Everytime Willow ran into her old friend Amity a wide range of emotions would surge through her - hurt, frustration, confusion, but none of them were ever as prevalent as the sense of betrayal she got when she saw the other witch acting like there was nothing between them when she saw Amity with her friends but most of all when she saw how poorly Amity treated not only her and but everyone the people around her.
As Willow watched her former friend walk confidently through the crowd she noticed that another witch was approaching Amity confidently without a hint of nervousness or fear to her as she stopped a few paces away who watched the approach without a change of expression.
"Amity Blight, I challenge you to a duel here and now. Do you accept?" Bria asked with a friendly smile on her face.
"Oh Amity vs Bria this should be a good one."
"Oh, you know them?" Luz asked.
Whatever Gus said in response was lost to Willow as she watched how Amity reacted.
Compared to Amity, Bria would be stuttering and hesitant as Amity would walk up to the girl slowly and purposefully with the smirk of someone who expected victory to come in short order. Amity's golden eyes gazed at Bria with a focus that Willow was equally impressed and unnerved by.
"I accept your challenge. You may have the first turn." Willow could never understand why Amity would always grow especially cold at being challenged to a duel. Silently the two prepared themselves. Willow watched how Amity would bring out her duel disc, an elegant one with dark purple edges and green center with a prideful smirk as her cards manifested to appear in the deck zone and she drew them with a careful hand.
As the two witches went to create the duel field Willow noticed Gus watching her with a concerned gaze as he talked with the human speaking too fast for her to keep up with in her distracted state of mind. Gus silently nodded his head to the far-off distance in asking without words if she wanted to leave. Sending a smile at her concerned friend Willow shook her head wanting to see how the duel played out though why she couldn't explain herself.
"Very well I activate the spell card Canyon and I shall set one monster face down and two cards face down. As Willow watched the field give rise to earth walls till the two duelists were at the bottom of a canyon.
"My turn I summon to the field Gagagigo in attack mode, set a card face down, and activate my spell card Ascending Soul ." On Amity's side of the field, a blue-ish green reptilian warrior appeared on the field with sharp claws and wicked spikes protruding on his body and tail. Strangely the warrior had a noble bearing to him probably way more than Amity will ever have to herself Willow thought with a sneer. As she watched Amity haughtily order her monster to attack Willow wondered how she could ever have been friends with someone so hateful and power-hungry. All she ever seemed to care about was being the best or to be accurate being better than anyone else in the room and making sure that everyone knew it. As the reptilian warrior charged the face-down card Bria let a smirk on her face that went unnoticed by Amity. When Gagagigo attacked the card there was a flash of smoke revealing a line of stone statue moai heads. The reptile's attack only ended up hurting itself much to the amusement of the crowd as it nursed its aching claw.
Amity Blight: 4000-300 = 3700
"Oh, I see you forgot that my field spell doubles any damage taken when one of my rock monsters is attacked in defense mode Oh, and how my Stone Statue Head doubles any battle damage when you attack it?"
"Oh, I wouldn't be so confident if I was you after all that's going to be all the damage you're going to give me today."
"Believe me this is just me getting started."
"Is it though?" Amity asked with an amused yet collected look.
"I know your deck Bria all you do is hide your life points behind your rock monsters, summon your one high-level monster to protect your little pebbles, and use your back row to do any damage. It's why you won't win this time either."
"Big talk let's see you prove it, Blight."
As opposed to Amity's calm behavior Bria all but growled her commands.
"I will activate my two face down Rock Bombardment cards whereby sending a rock monster to the graveyard from my deck you're hit with 500 points of damage.
Two catapults appeared on the field and from Bria's deck two stone figures appeared, one a simple Giant Soldier of Stone that Willow recognized without issue the other one Willow couldn't recognize that looked more like a robot on the verge of breaking down than a rock golem that Bria typically favored. The two loaded themselves into the catapults and launched themselves at Amity who just raised an eyebrow at the second creature as she was hit by it.
"Since my Tackle Crusader was sent to the graveyard I get to change your little lizard into face-down defense position mode." Bria laughed as parts of Tackle Crusader ricocheted off Amity and into her monster who diapered in a cloud of rubble only for its card to appear facedown where it once was.
Amity Blight: 3700-1000=2700
"Now then Blight, is it my turn yet?"
"Since you seem so eager, go ahead."
"Okay, then I special summon my activate my Gigastone Omega by banishing my Giant Soldier of Stone and my Tackle Crusader."
Bria looked positively gleeful as she took a deep breath and summoned forth a massive turtle-like creature that was covered with spikes and was made of blood-red stone. The creature roared as it settled into a defensive posture.
"Now I shall summon my Destroyer Golem to the field and I shall XYZ summon using my Golem and Stone Statue Head to bring forth Gallant Granite." Willow watched as first a stone golem with a richly decorated right arm appeared on the field only to almost immediately turn into a bright light as it entered the overlay network as it and the stone statue monster swirled around from which emerged a shiny metallic figure dressed in robes and dual wield with a sword in each hand.
"Now then I will activate my Granite's effect by detaching my Destroyer Golem allowing me to add my Gigantes card to my hand." The figure took a meditative pose and brown-colored light emerged from it as another speck of light was added to Bria's hand.
"Now then I will banish my golem to special summon my Gigantes."
A swirling portal began to emerge and a red giant wielding a massive tree trunk as a makeshift club emerged and roared its might with a furious yell.
"Now then I will attack your lizard with my Gigantes and then come at you directly with my Gallant Granite.
As the red giant swung its club the faces of the two duelists were as different as night and day. Bria was full of rage and excitement as the club landed on the card revealing the reptile once again until he was shattered into pieces as the steel warrior moved in. Meanwhile, Amity's face was smirking, a sight that went unseen to the other witch who was focused on what she saw as her impending victory. Though Willow could tell that Amity was putting a brave front with the way she clenched her fist and the tension in her frame. If Bria had her third monster in attack mode Amity would have lost the duel.
Amity Blight: 2700-2300=400
"You go, Bria!"
"Let's go, you got this Bria."
As a whole, the whole crowd was rooting for Bria and was elastic to see Amity on the cusp of leaving. While some may be friends of Bria, others just liked being on the winning team, many however were in fact happy that Amity seemed like she was going to be the loser for once.
Even Gus was rooting for Bria loudly cheering her on with his usual enthusiasm for pretty much everything despite their history. Meanwhile, Luz just looked like she was having the time of her life as she swerved her head back and forth between the two.
A part of Willow felt a little bad at seeing how Amity had no one around to support her as the cheers for Bria continued. She didn't consider herself a sadistic person but seeing Amity being knocked off her high horse was bringing her emotions she didn't know she could feel and she wasn't comfortable with how mean-spirited they felt but damn did they feel right to her.
Conflicted Willow watched the duel unfold not cheering as she thought of her former friend and who she was now.
"Wow, Amity Blight looks like she's in trouble. Bria sure is a rocking duelist." Luz said as she nudged Gus with her elbow only to be met with silence as the cheering crowd around her stopped and stared at Luz.
"I have no regrets."
Meanwhile, Bria had gestured for Amity to take her turn.
"Come on Blight stalling is just sad, draw your card or maybe you could just surrender and save me some time."
"Pride comes before a fall, Bria."
Amity, while initially proud of her one-liner, would blush when she saw the crowd give her an unimpressed look.
"What? Don't give me that look."
From the back of the crowd, someone yelled hypocrite while Willow somehow had another surge of anger towards the other witch.
"Whatever I summon the monster Sonic Bird and I choose to add to my hand the ritual card End of the World".
A giant eagle appeared on the field wearing a pair of goggles and a jetpack strapped to its back. After declaring the name of the spell card the bird would flap its wings and take to the skies with its jetpack activated and as it did so a glowing outline of a card appeared from the deck slot in Amity's duel disk that then appeared on the bird's talons as it flew over Amity and dropped the card where it was gracefully grabbed by Amity who added it to her hand with a flourish.
"Say what you will about her but you have to admit she has style." Gus said offhandedly before noticing the look Willow had sent his way.
"Not that you know excuses everything else about her!" Gus said rapidly, waving his hands back and forth to which Willow responded by silently looking away from him.
"Hey Mittens, why does a bird need a jetpack and goggles?" A random voice called from the crowd.
"Because it's gotta go fast sonic gotta go faster Sonic Bird." Luz said in a sing-song tone to which the crowd just looked at her confused.
"Weird way of putting it but good point I guess?" The same voice from before called out sounding unsure of itself.
"That would have killed in the human realm." Luz said with a pout. Somehow Willow doubted it even as Gus started begging for a lesson about human humor.
Meanwhile, the two duelists themselves shared an annoyed look when they noticed that the crowd was losing interest in them though Amity in particular would glare at a specific part of the crowd.
"Alright, Bria take a picture this is as close to beating me as you'll ever get." Amity regained her smirk as she looked over her cards. Though Willow noticed it dropped a little when she overheard the crowd murmur in disapproval over her lackluster taunt.
"There is no way Demise can help you know you don't even have the life points to use him."
The sight of Amity rolling her eyes would have not been anything noteworthy if she didn't also notice Luz do the same with her eyes in the same manner at nearly the same time out of the corner of her eye. The confusion of seeing it would distract her from her bitter thoughts.
"Hey Luz, what's with that look?"
"I don't want to give you guys any spoilers but let's just say Bria's day might get a little Ruined if you know what I mean," Luz said as she nudged a giggling Gus while Willow just shook her head at the joke and moved on.
"First I activate the spell card Ascending Soul."
"Too bad you won't last long enough to use it."
" I activate my End of the World spell to summon my Ruin, Queen of Oblivion by sacrificing my Ruin, Angel of Oblivion, and my Sonic Bird. Oh, and my Ascending Soul card allows for me to add back to my hand one of the monsters I used for a ritual summon and I choose my Sonic Bird."
"Ha jokes on you Blight that isn't enough to stop Gallant Granite or my Gigastone Omega."
"Maybe if you didn't insist on interpreting I would be able to say I am equipping her with the spell card Black Pendant giving 500 more attack points. No wonder Glandus is such a disappointment if its students can't let someone else speak for a measly five seconds."
Bria only growled as Amity took her turn.
As the eagle monster turned into a green light, a golden light enveloped a card that floated into the air. The two lights went into and swirling and from which emerged a pale woman with silver hair dressed in flattering red robes wielding a red double-bladed ax. After the figure emerges a black pendant materialized on the Queen that caused her to glow with a faint dark blue light for a moment before returning to normal. Behind the witch, one of the lights had returned from the altar and would materialize into Amity's hand as a card.
"Now I shall cut your little metal toy into pieces with my Queen, go get him Ruin."
The angel monster calmly walked over to the stone creature and with a single swing of the ax shattered it into pieces with an awful screech that had the audience covering their ears in pain.
Bria:4000-500=3500
"Now then time for the encore Ruin sends that little red giant packing."
With an imperious point of her finger, Amity commanded her monster to attack Gigantes who shattered into a multitude of pieces that rained down on the field even hitting Ruin.
"Hey Mittens, how can a giant be little?" A mocking voice vaguely familiar to Willow called out from the crowd. Amity rolled her eyes but otherwise did not respond.
Bria:3500-900=2600
"Oh, nice effort there Blight but it seems like you won't be able to turn this duel around after all when it is destroyed all spells and traps go bye-bye as well."
"Oh I was counting on it, I wanted you to wipe my field."
"Wait what!"
"Well for starters you take 500 damage when the pendant was destroyed.
Bria:2600-500=2100
When the smoke cleared there was Ruin without any jewelry standing next to a golden two-armed serpent creature with a vicious smirk who had their arms crossed.
"Second, you remember that card I claimed from you the last time I beat you."
"Statue of the Wicked," Bria said with a growl.
"Then you remembered that if it's set and then destroyed it allows me to summon a token to the field."
Bria looked murderous as she drew her next card.
The crowd grew silent in anticipation as they watched the two young witches one with the superior monster but with barely any life points left to their name.
"I set one card face down and end my turn," Bria said at last in a blank tone as a facedown card appeared into her field fist clenched. Seeing this murmurs broke out amongst the crowd wondering if Amity had won the duel or if Bria had more tricks up her sleeve.
Willow watched Amity curious if she would give away what she was truly thinking in regards to this as she drew her card.
"Why do you bother? All you are doing is putting off your loss for a few seconds at best."
"Would you shut the fuck up for once you stuck up little!"
"If you are going to insult at least finish the insult or have you used up all the words in your vocab. Wait, that was out of line." Amity adopted an apologetic expression for a moment before a cruel expression took its place."
"I'm sorry I shouldn't mock a Glandus for having such a limited vocabulary by Hexside standards. I'm sure you're pretty advanced by Glandus standards."
Willow's blood boiled as she saw Amity fake kindness just to mock the person even more. It seems some things never changed. As Willow clenched her fists she felt a pull from her bile sack and she knew from experience that her eyes were going to start glowing soon if she didn't calm her nerves soon.
"It looks like Amity won this duel," Gus said offhandedly, turning her head Willow saw that her friend was looking back and forth between Bria and Amity with a look of concentration
"What makes you say that?" Luz asked with a tilt of her head. "I mean sure Amity had an awesome comeback but what if Bria has another Rock Bombardment or something one hit and Amity is done for."
To be honest, Willow had almost forgotten about the human she just had met. Willow turned to face both of them curious as to why Gus made his judgment.
"Oh, it's pretty simple when you think about while Amity isn't the type to show much emotion if she can help it Bria on the other hand isn't the best at it even if she is a pretty good liar so since Bria isn't smirking or laughing you can tell she can't do much this turn at least," Gus said counting off his points with his fingers.
"Alright, Bria it's time to end this. I normal summon my Sonic Bird to the field once again and I bring my Emblem of the Awakening spell card to my hand."
The familiar eagle equipped with a jetpack and googles appeared on the field and when the bird flew over Amity it dropped a glowing light into Amity's hand manifesting as a card.
"Now then I activate Emblem of the Awakening to ritual summon Cú Chulainn the Awakened using my Statue of the Wicked"
On the field, the token monster was enveloped in black light as a white trifold emblem with a center made of interlocking green, red and blue pieces with a gold circle in each of them appeared in the field. Once the light had enveloped them the serpent flew into one section of the centerpiece which began to spin and from when the spinning stopped a humanoid figure with brown hair and decorated silver armor appeared on the field wielding a spear.
"Now then I will have my Chulainn banish my Gagagigo from my graveyard to increase his attack power to a total of 2350 and now my warrior attack Bria's pebble!" Amity pointed her finger at the stone giant with a smirk before dropping the arm to her sides.
The spear-wielding warrior twirled his weapon for a moment as it glowed and a golden aura resembling the reptilian warrior manifested over him. When Amity's command was given the warrior charged at the beast and with a single motion the beast was destroyed.
Seeing her monster destroyed with Amity still having more monsters on her side of the field to attack her with Bria growled in anger
Now then Ruin it is time we finish this takedown that facedown and then go for Bria herself."
"And Amity wins again." Willow sighed to herself as she watched the monster rush towards the facedown card and with a single swipe of her ax a second destroyer golem appeared for a moment before it shattered into a million pieces Without missing a beat Ruin spun around on her heel and slashed down on Bria.
Bria:2100-2300=0
"You put up a good fight. You don't need to worry about me taking one of your cards again. I don't want any of them.''Amity said to a defeated-looking Bria.
"Yeah, great dueling Blight." Bria said with a smile that did not reach her ears.
"Now if you excuse me I will like to continue with my day. Amity briskly walked away from Bria without looking back. Willow expressionless watched as she left the crowd on her own.
"That was awesome. Amity seemed like she was about to lose but then she had that sweet comeback." Luz said as she widely waved her hands around.
"I'm going to say hi to that cool rock duelist she came so close to beating." Luz said as she rushed off leaving Willow and Gus alone for the moment.
With Amity having left the scene Willow began to feel her anger fade away only to be replaced by sadness as she watched the human talk amicably to Bria, a witch who was little better than Amity in her eyes yet they both had so much going for them than she had sometimes she isn't sure why Gus still hangs around her.
"Come Gus let's go." Willow said wanting to move on with her day not wanting to have to deal with the emotional turmoil she feels every time she sees Amity. Her anger scares her and Willow never wanted to see what happened if she lost control. Memories of a large roar and rose petals flying through the air.
Yet every time she sees that smirk she feels something building inside of her, something ugly something powerful.
Something that felt so right.
"Shouldn't we wait for Luz?" Gus asked with a tilt of his head, seemingly oblivious to Willow's inner turmoil.
Before Willow could answer, the human in question came rushing over.
"Oh my gosh, I love the Boiling Isles so much! I need to do some more dueling" Luz said with a smile that had more excitement than Willow would have ever thought was possible to be contained in a single witch.
"Ooh, I would love to duel a human!" Gus seemed determined to match Luz's enthusiasm with his own, leaving Willow wondering if they are stuck in a positive energy feedback loop as she watched the two talk.
"Luz help me!" Willow was shaken out of her thoughts by a high pitched squeal. Turning around she saw the demon that was hanging out with Luz earlier being chased by a bunch of demon and witch children who were screaming and laughing with delight. He would frantly hide behind Luz who took one look at the crowd and took off running with a shrug Willow and Gus would chase after them.
The chase filled her with a warm feeling which washed away the last of the residues of her anger but left in its place a sense of longing that Willow refused to believe she was feeling. Yet a certain thought would not leave her head no matter how much she tried to ignore it.
Amity why wasn't I good enough for you.