Chapter Thirty-Four.

"Hey, Greyson," Eden said as the boy stepped off the elevator, his father following close behind.

"Whoa," Greyson said. "This place is awesome."

"Yeah," Eden said. "It's fucking amazing."

"What is Nathaniel Thornton doing in Adam Lesovar's apartment?" Lucas asked, his gaze falling on the ancient demigod, then the three other demigods and two nephilim who were of his family.

"Helping bring my grandson home," Nathaniel said tersely. "The Leosvar and I are under a temporary truce, until Ambrosius has been recovered."

"Where is Adam, anyway?" Lucas asked.

"That's me," Adam waved a hand.

After the incident with the Fairy Empress, he'd taken on a new form once again, as his identity had been outed. This time, he was a sixteen-year-old with brown hair and eyes, with a splash of freckles across his pale cheeks.

"Am I to assume that after this, you're taking on a new form and home?" Lucas asked.

"This isn't even my house," Adam snorted. "Well, not my main one. I've been using it as a temporary headquarters, since Gramps is staying here as well, and the Thorntons and I have, much to my distaste, been working together."

"Why did you want me here?" Greyson asked.

"Other than to inquire about that girl you were hitting on yesterday?" Eden asked, and Greyson took a few steps back, staring at him in confusion. "I'm a teleporter, and you mean a lot to my best friend. I may or may not have been keeping an eye on you since Cam was kidnapped."

"I want to know why the kid's here, too," Nathaniel said. "And the fed? And your grandfather's apprentices? Why are we being gathered, Adam? Don't you have a project to work on?"

Six of Alex's apprentices were present, including the necromantic girl he'd purchased at the auction and a boy with a particular affinity for water magics who specialized in ice that he'd bought at the auction, though no one knew where the boy had gone.

"It's done," Adam said. "Gramps and I were working on it upstairs since I called him here to help me with it. The scrying for Cameron can wait until after we do this."

"The plan to destroy their forest?" Lucas asked.

"Yes," Adam grinned. "We finished weeks ahead of schedule, thanks to Taylor's presence."

"What does frost-boy have to do with anything?" Blaine Thornton asked.

"He had a small talent for enchanting," Adam answered. "Which helped us to create the spell that will destroy the Fairy Forest. It, and the magics linked to it. The magic in the trees is pumped into a stone deep beneath the ground, joining them all together. It'll travel through all of those pathways, destroying them and the magic within them. Any realm powered by that spell, any realm supported by it, will instantly collapse in on itself, killing every fairy within. It is a much, much more advanced version of the spell that I used to accidentally kill the fae princess two millennia ago. There is one major hitch."

"It's not a single item," Nathaniel guessed. "And they need to be placed throughout the forest."

"Correct," Adam nodded, walking over to the fae stone slab in that suite. He frowned, then jumped back, a lance of lightning forming in his hands, which he then threw at the air over the slab. "Attack!"

As the lance slammed into the space, everyone saw the target, a golden-haired, silver-eyed fae who had attempted to sneak into their apartment through an invisible gate.

The gathered mages attacked immediately, with Lucas sending gusts of air with snaps of his fingers, Adam launching every spell he knew at the Fairy Emperor, Nathaniel weaving fire around them, and the others all using their various spells.

Even Eden began fighting, using short-range teleportation to strike when he could.

Greyson backed up, feeling useless. His own fighting style couldn't even compete with anyone else there, and he'd still need to touch someone to work his magic in the first place. As Oberon attempted to obliterate everyone, the nephilim grit his teeth.

If he died there, then he couldn't help save his friend. He could still heal his sudden teammates, as long as he touched their injuries. He was good enough that anything minor could be dealt with just by touching them. If he showed his true form, he could bolster that power.

Pulling his hoodie over his head, Greyson then unbuttoned the top two buttons of his polo before pulling that off as well. Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled, and his wings began to stretch out. He pulled them in behind him and ran forward, grabbing his father's arm, which had a massive gash on it.

Lucas nearly punched his son, before realizing who was touching him and that he was healing. He nodded, thanked Greyson, and went back to the fight.

Greyson continued to heal anyone he managed to get close enough to, until Oberon noticed what he was doing and threw a blast of magic at him. The nephilim flipped through the air, slamming into a wall, and felt his wings break.

He let out a cry of pain as his father went at Oberon with renewed vigor and rage.

The nephilim attempted to stand, taking several moments to return to his feet, then reached around behind him, feeling his wings, before realizing that his other hand was clutching his chest, where he'd been struck.

When he pulled his hand away, he found it sticky with blood, some of it from touching injuries of others, some of it from his chest. It wasn't a big wound, but it still hurt. He placed his hand back on it and began to heal, before stopping.

He didn't need Oberon's blood.

Gritting his teeth again, Greyson pulled his hand away from his chest, drawing some of his own blood out as well as all that had been on his hand.

Letting out a warcry, Greyson thrust his hand forward, sending a spear of blood at Oberon, who stopped it with a wall of water. Greyson thrust out his other hand as the water began to splash down to the ground, then took control of the water, using both elements to strike at Oberon.

No matter how powerful the mages were, no matter how many of them were there, most were too weak to take on the Fairy Emperor, who continued to stop their attacks and inflict injuries. And with Greyson no longer healing but acting as another thorn in his side, it did not take him long to wear the others down.

He hadn't expected such a full fight, and the mages there were all powerful. Had Alexander Leosvar been there, he might have actually been in trouble.

A female warcry caught Oberon's attention, and he turned in time to deflect the fist of a woman around twenty or so. He looked at his hand for a moment, noting the burns, then kicked her in the stomach as he resumed fighting. She hadn't been there before, and she smelled immensely powerful. Nearly as powerful as the other three powerhouses present.

Three? There had been just two a minute ago.

Oberon turned his head in time to see that Alex was, indeed, present. And nearly finished weaving together a spell that mixed scourge, void, and necromancy together. In his current state, Oberon knew he wouldn't be very powerful after being struck by that spell.

He pushed magic into his ring, to open a gate directly to his palace and flee.

Then felt his finger slice off, and the gate collapsed. He looked down as he felt his blood continue to flow out, joining the stream that had sliced him, and he looked over at the nephilim, who looked ready to collapse.

Only to remember that other threats in the room as Nathaniel slammed him with a wave of force magic and Adam struck out with his mind, taking advantage of the Fairy Emperor's momentary mental weakness.

Oberon dropped to one knee, hastily reaching for the ring as he felt death approaching at an impossible speed. Looking up, he found a cloud of black and green smoke crackling with black lightning drifting towards him, covering the gap between him and Alex much too fast for a spell of that type a mortal could have made.

The cloud struck Oberon, who fell backwards, his skin bubbling and rotting. He grit his teeth and attempted to go after his ring again as he realized that Alex had everyone fooled.

The man was a demigod who found a way to conceal his divinity without losing its potency.

Black spots formed in the Fairy Emperor's vision, and he realized that the nephilim was still draining his blood – and had nearly finished. Only the sheer force of power within the Fairy Emperor had kept him conscious.

Alex's curse continued to work on Oberon, and the Fairy Emperor breathed his last, collapsing to the ground as the spell continued to rot away his body.

The mages, demigods, and nephilim in the room stared at the remains of the Fairy Emperor as they caught their breath.

"Ow," Greyson broke the silence as he limped over to his father. "Dad, my wings are broken real bad."

"Let me take a look at those," Tabitha Thornton walked over, running her fingers over the boy's wings as he trembled. "It's bad, but nothing I can't mend. Come here."

Tabitha led him to the dining room, picking up one of the two surviving chairs. She ordered Greyson to sit backwards on it, and once he did, she began weaving her healing magics into his wings.

"You're a demigod," Nathaniel looked at Alex.

"Yes," Alex said. "Not something I reveal very often, and I'm not going to tell you which of my parents was divine."

"Your son did a good job," Nathaniel looked at Lucas. "Cutting off the Fairy Emperor's finger when the gate began to form."

"He was aiming for the ring," Adam said, holding up the two bloody halves of the ring. "Which means it's been destroyed."

"So," Nathaniel clapped his hands together. "Now that the easy way Oberon was kind enough to give us was destroyed, how do you plan on taking us into the Fairy Forest, Adam? Or can your fae stone slabs allow us to open the gates."

"Oh, that?" Adam asked. "We'll have to perform a ritual that takes six hours, costing fifty-four virgins and the blood of a fae. While Greyson kind of took all of Oberon's and mix it with ours and his, we do still have the finger and the blood on the ring halves, so that'll probably be enough, especially with how powerful he is."

"Or," Eden snorted. "We could just use the ring that Cameron took off the Fairy Lord who attacked us during the big attack before Halloween. According to Fairy Queen Tabiris, it'll open a gate directly to the Fairy Forest."

"So," Lucas said. "Did anyone else just realize what we did? Or just me?"

"If it involves the fae," Nathaniel said. "Probably just you, seeing as you're in charge of their primary enemy on Earth."

"We just killed the Fairy Emperor," Lucas said. "The second-most powerful fairy to ever exist, a being as powerful as many gods. We just did what was believed to be impossible."

"Don't expect Titania to be that easy," Nathaniel said. "We got lucky against Oberon, and this room held some of the most powerful mages to ever live in any world. And Titania is much, much stronger than her husband."

"He's right," Alex said. "Without my son, grand-niece, myself, and the Thorntons here working together, we would have lost."

"Even if the entire Thornton family gathered," Nathaniel admitted. "We wouldn't have been able to win without the three Leosvars."

"Hey, Meredith," Adam greeted his cousin. "I guess getting you is why Gramps took so long?"

"Yeah," she smiled at him. "Still changing your appearance every other week?"

"I only did that for a year," he laughed, then looked around. "Alright, once we finish healing up, we'll go over the plan, then I'll open the gate. We'll destroy the forest, find Titania, and give her Oberon's finger. She'll probably know it immediately. Actually, I'm getting a box."

Adam disappeared, and Meredith frowned.

"Probably to put the rest of Oberon's remains in," Alex told her, and she rolled her eyes.

Adam reappeared with a shoebox, which he then used to house Oberon's rotted remains, carefully setting the finger and broken ring on top, before closing it and looking at everyone, thinking.

"With our weakened states," he said. "We'll need some reinforcements. I know a few hundred people who might be willing to come to aid Cameron's rescue and the fairies' destruction. Everyone, meet at my arena in one hour, I'm sending out word. Gramps, create a spatial expansion within it to house a couple thousand people, and make sure it lasts at least a day."

Adam disappeared, and Eden walked over to Greyson.

"How are your wings?"

"Feeling better," Greyson groaned. "She said she'll probably be done in around fifteen minutes."

"Cool," Eden said. "Haven't seen you at the arena since it resumed after the auction."

"Dad told me about what happened," Greyson looked sad. "Will this really free Cam?"

"If he hasn't been turned into a tree yet?" Eden asked. "No. If he has, then it'll end him, so that he won't live through that agony. And we might be able to find out where they're keeping him."

Greyson nodded, and Eden looked to the adults, who were conversing about the plan, as well as any reinforcements they were bringing in themselves to assist with it. The last two weeks had been hell for him, even though he knew the angels had been fighting to find the captured demigod.

As Eden walked away, his cell rang, and he pulled it out. The screen had cracked in the fight, but that was all. Frowning at the name that appeared on his screen, he answered the phone.

"Callum," Eden said.

"Eden," Callum said. "I've still found no word on my cousin's whereabouts. Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help you guys?"

Eden almost rejected the demigod. Adam suspected he was Ulfar in human form, especially since he had a ring that blocked all mind magic from working on him. Because of that, they weren't supposed to be in contact with him.

But if he was Ulfar, then he could potentially bring in some extra power, which they would need. Titania had been rumored to be staying at the Fairy Forest, and someone as powerful as him would make a huge difference in a fight against her.

Especially one where she was prepared for the fight, not a grab and go like Oberon.

"We're about to confront Titania and a bunch of other fairies," Eden told him. "And destroy their forest. Do you want to help?"