Amity smiled to herself as she looked down at her familiar. The teacher she had for Advanced Abominations had lost it when she told him that she hadn’t dismissed the small monsters for four days now. Even when she sleep, she left enough energy for it to continue going which had mostly so far led to Amity waking up from it falling from her dresser to her bed, finding it under the bed it was maybe trying to clean dust, or was eating the particles, she really wasn’t sure, and once having been caught by Edric and Emira. They didn’t plan to do that again after she had rapid fire summoned five abominations since they wouldn’t give it immediately back to her. She did need to get a case for it though. It wasn’t always going to be able to ride on her shoulder. Amity was thinking something glass though so it didn’t need to be left in the dark while she was gone.

However, since her familiar made her teacher decide that she didn’t need to continue practicing making micro abominations that could properly lift items, throw a real punch, etc. she was allowed to work with her tiny monster. This had mostly devolved into Amity giving it a dry eraser to use a tower shield as she sent small zaps at it. It did seem to be trying to get to her pencil case in the process of protecting herself, which was a good touch of autonomy from it. Or bad depending on your opinions on abomination uprisings. Amity preferred the idea that she didn’t have to constantly be focused on her creations just to get them to be useful over the alternative though.

It took about half of the class for the abomination to cross from one side of the desk to the other due to being weighed down by the eraser and trying to dodge her bolts. Amity actually hoped her teacher didn’t notice the fact since if he did she would have to go back to summoning a legion of abominations that were the size of her hand. After all, her familiar should have been able to hold the eraser aloft with ease and move at least a little faster. That was how something this small could be considered an advanced abomination. After the fifth neck hug though, and just as many attempts to explain to it that that was called choking her, she had grown a little attached.

Finally, it reached into the pencil case and grabbed a short, white crayon she kept in there. It was close to being no more than a useless stub with how much of Azura fanart she’d been doing recently, and how Luz would stop not immediately recognizing what it was if she stopped using white paper, but that was perfect for her familiar. Not that it didn’t take it a little bit before it finally held the crayon aloft and growled, “Protect,” while looking at her.

Amity’s heart almost skipped a beat at the gesture, especially as it smiled her in that dumb, goofy way that only abominations could manage. She then turned bright red as she slammed her hands down on it to stop panicking. Her mind then flashed over to Luz and she couldn’t help but think to herself, ‘Please Titan, if you care about me, don’t make me fall for abominations too.’ Her brain then crashed as the thoughts about Luz and her familiar crossed and she remembered Luz saying, ‘Amomination’ from back when she had first ever seen the human.

“Amity Blight, you are to come with me.”

Amity’s head slowly turned to the voice and for once in her life she was happy to see Kikimora. The demon was glaring at her for some reason. Had she done something wrong? She then looked around her and was quickly reminded that she was in class still. Which meant her teacher had likely tried to get her attention first. And then she would have come in and called for her. But the emperor’s assistant was at her desk.

Honestly, she was just happy that the panic of pissing her off too much was quickly making it easy to push Luz out of her head. She then got up and performed a small curtsy to the demon. “My apologies, Miss Mora. I will happily follow you.” At least, so long as she didn’t get weird with her again. Luckily, Luz wasn’t around. Unluckily, that meant facing the demon alone. Wait, could this be about the Emperor’s Coven? No, anything like that would have other coven members coming or feature a summons to Belos’ castle. Would she be able to handle seeing him? Maybe if she had a little time to prepare.

“Ah, Miss Blight. A pleasure to finally meet you.”

Belos stood in the middle of the empty classroom she’d been led to, of which Kikimora locked the way in and out of. Amity didn’t blink as she stared at him. Didn’t even breathe. She wasn’t even sure her heart was beating as her brain performed a hard reset.

Belos waited for the girl to say anything before tapping on his staff to try and catch her attention. Eventually, he began to raise his staff to knock against the floor to wake her up but Kiki stopped him by holding up a hand. “Do not waste your energy, my lord. They tend to stop working from time to time. She’ll be back in a minute or two.”

To help with that process, Amity’s familiar, who had latched onto her wrist as she’d gone to follow Kikimora, now climbed awkwardly up her sleeve. It had a little bit of a better time as it got to the mini cloak at the top of the uniform until finally it got to its place on her shoulder. It then reached into her ear and rubbed the blossom that stayed there. That usually made its mom happy.

Instead, she seemed to just become less functional as her head fell to the side. At least she was blushing now so there had to be some thought there. The familiar looked over at Belos and Kikimora just as the emperor tilted his head at them. It took it as Belos losing patience with them while it was more intrigue at the fact that the abomination was doing anything while the girl’s brain was off. He saw now reason to spend much thought on it though. It was another abomination and trying to tickle her ear was about as smart as he expected from a creature without guidance.

And then it latched onto Amity’s neck. To the abomination, it was still a hug, even if it knew it woke up its mom for some reason. To Belos and Kiki, it was deeply concerning. After all, if Amity was suddenly summoning abominations that tried killing her, that was going to somewhat put a damper on their plans for her. Belos’ staff sparked slightly as he began figuring out how much energy it would take to vaporize the abomination without hurting Amity.

Fortunately for both the girl and her familiar, her brain finally got that kickstart it needed as she hacked from the pressure on her throat. However, she didn’t even need to spin a command circle before her abomination slipped off of her. She then looked up, remembered what was going on, and patted her familiar as she performed a much deeper curtsy for the emperor than she had for Kikimora. “I apologize, your eminence. I was simply unprepared for you to honor a lowly, young servant of yours as myself.”

Belos tapped his mask in a gesture of amusement. After all, her parents had served her quite diligently, especially as of late as he demanded more abominations from Odalia than ever before and pushed Alador to reach out to his contacts with a ferocity he had never demanded of the aging man. To say she was lowly was quite incorrect, but he appreciated the humility. “I come today to ask you a simple question about your future. One you might know if my assistant has been clear with my wishes before now.”

Amity’s brow furrowed for a moment as she straightened herself but kept her head bowed to him. “I don’t believe I do, sir.”

Belos glanced at Kikimora who only said, “I have only been honest with you sir, just as I was when I told you such an answer was likely to come.”

His assistant had indeed warned him of Amity’s feigned ignorance, though Kikimora had phrased it less kindly, but also less intentional, on the girl’s part. It didn’t matter though. She would answer his question, if not out of proper etiquette if nothing else. “Then let me make myself clear.”

“When will you start dating Luz Noceda?”

Amity’s brain almost shut off again until her familiar began smacking her cheek. She waved at it to get to stop as steam came out of one of her ears, the blossom stopping it from coming out of the other. That didn’t really help how much her brain was screaming though. “I-I’m sorry sir, but what?”

Belos nodded patiently while Kikimora’s eye twitched. It was reasonable for it to have caught the young girl off guard. He simply needed to center the young lady. “Calm. It may be a simple question but I understand if you need some time to think so breathe and focus. When will you be dating Luz Noce-”

“We’re just friends!” Amity then clasped her hands over her mouth as she realized who she just screamed at, let alone cut off. She immediately went into another deep curtsy as she panted out, “I-I’m sorry, your eminence. It’s simply a matter I, um, g-get asked about a lot.” That was a lie admittedly but there was no reason he should know that. It wasn’t like he was watching the two of them. “But I assure you that I hold no romantic feelings for her. It’s totally platonic.”

Belos simply stared at the girl before turning to Kikimora. He didn’t know how to respond. She was a loyal servant of his, her family was dedicated to his causes, and she had no reason to lie. He wasn’t telling her it was forbidden for her to do so. He then tapped the bottom of the mask as he realized he hadn’t exactly made it clear he would be okay with it. “Please, it’s fine if you desire the human.”

Why was this happening? What had she done to deserve this? Amity considered the possibility that it could be her siblings messing with her but she couldn’t check because if she was wrong, she’d have smacked the emperor. Well, that or punted Kikimora. She was going to just assume either would have her be petrified though. “I-I understand that sir, but I still do not.” She then looked at Belos’ staff and thought of the perfect way she could fix this. It did require some blasphemy though. “I might have a way to prove myself to you, sir. I understand if you’re not okay with it of course.”

Belos let out a small hum. It was both of aggravation from Kikimora being correct about ‘deep in the closet’ the girl was but also intrigue. The youngest Blight was known for her intelligence after all. He only hoped Kiki’s glare was unwarranted. “And you will answer my question if you are exposed to like her?”

Amity didn’t even blush as she nodded. After all, this required the greatest entity on the Isles to have taken notice of someone as unimportant as her. Even better for her chances was the fact that Luz didn’t have magic inherently so shouldn’t have a proper connection to the primordial being. “You see, your eminence, as the Titan is all knowing and you can speak with them, we can merely ask him.”

Kikimora narrowed her eyes before she hissed. “You dare ask for Lord Belos to waste his powers on your insecurities?”

Amity made sure to keep herself calm as she looked to the demon. Admittedly, it was much easier to do so while talking to the annoying assistant. “Hadn’t you tried such a test last time we had met? I merely wish to make sure that this time it is truly him that judges our words.”

Kikimora shrank back at the reminder of her slip up last time. Steve had been ‘loyal’ enough to inform her lord of how she had attempted to call the Titan’s powers. They’d had a long talk reminding her that any misuse of the Titan could cause problems for them, just him releasing the Owl Lady had. However, Belos didn’t seem to even consider that as he said, “You have their attention.”

Amity blinked a few times as she took in how serious Belos sounded. Like, couldn’t he be amused at all? Pretend that she might not be speaking to the Titan themselves. Oh Ti-, uh, no, what had she done? There was no going back though as she slipped her hands behind her and declared, “If I love Luz Noceda, may Titan strike me down!”

What had she just said? Belos was even shocked that she would make such a brave statement. Of course, he would need to enact the Titan’s will, but that also meant vaporizing the girl. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

“Ah!”

Belos was taken out of his thoughts as he heard Amity crash to the ground just as a red beam from his staff’s orb had crashed into the spot where the girl had been simply a moment ago. Amity then put her hand on the desk to bring her head up so she could at least attempt to give her emperor some level of eye contact. “W-What are you doing sir?”

Belos watched his staff as it gathered energy. He let go of it but it didn’t move. How interesting… “I do nothing. As I told you,” he said as the energy coalesced inside the orb, “you had his attention.”

Amity’s eyes widened before she ducked behind the desk she’d jumped to to dodge the first blast. This new wave of power shattered the wood and metal but didn’t quite get to Amity as smoke came off the edge of the remaining pieces. Amity panicked and sprinted to the next desk but the energy in the staff was growing. This next one, at best, would vaporize the desk. And now Belos hands were clasped behind him while the staff clearly hovered of its own volition.

Belos watched as the scared girl backed herself into a corner. That was a problem. It was out his hands, literally, at this point though. “He will forgive you if you only take back your statement and tell the truth. Admit to being in love with Luz No-”

“I am no-”

The staff fired. It was no blast though. It was a solid beam that burned through not only the wall that had been behind Amity, but also ran through the hallway where Boscha was standing. She stared at the sustained beam before casually summoning her scroll phone and placing herself between her phone and the beam as she rolled her eyes. Some dork lost control of their magic. It at least matches my hair, right?

It then ran through the illusion track’s classrooms where Gus was holding his Human Appreciation meeting. Just before it hit them, he held a bag up of small, white cylinders. “I have it in good faith to believe that humans would put these things into fires before eating it while it still burned.”

The other members ooh’d and ah’d at the idea of humans being that metal just before the beam missed Gus by a hair. He looked at the red energy before looking at his club mates and said, unphased, “Perfect! We can even use our next object, the poker,” he said as he lifted a cattle prod, “that I found in a powerful witch that hoards such artifact’s bedroom to test to test these squishy, sugar pillars.”

Unfortunately for Gus, when he pulled the ‘poker’ out of the beam, there was nothing left except for an exceptionally clean cut.

The next person for the beam to visit was Luz. For her, it was pointed directly at the human who was humming along as she walked along reading Azura’s newest book for book club next week. Unsuspecting, unprotected, and entirely unprepared.

Fortunately, the beam was. It turned on a dime and curved in a semi-circle around the oblivious girl before returning to its original trajectory. Luz merely reached up, tapped her headphones in confusion from the weird sound she heard, and then shrugged while she began singing to herself, “No no no no! Stick to the stuff you knoooow.”

Fortunately for Hexide’s student body, that was the last person the death laser threatened to murder. Unfortunately for the Isles, it still didn’t stop. Trees, businesses, hills, nothing even phased it. It was simply too strong. What it met, it cut through like a hot knife through butter. What the Isles needed now was a savior. Someone strong enough to meet it head on and not budge.

“Oooh, a fire flyer! My favor-”

BOOM!

Eda looked up as the lights turned off before yelling, “How many times do I need to tell you to stop eating those pyromaniac sky jocks?” She then shook her head before continuing to dig through her stuff. After all, she was going to have company over tonight and needed to find her poker.

That did leave one question though as the beam finally ended. Belos watched his staff finally stopped glowing with energy and returned to his hand. Kikimora looked up at him before saying in the most sarcastic tone she could, “Oh, what a tragedy. Just the worst. A young girl cut down in her prime before she could find love. A classic tale of woe. Just listen to me.” She then took a deep breath in before contently sighing.

Belos let out a long, slow breath as he turned to his assistant. She apparently needed to be reminded how little he enjoyed sarcasm. Then both of them turned as they heard part of the wall crumble.

Amity slammed briefly back into the ground as her hair fell back down around her face. She’d dropped to the ground at the last second and had fortunately only lost her ponytail. Oh, but that likely meant her favorite hair tie too. She then looked at her abomination as it raised the tie up and mouthed, “Thank you,” at it before trying to use another cut part of the wall to help her get up.

Belos then coughed to catch the girl’s attention before saying, “So, Miss Blight, is that proof enough for you?”

The panicked girl sucked in her lips for a moment before cupping a hand behind her ear and shouting, “What was that? I think that did something to my hearing? Guess I need to run to the nurse’s off-” before she took off through the hole, which had been her plan before the beam too. After all, it wasn’t rude to do this. She couldn’t speak with the emperor if she couldn’t hear him. Yep. She’d be fine.

As she leapt over the wall though, Kikimora raised a hand and commanded, “Steve, stop her!”

Steve had been staring at the hole while he read the newest Azura the Good Witch column piece. It was just getting good too but if he didn’t do anything he was going to be reprimanded. Again. Was that thirteen times this week? Fortunately, the girl jumped directly in front of him. The two locked eyes for a second and Amity paled.

Then a purple face let out a great, Isle shattering roar while holding up claws as sharp as a billion razors. Or, that was what Steve would claim in his report as he shrieked from Amity’s familiar letting out what barely amounted to a groan at the guard.

Kikimora followed the girl out of the hole in the wall before sighing. She then snapped and held her hand up. Steve sighed before giving his boss the paper. Looked like he was going to have to buy another paper too. He then straightened as Belos stepped through the hole and looked down the hall where Amity had run off. “She does realize I could have her thrown into the Conformatorium for such behavior, correct?”

Kikimora sighed as she accepted that this wasn’t the end. “Yes, but I doubt that’s on her mind now, my Lord. I had warned you though that these two were almost as annoying as the Owl Lady.”

Belos sighed as he let his shoulders slump, and later would let Steve get his paper back when the guard was smart enough to say he saw nothing of the sort, before saying, “They’re lucky they’re cute.”