(Shoutout to Randomaneer123 for helping me out with the fight along with the sprite and animation work!)
UL: Well everyone, the spells have been cast.
Mettaton: And the owl has swooped in... Who will prevail?
UL: My fellow viewers...IT'S TIME FOR DRAMA!
Mettaton: IT'S TIME FOR VIOLENCE!
UL: IT'S TIME FOR ACTION!
Mettaton: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...
Location: The Bonesborough Market
Time: Afternoon
__
In the bustling marketplace of Bonesbourough, many residents perused the streets for anything worth buying. Ranging from potions, weaponry, bizarre and exotic foods, you name it, it was probably being sold for a good price. Among the various stands set up on the streets, a certain tent contained various artifacts that seemed foreign to any resident of the Boiling Isles. These were items from the human world, items considered junk to humans but would be valuable artifacts to the residents in this fair realm.
The stand's owner, a slender woman with a long main of gray hair who wore a reddish-burgundy dress, was currently presenting an old, battered telephone resembling an orange cat to a cyclopean patron.
"You see this? This is a Spirit Communicator! With this very item, you can speak to the spirits of the undead itself!" Eda Clawthorne said, ominously waving her hand to make the phone seem more enticing to buy.
"Y-you mean I can talk to pet griffin again!?" The cyclopean replied, a bit of teary-eyed enthusiasm in his voice.
"That's right, for three snails, you could be speaking to your pet from beyond the grave!" The Owl Lady exclaimed while her customer rummaged through his pockets and quickly handed her a fistful of coins, some of which dropped onto the table. Eda happily smirked before giving him the cat phone, which was promptly snatched out of the witch's hands.
"I'M COMING MR. SNUGGLEBOTTOM!" He yelled aloud, running off in the other direction while Eda sighed with relief.
"Ah, nothing like the sweet satisfaction of oblivious consumers. Wouldn't ya agree, King?" Eda said, glancing over to the side to see her skull-headed dog companion attempting to pounce on a flying insect that weaved around him.
"Can't talk right now, hunting helpless prey!" King said, attempting another pounce on the insect with his paws.
"Heh, you do you then." Eda said with a chuckle. Though her alone time with her little companion didn't last long as she heard footsteps that stuck out among the others. They sounded heavy and with a sense of purpose. While others went about hustling and bustling this way and that, one she heard someone making their way towards her little shop.
Soon enough a man in a blue robe and a staff in his left hand came into Eda's view. He silently walked up to her shop front and began to look over her wares. His face was shrouded in darkness as he did, with only the faint glow of his eyes staring back at the witch every few seconds. He'd take a glance at her, and then after only a second, his gaze would return to the "quality" items she was offering. Despite his sketchy appearance that aroused a bit of suspicion from her, Eda greeted the man with a smile as she would with any customer before showing off her various items that could pique his interest. "Hello there, good sir! Are you looking for any collectibles from the human world? We got it all from a complex colorful artifact that enhances intelligence!" The Owl Lady presented a Rubix's cube before the cloaked man. "Or how about this toy of a hairy monster that once roamed the human world!" Eda displayed a stuffed animal that resembled a woolly mammoth with a red swirl on its side. "Or how about this horrid replant that keeps beasts away!" Eda said before pulling out a bottle of body spray, squeezing the mechanism resulting in a small torrent of potent spritz of pungent odor that human's considered to be cologne.
"Keep that thing away from me! It pollutes the air!" King exclaimed, covering his nose while his eyes squinted with disgust. However, her items didn't seem to interest the hooded man as he set his gaze back to Eda.
"Well... You buyin' anything or what?" Eda asked with a slight hint of annoyance. He simply remained silent, his brow furrowing slightly before he looked back down at her goods. He picked up a stick of deodorant and examined it, pointing it this way and that for a good bit, before finally speaking.
"Your business is... not up to the safety standards of most. Filled with false products and useless tat." He said matter-of-factly, dropping the hygienic product to the ground in an uncaring manner.
"Hey, that'll cost you five snails!" Eda growled in annoyance, but he ignored her.
"Or, I could create a rift back to the human world and get it for a dollar." He countered, leaning in a threatening manner, his face being further obscured in shadow as he did. "Unless I'm to assume you witches actually eat these archaic cleansing products, yes? And you actually believe that those out-of-date communication devices can contact the dead?"
He paused, giving a smirk. "Or maybe... you're just trying to make a quick coin?"
"Now you listen here, bud!" Eda said, slamming both her hands onto the table before leaning slightly to face the man who had the gall to make such bold statements right to her face.
"I'm just trying to run a business here and you come in here and start insulting me! Who do you think you are?!…" She snarled while the man kept his composure.
"I am the man that is about to turn you in to the Emperor's Coven, Owl Lady..." The man said before drawing out a wanted poster that displayed an illustration of both Eda and King. Upon gazing at the wanted poster, Eda sighed with exasperation.
"Oh goodie, Belos sent ANOTHER rando to 'apprehend' me. How desperate is he, that prim-and-perfect bonehead..." The witch cursed aloud.
"I can assure you that I have no true affiliation with Emperor Belos nor his coven. I'm only here because I intend to rid The Boiling Isles of a good for nothing charlatan such as you." The cloaked man said, craning his neck up to reveal a piercing glare.
"And who are you to talk?!" Growled Eda back. "What do you know about humans?"
"I talk as someone who doesn't take advantage of the oblivious." He smiled. "But as for humans... I'm willing to bet I know a lot more than you." He stated in an almost cryptic manner, the whites of his teeth sticking out against the shadows of his robe.
"Alright, buddy. I could care less what you know about humans, either you kick rocks and scram or things will get ugly for you..." Eda threatened, poking her index finger against the hooded bounty hunter's chest.
"Oh?" He said, raising a brow before gently setting Eda's hand aside. "And just what are you going to do?"
"You'll have to get through me!" A shrill voice cried out before the man felt something tap his shin. He stepped back and looked down to see King, looking up at him with a heated scowl.
"When you mess with The Owl Lady, you mess with the King of Demons!" The dog-like demon declared, raising a little fist into the air. Despite King's threats, the cloaked figure was unamused nor intimidated by the little demon.
"Call off your little rat, Witch." The man grumbled.
"Rat! RAT!? I'll have you know I'm the King of Demons you, you second-rate magician!" King growled, obviously enraged by the man's words.
"A Demon huh?" Said the wizard with a smile. "Do you know what I do to demons?"
King wasn't allowed to answer the rhetorical question before he felt a heavy leather boot impact his stomach. The little skull dog was launched backward, over one of Eda's tables, knocking over various trinkets and such before he finally slammed into a wall behind the witch. He was almost stuck to it for a second before he gave a groan and slid down it in an almost comedic manner. A moment later he reached the ground, landing in the dirt with a thud like a limp sack of potatoes.
"KING!" Eda's eyes widened with shock upon seeing her small companion being whacked against the wall before turning to the wizard with a furious glare.
"Allow me to introduce myself, Eda Clawthorne. I am the greatest magician to ever live, my name is Petton Everhail and I am here to arrest you for many crimes." The warlock announced before drawing forth his staff.
"I don't care what kind of fancy-schmancy title you have, all I know is that you just made things personal!" Eda retorted before extending her arm out, a wooden staff with an owl affixed to it flying right into her grasp. She twirled said cane in a circular motion, an orange ring forming in the air before Petton was sent flying by an explosive blast of fire.
The wizard flew backwards several feet but quickly tried to orientate himself so that he landed on his feet. He even slammed his staff into the ground and crouched, putting as much effort as he could to keep himself from falling. However, the resulting spin had knocked Petton's hood off, freeing his face and letting Eda see the visage of a bearded human with brown hair. He looked up at the witch and gave a smile.
"Wait... you're-"
"Human? What, are they common around here?" The warlock said with a chuckle while Eda merely shook off the surprise of this revelation as she slid over her table and sticking the landing, standing just a few feet away from her adversary.
"Human or not, I'm still gonna wipe the floor with you!" Eda said, her grip tightening around the shaft of her wooden scepter. Petton chuckled while his hand began to glow bright orange. Surrounding pedestrians and shop-keeps alike vacated the area so that the two magicians could have their showdown.
Petton let out two words that would ultimately mark the start of the fight.
"Try me..."
Immediately Eda summoned a blast of fire, sending it towards the robed wizard, who quickly sidestepped the attack, letting it slam into a vendor behind him, causing the shop to explode. Petton quickly responded with a burst of fireballs, launching several of them towards the witch, who quickly spun her staff. She twirled it in an almost expert manner, knocking the oncoming fireballs away, sending them slamming into the ground, where they exploded, kicking up small clouds of dirt. The clouds of dirt slightly impaired Everhail's vision but no too much as he was able to see not one, not two, but an entire ensemble of fireballs hurling towards him. All of which were launched from a glowing orange ring that Eda created out of thin air. Acting fast, Petton countered each projectile with a fireball of his own.
This resulted in a blazing firework show that sent speckles of flames flying in each direction. Some of them even landing onto nearby tents, catching on fire within seconds while the vendors fled their shops, screaming with terror. Despite the chaos, Everhail and Clawthorne both glared at each other before the former of the two made a dead sprint towards her. "You're freedom is forfeit, submit!" Everhail boomed before extending his hand out, preparing to send another projectile from the palm of his hands. On the far end, Eda mustered a snarky chuckle before twirling her staff and whacking Petton right beneath his wrist, causing the blazing orb to fly off into the sky. "Yeah, no thanks." Eda said before tapping the ground with the blunt end of her staff, which generated sparks of yellow light. Soon, a thin, disk-like construction made from light came into existence and with a flick of her wrist, sent the disk-like object to slam right into the warlock's abdomen. Petton forced out a pained grunt while the disk was firmly pushed against his stomach, sending itself and the wizard several feet back. Petton growled, and pressed back against the construct, with both his free hand and his staff. The wizard continued, putting all of his strength into trying to toss the disk away. He skidded back several feet with his boots firmly planted on the ground, creating mounds of dirt behind his heels as he was forced further backwards. However, after another grunt of exertion, Petton tossed the construct to his side, letting it fly off behind him to no doubt hit another shop. "Alright, are ya done yet? We've barely started and the only thing you've helped me do is narrow down my competitors." Eda snarked. "I've not even begun yet," Everhail responded, moving his freehand forwards to unleash a barrage of fireballs at the witch, who just smirked. "Oh, this again?" She chuckled, creating another circle. Another fiery show took place in the streets but this time around, rather than standing in one place, Petton started to advance forward while continuously launching a cannonade of fire into Eda's direction. The Witch stood her ground up until she realized that Everhail was approaching her at a closer rate, to which she replied by jabbing her staff outwards. This cued a blast of flames to be spewed into the magician's direction, swung to the side while the flames barely licked the cloth of his robe. Extending a palm out, Petton was able to make his mark with just a few blasts that were strong enough to knock Eda to the cobblestone ground. "There we are." Everhail said to himself, his hand still emanating a fiery glow as he glared into Eda's eyes, both sharing a clear distaste towards one another. "Last chance, turn yourself in to the Emperor's Coven or I will incinerate you myself." The wizard threatened. "I got a better idea for ya, bite me!" Eda retorted, getting a grunt out of Petton. "Then burn..." Everhail said coldly, launching a blast of flames that could incinerate any poor sap. Unfortunately, Eda Clawthorne wasn't any poor sap. With a quick twirl of her staff, she created an orange barrier that covered the front portion of her body while the fire dispersed against the gleaming exterior. The wizard's eyes widened with surprise before suddenly, Eda launched herself forward and slammed the curved forcefield right into him, his cheek awkwardly pressed against the glass-like surface.
PWANG!
He stumbled back a few steps with a new bruise on his cheek, growling in minor pain as he did. He quickly aimed out his hand and unloaded several fireballs right up against the magical barrier at point-blank range, but no cracks started to form, leaving the magician grunting in annoyance as he came up with a new idea. He charged up a fireball and then launched it at Eda's forcefield, causing a larger explosion to consume it. Said explosion obviously kicked up dust, smoke, and other bits of debris. Compared to his previous blasts of magick, a bit more smoke clouded the area this time, and the wizard squinted through the dust, trying to locate Eda. However, he suddenly felt a rush of pain against the back of his head, and he stumbled forwards, giving a shout of annoyance as he did. He even grabbed at the back of his head, checking for blood as he turned around. He found Eda, smirking devilishly as always.
"Hey, how did you get-!" He was interrupted by the witch shouting suddenly as she launched herself forwards. "Magic!" Eda answered loudly, before slamming her staff upside Petton's head once more, and then giving him a hard kick to the gut, making him stumble back. He growled in annoyance, before countering her hit by jabbing the bottom of his staff at the witch, making sure to keep the crystal ball on top safe as he did. Eda backed up, avoiding the hit, however, Petton continued the assault with another quick Magick Missile. This time, it was a direct hit as the blast of fire knocked Eda back with tremendous force. Pressing her heels into the ground and holding up her arms an 'X' formation, Eda was able to endure the brunt of the projectile. Although, this did lead to her body being covered in scuff marks while smoke resonated off of her body.
However, she would come back to her senses when a second Magick Missile was hurled in her direction. Acting fast, Eda drew a circle into the air in front of her as the fiery blast disappeared into it. "Wait, what-" Everhail's question would be promptly answered as The Owl Lady drew a second circle which ejected the warlock's blast of fire. Reflecting it right back at him!
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
The blast of fire sent him skidding backwards against the stone grounds. Once the flames died out, the wizard's cloak was now visibly singed and slightly charred. He growled, firing off a second magical blast. The two magical blasts connected, resulting in a small explosion that was almost like that of a firework. It even showered a bit of the ruined marketplace in sparks. "Ooh, that was cool! Do it again!" King shouted from the sidelines, now wearing a pair of sunglasses with a bucket of popcorn in his hands. Both Eda and Petton glared at the small demon, making him shut his trap immediately, He quickly backed away, taking cover behind a flipped-over table, though he did peak over it and munch loudly on his snack as the two magic wielders refocused their attention on each other. Returning to the fight, Everhail made a beeline towards his female opponent while simultaneously launching an endless stream of fireballs from his hands. On the other hand, Eda directed her staff to the ground before blasting it with a light blue beam, resulting in a puddle of ice forming along the cobblestone ground. However, Petton knew better than to not slip on the ice as he launched his fireballs into the puddle.
Just from the heat alone, the ice melted and boiled into nothingness as the warlock made his way down the frozen market streets, melting himself a path to his opponent. Everhail gave Eda's attempt at impeding him a scoff before he craned his neck up to face her.
"Did you really think something like this could stop me-AUGH!" Petton's taunt didn't have a chance to fully transpire as he was splashed by a sudden blast of water. One that knocked him to the slightly damp ground while his face and part of his robe were now dripping with water.
"Sorry, you looked like you were gettin' heated so I gave you a drink!" The Owl Lady chuckled with a bit of a snort. Everhail responded to this by furrowing his brow and firing off a stream of fireballs at the witch, who of course went back to knocking them away. He laid down the fire as he got to his feet, propping himself up with his cane while the witch was distracted by his stream of magical attacks.
"Do you take anything seriously?" He growled, laying down even more firepower at the witch. "This is a matter of life and death!" "Hey, if my whole way of life is on the line then why not have some fun with it?" Eda said with her usual smirk, weaving around each blast of fire with an impressive display of agility and slickness. Petton couldn't believe this woman at all, even in the face of certain danger, she wouldn't even try to handle matters seriously. "Brilliant, I'm dealing with a total madwoman.." Everhail thought to himself, trying to think of a way to win this battle. However, from the corner of his eye, he noticed the table that King was hiding behind as a brilliant yet devilish idea came to him. Petton moved one hand over to the table while a light smirk took hold of his features. "Maybe this will get your attention." The magician said before firing away at the table. King of course gave a confused squeak before a fireball slammed into his makeshift fortress, incinerating it into ash immediately. This left the little demon without cover and his fur-coated with soot. He then looked up and saw several more fireballs flying at him, causing him to scream in terror, dropping his popcorn and sunglasses as he ran away, moving his stubby legs as fast as he could, all the while fireballs rained down around him, kicking up pebbles and dirt. The Witch's eyes widened with horror before an enraged scowl took hold over her features. Still occupied on King, Petton kept the fireballs coming as the skull-headed demon frantically evaded the fiery projectiles that rained down at him. Everhail couldn't help but chuckle as he turned his head to face Eda with a slightly demented smile. "Now do I have your atte-"
WHAM!
The wizard was suddenly knocked back by Eda's forehead, which slammed right into his face. He ceased his bombardment of flames, awkwardly stumbling backward while a stream of blood started to pour from his nostrils. Eda reeled back the Owl Staff and sent the warlock flying into a nearby shop tent with one strong swing. The crash was anything but pleasant as Everhail smashed into shelves and baskets containing various meats while the limp body of a fish-like creature flopped onto his face. He growled as he swatted away the fish and other chunks of meat covering his robe, before he stood up, blood now covering his lips. He dusted himself off before he then glared back at the witch. Petton decided to finally set aside his staff, putting it in a sling in his back. This freed up both of his hands, allowing him to create fireballs in both of his palms at once. "Alright, no more games then." He huffed, his face one of anger as he aimed at the witch, before launching two fully charged Magick Missiles at once towards the Owl Lady.
"Not happening, pal!" The Owl Lady shouted aloud, drawing a large circle into the dirt as a massive pillar suddenly sprung from the earth, shielding the witch from the fiery projectiles. Petton didn't think much of this but suddenly, the 'pillar' began to curve forward which revealed an owl-like face as a baritone hoot came from its beak. Petton fired more magick missiles at the statue but the blasts had virtually no effect on it as the owl statue launched itself forward, prompting the warlock to throw himself to the side. Instead, the statue ravaged what remained of the tent its target stood in before giving chase with its beak wide open.
While her opponent was occupied, she drew several more circles into the side of the statue she created, prompting smaller and thinner Hooty-heads to protrude from the large statue as they stretched themselves into Everhail's direction.
"You've gotta be kidding." He growled in annoyance as he began unleashing fireball after fireball towards the oncoming Hooty's, scorching some, but leaving others mostly unharmed. Petton then rushed away from a swarm of the oncoming owl-snakes and soon rolled out of the way as they charged at him, causing the summons to smash into the dirt, leaving large craters and cracks in the earth as they did.
With that taken care of, Petton was trying to pinpoint where Eda was hiding but would soon be met face-to-face with another hooty statue that launched itself into the warlock's direction. Everhail quickly leaped as high as his legs could allow, landing right in top of the Hooty statue's 'head' before dashing along its tube-like body. Spotting the wizard sprinting over its brethren's body, another statue shoot forward with it's beak wide open. Everhail took notice of the statue approaching him and picked up the pace, evading the statue's head from devouring him as it instead severed the head of the other hooty statue from its cylinder-shaped body.
Upon reaching the end, Petton found himself standing on the body of the larger hooty statue while the remaining slender golems all collectively surrounded the wizard, growing closer and closer. However, Everhail's response wasn't of fear. He instead spread his arms out as a fiery aura began to surround him.
"You brainless fools. You set yourselves up!" yelled the magician. A ring of fireballs launched out from around the wizard in a giant circle. The massive wave of fully charged Magick Missiles slammed into many of the Hooty statues, blowing some of them to bits and blasting others in half, causing rock and dirt to rain down around the wizard as he unleashed another Nuke, blasting the remaining owls away. Pieces of the Hooty's slammed into the ground and remaining market stands, kicking up even more debris and leaving more craters, further turning the once-bustling marketplace into an unsteady, craggy battlefield.
Petton, still standing on the massive, snake-like owl, looked around for Eda, a faint trace of fire in his eyes as he did.
"I know you're still here, Clawthorne! Show yourself!" Petton demanded, the trace of flames still present in his eyes as they flared up slightly. It was here that Petton got his answer from the heavens above, quite literally so.
"Right on top of ya!" Eda's voice called up, the wizard moving his head up to the sky to see the Owl Lady hovering above him as she created a ring of fire, prompting a blast of flames to rain down on the sorcerer. Everhail removed himself from the Hooty statue's body as the blast of flames blew a hole right into the stone exterior. Petton hurled a series of fireballs, all of which were easily avoided by the Owl Lady, who blitzed forward, taking the appearance as a moving lightning bolt before disappearing from sight. Glancing over to the crystal sphere attached to his staff, which illuminated a teal glow.
"Please..." Everhail said unamused before suddenly spinning around and bringing his cane up, blocking off a sudden strike from Eda's staff. She pushed back against him, making the wizard arch back a bit. Eda gave a smile at the wizard as he struggled back against her, evening the two out as he gained some ground on the Owl Lady. They both put forced into overpowering the other, locking the two in a struggle for dominance.
"You're a bit quicker than I expected." She mused at the magician, who grunted in an effort, before responding.
"I could say the same for an old hag like you..." Petton replied.
"Oh, now you're just asking for it." Eda said, giving a glare while smirking at the fellow sorcerer. He responded with a smirk of his own, before bringing his foot up and smashing it into Eda's stomach, causing the witch to grunt and sending her stumbling back, thus ending the clash between the two's staffs.
Eda took in some breaths of air to collect herself but Everhail wasn't in the mood to let his foe catch a break as he fired a fully charged magic missile into Eda's direction. Luckily, the witch was able to act fast and counter the blast with a sphere of water with both projectiles canceling out with the fire fizzling out and the water evaporating into nothingness. Annoyed that the blast failed to dispose of her, Everhail charged forward, preparing a second blast to engulf his foe. Eda, however, smirked while her grip on the staff tightened dramatically.
"True, I'm old. But no matter what..." Eda gave the floor a tap and without any warning, an enormous spire of ice suddenly jutted from the earth right underneath the warlock's boots. The sudden force of the pillar sent Everhail skyward, who let out a scream that was carried off high into the air.
"I'm always one step ahead of ya." The Owl Lady said with a chuckle.
Everhail screamed as he flew up and up, well over a hundred feet into the air. His robes billowed this way and that as he flailed about, trying to steady himself, or perhaps instinctively grab onto something that wasn't there. This continued for a few seconds before suddenly, gravity caught up with him, and the wizard felt himself dip back downwards. Petton, after waiting a moment with bated breath, began to fall towards the earth. As he did, he came up with a plan, his mind thinking frantically the whole time.
He flailed some more, tried to right himself as he fell. After a moment, the magician straightened himself out in an almost downward dive-like pose, with him aiming both of his hands at the witch below. He unleashed dozens of fireballs in an instant at Eda, growling all the while. The magician rained down fire on his opponent, as his descent got faster and faster, meanwhile, the ground got closer and closer.
Eda herself dodged and blocked the oncoming fireballs as she waited for the magician to hit the ground, as by then the fight would no doubt be over. Midway through his fall, the magician even aimed one of his hands at the massive ice pillar and began firing at it as well, melting ice and causing massive chunks of it to chip off. Soon enough, when he was just about ten or so feet from the ground, Petton righted himself once more, this time aiming to land on his legs as the ground caught up with him...
CRUNCH!
Petton felt his ankles shatter once he made contact with the hard earth beneath him, his teeth ground against each other while a muffled growl of pain escaped his mouth. Standing from just a few feet away from the wizard, Eda couldn't help but manage a chuckle at his plight which further enraged the warlock to a greater extent. She even took the time to crack a joke at his misery.
"How was the flight? You look like you didn't enjoy but that's okay, I'll LAND you a helping hand!" The Owl Lady joked while Everhail, furrowing his brows, pulled out two azure-colored elixirs. Briefly clashing them together before guzzling both of them down to the very last drop.
Upon downing both cure potions, his ankles started to crackle and stiffen, the bones putting themselves back together. It wasn't just his ankles though. The blood running down his nose was sucked up back into his nostrils while the bruises and burns he had sustained during the battle disappeared from his face and body alike. Eda's smirk turned to a look that read 'Oh crap' as Everhail's body was restored to its former glory.
"Sorry, but I'm not in a joking mood right now..." Everhail growled, wiping excess dribbles of potion from his lower lip with his sleeve.
"And besides, I think you're the one who should worry about having a helping hand at the moment." He said with a smirk, as the massive ice pillar cracked further.
Eda looked to it, as more and more cracks appeared up and down the tower. The massive structure began to sway leaning towards the witch. Her eyes widened before suddenly she was struck in the chest by a fireball, sending her flying back before she rolled to her feet. She glared down Petton, only to see him aiming at the base of the cracked riddled pillar.
"Game over, witch." He said, before unleashing another fully powered blast of fire at the base of the spire, blowing out another large chunk of it.
With a massive groan, and the sound of ice cracking, the magical structure leaned further forwards, and began to fall, with several massive chunks of ice raining down on Eda as it did. It was as if everything went into slow motion before gravity took hold of the collapsing spire of ice, and time resumed back to normal as it came tumbling towards the witch along with what was basically a localized rain of hail.
The large ice chunks smashed into the ground, leaving even more craters with each impact. The ground itself gave a groan, seemingly about to give way as Eda quickly hopped onto her staff. Owlbert stretched his wings and took to the skies, flying his master off as the pillar narrowly avoided the two. Though despite this, Eda's hair was filled with melting chunks of ice, which she shook out, giving an annoyed huff as she did. Behind her, the magical structure crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom, shaking a good portion of Bonesborough as it did.
(Music Stops)
Everhail, meanwhile, watched as the hunks of ice left the market in greater ruin as he merely huffed, feeling no remorse for the witch he had slain before turning his back and walking off, looking to discuss matters with Emperor Belos once he arrived at his castle.
"While your chances of winning were nonexistent, you were a worthy, albeit annoying, adversary." The warlock said aloud.
"Why thank you, I'm flattered!" A familiar voice responded to his comment, to which, Everhail let out a light chuckle.
"Well, I'm glad you are-HOLD THE FUCK UP." The warlock's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he turned around...
...Only to suddenly be struck by an unknown force that sent him flying into the sky!
Everhail was able to come to his senses to see Eda right in front of him, with her typical competitive smile worn on her face. At first, he had no idea where he was going but would realize that he was now several feet off the ground and speeding away from the desecrated market. The blunt end of Owlbert was embedded into his stomach and given the speeds that her broom was flying, it was more than enough to propel him high into the sky. Eda looked into Petton's eyes with a toothy grin on her face before promptly drawing a spell circle.
"Howdy, Everfail! And goodbye!" Eda said jubilantly before he was blasted with a torrent of flames that pushed him off of the staff's blunt end and towards the ground. However, he noticed a large pine tree that was close by and with a strong kick of his legs, clung onto the tree's tip as it rocked back and forth once he grabbed ahold of it.
However, against the torrent of flames, the pine tree began to burn, and Petton hissed as his robe was covered in singe marks. He growled as eventually, his nails dug into the wood, but eventually even with all his might, his grip slipped, and he flew backward, the flame blast launching him further into the woods. Petton growled as he was smashed through the treetops, with branches snapping against his back all the while. Soon enough, his trajectory drifted down and he wound up smashing through a tree trunk as the flames ceased. The tree he'd just smashed through fell to the ground with a loud thud as the wizard then flew further and smashed through another trunk. He continued skidding before he then smashed through the front door and out the back of an abandoned cabin, finally stopping.
Scrambling back up onto his feet, Petton held his head before frantically breathing. Everything happened so fast that he had no idea how to process this. First, he was in the market, now he was in the middle of the woods. However, he would come back to his sense when he saw Eda hovering above him with that smile that he had come to loathe. Drawing out a small spell circle, Eda fired off a beam of concentrated energy into the warlock's direction. Acting fast, Petton threw himself out of the way.
"After that little stunt ya pulled, I think we're even." Eda said, leaping to the ground with her staff in hand while the magician charged up to her and attempted to strike her with his staff, only for the witch to parry the blow with ease. Entering a second struggle battle.
"Y'know, why don't I introduce you to my old pal, Owlbert!" Eda said cheerfully, getting a scoff in response.
"Owlbert? That's the best name you could come up with?" Everhail insulted, pushing Eda back with a hard shove with both staffs breaking off from each other.
"Hey, don't you dare diss my friend!" Eda said, pointing a bony finger at the warlock before lurching forward, continuing the struggle battle as both combatants glared at each other.
"A nugget of wood is your friend? How pathe-" Petteon was suddenly taken by surprise when owl attached to Eda's staff suddenly sprung to life and flew right into his face, pulling onto his hair with his talons. The wizard shouted in surprise, his hands shooting up to try to wrangle the owl off of him as he did. Everhail struggled for a moment with the palismen, trying to get his hands up between his face and the owl. It took some struggling, but eventually, he got a good grip and pulled, yanking the owl off his face with a grunt of effort. Said face was left covered in claw and peck marks, with his hair being a mess as well. The wizard then tossed the bird back at his owner, with Owlbert slamming into Eda's chest. The witch stumbled back, but caught her owl friend, keeping him from falling.
"What's... Next?" He huffed for a moment as Eda recovered her balance fully. "Did you name another one of your little magical monsters Hooty or something stupid? Do you live in an 'Owl House'?"
"...No." Eda said, lying through her teeth. The magician simply rolled his eyes in annoyance before hitting Eda with an onslaught of fireballs. The Owl Lady acted fast by twirling her staff, creating an orange ring that sent out fiery projectiles of her own, both the witch and the wizard's fireballs colliding and canceling each other out.
"Alright, this is getting annoying." Petton huffed, charging up to two handfuls of fire as he did.
"Hey, you started this fight. Not me!" Eda said, raising her arms defensively.
"And I'm ending it!" The wizard declared, two fully charged Magick Missiles being launched right out of the palm of his hands and into Eda's direction. Eda ducked down, the balls of fire zipping over her head while she simultaneously did the splits when hitting the deck. Getting back up, Eda slammed her staff onto the ground which sent out a series of concentrated light disks. Rather than letting the disks strike him, Everhail quickly ducked beneath one that was aimed for his head before leaping onto one that was meant to strike him in the stomach. Soon, Petton was now leaping from platform to platform, drawing closer to his adversary.
He leaped across another disc, and then did a lung for another, barely landing on his feet as he did. Petton then jumped high into the air, pulling his staff out as he did, before he flew downwards, his cane raised. He then brought it down like a hammer towards Eda, growling as he did. However, given the speed of the witch, she was able to bring her own staff up to block his oncoming blow.
Everhail hung in mid-air for a moment before Eda summoned a blast of electricity, shocking the wizard and causing him to give a static-like shout of pain, as his body jerked about. After a few moments, he was then launched backwards by another fireball from Eda, sending him back through the cabin, causing the remaining walls and roof to crumble down on top of Petton, covering him in dust, splinters, and chunks of wood. Bursting from the mound of rubble, his eyes piercing into Eda's soul with a hateful glare while his cloak was now caked with dust and debris. If looks could kill, Eda's head would be blown clean off from her body.
Rushing from the remains of the ruined cabin, Petton immediately started bombarding Eda with an unrelenting amount of magic missiles that forced Eda to move around to avoid being scorched to high hell.
"You know it's always throwing a fireball at me this, throw a fireball at me that. Why don't you change tactics and CHILL out!" Eda said before tapping the ground her staff, sending out a trail of ice crystals that tore through the soil as they rushed into Petton's direction.
"Oh please, I'm just getting WARMED up!" Petton growled, unleashing a stream of fireballs back at her ice, using a Bolt scroll as he did, causing his own barrage to match and beat back Eda's ice. The flaming projectiles melted the ice into a sizeable trail of boiling water while Eda quickly generated an orange forcefield that caused the flames to disperse upon making contact.
"Really? That was the easiest joke you could make!" Eda said unamused.
"You made the easiest ice pun known to man, you're talking on quite the high horse here." Petton replied, folding his arms.
"Yeah. Whatever, Mr. comedy." Eda said, rolling her eyes before launching herself forward with a jab from her staff's blunt end. Everhail quickly threw himself back and retorted with a flurry of magick missiles. One of which managed to scathe Eda by the shoulder while she was in the process of dodging them. The Owl Lady groaned with pain only to be knocked backward by a fireball to the gut, her heels dragging along the dirt which left visible marks in the soil.
Planting herself against the ground to stop herself from traveling further, Clawthorne sent out two concentrated fireballs into Everhail's direction in retaliation. Petton prepared to block off the attacks but weirdly enough, both projectiles passed him by on both sides. The magical, while a bit confused, maintained a smirk before laughing at Eda's missed attack.
"Looks like I was right. It seems old age is starting to catch up to you." Everhail chuckled. Oddly enough, Eda laughed along with him.
"Wasn't aiming for ya, bonehead!"
FWWWWWWWWSKRRRRRRRRRRRCH!
Eda's statement was confirmed when the loud crackling of wood filled the magician's ears while his laugh came to an abrupt end. Spinning around, Everhail's eyes widened when he saw a massive tree, whose bole was stricken by the two fireballs, collapsing upon the warlock. However, rather than moving to the side like what was to be expected, Petton instead fired off a charged magick missile that incinerated the tree almost immediately. Instead of causing a rainstorm of ash to befall the wizard, but he simply dusted himself off.
(Music Stops)
"Gonna have to try harder than that." He laughed, as soot fell from his robes.
However, as soon as he turned his head, Eda had disappeared from sight. Both confused and annoyed by this, the warlock charged into the battlefield in search of his foe. However, he felt something tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw nothing insight. He was about to continue on when all of a sudden, something started to poke him on the top of his head.
He looked up...
...And saw a pale, disembodied white head situated atop his head!
Letting out a gasp, Petton attempted to remove the hand from his head by whacking with his staff. However, Eda's detached hand quickly bounced off of the warlock's head. Everhail was unable to predict this as he instead clonked himself on the head with his own staff by pure accident.
BONK!
"Alright, no!" He growled, unleashing a swarm of fireballs at the scurrying hand, trying to incinerate it quickly He even chased the hand around, waving his cane about as he did. Due to the hand's far greater agility and slipperiness, it easily evaded the magick missiles like it was nothing. However, the warlock was able to keep pace with the detached hand with his staff raised into the air. Once he got close enough, Petton kicked the hand onto it's backside. Before it had a chance to scurry off, Everhail slammed the blunt end of his cane which pinned the disembodied hand against the grass.
"I have you now, you lousy little bi-" His victory was shortly-lived when the hand sprung itself up, causing the crystal handle of his staff to shoot upwards and bonk him right in the face. Everhail let out a cry of both pain and fury as he stumbled backward, giving the hand enough time to crawl up to his shoes and tie the laces together. As the brief pain subsided, the magician looked down to see the hand by his feet. Snarling with anger, the warlock attempted to take a step forward to punt the hand into orbit.
"GET OFF OF ME, YOU-WOOAAAAAAAAH!" Petton didn't get a chance to attack as he suddenly tripped forward, his staff falling from his clutches while he awkwardly flailed his arms up and down. Upon crashing onto the ground, Eda's hand scurried up to the downed magician before giving him an unpleasant flick on the nose.
However, Petton himself growled, and lurched forwards, suddenly biting into Eda's extended finger as he did. He held his teeth tight as he then grabbed at the hand with his... hands. Surprisingly, despite being a detached hand, it was putting more than a fight as Petton frantically rolled around in an attempt to keep it from escaping. As he continued to struggle, the hand whacked its back right against the warlock's nose which forced him to loosen his grip. The hand suddenly spun around and poked the wizard right in the eyes with both its middle finger and index finger.
DOINK!
Petton screamed with pain, covering his eyes while the hand leaped off of his chest as it started to scamper off into the wilderness. Everhail, however, wasn't letting that slide as he flung himself forward with an outstretched hand and quickly snatched the hand before it could make its getaway. The warlock had a firm grip, one that the witch's hand squirmed and jittered about in his grasps. Everhail couldn't help but managed a demented grin, planning to incinerate the hand into a smoldering pile.
"Hehe... I gotcha now ya, lil' sucker!" The wizard chuckled but before he could carry out the deed, the hand suddenly spun around and grabbed him by the wrist. With an unexpected burst of strength that left Everhail stupefied, he was hurled right into a tree, his arms and legs flailing about during his trip.
"WOOOAH SHI-"
THUD!
(Music Stops)
Leaves and sticks fell from the tree and rained down onto either the ground or Everhail's face. His back struck the tree's bole before awkwardly sliding down the wood, his head touching the ground first while the wizard's body was positioned in an awkward upside-down angle. Everhail let out a disoriented groan, his vision was a bit woozy but he was able to somewhat get a clear picture of Eda's disembodied hand...
...Flipping him the bird.
"Yeah, I feel the same way too!" Petton growled before flopping over onto his stomach. The warlock gave out a groan before a sly giggle filled his ears, prompting him to look up to see his adversary resting on a branch that belonged to the tree was nudged against. Her right hand missing from her body.
"Heheh! Oh man, hadn't had a good laugh like that since high school!" The Owl Lady said, whipping a tear with her left before leaping off of the tree, being separated by just a few feet from her opponent. Her right hand came scampering back as it attached itself to her wrist. Growling with contempt, the wizard pulled himself back onto his feet with his fist tightly clenched.
"Keep laughing, you good for nothing hag! Won't be so funny when I burn you to cinders!" Everhail snarled, charging up for a powerful magick missile, the explosive glow of the flames making the sleeves of his cloak wave against the wind. Eda furrowed her brow and replied to Everhail's threat with a hmph.
"Now who you calling hag, pal?! You uppity wizards act like you're better than the rest." Eda said, Owlbert's eyes lighting up with a glimmer of orange and yellow. Scoffing in response, Petton reeled his hand back.
"Well, that's because you never met someone like me!" Everhail roared in response, sending the potent fireball into Eda's direction. The Owl Lady retorted with a fireball of her own, both blazing projectiles soaring through the air before colliding into each other, resulting in a thunderous collision that shook the forest itself.
FWOOOOOOOOOOM!
The impact could be heard from all over the Boiling Isles while cracks started to form among the dirt grounds. Soon a hole would take shape on the earth, growing ever larger as it reached both combatants in a matter of seconds as the ground beneath them crumbled into nothingness. Everhail screamed as he fell into the expanding abyss while Eda quickly hopped onto her staff, preparing to take off. However, Petton saw Eda trying to escape and using his quick-wit, blasted himself forward with a magick missile, quickly dashing amongst falling terrain.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" The warlock shouted, hurling himself at Eda with open arms before latching himself onto her shoulders which took the Owl Lady by surprise. Eda tried her best to shake the wizard off of her but he refused to let his foe get away, not after all the chaos she put him through. Everhail tugged both his arms back, still holding onto the witch as both of them were sent spiraling into the blackness.
They fell in deeper and deeper before not even their screams could be heard...
Upon reaching the hard ground, Eda and Petton struck it with an audible 'THUD' that rang out through the cavern walls.
"Ugh... Well, that's gonna be sore in the morning." Eda grumbled, pushing off a large chunk of rock that had landed on her mid-section before promptly dusting herself off. Standing back up to her full height, Eda cracked her neck and gave her surroundings a good viewing. She found herself standing within a dark, cavernous area with the only form of light being the gaping hole from the surface that shone through the massive hole. The Owl Lady merely shrugged before propping herself onto her staff.
"Welp might as well hit the ol' dusty trail." She said to herself, preparing to take off.
"No, you're not."
She sensed something coming up from behind her, and moved her head to the right. The witch narrowly dodged a fireball that flew by her head and smashed against the ground, kicking up rocks and dirt. However, the resulting gust of wind from the magical blast caused her mass of hair to billow about, with a few strands of it sticking to her face as it did.
Stepping into the only source of light that was inside of the cave, Everhail stood before her with a scornful frown while the shadows of his hood concealed his eyes. Eda grunted with annoyance before fixing her hair a little, she also couldn't help but feel as though her curse was starting to overtake her along with her magic gradually depleting. Meanwhile, Petton's annoyance gradually risen to scolding hatred towards the witch. At this rate, Belos' bounty wouldn't suffice. He wanted her dead, right now.
"Don't you ever give up." Eda pouted.
"I'll give up once I've turned every single cell in your body into ash!" Everhail snarled in response, his hand lighting up in a blinding fiery aura.
"Oh yeah, I've NEVER heard that one before..." She mocked before Petton growled and unleashed another massive barrage of fire, with dozens of bolts flying from both of his hands at once. It was almost like a tidal wave of flame, which Eda quickly blocked with a forcefield, though the flames didn't cease as Everhail kept up his fire blasts, trying to chip away at the magical barrier as he did.
"You know, I don't know why you'd ever listened to that Belos weirdo in the first place! He's just using you as a tool, you idiot!" Eda said, holding up her barrier. "He's a complete tyrant!"
"Then I'll deal with him AFTER I burn you to the ground!" Petton growled, the shadow of his hood being illuminated not only by his magick missile barrages but also by a twin set of flames that were visible in the place of his eyes. Eda closed her eyes while an electrical light started to emanate around her. Soon, she came blitzing around the endless bombardment of fireballs, with the witch moving at such a quick pace, she was a blur to Petton's eyes. Everhail suddenly stopped cannonade and realized what she was doing, barring his teeth in response.
"Don't start that again!" Petton roared before sending forth a fireball that managed to tag Eda the second she was face to face with the magician. She was going for a melee strike, but the Magick Missile struck the Owl Lady right in the stomach and sent her careening into the cave walls, a spider-web of cracks forming along the craggy surface once her back struck its rocky exterior. She then slid down, with bits of stone falling from the cracked cave wall as she did before finally, the witch slammed face-first into the rocky floor with a loud thump. Smirking with satisfaction, Everhail charged two magick missiles in preparation of turning his foe into smoldering dust but Eda had a plan in mind.
Through creating two circle spells, Eda sent herself flying backward, the fire propelling her like a jet engine while performing a powerful, double-legged mule kick that struck Everhail right in the face. The heel of Eda's boot shattered the warlock's nose, causing streams of blood to dribble out from his nostrils while Everhail froze with pain before being knocked back with a whack from the Owl Lady's staff. The impact sent Petton sprawling back before he jabbed his cane into the dirt, firmly planting himself against the ground.
Eda grinned before sprinting forward for another staff strike, one that was aimed for the warlock's head but Everhail wasn't gonna be made a fool a second time as he stepped to the side, letting the staff swing right beside him. When the moment came, Everhail jabbed Eda in the chest with a hard elbow, temporarily winding the witch. He proceeded to kick her several yards away before grabbing ahold of her staff, raising it above his head.
"Let's see how well you do without your toy, witch!" Petton shouted, preparing to break the magical staff in two by bringing down to his knee. Eda gasped and with a quick flick of her hand, Owlbert's eyes lit up once more before suddenly flying over to her master. However, because Petton was still holding onto it, he was dragged along for the ride.
Everhail was wildly thrown around and jostled about throughout the catacombs. In the heat of the moment, Everhail accidentally sent out a magick missile that struck one of the cave walls. The fiery blast shattered the craggy surface resulting in a massive downpour of rock to come spilling down into the area.
Eda, seeing the great rockslide come down towards her, hitched a ride on her flying staff, both the warlock and the witch being sent flying out from the gaping cavity and high into the sky, zipping through the trees. Everhail quickly pulled himself up and attempted to wrestle Eda with a headlock but the Owl Lady retaliated with a hard clip to the jaw. Everhail spat out a gob of blood and saliva before striking her with a hook of his own, which would entail a back-to-back stream of ceaseless punches.
But this would all come to an abrupt end when the staff suddenly jerked itself downward, plummeting right into the dirt. Despite being thrashed around in the wind and the rough landing, Eda had more than enough energy to kick Everhail right in the stomach as hard as she could. Sending the magician flying back as he managed to land onto his feet, albeit barely. Eda brought herself back up, both magic users having worn themselves out during the fight. Eda could feel her magic starting to run dry while Petton's ever-decreasing stamina was now taking his toll.
However, from the corner of the magician's eye, he noticed something peculiar. An hourglass with a blueish tint that laid against a nearby tree trunk. Petton knew exactly what this was and quite possibly his one and only shot at victory.
"I've grown tired of you, Owl Lady. But now, I know a way we can end this for good." Everhail said, slowly backing away from his opponent, who still had a sporty grin on her face.
"And what would that be?" Edalyn said, raising a brow while Everhail merely smiled back.
"Let me just say this..." The Warlock said before rushing towards the hourglass as fast as his legs could provide. He did have a slight limp to his run but The Owl Lady cared less and prepared to strike the wizard from afar with a flaming blast. However, with an outstretched hand, Petton was able to snatch the hourglass right before the spell could fully transpire.
"Time's up."
(Music Stops)
Time itself had stopped completely, everything frozen into place like a statue. Eda's body was rendered motionless, unable to move even a singular muscle. The warlock knew that he only had thirty seconds to make things count, so without any form of hesitation, he began to unleash magick missile after magick missile. Oddly enough, they were all frozen in place once they escaped Everhail's palm but all of them were directed in front of a single target, that being Eda.
Petton fired off hundreds, maybe even thousands of fireballs, all of them facing towards The Owl Lady as Everhail outstretched his arm once again, charging up for a potent blast. Only five seconds remaining and time would resume once again.
"See you in hell, Edalyn Clawthorne."
And then, when everything resumed, a hail of flame descended on the witch.
KA-BOOOOOM!
A great culmination of flames swallowed The Owl Lady whole, the explosion lighting up the whole forest as a great fire started to eat away at the nearby trees. The resulting explosion was massive, being able to be seen from at least a mile away, with smoke and debris reaching high into the air before plummeting back down. Pebbles and clumps of dirt hit the ground with loud thuds and soft plinks, depending on their sizes. Due to the sheer volume, of debris hitting the forest floor, it almost sounded like a light hail storm
As the cloud of smoke obscured his field of vision, Petton quietly exhaled as his body nearly collapsed to the ground. The whole entire fight had taken a toll on his body but now, Eda Clawthorne was no more and he wouldn't have to deal with that mystical charlatan ever again. But if there was something that the warlock should've always remembered, The Owl Lady is always full of surprises.
And he got his when that dreaded snarky voice filled his ears.
"You know, since you got to do your little trick...." The cocksure jeer of the Owl Lady filled the walls of the forest while Everhail immediately stood up, ushering 'No fucking way' under his breath. The smoke was started to settle and standing from the other side was none other than Eda, her body coated with scuff marks and soot but she was still standing on her feet. Smirk and everything. The witch began to menacingly approach Everhail with her staff tightly gripped in her clutches.
"Why don't I show you mi-EEEK!" Eda's taunt deteriorated into a shriek upon seeing a smatter of a flame remaining on her dress as the Owl Lady quickly dropped her staff to extinguish the speck of fire.
Petton stood there in silence, a confused look on his face as he watched Eda practically make a fool out of herself as she patted down her dress, shrieking all the while. However, when this wasn't enough, she stopped, dropped, and rolled around, quickly trying to snuff out the flame as the wizard watched.
After a few more rolls, the witch extinguished, though absolutely covered in dirt and leaves from her brief stint on the ground, with even a few twigs sticking out of her hair. She then hopped to her feet, huffing a bit as she did, with smoke billowing off of her back. Finally, she regained her composure and spoke.
"M-Mine!" She finished, dusting herself off as she did.
"Do you ever shut up!?" He growled, back, rushing down the witch with his staff ready in one hand. In the other was a fully charged fireball, and in Petton's own eyes was an inferno of rage, to the point it almost seemed like two miniature fires started behind his sockets.
"Heh... Nah."
"THAT'S IT. I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" Everhail roared at the top of the lungs, his cry scaring off any nearby wildlife in the trees. Without a form of hesitation, Petton launched a fully charged magick missile as it came roaring down the trail, whizzing down at speeds faster than the naked eye could keep up with. The Owl Lady, however, immediately blocked off it off with an orange forcefield as she along with Everhail charged towards each other.
The magician unleashed a furious bombardment of fiery projectiles, practically blind-sided by unyielding rage. Eda, however, kept a cool head as she launched her fair share of burning orbs into Everhail's direction. He was stricken by a few of the flames, but his anger prevented him from even acknowledging the pain as he swung his staff sideways. Eda threw her head back while the cane passed her by but this didn't stop Everhail from continuously swinging his staff about as if he was an ax-wielding maniac.
"Hey, I think I felt a breeze pass by!" Eda interjected before ducking down, the cane barely flicking a hair on her head. "No wait, it's just your terrible aim. My mistake!"
"SHUT UP!" Petton roared, before unleashing a point-blank barrage of fireballs right at the owl lady, though Eda just weaved around most of the shots, before swinging her staff at Petton. The magician quickly brought up his own staff to block the blow, however, the force at which Eda swung immediately shattered Petton's own staff in half, sending splinters of wood falling to the dirt s he stumbled back, two sticks in his hands. He looked between them in surprise, letting Eda summon a blast of electricity that rocketed towards the sorcerer.
Petton gasped in surprise, and due to the blast being so quick, he was only able to raise his arms to defend himself. Being unable to dodge, the remaining halves of the wizard's cane took the brunt of the blow, along with his arms, which began to smoke as his flesh began to turn red from the surges of electrical magic coursing through them. There was so much power, that even the crystal orb on the end of his staff shattered into dozens of shards, leaving only a few jagged pieces left on the end of the wizard's now nearly useless stick.
However, Petton resisted and surged his arms forwards as the electricity subsided, swinging both halves of his charred staff like a set of clubs, right at Eda's face. The witch closed her eyes in instinct, as she felt the jagged remains of Petton's crystal ball clawed at her features. As a response, she blindly fired off a blast of fire from her fingertips, and while she couldn't see it, it was aimed right at Everhail's face...
BLAM!
The sound of the spell being cast was followed by a scream of pain as Petton stumbled back, his features smoking. Meanwhile, Eda herself regained her footing, now with a few distinctively large cuts adorning her face. They obviously bled, painting the Owl Lady's face red. However, Petton himself looked back up at the witch, and the sight she saw was more ghastly.
The magician's lower skull was exposed, and the white of his jaw bone almost shined in the light of the sun, as if the fires had bleached it. In his eyes, Petton's inferno of anger was burning brighter than ever, and he dropped his staff, stumbling backward as he took out a cure potion. He quickly popped the cork and let it glide down his throat, with the liquid running over his jaw bone as he tried his best to swallow.
As he did, the wizard's cheeks began to slowly patch themselves up, and his teeth, made crooked from the blast of magical energy, began to straighten as his strength returned to him. By the time he'd finished chugging the magical drink, the wizard was back to normal strength, though he was still drained from all of his powerful spell use.
Letting out a few ragged breaths, the warlock turned his head over to Eda, who removed a few shards of glass that embedded themselves in the Owl Lady's face. Eda gave her opponent a scornful look, followed by a growl that sounded more like it came from a feral cat.
"Cheeky move..." Eda growled under her breath while Everhail started to once again launch a series of fiery attacks, but all of it was nothing but child's play to the witch at this point as she merely tapped her staff against the ground resulting in a light disk to suddenly form beneath the Warlock's feet as he suddenly lifted off into the sky before he was sent flying straight into a tree at high speeds. Petton was able to quickly leap off the platform while the light disk sliced right through the tree, causing the upper half to come tumbling down. The warlock picked up speed, narrowly avoiding the tree from collapsing on him.
"YOU'RE TRICKS WON'T STOP ME, OWL LADY!" The magician roared, mounting an endless stream of fireballs into Edalyn's direction. Despite the pain that overtook her entire face, Eda still managed a sly smile.
"Oh, really..." Eda said under her breath, awaiting Everhail to get up close while dodging bolts of fire, side to side with the flames barely licking her body and dress. All the waiting had finally paid off when Petton got close enough as he threw a fully charged fireball into Clawthorne's direction.
"You see, the difference between you and I, Everfail, is that when you lose a limb..." The witch threw herself to the side and in that split second, created a sword comprised of blue fire and with one strong chopping motion...
SLASSSSSSSSSH!
A look of horror surfaced on Everhail's face as his hand came flying off his body, blood starting to spurt from the stump that once held it.
"IT STAYS OFF!"
Petton grunted loudly, hissing as he stumbled away from Eda, with him choking down a shout of pain as blood splattered out from the stump where his hand once was. He reached his remaining, trembling palm up to his blood-spewing wrist, and grabbed at it in pain, before he suddenly went to reach into his robe, pulling out another potion as he did. However, the second he went to bring it up to his lips, Eda spoke.
"Oh no, you don't!" She shouted, surging forwards.
Petton immediately dropped his potion and stumbled back, charging his hand full of energy as he launched one more fireball at the Owl Lady. However, even as it struck her chest, leaving her dress covered in singes, she ignored this and swung her magical blade once more, just as Petton went to fire off another blast.
SHINK!
Petton shouted in pain this time, grunting and swearing as he stumbled back, this time without both of his hands. The magician looked down at his bloody stumps, and then up at Eda.
"You... You bitch!" He growled.
"Flattering, aren't we?~" The Witch said, drawing a large circle spell right before Petton. Due to the removal of both his hands and how much energy that had been depleted from this grueling fight. Everhail had no other choice but to accept his blazing demise. A great jet of fire was blasted his way and in a matter of seconds, the whole torrent engulfed his body. Petton wasn't the only thing that was struck by the flames as the fiery deluge blasted into the forest, incinerating trees as they deteriorated into smoldering husks.
His flesh and muscles were the first to go, the inferno melting it away while the warlock emitted one final scream of both rage and pain towards his cursed adversary. His clothing was also burned away into embers, the fire leaving nothing behind but a skeleton.
What remained of Petton Everhail gave Eda one final glare of searing hatred before crumbling away into ash.
(Music Stops)
Petton was gone, and along with him. a massive chunk of the forest, with trees following the wizard's example, and crumbling into dust. The remaining ashes of Petton's skeleton drifted down, before being carried away by a gust of wind into the charred remnants of the once green forest. Said ashes were indistinguishable from those left by the grass and leaves, and thus it would seem that the remains of the magician would be forgotten, lost to both time and the elements, never again to be remembered.
As for Eda, she nearly collapsed to the ground, barely being able to hold herself. While she hadn't used up all her magic, she was dangerously close to it. Just then, dark gray feathers started to make an appearance on her forearms. Realizing this, Eda pulled out a circular bottle containing a golden fluid and quaffed it down almost immediately. The feathers soon disappeared while a sigh of relief escaped her lips.
Now that the warlock was dead, it was time to head back home. After everything that had happened, Eda would have to lay low for a few weeks, maybe even a month or two for all of this to die down. Readying her staff, Owlbert spread his wings out and took to the skies, carrying his master along with him. As she made her flight back to the Owl House, a conflicted thought started to emerge in her mindscape...
"I wonder if I should tell Luz about this?..."
Aftermath Screen:
Eda flies back to The Owl House, busts open the door much to Hooty's dismay before collapsing onto the couch while Luz and King run over to her to see what happened. Meanwhile, the ashen remains of Petton Everhail are blown away by the wind.
___
UL: Jesus, you don't see Disney doing something like that.
Mettaton: Unlike them, the violence and death is on-screen at all times!
UL: Fair point. Anyways, Eda and Petton were both formidable magic users and they sure as hell have the feats to back it all up. But comparing both together, Eda was on a whole other level and for good reason too.
Mettaton: For starters, she definitely has Petton demolished physically, without much of a question. Immediately comparing Petton's likely street level strikes to Eda's physicality is a bit of a wash.
UL: Hell, the guy hasn't even used his fists in combat, compare that to Eda who can knock out guards several times her size with just a single hit from her staff.
Mettaton: And his peak human speed, once again isn't up to much compared to the Owl Lady's own stats. I mean just look at her while in combat, and then compare that to Petton.
UL: Yeah Boomer Shooter protags are fast, but it's quite hard to properly scale the guy given that everything he's avoiding is a magical blast. At best he's dodged futuristic cannons, and if you really want to be generous, electricity, putting him in the Hypersonic range if you really, really push it.
Mettaton: But, guess who also has lighting at her disposal? That's right, Eda. Not only that, but if we take into account the speed of Luz's light magic, and then realize Eda is comparable too if not superior to it.
UL: Durability is probably the closest thing to mention here. Both can tank hits from slashing weapons, explosions, and the like, but the difference is that obviously Eda can reattach her limbs and survive attacks on a much higher level than Petton.
Mettaton: Even if we assume Petton can still use magic without his hands, it's not like he can reattach them... or use his potions to stop the bleeding.
UL: Ah yes, one of Petton's few advantages. The dude's a heal spammer in ways that'd make both the Medic and Mercy blush.
Mettaton: Yes, a nearly infinite supply of health drinks is definitely a big help, but keep in mind those potions can be destroyed, and he still has to reach and drink one to use it.
UL: Of course there's another obvious consideration in this battle: the magic.
Mettaton: And Eda had Petton beat again. HIs best advantage was a time stop spell. But Eda... had basically everything else, including stuff Petton could do, but better.
UL: And it was obviously way stronger and more potent too. Who needs fireballs when you have a massive stream of the stuff! Or she could just extinguish it with ice!
Mettaton: Or block it with a forcefield!
UL: Or do some other third thing!
Mettaton: Indeed, he lacks in versatility a lot, doesn't he?
UL: Yeah, her Hooty feat alone was more impressive than anything Petton has ever done, being calculated to be around 883.7 tons of TNT. And don't forget that she should also be superior to the likes of Luz, who incinerated a giant worm-like monster that was estimated to be around 356.5 tons, and if we high-ball it, then it would amount 3.386 kilotons of TNT!
Mettaton: Compare that to Petton's magick, which at best was able to demolish stone and metal walls. Even if you want to assume vaporization for those feats, it still isn't nearly enough to match Eda. Incinerating a few stone walls doesn't hold a candle to basically everything she's done. At best he'd be around building level, and compare that with Eda's feats, you can see a clear power disparity.
UL: Also one more thing to mention is the fact that Eda can set traps as well, giving her even more control over the battlefield's landscape, which keep in mind she could change at practically any time. Mettaton: And while Petton may be a more grounded and serious fighter, Eda is a craftier and much more outside-the-box thinker. As mention before, she can set up traps to control the battlefield but she can also use the various spells she has at her own disposal in her creative ways such as reflecting attacks with portals, weaving around the battlefield like a bolt of lightning, anything really. UL: Sure, his staff could negate any potential sneak attacks but it wouldn't necessarily matter because not only would Eda blitz him to high hell but there's also the fact that he could lose the staff mid-fight. He can do well without it but it would still come at a costly disadvantage. Mettaton: Bottom-line is that while Petton may have a few key advantages, it only delayed the inevitable. Eda was simply far more powerful, had greater versatility in magic, and was far more cunning and crafty. UL: And with all these advantages, Eda had just what she needed to take on the Warlock OWL by herself. Mettaton: The victor of this match-up is, Eda Clawthorne!
THE WINNER IS EDA CLAWTHORNE!
Eda Clawthorne (WINNER)
+++Physically Stronger +++Far more durable +++Faster +Magic was far more versatile +Craftier and wildly unpredictable +Battlefield control via setting up magic-based traps +Would be much less likely to lose her staff +Could wind up becoming a group vs one match if she involved summons and Owlbert +Superior mobility via flight =Experience -Less willing to take the fight serious -No defense against time stop -Sneak Attacks were rendered moot by Petton's staff -Potions would drag out the fight for much longer -Magic could run dry in the fight, even if it isn't likely
Petton Everhail (LOSER)
+++Potions would keep him in the game for a good while +More grounded/serious +Time Stop would be a huge help +Staff would allow him to avoid any sneak attacks +Magic was plentiful and didn't have a limit =Experience ---Physically Weaker ---Way less durable ---Slower -Nowhere near as versatile as Eda -A far more predictable/standard fighter compared to Eda -Could lose his staff in the fight -Didn't have much battlefield control -Might've wound up fighting a group match against abominations and other summons -Poorer Mobility