After Luz had thanked Amity for the hair clip, Amity asked; "Are you ready? You'll be able to fight Grom while wearing that outfit, right?"
Luz smiled confidently; "Yep! I've got flat soled shoes so I don't trip, this skirt is a bit looser than its inspiration so my movement isn't constricted, and I've got spats on underneath so I won't accidentally flash anyone if I have to dive around or fly over people's heads."
The casual reveal of what was under Luz's skirt nearly had Amity fainting with steam coming out of her ears, but she managed to keep it in. "T-That's good. Now Gus was just getting started on hyping up the crowd, so let's go. And be careful; I know you're strong, but don't underestimate Grom. I want my Grom date in good enough condition to dance with after this is over, you got that?" she said, putting on a false stern facade.
"Your wish is my command, Princess." Luz smiled, giving a showman's bow before offering Amity her arm. Amity blushed and took it, and they walked into the fully decorated gym.
Luz looked around at everyone she knew and admired their outfits; Willow was giving people corsages and was dressed in a fancier version of the green, flowery dress she'd worn to Skara's party. Gus was currently up on stage in a teal Tuxedo, whipping the crowd into an excited frenzy alongside King, who had added a red bow-tie to his collar. Skara was wearing a white Tux with red shirt and accessories, and had linked arms with Rogier, also wearing a Tux but in the colours of the beast-keeping track. Edric and Emira were wearing yellow, with the former having a grey Tux and yellow shirt, and the latter having a cute yellow dress. The Multi-Trackers were stood together; Jerbo in a green tux with a purple shirt, Barcus wearing just a very dark purple waistcoat with a yellow bow-tie, and Viney wearing a cute blue dress with her hair down, and her orange, thorny scrunchie replaced by a similar looking hairband. Even Mattholomule was dressed up nice, wearing a dark brown suit.
As they entered the gym, Luz made eye contact with Gus on stage. The boy looked surprised by her looks, but smiled broadly before nodding to her and beginning the big show. The lights in the Gym went dark, except for a pair of spotlights that shone onto the stage.
"Well ladies, gentlemen, and assorted demons, it looks like the big moment has finally arrived! Allow me to introduce our Grom Queen!" Gus began, getting everyone in the room's eyes on him and King.
"You know her!" Gus said.
"You love her!" King added.
"It's… LUZ NOCEDA, HALF-HUMAN EXTRAORDINAIRE!" they cheered together,
A spotlight landed on Luz, illuminating her and Amity as the students cheered for her. She waved to them bashfully, then lifted Amity's hand to her lips; "Wish me luck." she said softly.
Amity blushed; "Good luck, Luz."
The two separated and Luz walked forward, the spotlight staying on her. A big red button on a black sentient lectern scurried onto the stage, and King used an ice glyph to lift himself high enough for him to slam the button with his little fist. The gym floor began to open up, and the students still stood on it rushed to the stands even as they continued to cheer. Once the floor was fully opened, Luz peered down and saw Grom's arena; a large chamber surrounded by pillars with little chains stretched between them. There was a ramp that led down into the arena, and two walls of weapons that rose up on either side of it. Luz examined the weapons (noting that several looked familiar to her, and appeared to resemble video game weapons, likely replicas forged by witches or demons who didn't know their real origins) and decided to pick a whippy rapier that looked like Ricard's Rapier from the Dark Souls series, as well as a simple kite shield, so she had a defensive option and a weapon that could be used to easily draw ice glyphs in the ground.
She then walked down into the arena, a confident smile on her face. There was no sign of Grom yet, so she stabbed the rapier into the ground and snapped her fingers to summon her ocarina, which she began to play a tune on. When it came to bardic magic, Luz was best with songs that effected one's mood, like the Ballad of Motivation, so the Chords of Courage (the song Skara had taught her that morning) filled her heart with bravery, while also numbing the fears of her friends watching up above.
As she played the final notes of the song, Luz noticed movement in the corner of her eye and swiftly sent her ocarina away, then grabbed her borrowed Rapier, spinning around just in time to see an amorphous black blob rise out of the ground.
"There you are, Grometheus! I'm going to end this nightmare once and for all!" Luz declared, scraping the point of her rapier through the ground to draw an ice glyph.
Grom immediately took the shape of several creepy looking cats with human faces, all of whom began screaming and crying for Luz to help them and turn them back. Luz shuddered, but activated the ice glyph to create a wave of icicles that promptly destroyed the creepy cats.
"And there she goes, folks! Using her glyph magic to start things off strong! Now my Co-MC, as our expert on glyph magic, how would you describe Luz's performance?" Gus commentated.
"Well Gus, I'd say Luz has really gotten the hang of the ice glyph! I'd say she's almost as good as me now, and I'm the King of Glyphs!" King replied, thriving on the attention he was getting from the audience. When Gus had asked King to help him MC, the little demon had been nervous, but MC did stand for Master of Ceremonies after all, and what was a Master of Ceremonies if not a King of Showmanship?
Down in the arena, Grom reconstituted itself and transformed into a giant milk and cheese abomination. Luz cringed at it, but then cast a plant spell on the ground, causing a giant carnivorous plant to rise up from the ground and slurp Grom up. Luz then waved a hand in front of her nose; "Phew, the scariest thing about you is how bad you smell!"
Grom once again reshaped itself, this time forming itself into a replica of Eda's Overloaded Owl Beast form, which promptly tore its way out of the plant Luz had created and began stalking towards her. Luz was surprised, not having expected this, and in the audience, both King and Eda winced at the sight of the beast. However this wasn't really Eda, so Luz had no reason to hold back against it.
She channelled her magic through her rapier and used it to draw a light glyph in the air, then thrust her shield through it to cause her shield to produce a massive beam of burning light, which promptly blasted a hole straight through the fake Owl Beast, causing its corpse to flop over and seep black blood from its wound. The face became closer to Eda's as Grom spoke; "You did this to me, Luz! You turned me into a monster and killed me!"
Luz took a step back instinctively, then glanced up. She saw the real Eda in the stands, giving her a kind smile, then turned back to Grom's fake with a scowl; "I'm not the one who turned you into a monster Grometheus, but I will be the one to put you down!" she growled, sending a light blast from her hand at Grom's head, vaporising it.
The audience's cheering grew louder, and Gus said; "Ouch! Looks like Luz doesn't take kindly to bad Owl Lady imitations!"
"Grom's gonna have to try harder than that!" King declared, laughing confidently.
From the black blood oozing from the fake Owl Beast, a series of replicas of Luz's friends and teachers began to emerge, crawling out of the ooze like zombies. Most of them were either injured and groaning for Luz to save them, or cursing her for being the one to hurt them in the first place. Luz actually felt their words stabbing into her chest; this wasn't what she'd been prepared for! She'd thought she'd be more scared of them finding her useless, but the idea of her actually hurting them in some way made her feel so much worse! It was rooted in her fear that an angel like her was supposed to despise and destroy demons; a fear that she would become the same kind of monster Zara the Ice Wyrm Witch had claimed she was.
"I-I know you're not real! And I am not the monster here! I wouldn't ever hurt my friends!" Luz cried, using a plant glyph from her feet to bind the Grom versions of her friends, then blast them with a light beam.
"Never hurt us? How much danger have you dragged is into. You unleashed the Mandragora by coming to Hexside!" Grom-Willow taunted, her body slowly turning into a Mandragora version of the real Willow.
"That wasn't my fault…" Luz destroyed Grom-Willow.
"You caused the Detention Pit to go wild and consume half the school!" Grom-Gus said, his upper body sprouting from a smaller version of the Detention Pit.
"Shut up…" Luz whimpered, blowing apart Grom-Gus.
"You nearly got us frozen to death by unleashing the Ice Wyrm!" Grom versions of Ed and Em said, their upper bodies taking the place of the left and right heads of a Cerberus, while a miniature Ice Wyrm took the place of the central head. It lunged at her and Luz barely dodged, though her rapier ended up crunched up in its jaws.
"Shut up!" Luz yelled, using light to create a continuous sword-like beam from her hand, allowing her to slice the creature's three heads of.
"You got me eaten by the Owl Beast!" Grom-King roared, taking on a massive and beastly form that somewhat resembled what Luz thought he'd looked like as the fearsome King of Demons.
"SHUT UP!" Luz screamed, dragging Grom-King's head down to her level with vines, then decapitating it with her light sword.
The audience wasn't cheering any more, and both Gus and King had gone silent, feeling their mouths go dry at the sight of Luz's genuine distress. Grom kept taking the forms of Luz's friends, shaped like monsters that Luz feared, and berating her for her sins and failures. A fake Principal Bump-turned-Greater Basilisk lamented not expelling her after she hurt his students, a version of Eda merged with Adegast complained that she was more trouble than she was worth. Skara blended with Odalia's oracle spirit belittled her for using her birthday party to start a fight that she dragged Willow and Amity into, and the three Multi-Trackers appeared as another basilisk hybrid, decrying her for almost getting them expelled or killed by convincing them to fight the fake Inspector.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Luz screamed, no longer trying to fight smartly and instead just blasting light at Grom over and over, her eyes full of fearful tears.
When the smoke cleared, Amity ran out of the smoke with a fearful expression. "L-Luz!"
"SHUT UUUUP!"
Luz shot a blast of light through Amity's chest. Then, to her horror, Amity teetered on one step and began to bleed from the hole Luz had put in her… but she didn't bleed black like the others. No, she bled deep, deep red.
Like a real witch.
"W-Why? Luz?" Amity gasped out, before teetering over and landing in a heap amongst the pulsating remains of Grom.
Luz screamed in horror; not only was Amity bleeding red, but she was wearing her Grom outfit instead of her casual clothes or school uniform like the other fakes had been. Did that mean she wasn't a fake!? Had the real Amity come down to help her!?
"No! No no no! Amity!" Luz cried, tossing aside her shield and running to the girl, deaf to the shouts of those above. All she could hear was her heartbeat thundering in her ear, and all she could see was Amity's bleeding form. She dropped to her knees beside the girl and carefully cradled her while preparing a Healing Lotus. "Just hold on, Amity! I'll fix this!"
"Y-You can't…" Amity gurgled, blood leaking from her mouth, "Just like you can't fix any of your other screw-ups!"
Luz paled as she realised she'd been lured into a trap, and the blood leaking from Amity turned black. She tried to back away, but Grom-Amity's hand shot out and gripped Luz by the throat before the fake got to its feet. Grom-Amity smirked cruelly as she held Luz aloft, her grip so strong that Luz couldn't pull herself free. Luz was forced to summon her wings (thankfully hidden by her concealment stone) to hover and stop herself being choked.
"Did you truly think I'd care for you after all your mistakes?" Grom-Amity asked mockingly; "As if I could! You nearly cost me my job at the library, and dragged me into your fights with the Mandragora and Ice Wyrm! How many times have I nearly died because I met you!? Not to mention that any chance I had at building a better relationship with my Mom is now lost because of you!"
Luz tried to shake her head as guilt flooded her, and Grom-Amity's eyes glowed as she used her contact with Luz to fully dive into her thoughts and discover her deepest fears. "Honestly, you're so pathetic… Why would I ever love a failed angel like you!"
With that, Grom-Amity tossed Luz away, ripping off her hidden concealment stone as she did so. Luz slammed hard into the ground in the middle of Grom's arena, coughing and gasping desperately to get some more air into her lungs. But as soon as she could breath again, she froze as she fully registered everything that had just happened. Her concealment stone was gone, revealing her white hair and angelic wings to everyone attending Grom, all of whom had gone eerily silent. Those who knew her identity already had gone pale, while those who hadn't began to exchange shocked looks.
"Luz is… an angel!?" Skara exclaimed, the first to find her voice.
"Those wings… they're definitely angel wings! She really IS an angel!" Rogier added beside her.
Gasps and muttering filled the room, and Luz felt a deep, chilling dread creep through her bones. Her secret had been discovered! She'd been unveiled as an angel in front of the entire school!
"N-no!" Luz gasped, hiding her wings and casting an illusion over herself to make her hair brown again. But it was too late; the cat was out of the bag. And that wasn't the only secret Grom-Amity had spilled… she'd revealed to everyone that Luz feared the idea of Amity rejecting her! Her crush had been outed right in front of Amity!
Luz dared to look up and find the real Amity, who was staring back at her with wide eyes and her hands over her mouth, looking utterly horrified. That tore at Luz's heart; it was over! Amity wouldn't even want to be her friend, let alone anything more after this was done!
"LUZ! LOOK OUT!" Eda suddenly cried.
Her warning came just in time, and Luz was able to dive out of the way of Grom-Amity, who'd turned her lower body into a giant, abomination version of Ghost. "Aw, are you all broken up inside because you know you never stood a chance with me? You only got to come to this dance with me because the person I actually liked wasn't interested! You're less than a rebound date, you pathetic angel!"
With a scream of rage and sorrow, Luz gathered as much light energy as she could muster and turned it all into a massive ball, which she promptly dropped on Grom-Amity, vaporising it. The creature cackled as it was burned away, and once it was gone, Luz was left alone in the silent arena.
She panted from exertion, and tried to hold back the tears and sobs that threatened to overtake her. She looked up at the audience, all of whom were staring at her with shock and awe. But to Luz's tear-blurred eyes, they looked judgemental and angry; Luz was an imposter and they'd never accept her now. Even her friends who knew already would be forced to reject her, and Amity would never forgive her for using her rejection to get her to come to Grom with her.
Desperately, she looked to the real Amity; "I-I'm so sorry…"
Amity felt her heart break for the girl she loved, and who it seemed loved her in return. Under any other circumstances, that revelation would have her practically singing to the heavens with joy, but she couldn't enjoy that now that she saw how bad Luz was hurting! Her secret was out, and she was in the middle of a traumatising situation, fearing rejection from not just Amity, but everyone else too.
And as Amity saw more of Grom emerge from the ground behind Luz, she knew it wasn't over yet.
"Luz, look out!" she yelled.
Luz flinched, then spun around to face Grom's latest form. She watched with horror as the black goo formed a very familiar figure; that of her mother, Camila Noceda.
"Mija…" Grom-Camila said, shaking her head with a look of pure disappointment on her face. She was in her full angelic form just like Luz, further hammering home to the audience what Luz truly was.
"M-Mami!?" Luz couldn't help but gasp. She knew it wasn't real, but she was in such an emotional state that she was barely able to act rationally.
"Mija, why did it have to come to this? Why couldn't you have just listened to me? You could have been a good girl and been the angel you were born to be, but instead you had to become this." Grom-Camila said scathingly, "I sent you away so you would finally learn and stop being a disappointment to me, but instead you ran away to this place; the antithesis of everything we angels stand for, and now you pretend like you're one of them! You even had the gall to fall in love with one of these monsters!"
"They're not monsters!" Luz cried, "They're just people, like us! They aren't evil and the Demon Realm isn't a living hell!"
"Are you going to chose them over your own mother, Mija? Your own people?" Grom-Camila asked, a look of disgust on her face that felt worse than a slap in the face.
Luz whimpered; "King, Eda, Willow, Gus, Skara, Viney, Jerbo, Barcus, Edric, Emira… Amity… They are my people!" she cried, "I want them to be your people too!"
Grom-Camila sneered and began to grow larger, her wings splitting until she had ten of them despite the real Camila being a regular angel; "You disappoint me, Luz. You are no daughter of mine! If you insist on being like these monsters, then I will put you down alongside them! That is the true duty of an Angel!"
With that, Grom-Camila attacked, summoning up more Grom ooze to form tentacles and bestial constructs to try and savage Luz. The young angel threw her hand out to cast a blast of light magic at her fake mother, but she hesitated. Her heart hurt so much, and she could barely breath. She began to hyperventilate, her fear overwhelming her. With a frightened sob, she took to the sky and flew out of Grom's arena, smashing through one of the gym's windows and flying away into the night sky. Grom, still focused on defeating its chosen foe, took flight and pursued her, all the while spewing insults in Camila's voice.
"Grom is escaping!" Principal Bump yelled.
"We need to go after them! If Luz goes down, then Grom will begin destroying everything!" Eda said urgently, summoning Owlbert so she could fly after her terrified apprentice. King immediately ran to join her, hopping onto her staff and tossing aside the microphone; he would help save his sister!
The two then took off and flew away in pursuit of Luz and Grom, leaving the students of Hexside to stand there, stunned.
"W-What do we do now!?" Willow cried. "Should we go after her too?"
"We can't." Gus frowned, "Grom will get stronger if he feeds on all our fear. That's why he needs to be beaten in a one-on-one fight."
"You two don't seem as surprised about Luz being an angel as the rest of us." Skara said, crossing her arms; "Did you already know?"
They nodded slowly; "We discovered the truth when she got eaten by the Detention Pit. It's why the pit went so crazy." Gus explained.
"Edric and I also found out by accident during a trip to the Knee." Emira added.
Skara and the Multi-Trackers then turned to Amity, who was still in shock. She could only nod numbly, showing that she knew as well.
Skara groaned; "Oh Luz… why didn't she tell me? Didn't she trust me?" She wasn't angry, but she was frustrated; perhaps if she'd known, she could have done more to help her prepare. The Multi-Trackers felt the same.
"She was afraid." Viney said sadly, "Being outed as an angel was one of her worst fears, and now it happened in front of the whole school, along with her crush! She's got to be in a really bad place right now…"
"Yeah, and did you hear the things the copy of her Mom was saying? Does that mean Luz is scared that her Mom will reject her if she finds out that Luz is friends with Witches and Demons?" Jerbo frowned.
Willow fidgeted; "Luz really loves her Mom, but her Mom is also scared of our world. She apparently told Luz stories about how terrible this place is, though she never actually came here herself."
Barcus woofed, and Jerbo translated; "Barcus asks how Luz's Mom could be afraid of this world if she's never been here."
Amity was the one to answer, her voice sounding numb; "Something happened between angels and the Demon Realm in the past. We don't know what it was, but it left the angels afraid of us, and before the Emperor came along, witches and demons were afraid of them too. That's why Luz was afraid to tell anyone; wild witches think of angels as monsters and want to destroy them, and coven witches might try and hand her over to the Emperor."
"S-So what do we do!?" Skara cried, "We need to help her and stop Grom! I don't care if she's an angel, Luz is my friend!"
"I-I don't know…" the sight of Luz's terror and sorrow was seared into Amity's mind, and she felt paralysed and weak, powerless to save the girl she loved.
But that feeling of powerlessness made her angry. Luz, the girl who had done so much for Amity, was deathly afraid of being mocked and rejected by her. Somehow, she'd gotten it into her head that she wasn't good enough for Amity and not the other way around! And because of that, Amity had watched as a mirror image of her taunted Luz and drove her to terrified tears, before outing her secrets!
This wouldn't stand! She would find Luz and set her straight, and teach Grom what it meant to be afraid! Amity Blight would make sure everyone knew; you did not mess with her Luz!
Snapping her fingers, Amity summoned Ghost in staff form and took flight; "I'm going after Luz!" she declared. She then shot out through the broken window, while the rest of the school watched on. A few cheered for her, and others began rushing out of the gym to try and follow her and witness the fight that was about to occur. The twins summoned Orthie and Russ too, and immediately straddled them, ready to take off. Emira grabbed Skara and pulled her onto her staff behind her, and Edric did the same with Willow and Gus.
"We're going after them too! You guys summon your staves as well!" Emira instructed the Multi-Trackers.
Viney winced; "We don't have Palismen yet. We don't have easy access to Palistrom Wood like the Blights do, and our parents haven't been able to afford it."
Emira scowled; "We can only carry a max of two people each… Ed, you take Willow and Gus; I'll take Viney and Skara." she then looked to Jerbo and Barcus; "Sorry guys, but we might need Viney's healing."
"We understand. We'll run and try to catch up! Now go, our angel friend needs help!" Jerbo said, Barcus woofing in agreement.
Willow, Gus, Skara, and Viney held on tight as the twins took to the sky and flew off after Luz, Eda, and Amity. They weren't sure how much help they could be in an actual fight without making Grom stronger, but they could at least make sure Luz knew they still supported her!
Meanwhile, Luz was flying as hard and fast as she could, fleeing towards the cliffs on the edge of Bonesborough. She wasn't thinking straight; her mind consumed by manic fear of Grom and the consequences of what had just happened. Now the entire school knew she was an angel! They'd tell their parents and friends, and then it would spread until everyone on the Isles knew the truth! They'd hunt her down like a rabid animal, and depending on who caught her, she'd end up dead or taken to Belos! If Belos really was an angel, then who knew what he would do with an angel child who sided with Witches and Demons!? He might try to kill her as a failure, like the Grom-Camila was threatening, or worse, he might use her as a pawn to capture Eda!
A sudden blast of magic shot towards Luz and struck her in the back, making her scream and crash land into the woods, where she skidded painfully towards the cliffs, just barely avoiding falling off of them and into the Boiling Sea. She whimpered as she got to her feet and tried to heal herself, then screamed in terror as Grom-Camila touched down in front of her, trapping Liz.
"Why do you run, Luz? Can't you face the consequences of your betrayal? You turned your back on all of Angel-Kind, and now you won't even face your own mother!" Grom-Camila roared.
Luz curled up into a ball and tried to cover her ears; "Y-You're not her! You're not my Mami! S-She'd never hate me! She'd never hurt me! She'd never…!"
Never send her away…
A fresh wave of pain filled her chest, and Luz sobbed; "Please… I give up, I don't want to do this any more! Please… somebody… help me!"
Grom-Camila fused together with the monsters and tentacles it had created to help chase Luz down. The result was Grom-Camila's upper body sticking out from the back of a giant black mass shaped similarly to a Cerberus, with the upper bodies of Arboriel, Zara the Ice Wyrm, and the Basilisk Inspector serving as its three heads, and Adegast's tentacles serving as its limbs. On the end of each tentacle was a version of one of Luz's friends, all of whom whispered their disgust and hatred for Luz.
"This hurts me more than it hurts you, Mija. But an Angel who sides with Demons cannot be allowed to live!" Grom-Camila declared, preparing to fire a blast of magic at Luz.
However before it could follow through with the attack, Eda and King came flying in on Owlbert. King stuck some ice glyphs to the underside of Owlbert's staff, making them fire icicles down on Grom like an icy air strike. Eda helped, using her own ice magic to turn the last icicle into a particularly massive one, which impaled through Grom-Camila and pinned it to the ground. King then jumped off of Owlbert and landed on top of the icicle (which was flat on top) and used his claws to carve a giant light glyph onto the top of it, which he then activated. It produced a massive amount of light that shone into Grom's body through the icicle, which acted like a prism. The light also refracted through the smaller icicles stuck in Grom's body, making the creature scream as it was blinded.
Eda then used this opening to blast golden fire down on Grom-Camila, destroying the part that actually looked like Luz's Mami as Eda screamed; "Spicy Toss!"
Grom recoiled, trying to reshape itself around the ice and fire while still blind, and Eda landed behind it, with King jumping onto her shoulder; "Stay away from my family, you misshapen excuse for a monster!" Eda spat.
Grom roared in anger, and Luz looked up with tear-filled eyes; "Eda! You were right! I'm not good enough for this!"
"Luz, it was never that you weren't good enough! It's that you shouldn't have had to face this thing in the first place, not with such an important secret! I should have explained that, instead of making you feel inadequate; I'm sorry, Luz." Eda said, preparing another spell circle; "Now leave Grom to Mama!"
"No! Leave Grom to me!"
Amity suddenly came shooting out of the trees atop Ghost, and flew to stand protectively between Luz and Grom. "Stay away from my Luz, you walking nightmare!"
Luz blushed, her heart feeling lighter as Amity came to her rescue. Grom snarled, and spoke in a demonic voice; "DON'T INTERFERE!"
Amity scowled and slammed the end of her staff against the ground defiantly; "Grometheus, I challenge you on Luz's behalf! I will take her place and fight you as her champion!" she declared.
Luz, Eda, and King all gasped, as did the Twins, Viney, Willow, Gus, and Skara, who'd just arrived and were now stood with Eda, ready to back her up.
"A-Amity! No! This whole thing is my fault!" Luz cried.
Amity turned back to her with a smile; "I won't run away from this, Luz. You were fighting this thing for our sakes, so I'll fight it for yours! Besides…" she turned back to Grom so Luz wouldn't see her blush; "… facing my fears here and now will be good practice… because when this is over, I want to talk with you. About your feelings… and mine."
Luz blinked, unsure as to what exactly Amity meant. A part of her wanted to assume the worst; that Amity was going to formally reject her, but a tiny part of her, the part that dared to hope, whispered the opposite.
Grom had gone still at Amity's challenge, then slowly shrank down and took the form of Grom-Amity again, though unlike the version that had fought Luz, this one was dressed in her school uniform and still had her mint-coloured hair.
"Trying so hard to change, are we? Don't delude yourself; you and I are the same person we always were. A bully and a monster!" Grom-Amity mocked, conjuring up a series of black coloured abominations made from Grom goo. They surged towards Amity, but she twirled her finger and summoned some real abominations of her own and sent them forward to counter the Grom versions, while the real Amity shot a pink fireball at her doppelganger. Grom-Amity mirrored her, cancelling out her spell, then reaching into her school uniform and pulling out a purple stone.
"You've gotten soft and weak. Let me show you who we truly are; our mother's daughter!" Grom-Amity smirked cruelly, creating an oracle spirit with Grom goo and making it fly out of the purple stone and attack Amity. The real Amity gripped her necklace and used her own oracle magic to summon a real oracle spirit to counter Grom's.
"I'm not blind to my own fears!" Amity snapped, "I know I'm not the same person I used to be! I'm not a bully any more! Willow and I are friends again! And I am NOT MY MOTHER!" Amity roared, focusing all her magic. Grom had taken the form of her old self, the person Amity was afraid she could slip back into being, and that meant it could do everything Amity's old self could… so Amity had to fight back with something only the new Amity could do!
"I learned to be a good person by watching the best person I know! Now let me give you a taste of something else I learned from watching them!" Amity declared, drawing a pink spell circle, which then turned into a ball of pink light, looking like an ordinary light spell. However Amity then grabbed it in her fist, then opened her palm in Grom's direction while forcing magic out through the light. The result was a powerful light beam, just like Luz's, only coloured pink.
The light beam blasted through Grom-Amity's fake oracle spirit (while the real oracle spirit made itself incorporeal to avoid being hurt) and pierced the doppelganger's heart, making it cry out in pain.
Luz and the others all gasped in shock. "T-That's my light magic!" Luz exclaimed.
"Not quite. It's technically a super-focused fire spell… I'm not an angel, so I can't do what you can, but that doesn't mean you can't inspire me to be like you in my own way!" Amity said proudly.
Luz's heart fluttered, but she didn't get a chance to speak before Grom-Amity regenerated enough to attack again, absorbing one of the fake abominations to replace the parts of itself destroyed by Amity's light blast. It glared at the real Amity as it summoned a new fake oracle spirit.
"You see!? This "new you" is just a pathetic shadow of the person you're trying to imitate! How long before the facade disappears and you're forced to finally accept the wretched creature you really are!?" it taunted. "Don't even try; you're too weak willed to keep it up anyway! You'll give up soon, just like you gave up on Willow!"
"NEVER!" Amity roared, casting a spell that caused her conjured abominations to detonate, destroying Grom's fakes and stunning the monster long enough for her to create another of her pseudo-light blasts. This time, instead of turning the initial light ball into a beam, Amity massively expanded it then had her oracle spirit take it and shove it into Grom's chest so Amity didn't have to touch it directly. Amity then created a tiny ball of fire on her finger tip and shot it at Grom, making it strike the light ball in the creature's chest, causing it to detonate and utterly destroy Grom-Amity, sending chunks of it everywhere.
"How's that for "too weak" you fake!" the lavender haired girl mocked.
"Mittens, don't let your guard down! It's not done yet!" Edric yelled to her, seeing the chunks of Grom still pulsating.
Amity looked down and ordered her oracle spirit to begin gathering it all up, and trap it inside a purple barrier. Once all of Grom was contained, Luz could use her real angel magic to destroy it once and for all, and end this scourge on Hexside and the Boiling Isles!
Of course, it wasn't ever going to be that easy. As her spirit worked to gather up the pieces of Grom, a single one managed to crawl beneath Amity, obscured from her view by her skirt, and reach up and touch the girl's ankle. Amity gasped as her eyes suddenly glowed, Grom reading her deepest fears just as it had with Luz earlier. When it was done, Amity staggered back in surprise and her spirit rushed to help her, abandoning its task and allowing the shard of Grom to recombine with the rest of it and take a new shape.
Luz and her friends watched with wide eyes as Grom transformed into a doppelganger of Luz, only dressed in her school uniform and sporting a hideous smirk that looked severely out of place on the young angel. Grom-Luz then imitated Luz's plant magic, using a healing lotus to restore all the pieces of itself that had been destroyed by Amity and the real Luz, before having a giant carnivorous plant swallow her and then dive into the ground, before emerging outside of the solid purple barrier Amity had made to contain her.
"No…" Amity gasped, already afraid of where this was going.
"Did you really think I'd let you contain me, Amity Blight? Did you truly think I'd become yours?" Grom-Luz asked mockingly, her voice so much like the real thing's that Amity instinctively shook her head to deny it.
"You were so happy to lie to me, weren't you? Let me think you were in love with someone else to toy with my heart, then acted like you were doing me a favour by going with me to the dance. But it was all just a game; you manipulated me and tried to make me dance to your tune, just like your mother tried! I bet you're happy that my secrets were exposed! You're happy that I was humiliated, because you got to swoop in and pretend to be the hero!" Grom-Luz roared, now imitating Luz's light magic to fire beams of her own at Amity.
Amity squeaked and dived out of the way, using Ghost to summon up some more abominations to block the blasts, as she ordered her oracle spirit to go back into her oracle stone. Amity doubted that Grom-Luz's magic would be able to exorcise her oracle spirit like a real angel, but she didn't want to take the risk. Her abominations held up to a few beams each, but they soon began to melt into slurry as more and more of their bodies was destroyed, forcing Amity to switch tactics. She used the ice magic Eda had taught her on the icicles King had made earlier, which were still in the ground, and turned them into a wave of snow that she shaped into a giant hand that could raise up behind Grom-Luz and capture her.
The hand succeeded in grasping Grom-Luz, but it then summoned replicas of Luz's wings and used its slime to draw ice glyphs on each wing, freezing them and turning them into blades of ice that should shred through the snow hand. It then melted its wings back into Grom goo and reshaped it into a replica of the Bat Queen Staff, which it used to fire a stream of black flame down on Amity.
Amity countered by turning the remains of the snow hand into a tightly packed barrier of snow and ice, which she hid behind while turning one of her abominations into a falchion of abomination goo, before using the steam of the rapidly melting ice wall as cover to sneak away. Once Grom-Luz succeeded in melting through the ice barrier, it found that Amity was missing and began looking around for her, while Amity suddenly flew at her from behind using Ghost, and swung her falchion at Grom-Luz's neck.
The doppelganger noticed her at the last moment and turned to her, eyes filled with fear as it cried; "Amity!?" in Luz's voice.
Amity hesitated, and Grom-Luz smirked, using that moment to turn the fake Bat Queen staff on the lavender haired girl. Thankfully, Amity was able to slash her falchion at the fake staff just in time, destroying it. It exploded with black fire, and Amity yelped as the flames licked at her skin, singing her bare arms slightly and destroying her falchion but otherwise not doing too much damage.
The girl descended back to the ground, as did Grom-Luz, who began preparing a light blast. It was a sizeable one too, and Amity barely had time to draw a spell circle with Ghost before the doppelganger's attack was bearing down on her. Amity answered Grom-Luz's light blast with a beam of pink light from her staff, struggling to match its power but still refusing to back down.
Watching the fight, Luz felt dread and terror, but for Amity and not herself. The others were cheering and shouting their support of Amity, but Luz felt her own throat go dry. Amity was getting hurt and facing one of her fears, all because Luz couldn't handle it! The young angel hated it!
"A-Amity! Please, you need to run! You don't need to fight my battles for me!" Luz cried.
"This isn't about fighting your battles for you! This is about protecting you! I can't stand by and let this monster hurt someone I love!" Amity yelled, gritting her teeth as she held Ghost firm against Grom's assault.
"S-Someone you love!?" Luz squeaked, beginning to blush. A hint of hope entered her voice, despite her attempts to squash it down.
"Of course! Do you think I'd agree to go to Grom with someone I didn't like!? Have you not listened to a single word that Grom has been spouting at me!?"
Luz spluttered; "B-But your crush-!?"
"It's you!" Amity cried, "It's always been you, you dumb, oblivious, adorable little angel!"
She pressed her shoulder against her staff to keep it firm as she took a hand off it and reached into her skirt pocket to pull out the pink Grom note from that morning. She tossed it to Luz's feet, and the girl numbly picked it up and read it.
"Luz, will you go to Grom with me? Amity." she read aloud, "B-But I… you… why…!?" Luz tried to get the words out but failed every time. "I thought your crush rejected you!" she eventually managed.
Amity laughed sardonically, despite her situation; "So did I… when you were so willing to be my wing-woman and help me confess to someone else, I assumed it was because you didn't see me like that. I didn't want to make things awkward between us by confessing to you after that!"
Luz began to tear up; "But… why me!? You're amazing and pretty and cool and talented, while I'm just a screw up! I've caused you nothing but trouble!"
"No you haven't!" Amity yelled, "Ignore everything this stupid nightmare said and listen to me, Luz Noceda! You saved my job at the library even though it nearly cost you the answers you were after, and you stopped my siblings from posting my diary everywhere and humiliating me, which means you also saved my relationship with them!"
Amity took a step closer to Grom, pushing back against its imposter light magic with all her might.
"You didn't drag me into any battles! You saved my life from the Mandragora twice and are the reason I was able to meet Ghost! It was me who got you involved with the Ice Wyrm by taking you to the Caplacier Temple Ruins in the first place! And my Mom is the one who ruined any chance of me improving my relationship with her! Not to mention you lied and suffered to save me from that stupid bet at the Covention! You've done so much for me, and it infuriates me that you can be so amazing yet still think so little of yourself!" the lavender haired girl declared, taking another step forward.
"A-Amity…!" Luz began to cry, overwhelmed with conflicting emotions.
"You act like I'm so amazing, but I was just a bully when you came into my life! Every good thing that has happened to me in the last two months has been because of you! You are a wonderful person and the best angel ever, and I want to spend every day of my life making sure you never forget that! I've changed because of you, Luz! And you've changed too! You're not the screw-up you think you are!" Amity yelled, unleashing as much magic as she could to finally overpower Grom, causing Grom-Luz to be burnt by the flames and skid backward.
"And I want to protect you, just like I know you'd protect me!" she finished, spinning Ghost in a giant circle to produce a monstrously huge blast of pink light, comparable to some of Luz's strongest blasts. Luz felt her heart beat faster as she watched the girl of her dreams fighting valiantly on her behalf. Part of Luz hated that Amity had to face her own worst fears to save her, but the other part was so happy that Amity really returned her feelings, and was frankly entranced by just how beautiful Amity looked, her hair seeming to glow in the light of her magic as her eyes were fiery and full of determination. Amity looked as beautiful and powerful as any angel, and the idea that this amazing girl could have feelings for someone like her made Luz want to sing to the heavens with gratitude.
Grom-Luz struggled against Amity's most powerful spell, but it was soon overwhelmed and screamed as it was consumed by the light, along with quite a few trees. It was almost defeated then and there, but it was able to fission off a piece of its body to prevent itself from being totally defeated. Grom had absorbed so much of Luz and Amity's fear that it had grown incredibly resilient, and it began to reform and take on a new shape.
Exploiting Amity's fear of becoming her old self again or Luz beginning to hate her wasn't working any more, so it decided to latch onto the last of Amity's major fears; Odalia Blight.
Grom-Odalia glowered at Amity, who was panting from exerting herself so much with that last attack.
"Honestly, look how weak you are now. You turned your back on your own family, and now you're exhausted after one tiny spell. Well, it's time to remove the stain on the Blight Family name!" Grom-Odalia hissed, summoning up a group of five Grom goo oracle spirits.
Amity, still worn out from her big spell, paled at the sight of them and found herself instinctively cringing away from the fake of her mother. The fake her and fake Luz were upsetting, but Amity could face them easily; they were cruel, irrational fears that she knew deep in her heart would never come to pass… but Odalia deciding she was a failure and choosing to get rid of her? That was a fear she could definitely see happening! Heck, it was halfway to happening already!
The fake oracle spirits attacked as one, and Amity managed to muster the strength to splatter three of them by focusing a ball of flame on the end of her staff and swinging it at them, but the fourth one managed to turn incorporeal, imitating the power of a real oracle spirit for a moment, before becoming physical again and punching Amity hard in the face, knocking her backward while the fifth oracle spirit grabbed her staff and yanked Ghost out of Amity's grip.
"Ghost!" Amity cried, recovering from the punch and trying to draw a spell circle. Before she could finish though, Grom-Odalia made her left arm turn black and swell up, before extending it towards Amity, grabbing her and binding her arms to her sides. Amity struggled against Grom's grip, while Ghost yowled as the two surviving fake spirits transformed themselves into cage that trapped the Palisman inside.
"Time to wash away the stain on the Blight name! And what better way to do that, than with some nice hot water!" Grom-Odalia sneered cruelly, before tossing Amity off of the cliff and casting her down into the Boiling Sea, her arms still bound to her side by Grom goo.
"NO!" Edric cried, already flying forward on his staff.
"SIS!" Emira yelled, just a millisecond behind her brother.
"AMITY!" Luz screamed, throwing herself after the falling girl without a second thought while Grom-Odalia cackled behind her.
The instant Luz was falling, she flapped her wings hard to catch up to the falling Amity, but in the instant she reached her top speed, the young angel came to a horrifying realisation; she wasn't going to be fast enough.
Even at her top speed, Amity would hit the Boiling Sea a good few seconds before Luz would catch her, and long before the twins could reach them. Without some form of protection against the heat, Amity would be boiled to death, or at the very least severely burned!
Luz flapped her wings as hard as she could, blasting light beams from her feet in an attempt to rocket herself forward, but it still wasn't enough! She threw her left hand out in a vain attempt to catch her falling love, and time seemed to slow around her.
"I need to save her! Amity did all this to protect me! I need to protect her!" Luz thought desperately, her heart filling with a familiar burning sensation.
"Come on! Fly faster! I'm not the screw-up I used to be any more, right!? Amity said it herself! We've both changed! We both want to protect each other! So please… fly faster! I want to… no, I need to! I NEED TO PROTECT AMITY! I WILL PROTECT MY AMITY!"
The burning in her heart overflowed and flooded her body, coursing through her veins like a wild fire and surging through her wings and down her left arm. The image of the ice glyph shone brightly in her mind's eye, and Luz's entire body was engulfed in golden light.
Edric and Emira reached the cliff just as Amity was about to hit the scalding water below, while Amity herself looked up at Luz as she was consumed by light. The girl closed her eyes, fully expecting that to be the last thing she ever saw. The light that was Luz shot down like a shooting star, just barely colliding with Amity before both hit the water, sending a huge spray of boiling water skyward, alongside a massive plume of steam.
"NOOOO!" Emira screamed in horror. She nearly flew into the sea after her sister, but a horrified Edric managed to stop her just in time.
Eda, King, and the others were frozen in shock; Luz and Amity had both gone beneath the waves, and there was now no sign of them. Even Luz's light was gone, having disappeared into the inky blackness of the sea. King, Willow, Gus, Skara, and Viney all ran to the cliff-side, screaming for Luz or Amity to surface, begging for them to be okay, while Eda stood in place, shell-shocked. Within her, the Owl Beast howled furiously, but Eda was able to keep it contained by focusing on one crucial detail; Grom was still in the form of Odalia.
If Grom had defeated its opponent, then it would have immediately begun rampaging to destroy Hexside and inflict its nightmarish revenge on everyone who had ever attended the school. The fact it wasn't could only mean one thing: Amity was still alive! And if Amity was alive, then Luz had to be too!
With that thought in mind, Eda ran over to the cliff and shouted down at the sea.
"Don't keep us waiting, Luz! Hurry back up here with Amity and kick this creep's butt! Do you really want to spend your entire first date dealing with this ugly thing!?"
The others looked at her with surprise, but then they noticed something strange. It was hard to see in the dark, but the Boiling Sea beneath the cliff-side wasn't bubbling any more, and the steam it was giving off looked less like evaporating water and more like mist. Hesitantly, Edric flew down a bit and ran his hand through some of this mist, his eyes widening as he did so.
"I-It's cold…!?"
Emira gasped and flew down to join him, daring to dip a finger into the sea itself. She flinched when she felt that it was icy cold, and actually looked to be freezing slowly, forming a thin layer of ice with some slush underneath it.
"The Boiling Sea is freezing!?"
As soon as Emira said those words, they all saw a bright blue light forming below the water, on the seafloor. As it was so close to the cliffs, the sea wasn't that deep, and the blue light began to get brighter as the source of it raced for the surface. Edric and Emira flew back up to the others, worried what the blue light could be, then gasped as the shining source of that light blasted straight out of the water and high into the sky, revealing itself to be some kind of glowing blue sphere.
The sphere was a deep sapphire blue and made of countless hexagons of ice fitted together like a giant puzzle. This sphere floated high above the sea and cliff side, then slowly began to disintegrate as the icy hexagons dispersed into a flurry of powdery snow, which then shaped itself into a giant spear shaped a bit like Ghost's staff form. The spear then shot forward and impaled through Grom-Odalia, making it scream in pain as it was pinned to a tree a good few feet from the cliff side. With the ice gone, the light that had shone through it was now its regular golden colour, and it began to fade to reveal a pair of familiar faces.
"LUZ! AMITY!" their friends cried with happiness, seeing Luz flying there with Amity held like a princess in her arms. Both were bone-dry and unburnt despite their dip in the Boiling Sea; in fact, Amity didn't look any different at all. However the same couldn't quite be said for Luz.
For the most part, Luz was unchanged, but there were three crucial differences. The first was that Eda's magic on her had disappeared, meaning the magically added hair extensions were gone, leaving Luz's hair at it's usual length, though still as pure white and curly as ever. The second was the source of Luz's new ice barrier; the ice glyph now shone from the back of her left hand, and blue lines now stretched from it to the wing joints on her back. But it was the third change that was the most striking; Luz's two magnificent angelic wings had multiplied, becoming four wings instead. Each wing joint now had two wings sprouting from it, with the new ones (the lower ones) being ever-so-slightly smaller, but no less majestic.
"What happened? Did Luz just grow two more wings!?" Willow exclaimed, narrowing her eyes as she tried to focus on the girl flying above them.
"I can see the ice glyph on her arm! She must have finally bonded with it!" King cheered.
"Good job kid! Get your girl!" Eda yelled with a grin.
"They're alive…! Amity's alive! Oh thank the Titan! Thank the angel!" Emira cried, all the stress of the last few moments causing her strength to fade. She was close enough to the ground that she didn't worry about falling out of the sky, but Viney still rushed to catch her, just in case.
"Whoa there. Take a deep breath, Emira. You're gonna be a little shaky as the stress leaves your body. Just relax, okay?" Viney said softly, carefully lowering Emira to the ground but not letting her go. Emira blushed, finding she rather liked being held by the deceptively muscular girl.
Edric flew down to check on his twin, then promptly burst into noisy tears; "Bwah! I was so scared we'd lost our Mittens!" he sobbed, a smile on his face despite him ugly crying. Orthie and Russ howled along beside him.
"Well this is one heck of a development, folks!" Gus grinned, once again commentating now that he knew his friends were alive and well.
"I am totally confused… how did Luz suddenly change? Why does she have more wings now!?" Skara asked. She was truly relieved that Luz and Amity were safe, but she had only just learned Luz was an angel, so she had no frame of reference for all the crazy things that just happened.
She was just as confused when Rasiel emerged from Eda's ring, and looked up at Luz with undisguised pride. "Take heed, Witches and Demons! You have born witness to the ascension of a new High Angel! Hail to you, Luz Noceda, High Angel of Crest Kindness!"
Up in the sky above them, Luz felt her new wings and saw the markings on her arm and smiled, but then she looked at Amity held in her arms and smiled even brighter. "Are you alright, Amity?" she asked softly, a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Never better." Amity breathed, blushing brightly as she enjoyed being held by Luz, "You saved me and bonded with the ice glyph! My Hero!" Amity said, throwing her arms around Luz's neck and hugging her tightly.
Luz giggled; "It's only thanks to you that I could do either of those things. You reminded me that I truly have changed; I'm not the screw-up I always thought I was… and I dearly wanted to protect you. But I also realised that you've changed into a better person too, and you protected me in turn. I guess understanding both sides of change and protection is what finally allowed me to bond with the ice glyph and save you… and now I've got four wings! I really became a High Angel… oh man, I'm a higher ranked angel than Mami!"
"Change and protection, huh? Well, you definitely had a big change back there, and protected me in the process!" Amity chuckled.
As they were falling, Amity had felt her death approaching, but when Luz had begun to glow, she'd watched as two new wings formed on Luz's back and she suddenly sped up and reached out to Amity just as she was feeling the hot steam of the Boiling Sea on her back. Amity was pulled into Luz's arms before either could hit the water, then Luz's left arm had glowed and the icy barrier had formed around them, keeping the Boiling Sea from touching them as they sank below its waves.
Grom-Odalia snarled up at them, reminding everyone that it wasn't over yet, though both Luz and Amity glowered at it for ruining their moment. Luz descended to the ground and put a mildly reluctant Amity back on her feet, then turned to face the Fear-Bringer.
"Time to finally put an end to this thing!" Luz declared, watching as Grom once again locked onto her and took the from of Camila again. It opened its mouth to spew more vitriol at her, but Luz pointed her left hand towards Grom in the shape of a finger gun, and the light and ice glyphs appeared overlapping each other at the tip of her finger. A thin ray of light shot from the light glyph and turned blue as it passed through the ice glyph, then hit Grom-Camila in the mouth, freezing it shut.
Luz then turned to Amity; "Let's do this together."
"Really?" Amity asked, a mix of hope and worry in her voice; "If I help you, won't it just make Grom stronger by giving it two people's worth of fear at once?"
"How could I be afraid with you at my side?" Luz asked sweetly, lifting Amity's hand to her lips. "May I have this dance, my Champion?" she asked, pressing a kiss to the back of Amity's fingers.
Amity blushed and nodded with a warm, loving smile; "It would be my pleasure, my Hero."
The two came together, Luz putting a hand on Amity's shoulder while Amity put one on Luz's hip as they joined their other hands together and began to dance.
Grom snarled as it morphed around the ice Luz had struck it with; "DON'T INTERFERE!"
It took on the shape of a giant and monstrous Frankenstein's Monster-like amalgamation of Camila and Odalia, with both women's head on its shoulders, oracle spirit-like bandages all over it, torn and mangled looking angel wings, and Grom goo pulsing out from the stitches holding the parts of the two different women together. It was disgusting and definitely terrifying, but Luz and Amity took courage from one another and danced forward together.
Amity spun Luz, allowing the angel girl to make a spell circle with her feet on the ground, creating a pillar of ice that raised them high into the air, causing the charging Grom to crash head first into the pillar. It cracked and began to tumble, but Luz took the lead and used her wings to have them both dancing gracefully through the sky and to the ground behind Grom, whom they momentarily ignored in favour of the Grom goo cage that held Ghost.
Luz dipped Amity, and the witch girl drew a spell circle with both hands, creating abomination goo below the cage, which formed into abomination hands that gripped the cage's bars, ripping them apart and allowing the Palisman to escape. Ghost jumped onto Amity's shoulder as Luz pulled her out of the dip and brought their bodies together again. Ghost then showed her gratitude to Luz for saving her partner by rubbing against her face, before hopping off and running over to join the rest of the audience, clearly deciding that a staff would just get in the way of Luz and Amity's dance.
Grom screeched and the fake Odalia head vomited up a Grom goo oracle spirit at the girls. Luz responded by twirling Amity out towards it, as Amity used the rotation of her body to draw a spell circle around her, which formed into her pseudo-light spell and blasted the fake spirit to smithereens, while also shooting through it to the source, blasting the fake Odalia head off of Grom's shoulders. Grom then tried to use its fake Camila parts to cast a blast of magic towards them, and the two girls responded by repeating their last step, only with Amity twirling Luz instead. Luz didn't draw a spell circle, and instead raising her the back of her left hand towards the incoming blast, channelling magic into the ice glyph and causing a shield of sapphire blue ice hexagons to appear hovering over the back of Luz's left arm. Without the light shining through them and obscuring the design, everyone could now see that each hexagon had an identical snowflake design in the centre.
Grom's blast smashed harmlessly against the barrier, then Luz whispered into Amity's ear, making the lavender haired girl giggle before doing as Luz asked. She created some abomination slime from her finger and painted a plant glyph with it on the back of Luz's shield. The two girls then put their hands on it together, activating it and causing a massive burst of vines to send the shield rocketing forward Grom. Luz used her left hand to draw a spell circle, and the hexagons that made up the shield each transformed into an icicle mid-flight, causing Grom to be smacked by dozens of razor sharp spikes of ice, each with a vine now frozen into the end. The spikes pierced Grom's body, and the attached vines used the spikes like needles to sew themselves throughout Grom, then root it to the ground.
With the monster now unable to move, Amity whispered her own idea into Luz's ear, and the angel girl smiled brightly.
"We're going to end this nightmare together!" Luz declared, as she prepared to assist with Amity's plan.
Amity used abomination slime to form a giant longbow that both girls had to hold with one hand, while using their other hands to pull back the bowstring.
"You shouldn't have underestimated us, Grom!" Amity declared, using more slime to make a long arrow, complete with arrowhead and fletching.
"For we are the Good Witch Amity!" Luz continued, channelling her magic through the bow and arrow.
"And the High Angel Luz!" Amity smiled, watching as Luz created an ice glyph in front of the arrow.
"Champions of Hexside!" A plant glyph appeared in front of the ice glyph.
"Heroes of the Bat Queen's Forest!" a light glyph appeared to join the other two.
"And Warriors of Peace!" they declared together. "NOW EAT THIS SUCKA!"
Luz and Amity released the arrow, and it shot forward with incredible speed. It flew through the ice, plant, and light glyphs one after the other, being imbued with their magic, then slammed into the very heart of the trapped Grom.
The arrow sank into Grom's chest, and the magic inside it began bursting out in streams of light, ice, and plant life. Grom roared and thrashed around, losing its shape and becoming a black amorphous blob once again. Then, bit by bit, the light overcame it and the black goo turned pure white, with veins of green and blue flowing through it. Finally, Grom let out one final roar, before slowly exhaling in what sounded almost like a sigh of relief. The creature then went silent, and its body twisted and grew, until it transformed into a massive tree. The tree was unlike any other in the Human or Demon Realms, and resembled a giant cherry blossom tree with unique pink starburst shaped flowers that appeared to be made of crystal, making each one look like a finely crafted little jewel.
"It's beautiful…" Amity gasped, looking up at the flowers and watching the petals slowly dancing in the wind.
"Yeah, the most beautiful sight in the world…" Luz agreed, her eyes on Amity and not the tree.
Suddenly, a tiara appeared on each girl's head, consisting of a golden band with a pink crystal flower similar in appearance to the ones on the tree. Once these flowers appeared, their friends cheered, as did Principal Bump and every student from Hexside that had been attending Grom, all of whom emerged from the trees. They had arrived while Luz and Amity were still beneath the Boiling Sea, and had hidden to avoid distracting them from the fight, but now they were cheering uproariously, and both Jerbo and Barcus ran to join Viney and the rest of their friends, making sure everyone was okay.
"And there you have it folks!" King declared, borrowing Gus's mic, "Give it up for your Grom Queens, Luz and Amity!"
Luz and Amity blushed as the cheering intensified, and they both gave a bow to the audience. As their friends cheered for their victory, the tree that they'd turned Grom into suddenly began to shine. The pink crystal flowers glowed softly, and light could be seen going from them and into the tree's branches, before combining together in the tree's trunk. That light then emerged from the trunk, revealing itself to be a transparent, softly glowing spirit. The spirit belonged to a demon with pitch-black skin and a face resembling a bulldog, with horns in place of ears. The demon spirit was also wearing robes that looked very similar to Principal Bump's, only with a red stole around their shoulders instead of blue.
"Who is that?" Gus wondered.
Principal Bump gasped; "That's… Principal Grometheus!"
"So that's Grom's true form, huh? Luz's angelic magic must have purified whatever he did to himself." Eda mused.
The Spirit of Grometheus looked around blearily, then sighed with deep relief; "It's over… my long nightmare is over…" he looked to Luz and Amity; "Thank you. I spent so long trying to find a champion that could finally destroy me, but I only ever managed to be re-sealed."
"Well you're free now. You can finally move on." Luz smiled gently.
"You are kind, young one. I am sorry for the pain I caused you… I was not myself." Grometheus apologised, bowing his head.
"I understand. It wasn't your fault; you turned yourself into that thing to protect something you cared about. I can't be mad at you for that." Luz said honestly.
Grometheus chuckled; "You are too kind. In my time, angels were feared as crusaders who would slaughter us if they ever returned to the Demon Realm. But clearly, there are those among you who are different. I am proud to have met you, Luz the High Angel, and you as well, Good Witch Amity. Now please, send me on my way; I have lingered long enough in this world."
Luz nodded and created a light glyph in her right hand, then gently placed it over Grometheus' chest. Focusing on her angelic magic, Luz willed her light to fill every bit of the spirit's form, then dispersed it. Grometheus' spirit transformed into millions of little balls of light and began to flutter away into the sky, leaving behind only a whispered "Thank you." before vanishing completely.
"Goodbye Grometheus. You and Fibul Academy won't be forgotten." Luz said, feeling a mix of melancholy and relief as she watched the last wisps of the old principal's spirit fade away.
Principal Bump led the students in a moment of silence for Grometheus, then smiled as he approached Luz and Amity.
"You girls have finally brought an end to the nightmare of Grom. You have my thanks!" he said, putting a hand on their shoulders. "So much so that I won't even get upset about the window you broke, Luz." he whispered with a wink.
Luz chuckled nervously, but she and Amity smiled happily as well. Principal Bump then turned back to the rest of his students; "In celebration of the final defeat of Grom, I declare that today will be celebrated in Hexside as a holiday, and a new school dance will be held each year on this day! After all, just because we no longer have Grom, doesn't mean we can't still have Grom, if you catch my meaning!"
The students cheered happily, and Principal Bump let them have their moment of happiness before deciding to address the elephant in the room. "Now, since I have you all gathered here, I have one more important matter to discuss. Obviously, thanks to Grom's nightmarish abilities, we now know that one of your fellow students is not Half-Human and Half-Witch, but rather Half-Angel."
Luz gulped nervously as the students went silent, though she took comfort from Amity holding her hand tightly and giving her a reassuring smile.
"To be completely transparent, I was aware of Luz's true nature on her first trial day at Hexside, and knowingly allowed her to enrol as an angel student. Hexside has no discriminatory policies against different species attending, including humans, angels, and various mixed species. All that being said, I would like to point out that Hexside does have a strict policy against discrimination itself. Any student caught giving Luz any kind of abuse over her angelic nature will find themselves facing disciplinary action." Bump said sternly, making sure everyone understood that bullying Luz for being an angel would lead to bad places for them. "In addition, Luz does not want her true nature to be spread across the Isles, as you no doubt guessed from her fears. As such, I am asking each and everyone of you to keep this a secret. Please respect Luz's privacy by not telling anyone about her secret, or discussing it around those who do not know. If you have questions, then I'm sure Luz wouldn't mind answering them, so long as they are asked in a polite manner."
Luz nodded, showing she was more than willing to help inform people about the truth of angels; it felt like fair repayment for all of them teaching her so much about what witches and demons were really like.
The rest of the Grom attendees exchanged looks, then largely nodded and agreed. A lot of them knew Luz from their classes and knew she was friendly, so they had no real wish to upset her. Those that were neutral or less accepting of her still found themselves wanting to keep their mouths shut; angering the girl who just took out Grom was a dangerous prospect, and that wasn't even including what the Owl Lady, the Blight Siblings, and the rest of Luz's friends would do if they started spreading Luz's secrets. The students all came to the conclusion that keeping Luz's secret within the school was the safest bet for everyone.
Bump saw the acceptance on their faces, and smiled. He then drew a series of spell circles, and from each one rose up some of the Grom decorations left at the gym. "Since it's a nice night and the defeat of Grom has left us with quite the centrepiece…" he gestured to the crystal blossom tree, "… I think it would be a nice idea to continue the party right here!"
That was met with cheers, especially when the band of enchanted instruments, food tables, and dance floor itself was summoned into the clearing. The plant track teacher, Professor Phil, helped make room on the cliff side by animating the trees and making them move away, while Professor Freed (the mouse-like demon that taught the construction track) made sure there would be no danger of students falling off by using magic to build a quick safety rail around the edges. Once all that was done, the actual dancing part of Grom was able to start again, and the students quickly got back to partying and enjoying their evening.
Luz and Amity found themselves surrounded by their friends, and Luz especially looked nervous as Skara and the Multi-Trackers approached.
"So… you're an angel, huh?" Skara said, "I guess that old wives tale about angels being great singers is true after all!"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you…" Luz began, only for Skara to shake her head.
"I get it; it's a big secret. I'm not mad, just kinda frustrated? I feel like I could have done more to prepare you for Grom if I'd known!" Skara said, "But you won in the end anyway, so no big deal. And for the record, you being an angel changes nothing for me; you're still just Luz to me."
"I'm glad." Luz beamed, feeling a little more at ease.
"It's the same for us." Viney smiled, "We're surprised, and I've got to admit I'm super curious about your biology, but I'm not going to start treating you weird over it."
"Yeah. You being an angel is no different to us than Barcus being a demon. You're still one of us Magic Mixers!" Jerbo grinned, patting Luz on the back.
Barcus woofed, and Rasiel translated; "He says you've got nothing to worry about from him either. He suspected you weren't the average witchling, but kept it to himself to avoid being rude."
Luz smiled and hugged the three of them, and Skara too; "Thanks guys. I'm glad to know you accept me for who I am."
"You did the same for us." Skara grinned. She then looked at Rasiel; "But I still have questions, especially about this guy! He popped out of that ring, and I'm pretty sure he's the same guy who talked to me back when we were fighting the Basilisk."
Luz chuckled tiredly; "Yeah, that's Rasiel. He's kind of a long story…"
"A long story I can tell you all." Eda chimed in, "I think Luz and Amity are tuckered out, and could use some alone time to cool off. In the mean time, you can direct your questions to me! I'm something of an angel expert after living with Luz for so long!"
"Me too!" King declared, "I am an expert on demons AND angels! I am the King of Knowledge!"
Rasiel chuckled, "And I am the actual angel expert here, so I'll help correct them."
Luz's friends all laughed, especially as King gave Rasiel an offended glare. As the little demon and the ancient angel led the group away, Eda whispered to Luz; "We can talk later, but I want you to know I'm proud of you, Luz." she said softly, "Now go get your girl!"
Eda then nudged Luz and Amity towards the Crystal Blossom Tree, before heading off to join King and Rasiel. Now alone on the edge of the party, Amity gently tugged Luz by the hand and took her behind the tree, so they could sit against the trunk and look out across the sea. They both felt physically and emotionally exhausted after the battle with Grom, and both knew they still had to discuss their feelings, which had been outed in a rather spectacular fashion during the fight…
"So…" Amity began, unsure of how to really continue.
"Yeah…" Luz agreed.
They went silent for a moment, both blushing faintly. "Why was this so much easier when we were fighting Grom?" Amity muttered.
"I-I could try and dig up another thought-to-be extinct monster for us to fight? Maybe then we'll both be able to spit it out?" Luz joked.
Amity giggled, brushing her thumb over Luz's knuckles as they were still holding hands. She took a deep breath to collect herself, then said; "I guess this is kind of old news now, but… I have a big crush on you, Luz."
"W-When did it start?" Luz asked shakily.
"The day I found out you were an angel. I already found you interesting, but then I saw you suddenly darting through the air and being amazing… I started finding you really attractive. Then when I saw you helping the Palismen in the Bat Queen's forest, it hit me that I didn't just find you attractive… I realised I was falling for you." Amity confessed, working so hard to keep herself as composed as possible. "What about you? When did you start l-liking me?"
Luz's heart beat rapidly in her chest; "I-I pretty much thought you were super pretty and talented right from the start. Then when we were exploring the Fibul Ruins, I realised we had stuff in common and you weren't the bully I thought you were. Then I saw more of your soft side at the library, and saw you stand up to Lilith to protect the Palismen… it was a lot of little things. But I think the big "I'm falling for Amity" moment was when you saved me from the Ice Wyrm. Y-You called me your Luz, and it suddenly hit me how much I liked that idea."
Amity felt her stomach squirming; "O-Oh… But if you liked me, why were you so willing to be my wing-woman and set me up with someone else?"
"I… I was scared. I didn't think I was good enough for you and didn't even know if I could love you the way I should." Luz confessed. "Things like that are really different for angels, so I was confused."
Amity frowned; "I don't understand. From what you've said so far, it doesn't sound different than it is for witches and demons."
Luz frowned and looked out across the water for a long moment, trying to find the words she wanted to say. Finally she said; "Do you remember when I told you about the Crest Orders? Specifically Crest Chastity?"
Amity blinked, thrown off by the odd question. "I remember." she nodded, "They're the teachers, and in charge of helping look after kids, right?"
Luz nodded; "That's right. But there's more to them… a part I didn't tell you. They're also the matchmakers."
"Matchmakers?" Amity frowned.
"Yes. You see, I wasn't sure if my feelings for you were love, and if I could love you like I should, because in angel culture, love isn't a really a factor." Luz explained, making Amity gasp.
"Love isn't felt by angels!?"
"No, we feel it. It's just not a part of our culture. Mami told me that Crest Chastity monitors our population and the sizes of the Crest Orders, then matches angels up so they have a child that can help fill demands. If we need more people in Crest Temperance for example, they'll match together two angels who they believe can produce a child that will suit Crest Temperance. The chosen angels then come together, undergo a ceremony in which one of them becomes pregnant, then the father returns to their duties while the mother carries the baby to term. Once the baby is born, Crest Chastity raises them for their future role and the mother goes back to their own Crest Order and continues their life."
Amity looked utterly horrified; "You're basically forced to b-breed with whoever Crest Chastity chooses, then they take the baby away!?"
Luz nodded miserably; "We're technically allowed to refuse, but its apparently frowned upon socially. Cherubs are raised solely by Crest Chastity to serve the role they were born into, so we aren't raised by our parents. When I told you before that Angels don't "do" families, I meant it. We almost never know our parents, or siblings, or children, or anyone related to us by blood. Only Crest Chastity keeps those records, and just so they make sure we they don't match two angels who are too closely related. I'm an oddity because I was raised by my own Mami."
"That's absolutely horrifying!" Amity cried, feeling like she was going to be sick. "No love, no real family, born to fulfil a role and for nothing else… how can angels live like that!?"
"Thousands of years of tradition, I guess." Luz shrugged; "That's why Mami left the Divine Realm; she wanted to fall in love and have a real family, so when she completed her maturity and turned 18, she appealed to become a Missionary Angel and go to the Human Realm. Once she arrived, she basically went AWOL and decided to live as a human, finding love and eventually having me."
The young angel looked up wistfully; "All that is why I was scared that I wouldn't love you the way I should. I've only got my Mami's example and a bunch of human romance novels and soap operas to go off of… Not to mention that since angels only breed for reproduction, same-sex couples aren't a thing there either, and humans aren't as open about that as witches and demons. I've got all these feelings and I don't know if they're right or wrong…" Luz looked Amity in the eye, "All I know is that I've never felt this way about anyone else before."
Amity reached up and cupped Luz's cheek, and the other girl held her hand tightly, leaning into her touch. "Luz… I don't think there's any right or wrong way to love someone. Love isn't neat and tidy and uniform; it's wild and chaotic, and different for everyone. For example…"
She began to blush even brighter; "… the way I feel about you… it's like you fill me up with light whenever I'm with you. Every time we talk, I feel the urge to hug you or kiss you or just hold your hand. Touching you in even the most innocent ways makes me feel like I've got my hands on this irreplaceable treasure. When you're around, it's hard to focus on anything else… it's like you're the sun, and I can't get out of your orbit. And I wouldn't have it any other way."
Luz turned tomato red, doing a shockingly good impression of her crush; "Y-You really like me that much?"
"Yes, Luz. You've changed my life. I can't overstate how important you are to me." Amity said, leaning forward and gently kissing Luz's cheek.
Luz shuddered as a feeling like electricity coursed through her. She absorbed everything Amity had said, and focused on it; the girl she had come to love had spoken of her deepest feelings, so Luz would do the same.
"To me… you feel like fire. This beautiful, amazing, powerful force of nature. I feel warm around you, and my blood heats up at just the thought of you… but it's also scary. Like I'm going to get burned because I'm not good enough to be in your presence. The fact you're my friend and return my feelings? That feels like a star noticing a bug! You said I was like a sun, but you're like a supernova! But everything about the way I feel about you scares me!" Luz confessed, holding Amity's hand a little tighter. "I'm afraid of winning your heart, and I'm afraid of losing you too."
"You're not going to lose me, Luz. So long as you want me, I'll be there." Amity breathed, her heart hammering as she took in the raw emotion on Luz's face and in her voice.
"You don't understand. Witches only live for around 100 years on average. Maybe longer if they can use magic to extend their life spans… but even the lowest of angels will live for up to 1000 years, and now that I'm a High Angel, my life expectancy just tripled! I… the way I feel about you… I don't think even 1000 years is enough for me, but I'd only get to be with you for 100! The idea of having you by my side for that long, then losing you… It terrifies me. It scares me more than anything Grom could throw at me! That's why… that's why I couldn't bring myself to just suck it up and ask you out like you deserved. I was scared… scared of not being worthy of you, of not being able to love you like you deserve, and scared of losing you on top of it all."
Amity silenced Luz's worries with a finger on the angel's lips. She then smiled beautifully.
"I understand. I felt the same; how could a witch like me be worthy of an angel? How can I treat you the way you deserve when I spent so long as a rotten bully, moulded by my mother? How can I make sure I get to be with you still when you go back to the Human Realm? I was scared too… but if fighting Grom taught me one thing, it's that we've got nothing to fear if we're together."
Luz's lip quivered, and she sniffed hard before wiping away the tears that threatened to spill over. She then looked Amity in the eyes and said; "Amity, I don't know what my future holds, but I do know that I want you to be a part of it. I'd rather have you by my side for a single moment than spend the rest of my life regretting that I was too afraid to tell you how I feel… so…"
Luz took a deep breath; "W-Will you be my g-girlfriend?"
Despite expecting the question, Amity still squeaked and turned into a tomato. She felt like she was about to melt even as she nodded and smiled brilliantly; "Yes!"
"G-Great! But now I've got to pay you back!" Luz declared.
Amity looked confused; "Pay me back? For what?"
"First, for Skara's party…" Luz leaned forward and kissed Amity's left cheek, making the lavender-haired girl squeak with surprise and delight. "… second, for this afternoon…" Luz kissed Amity's right cheek. "… third, for just a moment ago…" she reached up and kissed Amity's forehead, making the girl feel weak.
"… a-and fourth…" Luz leaned in close to Amity, her voice quivering with nerves, "…for everything else."
Luz closed the distance, softly kissing Amity's lips. It was gentle, sweet, and fairly chaste, being the first real kiss for both girls, but it sent fireworks soaring through their hearts and minds, and for a few intimate seconds, nothing else in the world existed for them. It was just them, beneath the crystal blossom tree, facing the ocean, listening to the slow-dance music being played at the party behind them, and gently pressing their lips together.
When the two finally pulled away, both had scarlet cheeks, shining eyes, and a mildly stunned, lovestruck expression.
"Oh, crikey!" Luz gasped, before flushing as she realised what she'd just said. "I can't believe I just said that! Come on Luz, be cool next time!"
Amity giggled and gently cupped Luz's face again; "Oh no, I'm the cool one. You're the cute one." she flirted.
"O-Oh yeah?" Luz blushed.
"Yeah. Now I think it's time for some payback of my own! I only kissed you three times, and you kissed me back four… I need to even that out."
Amity then gently pulled Luz into another kiss, just as sweet as the first. When they pulled away, wearing the same expressions as they had after their first kiss, Amity smirked.
"Crikey." she said.
Luz snorted and rolled her eyes, and before long the night air was filled with the sound of two girls giggling together.
Luz and Amity would eventually leave their little spot behind the tree and rejoin the party, and they would spend the rest of Grom dancing in each other's arms, but in that blissful moment, they just sat and held one another, giggling and laughing away all the fear and apprehension that had built up inside them.
Neither Luz nor Amity knew what was waiting for them in the future, but whatever it was, they would face it together.