her. "I am your superior! Your coach! I will beat you down until you're nothing but a pile of minced meat, Kadabe!"

Cain, meanwhile, had managed to get his hammer back and he charged after Kadabe. He swung his hammer, but she dodged it as she levitated herself and shot out another blast towards him. He used his hammer to block the blast. "You know you can't defeat me, Kadabe!"

"I know," Kadabe responded as she levitated some lockers and a bathroom sink. The sink hit Grease while the locker hit Cain in the helmet. It nearly fell off, but he kept it on. "Aw, did I almost bust up your helmet, Cain? I'm curious to see what's underneath that helmet of yours." She tried to levitate his helmet off, but Cain forced it on.

"No… stop it!" he shouted, summoning a structure that hit Kadabe and knocked her onto the floor. "Don't… touch… my helmet!"

"Why? Afraid to show everyone what you really look underneath there?" Kadabe mocked, causing Cain to raise his hammer up to hit her when-

"CAIN!"

He was suddenly tackled through a wall as his brother Simon, who was wearing new armor, crashed into him. This allowed Kadabe to pick herself up and see Grease charging after her.

"Now it's just you and me-" Grease then tripped over, falling to the floor. He looked back and saw that his boots were wrapped by larger vines summoned by Willow.

"More like, it's just you and us now," Willow said while her eyes glowed green.

"Oh, you think you can beat me, you little weed?" Grease snarled as he attempted to pull the vines off of his feet. Willow summoned another large vine with thorns that wrapped around his left arm. Followed by another that wrapped around his right arm while Grease was hit by many objects summoned by Kadabe, who was levitating lockers, a fire extinguisher, and a toilet. As he was pounded by the objects, Willow summoned more thorn vines to wrap around his legs. After summoning more vines around his limbs, Grease tried to pull himself free of the vines, but he was visibly struggling.

"You think… your little vines will hurt me, you little brat!?" Grease told her as he sweated.

"Yes, I think they will," Willow pointed out. "Because you came into my school, started to hurt my classmates and my teachers, and I am not going to let that slide."

Grease chuckled mockingly. "Who do you think you are!? I am older than you, and stronger than you. With these hands I'll crush that little head of yours like a grape!"

"Not if you can't use your arms," Willow said with a smirk as her eyes continued to glow.

The vines started tightening around Grease's arms and thorns broke into his skin, causing them to bleed. He tried in vain to pull against them, his veins popping out. But the vines kept getting tighter and tighter until-

CRUSH!

"AAAAAAHHH!" he screamed as he felt the bones in his arms and his legs get crushed. His arms became disjointed and twisted, the bones in his kneecaps sticking out.

Willow took a deep breath when she saw that Grease was down for the count, unable to get up.

"What… what the hell did you do to me!?" he demanded to know.

"I crushed your pride," Willow told him, glaring at him. "You're the kind of adult that I hate the most, so I just put you down to early retirement."

"You… little… bit-" Grease was cut off by a bowling bowl that landed on his head thanks to Kadabe, knocking him out.

Willow looked down at the fallen coach, then turned to Kadabe. "As for you-"

Kadabe, however, was already gone, leaving Willow alone with the unconscious Terry Grease.

Cain fell to the ground after Simon tackled him out of the school. Cain got up, his helmet feeling a little loose. Before he could readjust it, he was punched by Simon across his helmet.

"Why couldn't you stay down, brother?" Cain asked him.

"It'll take more than that to keep me down," Simon told him. "Glandus is losing, so surrender while you can, Cain, and we can talk this out!"

"No, there's nothing to talk about!" Cain declared as he fought back, throwing a punch at Simon across his face, to which Simon responded by kneeing him to the stomach. The two fought as their fists and knees rapidly punched and kneed each other at a fast pace.

Simon blocked his brother's punches and landed some blows at him, striking the bicep while Cain struck his side. They both threw iron fists at each other, which hit their faces and left dents across Cain's helmet.

The two brothers were pushed away from each other, then they charged again with a yell. When their fists collided, it created a shock wave that left a crater where they stood.

Cain managed to grab Simon and bring him down to the ground, but Simon hit back and managed to kick him off. Simon flips over as he wiped the blood from his mouth before charging again towards Cain. He threw a punch, but Cain grabbed his arm and twisted it, causing Simon to scream in pain. Simon threw several punches with his free arm before Cain headbutted him with his helmet. He then threw Simon down and stomped on his chest.

"Gah!" Simon cried out before he was thrown across the field. Cain went to finish him and when Simon grabbed the school's sign and threw it at him, Cain punched it half. Cain used a stone platform to launch himself forward, landing on Simon and elbowing down to the shoulder, causing the sound of bone breaking to be heard.

"You couldn't beat me the first time," Cain told him, grabbing him in a choke hold. "What makes you think you'll beat me this time?"

"Dumb luck, I guess?" Simon responded before Cain lifted him up and slammed him onto the ground. Simon winced and was then thrown into the school's wall. He was about to get up, but Cain used his hand to shove his brother's head against the wall.

"Even if the rest of Glandus is defeated, I won't be!" Cain declared. "And I'll bring down your school myself if I have to!" He shoved Simon's head into the wall again.

'This can't be it,' Simon thought while closing his eyes and feeling the wall behind him ready to crumble. 'He's going to tear down the school, with everyone in it… how am I supposed to beat him now? I can't let my friends down…'

"Simon!"

Simon's eyes opened as he heard Willow's voice while she cheered for him. "You can't give up now! You are stronger than your brother, I know you are!" she shouted from a window, offering her encouragement while realizing that this was something he had to do himself.

And he knew she was right.

As Cain was about to slam Simon's head again, Simon suddenly sucker punched him across his helmet. Cain fell back and he looked at his brother. Simon's body was definitely bruised, but he was still able to fight.

"I can tell you're hurting," Simon spoke as Cain charged again, throwing another fist but Simon dodged it and punched him in the abdomen, leaving an impact. "So tell me, Cain." He punched his brother again, targeting his helmet. "What… are… you… hiding under that helmet!?"

His final punch caused the helmet to break off from Cain, flying away.

Simon took a good look at his brother without his helmet and his eyes widened.

Cain backed away, panting as his face was shown. His brown hair grew to shoulder length with a white streak. His face was pale, but hardened like Simon's. But what truly was an eye-catcher was that his gray eyes… were flooding with tears. Not dried tears, but actual tears.

"Cain…" Simon spoke in concern, but Cain covered his face.

"Don't fucking look at me!" Cain declared, turning away from his brother's gaze. "I can't… I can't continue without my helmet!" He tried to run, but Simon stopped him.

"Cain, stop!" Simon declared, wrapping his arms around Cain to restrain his struggling brother.

"Let me go, Simon!" Cain shouted. Simon pinned him down on the ground, but Cain wouldn't stop crying. "I need my helmet…"

"Is this why you wear it?" Simon asked him, noticing how red his eyes were and the circles beneath them. "You've been… crying for a long time."

"I haven't stopped crying," Cain told him with a sniff. "Not since…"

"Since mom passed?" Simon asked and Cain nodded. "Why didn't you tell us, we could've helped you."

"And what then? Be known as Crybaby Cain forever?" Cain spat out. "I haven't been able to stop crying. I thought… isolating myself would help and I even joined Glandus in the hopes that it would toughen me up so that I wouldn't feel the pain anymore. But… no matter what I did, how much stronger I became… the tears won't stop. I can't stop crying and I don't know why they won't stop!" He stopped struggling while continuing to cry. "I'm… I'm so sorry… sorry for everything, I… Simon, you have to understand-"

"Stop," Simon told him. "Cain, all I want is to have my brother back. There's no shame in having those tears, mom wouldn't want you to hide them and avoid addressing them."

"What do you know what mom would have wanted?" Cain asked him.

"Well, maybe I don't," Simon admitted. "But I have a feeling that she wouldn't want her death to ruin your life. And the way you tried to address your problems… well, instead of letting the people who care about you in so they can help you, you pushed them away and hurt them. You hurt a lot of people, Cain. And you have to answer for that. But you also need help end this war, all this fighting… is this really worth it?"

Cain looked around at the damage caused by him and the rest of Glandus. He looked down in shame, knowing that his little brother was right.

"No… this isn't worth it," Cain responded, his head lowered. "I… surrender."

Simon let him go and Cain laid on his side, still crying. "Cain… do you want me to stay with you?"

"I just… don't want to be alone right now," Cain said as he felt his brother's touch.

"And you're not alone, Cain," Simon said as he sat by his brother. "You never were."

From her window view, Willow smiled and sighed. She was both happy for Simon and relieved that Cain was no longer a threat, which would make things easier for Hexside as its battle with Glandus was now definitely going in its favor…

Back at the Owl House, Harpy Eda was shocked to see that the woman behind the mask was Nicole Hieron.

"NICOLE!?" Eda exclaimed. "What… what the hell are you doing!?"

"Getting my revenge on you, Eda!" Nicole responded while half of her mask was exposed, including the dark veins on her face. "You've escaped justice long enough! And now I am more than powerful enough to see to it personally that you and your family pay for your crimes!" She shot out shadowy spears towards Eda, who flew up to dodge them.

"Don't you think this is an overreaction!?" Eda cried out while a shadow whip caught her talon, and slammed her down onto the ground. She saw Nicole jumping up in the air with a shadowy sword and she rolled away to dodge it. Eda saw more shadows coming toward her and she used her claws to slash at them. "If this is about that damn prank-!"

"This is about more than just that prank!" Nicole told her. "Everything that you and that family of yours do is problematic! I don't know why the Emperor gives you so much leeway when you and that Ms. Traveler have been poisoning the minds of the Isles!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Eda asked while receiving a punch to the stomach by a shadowy fist, followed by an uppercut across the face. Nicole rushed forward to tackle her, but Eda pushed her back.

"You and that human of yours are a terrible influence on our community, convincing them to stray out of our traditional ways!" Nicole claimed. "You trick everyone into being on your side with your niceness and generosity… makes me sick."

"Generous is a bit of a stretch, I'm just charismatic," Eda said as Nicole threw another shadow at her, causing Eda to duck.

Inside of the Owl House itself, one of the Tarot Guild members and a pirate ran down the hall away from the chaos in the living room.

"This house is crazy!" the pirate exclaimed. "Why did your leader talk our captain into this!?"

"Don't blame me!" the poultry guild member responded. "I'm in the same boat you are!" He noticed something slithering behind the pirate. "What was that!?"

"What's what?" the pirate replied, only his eyes to widen when he saw the glowing eyes behind the guild member. "Da...da...da…"

"What…" the guild member asked, only to be cut off by Hooty bursting through his chest, causing him to spit out blood.

"HOOT-HOOT! I LIVE!" Hooty declared, causing the pirate to scream.

"WEH!" King shouted, tackling the pirate's head and pulling his hair while holding a glyph. "Eat plant glyph!" he shouted, slapping the glyph as vines wrapped around the pirate. King jumped off of him while the pirate screamed as thorny vines wrapped around him.

Camila, who had also come out from the basement, followed King and Hooty and was horrified to see the dead bodies of the invaders in the main room. One pirate was hanging from the ceiling, the head of the spice demon was pierced in a lamp, there was a dead Labraptor, and the animated objects were shoving one leg into the food dispenser while the couch was eating someone else.

"Oh my god…" Camila gasped.

"Where's Mom and Aunt Lily?" King asked.

"Eda's outside!" Hooty declared as they spotted Eda fighting Nicole while a commotion was going on in the kitchen.

Defending herself, Lilith punched Craig across the face, causing him to fall onto the table. She moved in to finish him off, but Craig used his magic to possess the water from the sink and splash at her with it. She backed away and stepped on one of the frying pans laying on the floor. She picked it up while Craig walked over to her.

Lilith swatted the frying pan at Craig, who shielded himself with his magic. He started to shoot magical beams at her which Lilith had to dodge. She was about to grab her crossbow, but Craig kicked it away and picked up a knife. He tried to stab her but Lilith grabbed his arm.

"You're going to pay for kicking me out of the Emperor's Coven!" Craig declared while Lilith twists his arm back, making him drop the knife.

"That was your own damn fault, Craig," Lilith responded, pinning him to the table. "You went out of line at the exams and now you're out of line now by attacking my home and my family!"

"You shouldn't have protected the Owl Lady's daughter!" Craig declared.

"She's my niece and I will never let the Emperor have her!" Lilith said while Craig chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"You think I care if the Emperor has her?" Craig asked her, using a force field to knock Lilith off of him, slicing off her hands in the process. He threw away her hands and grabbed the knife again. "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, Lilith. While I was in the Emperor's Coven, I was under the payroll of the Tarot Guild."

Lilith's eyes widened. "What…?"

"You see, Lilith, let's say that my first scouting days weren't that great. While you were under Flora's apprenticeship, I was just a regular scout. Until I was confronted by the Producer, a talent scout who recruits people into the Tarot Guild!" He stomped his boot into her chest and grabbed her neck. "The Boss who runs the Guild, well he never forgot how you and sister crossed him once. He wants the Clawthornes out of the picture. So I allowed that Boscha girl to beat up the human to send a message and I planned to eventually poison you, then take your place as the head of the Emperor's Coven. But you had to ruin that plan!" He raised the knife over Lilith as she struggled. "But I have to say, this will be so much more satisfying than just poisoning you!"

"Aléjate de ella, bastardo!"

Craig was suddenly hit with a sandal, making him drop the knife again. He was then kicked away from Lilith, who saw that her savior was Camila holding her sandal.

"Are you alright, Lilith?" Camila asked her.

Lilith nodded as Camila helped her up. "I'm fine, thank you," she said, while turning to Craig, who was getting back up. She glared at him and spotted her hands nearby. "It's over, Craig, you are finished."

"Finished? I'm never going to be done! You will pay for-!"

"You have no one to blame but yourself for your failures!" Lilith declared. "And I have had just enough of you!" She ran over as one of her hands jumped over Craig while holding a piece of paper. Lilith attached her hand back to the stub of her arm, while holding a glyph and slamming it onto Craig's face, knocking him back to the sink where her other hand splashed water at him.

The glyph turned out to be a lightning glyph, giving Craig an electric shock. "AAAAAAHHH!" he cried as his body shook.

"Yes, scream as much as you like," Lilith said with a narrow look. "Thanks to my curse, my hands were able to move on their own so I had one of them draw a glyph while the other-"

"Um, Lilith," Camila spoke to her. "I don't want to interrupt you or anything, but I don't think he's… awake."

Lilith realized that Craig's head was laying in the water-filled sink, smoke coming from his body. Her detached hand poked his body, but got no response.

"He's just… sleeping," Lilith said.

Camila grabbed Lilith's hand. "Come on, King and Hooty are out helping Eda-" She stopped when she saw Hook and Smee coming into the kitchen.

"I don't think so," Hook said. "Smee, get them!"

Smee almost tripped as he ran toward them. However, Lilith punched Smee away while her other hand jumped over and punched Hook at the nose. Hook fell back and Lilith rushed forward to stomp on his stomach but his hook took a swipe at her, giving her a cut on her left cheek.

"You must be thinking you're some kind of Anne Bonny," Hook sneered.

"I don't even know who that is," Lilith said while keeping up her defense, dodging his attacks.

Smee got back up and tried to grab Camila. "Now miss, if you would be so kind-" But Smee was whacked by her sandal, causing him to spin around and fall on the counter.

"Hang on, Lilith!" Camila grabbed a tea kettle, throwing it at Hook and hitting him in the head.

"AH!" Hook cried out, turning to the one who threw the kettle at him, "You'll pay for that, you wrench!" Hook held up his gun at Camila, taking his aim. He pushed Lilith aside so he could get the perfect shot and he pulled the trigger...

"Camila!" Lilith shouted and Camila shut her eyes as she froze in place…

BANG!

The Noceda woman sucked in her breath, but didn't feel anything. Not even the bullet hitting her. She opened her eyes and looked down, not even seeing an entry wound. But she did hear a gasp and she turned around to see Smee, a growing blood stain on his blue and white striped shirt…

"C-Captain…" Smee mumbled as he fell down onto the floor.

Realizing what he had done, Hook dropped his gun and rushed towards his first mate "Smee? Smee!" Hook grabbed his first mate. "Smee, oh dear lord, I'm sorry! I meant to shoot at her, not you!"

"C-Captain… it… I'm… feeling a little cold…" Smee told him.

"No, nonononono, stay awake!" Hook shouted as he looked around, finding an exit as he carried Smee out of the house. "I'll get you to a doctor! I promise!"

Camila was vividly shocked at what happened as Lilith went to comfort her "Camila, Camila are you alright?" she asked, shaking Camila out of her shocked state.

"Uh-oh, I-I am, Lilith," Camila responded. "But I… I could've sworn the bullet went into me, and-"

"Well, I'm just glad you are okay," Lilith assured her. "I understand that this is a lot, if you want after this we can have you go to that counselor Luz and Amity see."

"Um, yeah, I should probably do that," Camila agreed.

Outside Eda was still fighting Nicole, the Clawthorne being hit back into a tree. Nicole, who was now covered in shadows, brought out shadowy whips to strike at Eda. Though Eda tried getting up, she was struck by one of the whips and knocked back down.

"You will get what's coming for you, Edalyn!" Nicole declaree angrily.

"I'm already considered trailer trash at this point, what more do you fucking want?!" Eda shouted while avoiding a second whip attack. "You can't blame me when you are the one digging your own grave!"

"Shut up!" Nicole shouted as she shot out a shadowy blast at Eda, which hit her back into the tree. "You will be made an example of in order to uphold the traditions of the Isles and I will undo the mistake the Emperor made in letting you and your family go! The Clawthornes are nothing but a curse to the Isles!" Before she could attack again, Eda flew up with her wings. "Come back here and fight!"

"You are pathetic," Eda said while drawing a glyph on a leaf. "You let your petty revenge get the better of you and you would rather pin the blame on others than yourself! You are just as childish as you were back when we were kids!"

"Childish?! You're the childish one!" Nicole declared, trying to snatch Eda out of the air with her shadows. Eda fired a fireball down in response, causing Nicole to leap away.

"You allied yourself with pirates, Nicole!" Eda countered as she threw down more leaf-glyphs which created fire balls and ice shards. "And I may not be perfect, but at least I know how to be a decent mother! You value your own pride over the happiness and safety of your own daughter!"

"Keep my daughter out of this!" Nicole argued.

"You're the one who sent her to Glandus! Do you even care what might happen to her there!?" Eda questioned while Nicole managed to grab Eda and pull her to the ground with her shadows.

"I don't need a lecture from someone who gave an innocent witchling from that school the Boiling Pox!" Nicole shouted, causing Eda to pause.

"...What I did, yeah, it was a mistake," Eda replied while pulling the shadows off of her. She picked up a branch and drew a glyph on the ground as Nicole charged towards her. "But like all my mistakes, it is one that I own." Her talon foot stepped on the drawn glyph, which created a flash of light that hit Nicole and her shadows.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Nicole cried out as she was launched away from Eda. Nicole's shadows dispersed due to the light and Eda had to cover her eyes to protect herself from the blast of light she made.

Once the light died down, Eda saw that the injured Nicole had landed against a tree.

"I've learned to put my family first over my needs," Eda told her. "And it's time to end this petty grudge against me and my family, Nicole. When will you grow up?"

Nicole raised her head, glaring at Eda. "This isn't over…" she said as she started melting into the darkness, surprising Eda.

"Mom!"

Eda's motherly instincts were activated and she turned to see King and Hooty fighting back against the Labraptors, using the plant glyphs to build a bush wall but the raptors were coming through. Acting quickly, Eda pulled one of their tails and threw the raptor back as she rushed in the defense of her family..

"Hang on, I got you-AAH!" Eda cried as she felt one raptor hound biting her wing. Another bit her leg, bringing her down as she struggled against the raptors.

"Not again, not again…" Hooty quivered as he wrapped around King protectively. Two Labraptors surrounded them, one of them about to go in for the kill when...

"RAAAAWWRRR!"

Suddenly the Labraptor was bitten in half by the Slitherbeast, which had come to their rescue, shaking around the Labraptor's remains and spitting it out. King, Hooty, and Eda saw who was riding on the Slitherbeast… Gwendolyn.

"Am I late?" Gwendolyn asked atop the Slitherbeast.

"Am I glad to see you, mom!" Eda replied while getting the Labraptors off of her.

Lilith and Camila rushed outside to see the Slitherbeast fighting off against the Labraptors while Gwendolyn uses her Beast-Keeping magic to summon the firebees that chased off the remaining raiders. "Mother!" Lilith cried in joy.

"I got your call, Sweet Flea!" Gwendolyn said, getting off the Slitherbeast while it ate enough Labraptor. "I came as fast as I could and found this big boy on the way."

"Yeah um, we let him live nearby," Eda explained.

"Edalyn?" Gwendolyn asked in shock, getting a better look at her daughter's appearance. "That's a new look. Is this part of the curse or…?"

"Long story short, me and the Owl Beast have an understanding now," Eda responded, while turning to Lilith. "Good idea calling mom."

Lilith looked at her in confusion. "I don't know what you two are talking about."

"What do you mean? You called me on the crow and I recognized your voice," Gwendolyn said.

"I didn't call anyone, I didn't have the chance," Lilith responded, leaving everyone confused.

"So if Lilith didn't make the call… who did?" King asked while the Slitherbeast ate Labraptors and raiders in the background.

In the basement, Rocky was keeping watch over the egg when someone loomed over him.

"What the… who's there?" Rocky asked before he felt himself getting grabbed. "Hey-hey now! No one touches these strings but me!"

"Don't worry," spoke the figure. "I'm just gonna borrow you."

Back to Glandus, Hunter had been having trouble getting out of the school. He had been looking for any crystal ball or magic mirror or communication device, only to be met by a ravaging creature that now pursued him.

"What kind of school is this!?" Hunter cried while being chased by a large plant monster with a flytrap head and horns, its leafy arms holding cages while under its pot were thorny legs.

"HAW-HAW!" it cried out as it swung its cages around, trying to catch Hunter in them.

"Leave me alone!" Hunter cried as he held his staff. "Okay, how do you work this thing!?" he questioned, until he was suddenly grabbed by abomination goo and pulled away from the plant. He recognized his savior, "Gavin!?"

"Hey, Hunter," he replied. "Surprised to see me?"

"What are you doing here?!" Hunter asked him, only to be interrupted by the cries of the plant monster showing up behind them.