After settling the matters with the witch hunters, things died down and the witches found that they had a secret protector.
They were both relieved and fearful of what Edmond's role would eventually become in terms of his life amongst Estoria and her children as he might vanish as quickly as he appeared.
The days passed and with the passage of time came the arrival of the rest of the crew.
The ship landed a bit away from the Marvelo home away from any prying eyes.
Theef had done his best with the new ship even giving it camouflage features and silenced thrusters just in case he needed to be secretive in a moment like now.
The ship housed many rooms in addition to all of the old features like the frozen tear refrigerator.
And with Null to provide one of the best fuels in the form of spirit energy, the streamlined ship could be considered one of the best for the low cost it was made from.
Null, Theef, Klein, Z'oelo, Muni, and Evangeline exited the ship and met with Edmond, Tino, Angie, and Estoria outside in the woods.
While Edmond and Evangeline held each other in a warm embrace after not seeing each other for a while, the rest of the crew got to formally meet the twins and their mother.
Null hovered behind the rest, observing the actions and demeanor of the two former friends.
He was not sure how they felt after being subjected to a painful death that could have separated them had they not been so lucky.
On the other side, Tino and Angie were surprised by so many new faces.
"It's nice to meet you all," Tino smiled while thinking inwardly, 'Is that metal thing floating by itself?!'
Clearly, he was enchanted by Muni's beauty no doubt.
Angie herself was disappointed at the lack of female members of the crew, but her eyes landed on Klein who looked dazzling.
'Even his nails are pretty,' she thought while looking at her normal looking nails.
She had never been the glamorous type— especially after hanging out with a bunch of guys— but she was still a bona fide female.
Edmond cut the meeting short as he held Evangeline's hand, "Now that we've gotten introductions out of the way, why don't we settle down in the house?"
Estoria agreed and led the crew into her humble abode.
"Um. Is that blood," Klein was the first to notice the summoning circle.
"That's what I've been working on with the help of Edmond. It's a summoning circle. Wanna see?"
"Of course! What kind of things can you summon? Is there a reason you have to use your blood to make the summoning circle?"
Klein fired off a bunch of questions to which Tino answered gladly.
As they were preparing to summon another slime, Null stepped closer to take a look.
Tino saw this, but remembered the deal he had with Ego, so he put his ire towards Null to the back of his mind.
They had not spoken a single word to each other yet, but only time would tell whether the wounds Null inflicted would heal.
Tino focused on chanting, his mind clearing from the excess thoughts and before long, another slime had been summoned.
"Awesome!"
Klein was excited, but Z'oelo seemed a little bit confused, "What the hell is that oversized booger?"
"It's a slime. They're a mass of jelly contained in a thin membrane that are simple beings who spend their time consuming whatever they find around them."
Estoria had been informed on many of the beings in the Book of Summons that she read with Angie.
"That's not even the best part," Tino said as he took his shirt off and scribbled the transference circle on his chest, "Just watch."
He pressed his bloody palm on the slime and it began dissolving into a puddle on the ground.
"You took its power?!"
From across the room, Theef yelled as he immediately grew interested in the process he just witnessed.
"I absorbed its essence, yes. I've already absorbed plenty of demonic essence as well with the help of Edmond."
Theef was stunned even further.
Not even he could absorb anything from consuming demons.
It was as if the energy contained inside the demons was incompatible with his digestion and his body rejected the substance.
"That's amazing! I can't believe there exists such a method of energy transference," Null spoke without trying to ruin the moment, but clearly Tino wished to ignore his presence.
Ego then exited Null's mind and walked towards Tino with a whisper, "I already told you to set your useless emotions aside. Smile a little, would you? Remember about the good moments when Null was nothing but happy to be a part of your crew."
Tino thought back to the floating baby with a rainbow blanket draped over his body.
Null had been so genuine and ignorant to the matters of the world despite his capability to wield powerful energies.
Then, he looked at the present Null who had miraculously grown once more and tried to separate him from the Null that was taken over by the childish Void.
He spoke, "I wonder if I could gain some of your talent if I used this method on you."
The room went silent, but Null took the hypothesis as genuine, "I don't think that's entirely possible, but I'm down to try."
"Oh no you don't," Klein interrupted, "Word of advice, Tino, don't fall for his scam-like talks of quick and easy methods of improvements. I nearly died the one time."
Tino felt a little sweat form on his back, but smiled awkwardly, "I've got some ideas about my own improvement for the foreseeable future. But I've heard you can perform another miracle with the spirit energy you control."
"That's what I've been missing!"
Null's aura flared in both parts forest green and indigo.
"Come. Both of you. I have a feeling this time's going to be a bit special given that you're both human. Witchcraft should open up the possibility for you to change innately."
"A-are you sure this won't hurt," Angie grew cautious after hearing Klein's tale of a near death experience.
"Honestly, it feels better than anything in the universe," Evangeline spoke up this time.
"Yeah, it's like you're a bug molting or something similar," Klein added.
"Once you commit, there's no going back," Z'oelo said cryptically.
"Just focus on yourself and allow the spirit energy to do its thing. The process is best kept naturally," Barter's Ruler aimed to ease her worry.
'You got me, Ego?'
'Damn straight!'
With his palms pressed on each of the twins' shoulders, Null allowed the vortex to change into the navy-blue tentacles that wrapped themselves and began transferring the stored spirit energy into them.
Within moments, the two were exhibiting changes as their bodies glowed with the transformation.
Tino grew a bit larger in size during the process and his demonic appearance faded as his horn receded back into his head and his teeth and nails lost their sharpness.
Angie remained the same aside from her hair changing from black to having indigo highlights.
As Null said, the change would be more innate instead of physical.
When it was finished, Tino felt his forehead and checked his teeth, "What happened? Why are my summoned traits gone?"
Meanwhile, Angie was ecstatic, "My mind feels manifolds clearer! And I feel a slight difference somewhere."
"It'll take some time, but you should explore the new changes to your bodies," Null offered a hand to pull them up.
Hearing his advice, Tino stopped focusing on the outside and started looking inwards.
He still felt the demonic hunger and the slime devouring feelings, so the change to his physical features did not mean he lost the power brought upon by the absorbed essences.
Then he thought of the reason behind the change, 'It must be a fault to abandon my humanity. I guess we're adaptable when it came to it. My blood. I can feel a change inside my blood."
As for the specifics, he would find out later.
"One more thing," Tino said, "Could I get some of your blood?"
Null looked at Tino, the distant attitude from before no longer there, sincerity pouring through, "As long as you're a part of the crew, I'll help you out however I can."
He laughed, "This crew you've got isn't too shabby. I think me and Angie will fit right in. Right?"
Angie laughed as well, "At least there's another girl with me this time around."
The floating weapon next to Z'oelo moved around as if to convey a message.
Z'oelo relayed it to her, "Right. This is Muni, here. You can't see her spirit form, but this fine piece is technically her body."
Angie was gobsmacked, 'Even a weapon is a girl?!'
All the while, the rest of them focused on another aspect, 'Fine piece?!'
With the two flames of the new chart found, Null figured he would be regrouping with the Castello crew faster than he initially prepared.
Who was to say that the others would not feel the same feeling of being wronged?
All Null knew was that he would show his earnest feelings about wanting to make things right.
The Castello Crew would rise up once more only this time they would journey Null's way.