Chapter 5: Covention

Out in Bonesborough, me, Luz, Juniper, and Eda—I mean, Mom—were out in the streets, running Mom's "human trinkets" stand. A few days had passed since the Boiling Rain Day incident where me and Luz learned that the very witch helping us was cursed into turning into a vicious demon called the Owl Beast which is the reason why she was called the Owl Lady. It was a long day there, but it did reap some rewards. After we saved her, the Owl Lady revealed to me that she herself was actually the mom who I had been searching for all my life and that me and Juniper were actually twins. Needless to say, I was surprised but happy that I got to meet both my mom and the sister I didn't know I had. None of us had told Luz yet as Mom wasn't sure if she was ready for Luz's storm of questions once we told her the truth. I still called Mom "Oka-san" and Juniper "Onee-san" from time to time as part of the deal until we revealed everything about us. Anyway, the house was repaired and me and Luz continued to stay with my mom and sis. Right now, at the stand, we all waited around for customers to come by and buy stuff from us. Though business was really slow, so we all tried to keep ourselves busy until either a customer shows up or it was time to head back to the house. Mom was busy dusting the stuff we were gonna sell and Juniper was sleeping under the table while me and Luz were reading The Good Witch Azura, King listening in as we caught his interest.

"Emboldened by the dishonor Hecate had shown, Azura lifted her staff to the cotton-candy skies and shouted 'I challenge you to a witch's duel!'" Luz said as she read the book before using the corner to show a two-page flipbook of Azura and Hecate dueling each other with their magic clashing. "And look! I drew a flip book. Pew, pew, pew!"

"Show me the picture!" King requested, Luz lowering the book to look at him.

"What?" Luz said, confused.

"Show me the picture!" The demon repeated his request, Luz granting it by showing him the images she drew before he responded in a smug tone. "Hah! I can draw better than that. You know, they once called me the 'King of Artists'."

"Wait, I thought you were the King of Demons." Luz said as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, so did I." I added with the same look. "Is that true or are you just making this up now?"

"He's making it up, obviously." Juniper chimed in as she got out from under the table and stood up.

"Doesn't matter." King replied as my sister stretched, not caring a bit about her comment. "What's important is that my followers would leave me offerings in fear of me!"

"Well, I can offer you more of this tantalizing book." Luz offered.

"Ugh! Please don't." Juniper groaned out in annoyance.

"Luz, stop reading that book." Mom said as she came out of the tent, holding a feather duster. "Its flowery language is an insult to witches and driving away all our serious customers."

"Uh, Oka-san?" I said before gesturing to the streets which were void of any people, witch and demon alike. "What customers?"

"Yeah, Mom." Juniper put in. "As much as I agree with ya about that book, we haven't seen one single person walk by or even go through this street in hours."

"Yeah, they're right. And there aren't any other stands around either." Luz added before turning to Mom with concern, all of us noticing we were the only stand on the street. "What's going on?"

"This is a bad omen." Mom said in a fearful tone. "There must be something horrible happening today."

"Luz! Juni! Ryuji!" Hearing the familiar voice of Gus, we turned to see the little warlock along with Willow running up to us. "Something amazing is happening today!"

"Gus! Willow! Hey!" Luz greeted our friends.

"Hey, guys." I greeted them. "What exactly is going on today? Does it have to do with why the streets aren't flooded right now?"

"Actually, yes." Willow said before she held up a poster that showed the picture of a young witch looking into a cauldron, the reflection of a grown-up witch showing in the brew along with some writing. Above the witch, it said "Covention" and said "Which coven are you?" on the cauldron. "It's the annual Covention!"

"Covention?" I asked, confused by this.

"It's short for 'Coven Convention'." Juniper explained with a nonchalant expression. "It's a thing all the covens get together for to show off what they got."

"Yeah, she's right." Willow said. "Student witches and warlocks get to see all types of covens before they're placed in one."

"So it's a job fair for witches?" I asked.

"Well, yes. And look!" Willow confirmed before she pointed to some writing on the bottom of the poster that said "Mystery Guest!", keeping her excited smile. "There's even a mystery guest this year!" Luz gasped in excitement before she leaned up against her mentor.

"Eda, can we go?" Luz eagerly asked.

"Absolutely not." Mom answered, making Luz groan as she slid to the ground with a thud.

"Luz, you do realize that this 'Covention' thing isn't something that neither me, Oka-san, or Onee-san can do, right?" I said to my friend. "The Emperor's Coven could be there and you know they're hunting me."

"Yeah, and they'll arrest me and Mom on the spot if they found us." Juniper added.

"See? Juni and Ryuji get it. Besides, I never joined a coven for a reason." Mom said to her. "Sure, it's like a fun club for witches, but you're also giving up your magical independence to be part of a crooked system!"

"Uh, Oka-san?" I said as I pointed to my friends from Hexside as Willow had a sad smile while Gus looked upset.

"Eh, but you know, no judgement." The Owl Lady said.

"She's not wrong." I said, speaking to my friends. "The Coven System has done nothing but split the people of the Isles apart. Which is why neither me or Juni want anything to do with it."

"Yeah!" Juniper agreed as we then did a high-five.

"And I don't want any part of it either." Mom said before she then looked away while pondering in thought. "That's why I haven't been to a Covention since we were girls."

"Wait, 'we'?" I said, hearing what she said. "Did you just say 'we'?"

"Oh, uh… I-I…" Mom stuttered as she realized what she said.

"Who's 'we'?" Luz said as she then shot back up with a smile.

"I… The…I mean…" She stuttered again before her student then pointed to her.

"You have a mysterious past!" Luz exclaimed. "Now we gotta go!"

"Yeah, I'm now interested to see how this will go." I said with a smile.

"Well, you're not gonna see anything ʹcause we ain't going." Mom said, crossing her arms.

"How about you, Juni?" I asked my twin. "Want to see if we can uncover anything about Oka-san?"

"As much I would like to do that, I'm the same as Mom." Juniper told me as she walked over to stand beside our mom. "There's no way I'm going to that thing."

"Alright then." I said before I turned to Luz. "Luz, bust out the big guns."

"With pleasure." Luz said before she then gave her book to King.

"No." Juniper said as she and Mom looked at us with shock, realizing what we were doing.

"Oh, yeah." I nodded before motioning to the demon. "King, read."

"King, don't you dare." Juniper said, pointing a threatening finger at the little demon.

"'You shall not doeth more harm!' Azura called out…" King said as he began reading out loud, much to the displeasure of my mom and sis.

"Oh, so flowery…" Mom cringed in disgust.

"So awful!" Juniper chimed in, feeling much the same.

Mom then pulled out the portal key before using it to summon the portal she had. Seeing her and my twin trying to escape, Luz quickly grabbed King and tossed him through the portal, the little demon landing on my mom's head as he kept reading.

"Hecate could only screech, screech as did she…" King said as he was then tossed through the portal.

"Ni. San. Ichi." I said with a knowing smile, using my fingers as I counted down in Japanese.

"Okay, okay! You win!" Mom said as she and Juniper came back. "We'll go to the Covention!"

"Yeah! We'll do anything!" Juniper pleaded as she covered her ears with her hands. "Just make it stop!"

Moments later, we were all standing in front of the building where the Covention was being held, its sign saying "Covention: Come find your coven!" While I smiled at the flat expressions of my mom and sister, Luz smiled with Gus and Willow as they were excited to be there.

"Ooh! I can't believe we're here!" Luz squealed excitedly. "Think about how much we're gonna learn about covens! And all the kinds of magic they have!"

"Okay, Luz. Calm down." I said with a chuckle as I gently put a hand on her shoulder. "You're acting like Ruby on her first day at Beacon."

"Sorry." She said with an embarrassed smile.

"Ruby?" Gus asked, confused by this. "Who's Ruby?"

"Ruby Rose. She's this character from RWBY." I explained to him. "A comic book series back in the human realm."

"Ohhh." Gus said, understanding what I mean. "We have those here too. So is Ruby anything like Luz?"

"Yeah, in more ways than one." I told him. "Which Luz takes a compliment as Ruby's her favorite character."

"Yeah, ʹcause she's awesome!" Luz exclaimed before telling our friends about Ruby. "Ruby Rose, a young newbie huntress who started out at Signal Academy under the teachings of her uncle Qrow Branwen, got a chance to become a real huntress by going to Signal Academy which is one of the top Huntsman Academies in all of Remnant! With her scythe Crescent Rose and beautiful rose petal Semblance, she leads Team RWBY as she follows in the footsteps of her late mom Summer Rose."

"Wait, her name is Ruby and her team is named after her?" Gus said, surprised by this.

"Well, the team's name is spelled with a 'w' instead of a 'u'." I told him, getting a raised brow from the warlock. "I'll explain later." I then whispered to him. "Between you and me, my Oka-san actually reminds me a lot of Qrow."

"Really?" Gus asked with surprise.

"Yeah, only Qrow is drunk all the time." I said with an amused smile. "Other than that, they pretty much act the same."

"If you're done with your nerd talk, Ryuji," Juniper said as we turned to see her and King trying to help Mom put her cowl on, "mind helping us with Mom's hood?"

"Yeah. We need to keep a low profile, remember?" Mom told me.

"Oh, right. Coming, Oka-san!" I said before I then joined the trio helping my mom, stuffing her hair into the cowl.

"Is the cowl really necessary?" Luz asked.

"In this case? Yeah." I told her.

"Yeah, you think all mine and Juni's wanted posters are for petty theft?" Mom asked as we finally got her cowl on, right before multiple items fell out of her cowl and onto the ground.

"Not me. That crime is just mainly you." Juniper bluntly told her.

"Okay, so I do the thieving." Mom said as she started picking up the stuff and stuffing them back into her cowl. "But the big whammy is that me and my husband disobeyed the law and refused to join a coven. Also because I never let Juniper be taught by any 'official' teacher in magic." Juniper put her hood on as Mom continued. "If either one of us is seen, we could go to jail."

"Again." Juniper bluntly added.

"Which is why we'll make sure it won't happen this time." I said to my relatives while putting my own hood on.

"Maybe this informative event will inspire you both to join a coven." Willow said, causing Juniper to use a small spell circle to pull her cowl's hood over her face.

"Juni!" I said before I then help Willow get her hood off. "Sorry, Willow, but these two had made their decision. So it would be wise not to push the option of covens onto them."

"I see." Willow said with an understanding smile.

"Let's just get this over with." Mom said, very much not thrilled with this whole ordeal going on with my sister being much the same.

Going inside, both me and Luz were amazed as we saw the whole building full of different stands which had members of each coven manning them.

"Sugoi." I said in awe.

"Was I even alive before now?" Luz asked, feeling much the same.

"I will admit." Juniper said. "These bozos do know how to attract attention."

Looking above us, I saw there were ten different banners with fancy gold designs which made them alluring hanging from the ceiling, one of them being azure and having the sigil of the Warriors Coven. The other nine were each a different color and had a different symbol. One was brown with a symbol that looked like a fist cracked in two from the first knuckle down across to the pinky finger with the two halves being two different browns, one was purple with a symbol that looked like an eye with thick purple eyelashes on top and there dark purple eyelashes with the middle being bigger than the other two on the bottom, one was orange with the image of an egg in a nest and a pig-like animal with a snake tongue hatching from the egg, the green one had a symbol resembling something close to a Venus flytrap, the dark blue one having the symbol of a bandaged hand, the yellow one had the image of a bubbling potion, the pink one had a symbol that looked like the dripping head of one of those abominations, and the sky blue one had the image of a silver mirror with its shadow behind it.

"Hey, what are those banners for?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Those are for the Main Ten Covens." Gus explained. "But there are hundreds of other covens you can join."

"Let me guess: the selection is made up of branching covens of nine of the Main Ten?" I asked, bluntly.

"Well, yeah." Gus said, not affected by the tone I used.

Willow began to list off the ones she knew. "There's Flower Coven, Artist Coven, Big Dog Coven," Willow said as she list off all the covens she knew while we walked amongst the coven stalls. "Small Cat Coven, Tiniest Cat Coven…" My mom groaned in annoyance from hearing that. "Also the Grumpy Coven." She whispered that last part.

"What was that?" Mom said, raising a fist at what Willow said, causing the plant witch, Luz, and Gus to run. We were about to go catch up to them…

"Uh, excuse me, ma'am." We then turned to see a bald warlock looking at Mom, his hand on his chin. "Sorry to bother you, but you look rather familiar." Seeing Mom's wanted posters on a nearby pillar, the three of us became worried as it seemed Mom was going to get exposed.

"Uh… No, I don't." Mom quickly replied with eyes widened in realization. "Smoke bomb!" Seeing no puff of smoke from her actions, we looked to find that she tossed a chip bag labeled "Hex Mix" instead of a fog potion.

Sighing in annoyance, I then made two small spell circles of purple and sky blue before putting my hand through them, the circles combining and turning into a glove of indigo light with a glowing sky blue eye on it before I walked over to the warlock.

"Excuse me." I said as I got the man's attention before slowly waving my hand in front of him, the eye of the glove glowing as he then gained a dazed look on his face. "You saw nothing. Go about your day at the Covention." Now under the trance, the warlock nodded before he then walked away. I then got rid of the glove as the man was out of sight.

"Thanks, kiddo." Mom said as she gave me an impressed smirk. "What spell was that anyway?"

"Oh, just a little 'pay no attention' hypno spell with Oracle Magic and Illusion Magic." I told her. "Big Bro taught me it. That guy will be out of it for ten minutes, so let's get back with Luz and the others." With that, me, Mom, and my sis then went off to catch up with the others, Mom managing to pick up the Hex Mix she threw. By the time we did, something caught Luz's interest.

"Ooh! What's that?" Luz asked as she pointed over to a large warlock with a gray beard wearing a hard hat who seemed to be doing a demonstration for the little conspiracy theorist from the Conformatorium.

"That's the Construction Coven, one of the Main Ten." Willow answered as they watched the warlock take two pallets full of building materials before throwing them into the air, said materials instantly landing in the form of a small house in just seconds. "They use Power Glyphs to increase their strength."

"Wait, glyphs?" Luz said as the warlock took off his hard hat to take out this little white paper from a stack of them under his hat before putting the hat back on before she turned to me. "Ryuji, I thought you said nobody uses Glyph Magic around here."

"I did and that's not Glyph Magic." I said as the warlock took the paper which had his coven sigil on it and removed a plastic cover from it, revealing it to be a sticker. "My dad told me about this. What you see there is an artificial type of glyph that's only made with special properties belonging to one of the nine types of magic, each one having its own sort of affect when placed on someone." We then watched as the warlock places the stick on the conspiracy theorist's nose, the midget giving out a war cry as she was filled with energy a moment later before picking up and throwing the warlock away.

"I'm the destroyer of worlds!" the midget cried out as she then began to go on a rampage, tearing apart the Construction Coven's booth.

"Hey, that's not construction!" A member of the coven protested as he and his fellow members tried to stop her, the midget attacking them.

"Geez! That girl's a maniac!" Juniper said, surprised by this.

"Yowza-wowza!" Luz exclaimed, feeling the same.

"You can say that again." I agreed. Evan agreed before a pale blue copy of her did.

"Yowza-wowza!" said a pale blue double that appeared behind Luz.

"What the…?" I said, shocked by this.

"Yowza-whaaat?" Luz gasped in surprise as we all watched the copy walk over to two students bearing the same colored sleeves and leggings as Gus standing at a stall with the mirror symbol of one of the Main Ten before the copy disappeared.

"Ah! You've been taken in by the allure of the Illusion Coven." Gus said as he stepped forward in front of his fellow Illusion Magic users. "We like to magic with a hint of…" Making his own blue spell circle, he then disappeared from one place and reappeared a foot away in puffs of smoke. "Showmanship." As he did a bow, his two fellow members appeared right behind him.

"Well, it's no mystery which one you wanna join." I said with a knowing smile.

Evan gained an almost evil grin making a spell circle behind his back. "That's not all Illusions can it do." Juniper said as she gave this evil-looking grin before a large, hideous monster with tons of eyes and razor-sharp teeth appeared behind the Illusion Magic users and roared, scaring them before it disappeared in a poof of smoke and Juniper gave a light chuckle. "It's also good for pranks. Zing!" I then gave my sister a look, knowing that wasn't nice. "What?"

"Wow! Acceptance? Comradery? A sense of belonging?" Luz excitedly said. "Covens sound incredible!" She then turned to me. "How come your dad doesn't like covens?"

"It's not just the covens, it's also the Coven System." I explained to her as I lost my smile. "When Belos made these covens, he put up a system that put up strict rules on using magic, rules which are completely unfair."

"He's right. The Coven System makes it to where most witches and warlocks are limited in magic." Mom said as she walked over to us, putting a hand on our shoulders. "That limitation mostly leaves them with one type of magic."

"Really?" Luz said as she lost her smile from the surprise she was feeling.

"Mm-hmm! And the only way that the system would allow you to use more than one type is by joining covens that allow you to." Mom said with a nod. "Right now, the only ones that do that are the Emperor's Coven and the Warriors Coven. If you join a coven that's either branching from or is one of the other nine of that Main Ten, you can only use one type of magic. That's the reason why the schools have kids taking one of those magic tracks, to teach them to only use the magic they picked."

"I don't understand." Luz said. "Even if they don't join covens like the Warriors Coven or the Emperor's Coven, they can still do other magic, right?"

"No, the system makes sure anyone who joins a coven that's not the Warriors Coven or the Emperor's Coven will follow the rules. Watch carefully and you'll see." Mom said as we then turned to see a young warlock about mine and Luz's age with the sleeves and leggings of an Illusion Track student walk over to the coven booth, lifting up his sleeve and holding out his arm while the coven member before him puts on a black leather glove. "See that glove? That is what we call a Branding Glove, something Belos gave to every coven so they can use Sigil Magic."

"Sigil Magic?" Luz asked.

"It's a type of magic Belos showed to the Isles when he put up the system." I explained as the coven member gently took the young warlock's arm and gently placed the palm of his gloved hand on the front of the kid's arm for a short moment before taking it off. "It allows the user to place a special symbol called a sigil on a witch or warlock which places limitations on what they can do with their magic. If you join a coven belonging to one of the nine of the Main Ten, the sigil you get that seals away all your other magic except for the basic magic you get along with the type belonging to that specific coven."

With the mirror sigil of the Illusion Coven on his arm, we then watched blue markings appear around the symbol before spreading all over the kid, leaving him kind of pale as they then disappear.

"See? Now that he joined the Illusion Coven, that kid will only be able to make illusions." Mom said before she then got us both to turn away before she gain a proud smile as she made a ball of fire appear in one hand and a ball of water in the other. "Since I never joined a coven, I can do every kind of magic." After making them disperse, she then began to walk away. "That's why I'm the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles."

"And that's why I'm gonna be just as powerful as her." Juniper said as she walked behind Mom.

"Yeah, pretty sure it's the fact any witch and warlock can get as strong as Oka-san the reason why Belos tries to get everyone branded." I said to Luz. "My dad told me that, out of everyone who follows the system, Belos is the only warlock who doesn't have a sigil. That is how he makes himself look strong."

"Wow. I had no idea." Luz said to me.

"Yeah, though you don't have to worry." I told her with a reassuring smile as we then followed my mom and sister. "Sigil Magic doesn't work on humans, so you're good. Especially considering that the only magic you have is Glyph Magic which is something that not even the sigils can take away." Luz then gave me a grateful smile as we kept on walking.

[No one's view]

As Ryuji and the others were walking away, King was about to join them when someone stopped him, the little demon turning to see a hooded young witch with purple sleeves and leggings.

"The tea leaves foretell that this will lead you to your destiny." The witch said as she twirls a pen in her fingers before placing it in King's paws, the pen having the words "Fortune Tellers" written on it.

"Destiny? Ha!" King said, looking up from the pen to glare at the witch. "I'm not paying for…"

"It's free-e-e." She eerily said to him, slowly backing away while doing pistol motions with her hands.

"Are you bestowing gifts upon me?" King said with surprise before getting excited. "Yes! I accept your offering! The King of Demons is back!"

[Ryuji]

After walking amongst the booths for a while, my attention was soon dragged over to the sound of grunting and metal clashing. Looking to my left, I then saw a booth with the people manning it showing off weapon demonstrations with a warlock axman slamming his axe on a boulder and turning it into pebbles, a witch archer shooting three arrows which hit three separate targets right at the center, and a witch lancer jabbing her lance right through a big thick tree log before tossing it into the air where a warlock swordsman jumped in and slashed at the log with his sword before landing to his feet beside his fellow weapon users as the log he slashed at landed as a pile of smaller logs. With the witches and warlocks smiling proudly, the crowd before the four clapped for their excellent performance. Seeing their azure sleeves and leggings along with one unmistakable coven banner, I knew which coven this was.

"Whoa! Is that…?" I said in disbelief.

"The Warriors Coven, the branching coven of the Emperor's Coven." Gus proudly told me as he walked over to me. "Out of all the Main Ten, they're the most favorite coven."

"I can see why. Those guys are amazing!" I said as I was impressed by this before looking up from seeing a shadow go over me.

It turned out that shadow belonged to this young warlock who had the uniform of Hexside Warriors Track student as he flew around with these draconic bat-like wings made of light with flaps and a single claw on top of each wing being sky blue while the rest were a nightly purple, the wings looking big enough to allow him to fly and soar like an eagle. The weapon in his right hand showed me that he was a lancer. Smiling proudly with his eyes closed, the warlock did an amazing air performance, his lance placed forward as he flew forward. He stopped as he then swung his lance around like he was in battle, even doing a few jabs after some swings. I was quite impressed by how his demonstration of air combat, especially with a lance. Despite his menacing-looking wings, the way he did this made him look like a sky night from the heavens. After a moment of this, the warlock soon brought his performance to an end by gracefully flying down and landing on his feet in front of the four coven members, spreading his wings out wide before the crowd cheered out to him as he opened his eyes to add to the subtle proud expression he had. Now that he had landed, I took noticed of how he looked. He had icy blue eyes, the usual pale skin, and pointed ears. He also had neck-length, neatly combed black hair with bangs along his forehead and the back of his head with red tips. Looking at his weapon, I saw it was a combat lance seeing it had a cone-shaped spear. It was pitch black with a gold tip that looked shaped like four upside-down hearts with diamond-shaped plumes at each top corner and an arrowhead in the middle of each heart. The vamplate was nightly purple with its design looking like a cuff with two gold rings, one on top and one on the bottom, connected by four gold arrowheads. The grip of it was just as black with a gold design that looked like a dragon's spine, a red jewel at the bottom of the grip.

"Who's that guy?" I asked, wondering who the mysterious lancer was.

"That's Xander Duskerman." Willow answered as she and Luz walked over to me and Gus. "He's the top student of the Warriors Track at Hexside."

"Wait, Xander?" I said before looking at the warlock's lance and realizing it was the same one I saw back at Hexside over two weeks ago. "That's the guy who sicked those abominations on me and Luz! He's a Duskerman?"

"Yeah, which is why he's so popular." Gus put in as we watched Xander's wings disappear and the spear of his lance sink down until barely the tip of it was visible before he place it on his hip, the handle fitting into a weapon sash of a black belt he was wearing.

"Well, he's certainly flashy." I said, giving a flat look at the warlock as he took in the praise from the crowd.

"Uh, hey, come on. Let's go check out the other covens around here." Gus said as he then gently pushed me into walking away, no doubt making sure I didn't pick a fight with Xander.

Deciding to leave my little talk with Xander for later, I then kept on walking with everyone as we toured around the different booths. After a little while, I soon noticed a crowd of people walking to a panel room with the doorway possessing red drapes, a path to the entrance lined with stanchions, and what looked like sentries dressed in black along with long white cowls and gray bird masks over their faces as they stood there with their arms behind their backs, three each on the two sides outside the path. Above the entrance was one of those coven banners, only this one was black and its sigil was some sort of pyramid with a great sword possessing two sets of bird wings that were arranged like butterfly wings in front of it as the blade had a shield on top it, the sigil having multiple shades of gold.

"Hey, this looks pretty important." Luz said as we looked up at the setup.

"Yeah, which coven is this one?" I asked.

"It's the Emperor's Coven!" Gus excitedly answered with a gasp, making me flinch in shock.

"The Emperor's Coven?!" I said to him.

"Yeah, and it looks like they got something big going on in there!" Gus exclaimed as I then looked back at the banner, shaking a bit in fear. "You think they'll sign my forehead?"

"Only one way to find out!" Willow exclaimed before I then gulped.

"Oh, crap." I said, too afraid to even move.

"Ryuji?" Luz said, snapping me out of it as she looked at me with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just…" I said as I then looked at one of the guards, getting creeped out as I couldn't tell if he was looking at me thanks to his mask.

"Scared to go it?" Luz said to me.

"Yeah." I admitted. "I mean, that room is filled with members of the Emperor's Coven. Considering the fact that they're after me, I don't think we should go in."

"Oh, relax, DK." Luz said to me in reassurance. "Besides, it's just one little show like any other convention."

"Yeah, a show by the coven who's been after my dad for three decades." I told her.

"Still it wouldn't hurt to look at what they got."

"Luz…"

"Come on, DK. Just one little peek?" Seeing that warm smile of hers, I became more at ease and saw that seeing the show wouldn't be too bad.

"Okay, let's go in." I smiled at her.

"Great!" Luz said to me before she spoke to my Mom and sister. "Juni, you and Eda coming?"

"To that? No way!" Juniper replied.

"Yeah. Out of all the covens, they're the worst." Mom added. "We'll wait out here."

"Look, I get it." Luz said as she put up her hands, showing she understood. "Covens, bad. Individualism, good. But I'm still figuring this world out, so I'm going in there to make up my own mind, okay?"

"We'll be back after the show." I told my family before I turned to Luz. "Come on, Luz. Let's go."

[No one's view]

After Ryuji and Luz then went off to head into the room, Juniper looked to the side and gained a look of shock.

"On second thought, maybe we should join them." Juniper said as she then gently began pushing Eda to the entrance. "Wait for us, guys!"

"Wait, what?" Eda said before she then stopped and turned to her daughter with a glare. "Juni, what the hell are you doing?" Juniper then pointed a worried finger to her right, her mother looking in that direction and becoming shocked upon seeing the warlock Ryuji had used a spell on earlier talking to a coven guard while holding up her wanted poster. "On second thought, I could use a good show. Come on, Juni!"

"Right behind ya!" Juniper said before the two then ran inside the room.

[Ryuji]

After getting in, me and Luz then took our seats as we waited for the show to start. The place looked like an old, classic theater mixed with a battle arena with a podium down below and the seats designed like stadium seats at an arena.

"Alright, let's see this mess." Mom said as I saw her and Juniper take a seat next to me.

"What changed your minds?" I asked them with surprise.

"Don't ask." Mom simply said.

"The guy who spotted Mom earlier squealed on her being here." Juniper told me as the lights slowly died down. "It was either this or face jail time. Still not sure if coming here was the right call or not."

"Well, we're about to find out." I said as a spotlight shined down at the podium, Principal Bump appearing on it in a swirl of green light before he then summoned what looked like a microphone with bat wings.

"Hello, Bonesborough!" Bump spoke out. "Students ask me all the time. 'Principal Bump, what's the height of magical achievement?'"

"Is it this?" said a student from down in the front row before he made his own spell circle which caused his head to get so frickin' big that he couldn't hold it up and ended up tilting it over his fellow classmate next to him. Honestly, that had to be the most embarrassing thing I've seen any who uses magic could ever do.

"Wow. I failed you as a principal." Bump said as he winced at the sigh before quickly recovering and grabbing the mic. "The answer is being selected to join the best of the best and there are none better than the jewel of the Coven System, the enforcers of his will, the Emperor's Coven!"

With three spotlights shining on three spots on the ground beneath the podium, three soldiers like the ones we saw earlier appeared in light blue swirls of light, making the crowd give a round of applause and leaving Luz amazed by their entrance. Looking over, we then saw Willow and Gus and waved to them, our friends pointing excitedly at Gus' forehead which had been signed with the words "Emperor's Coven".

"Feast your eyes on this elite force," Bump continued, "each member handpicked to help usher in a new age of magic." With that, the three soldiers then made their own spell circles, shooting blasts of fire, water, and lightning which collided to become explosions resembling fireworks that turned into confetti which Luz tried to catch while Juniper swatted away from her face.

"When does that elite force get here?" I heard Mom say as I then turned to see her laughing while the demon sitting next to her scooted away from her with a look of discomfort. I actually snickered as that was a good joke.

"Members of the Emperor's Coven have access to all—yes, all forms of magic." Bump said as the three soldiers then began to cast different spells between their palms.

"Oooh! Aah!" The crowd around me, Luz, and my family said in awe, my mom still laughing at her joke while trying to keep her voice down.

"But only the best can ascend these ranks." Bump said. "Someday, that could be one of you!" After he pointed forward, me and Luz heard a squeal and looked down to the front row to see Amity sitting there with Xander sitting next to her, the witch with a big grin on her face while the warlock sat proudly with his arms crossed.

"Oh, give me a break." I said, rolling my eyes. "Great magic? More like controlled."

"Oh, come on, Ryuji." Luz said to me. "They don't seem that bad."

"Luz, these guys directly follow the orders of Belos." I told her. "The Emperor's Coven is filled with nothing but complete tools. Which is why I can tell you that nobody in my family would ever be caught dead working with this coven."

"Yeah. And you definitely won't be seeing me working with anything like that." Juniper said as she pulled out a soda bottle and popped off the cap with her magic. "Only an idiot would work for a guy like Belos." She then began drinking what was in the bottle as Bump spoke out again and the three soldiers disappeared with a wave of their capes.

"And now allow me to introduce you all to the esteemed leader of this coven and the mystery guest of this year's Covention. You know her! You love her! Lilith Duskerman!"

"What?!" I said in shock upon hearing that name while Mom stopped laughing and Juniper spat out whatever she was drinking.

Hearing everyone gasp in awe, we all then looked to the ceiling as this giant raven made of blue light appeared and flew down to the podium, Bump backing away as it landed in front of him. After a wave of blue energy washed over us, we then saw a figure wearing a white raven mask and white cloak within the raven. When they raised out their arms, the raven screeched before it turned into orbs that scattered all around us before disappearing, the crowd clapping as the figure then removed their mask and allowed the cloak to open. The figure was revealed to be a tall and slender woman with ivory witch skin, pointy ears, dark teal lips, long, black hair, and a big forehead wearing a long-sleeved two-tone black and gray dress and black laced boots. She had these black claw-like nails and a sky-blue diamond on her sternum. Though she didn't look like what I had expected, I had no doubt that this was my mom's sister Lilith from seeing the shocked expressions on both Mom and Juniper.

"Holy shit. That's Lilith?" I said in shock before I turned to Juniper. "I thought she was a redhead."

"She is. Looks like she dyes it." Juniper told me.

"Wait, you two know her?" Luz asked with surprise.

"Almost. Though only through one person." I said as we then looked to Mom, making Luz gasp.

"Mysterious past!" Luz quietly said out of excitement.

"Thank you, all of you. It truly a great pleasure to be here." Lilith said as she made a magic circle, sending her cape and mask flying towards Bump who then walked away with them making him go away. "I must tell you that it wasn't easy for me to rise to the top." She then began to slowly pace around the podium. "I also started from humble beginnings."

"Like me?" The kid with the big head asked, Lilith ignoring him as she continued.

"Now I have the highest honor of enforcing the Emperor's will and helping to find more promising witches and warlocks to join our ranks. So be more! The Emperor's Coven awaits you!" With a twirl, she then made the raven from earlier reappear as it then grew larger before exploding into many orbs of light, the crowd applauding this. While I stared at Lilith in disbelief, my mom and sister glared at the coven head below us.

[Ryuji]

After the show, Mom soon grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out of the theater with Juniper following behind.

"Oka-san, where are we going?" I asked as she kept pulling me.

"We're going home." The Owl Lady replied, clearly having enough of the Covention.

"Wait, can't I talk to Lilith?" I asked, stopping her.

"Hold on, what?" Juniper said with shock. "You said that you didn't want to go anywhere near the Emperor's Coven and now you want to talk to the head of it?"

"Well, out of anyone in that coven, I think she might be the only person I can talk to." I told her.

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but you're not talking to Lilith." Mom told me. "Now let's get out of here, so I can wash the con fog off my skin."

"What? No way!" I then broke out of her grasp, determined to talk to my aunt. "I'm not leaving until I talk to her."

"Ryuji, I know what you're thinking, but Lilith is the one witch you can't talk to."

"How would you know?"

"I just do, okay? So please, let's just get out of here and…"

"Oka-san, I know you're trying to protect me, but I do think I can talk to her. She could be different from the rest of the coven. I got one chance to see if I'm right and I'm not gonna waste it." With that, I then ran off to find Lilith.

[Ryuji's aside]

Okay, I know I'm going to get grounded for this, but Lilith is the only other Clawthorne besides Mom and Juniper I've met. I couldn't miss this chance to get to know her. I know she's a member of the Emperor's Coven, but she's also my aunt. This is why I know she would never betray her own family.

[No one's view]

"Ryuji!" Eda called out, her son ignoring her as he ran out of sight. "Ryuji! Damn it!" She then began to run after her child. "Ryuji, get back here!"

"Oh, geez." Juniper said in annoyance.

"Hey, guys! I found this magazine on covens!" Luz said as she came out with said magazine before noticing her hybrid friend along with her mentor were gone. "Hey, where'd Eda and Ryuji go?"

"DK ran off to find Lilith and Mom went after him to get him before he does." Juniper told her with a flat look on her face.

"Oh. Well, guess I'll just read this with you then." Luz said.

"No. You can read that by yourself." Juniper said as she then began walking away. "I'm gonna go help my mom chase down DK."

"Wait, don't you want to know all about the different covens?"

"Not interested, not one bit." The witch girl bitterly replied.

"Come on. I get why Eda doesn't like Covens, but why don't you like them?" Juniper then stopped in her tracks and sighed.

"Because, just like DK, I don't buy all of this." Juniper turned around to face Luz and motioned to their surroundings. "Luz, look. This might all seem fun, but there's a dark truth to everything sometimes. If you lived here you're whole life, you'd know that." Juniper then turned around before Luz spoke up.

"Wait, don't you want to take this quiz to determine our coven type?" Luz said as she raised up the magazine to said quiz page, only for Juniper to create a small blast that put a hole in it before the witch girl. Luz was a little disappointed as Juniper ran out of sight, but she quickly brightened up as she turned the book around and looked at where Juniper had blasted it while walking around the Covention booths. "Ooh, a punky potioness." Not paying attention, she accidentally bumped into someone, that someone happening to be Amity.

"Hey, watch where you're…" Amity said before she then saw and glared at the human teen. "Oh, it's you. Willow's abomination thing."

"Uh… Hey, Amity." Luz greeted with a bit of embarrassment. "So, funny story: not an abomination. I just pretended to be one to help Willow out."

"Whatever." Amity told her as she looked around. "Where's that hybrid and his pet cat?"

"Oh, Ryuji and Juni? They're around." Luz said, feeling a little uncomfortable by the tense atmosphere around them. "So… Hi, I'm Luz. The human." She then offered her hand to Amity. "Sorry for the confusion last week."

"Ugh! Put that away." Amity groaned in disgust as she swatted Luz's hand away. "Because of you along with that hybrid and cat, I got into trouble with Principle Bump and I never get in trouble." Amity then walked away.

"Well, you did try to dissect me." Luz rubbed the back of her head nervously as she followed her. "Plus I'm sure that Ryuji and Juni didn't mean to get you into trouble. At least, not Ryuji."

"You shouldn't even be here!" Amity exclaimed in annoyance. "The Covention is for witches and warlocks only."

"Well, I'm learning how to be a witch." Luz quickly said with a proud smile. "I'm receiving magic lessons from Juni and her mom who's a very powerful witch. I also got help from my friend Ryuji, the one and only Dragon Kid, and a ferocious demon."

"Is that your ferocious demon there?" Amity asked as she tilted her head to the side.

Looking behind her, Luz turned to see King dressed in a green shirt, a blue striped scarf, and a baseball cap while holding a cupcake and two bakers following behind him.

"Cupcakes in my tummy-tum makes the King say yummy-yum!" King happily said.

"So will you join the Bakers Coven?" One of the bakers asked as King chomped down on the desert.

"Hmmm… Nope!" King replied as he swiped a cupcake before noticing his human friend. "Oh, hey, Luz!" He then started running over to her. "Look at all of these offerings—Wah!" Just as he managed to get over to her, he tripped on his long scarf, making him drop his cupcake while Luz went to check on him. She tried to grab his cupcake only for Amity to step on it.

"Hey, you just stepped on King's cupcake!" Luz snapped at her.

"Oh, really? Oops!" Amity sarcastically said before she gave Luz a satisfactory smile. "That was an accident." Luz then glared at Amity. "Oh, what? Did I ruin your pet's treat?"

"I am not a pet!" King said as he scratched himself with one of his legs.

"He's a very good boy and the King of Demons!" Luz said, putting the demon up against her chest.

"The King of Demons? Yeah, right." Amity rolled her eyes.

"Why are you being so mean, Amity?"

"I'm not being mean, just putting you in your place." Amity said as she lost her smile. "You're a human and humans can't be witches or warlocks, especially one in training. That hybrid friend of yours gives all witches and warlocks a bad name."

"Okay, that's it!" Luz snapped as she was now fired up, standing up with a finger pointed at Amity. "I'll tell you what, Amity. It's one thing to say I can't be a witch…"

"ʹCause you can't." She bluntly said.

"But it's another thing to bully my friends."

"Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll… I'll… I'll prove it to ya! Yeah, I'll show you I am a witch! Just like Azura the Witch said when facing down her rival Hecate at the Bog of Contrition, I challenge you to a witch's duel!" Everyone gasped at this while Amity slowly walked over to Luz with a smile.

"I accept. Let's set the terms for this duel, shall we?"

"Right, two things if I win." Luz said, setting her terms for the duel. "One: you apologize to King for squashing his cupcake."

"Good night, sweet child." He said, sadly picking up what remained of his treat.

"And two" you admit that humans can be witches and warlocks too."

"Fine by me." Amity said before setting in her terms. "But, when I win, not only do you have to tell the whole convention you're not a witch, you have to stop training forever." Hearing this, Luz gained a look of shock as she thought about accepting the terms or not.

"Do it, Luz!" King said to her. "For my honor!"

"Fine. Let's shake on it." Luz said, holding out her hand which Amity places a spell circle around before shaking it, their hands glowing.

"There. The everlasting oath is sealed." Amity informed her as she let go, both the glow and the spell circle disappearing. "Now we'll see what kind of witch you really are." Luz wasn't sure what she meant, now feeling uneasy about what she did. "Meet back inside the theater in one hour." With that, Amity then walked away. "See you there, human."

"King…" Luz nervously asked after Amity left. "I-I can win this, right?"

"Hmm?" King paused from munching on his cupcake to look at her. "Oh, yeah. No." As he then returned to eating, Luz gave a whimper as she was now afraid of what was going to happen.

[Ryuji]

After managing to lose Mom, I looked around to see if I could spot Lilith. Having taken a turn at a corner, I gained a smile upon seeing Lilith not too far from where I was standing, my aunt happily giving autographs to some young witches and warlocks. Getting excited to meet her, I was about to run over and greet her when…

"Hold it right there, mister!" I flinched upon hearing the stern voice of my mom and turned around to see her and Juniper right behind me with angry glares.

"Oh, come on! Can't I at least talk to her?" I said to them.

"No, you can't. In fact, she shouldn't even see you." Mom said to me. "As much as I would like for you to learn about your Clawthorne heritage, I can't let you just talk to any of our relatives, especially Lilith."

"Yeah, she's the head of the Emperor's Coven, remember?" Juniper backed her up.

"Yeah, I know, but she's family." I said to them. "Doesn't that count as an exception?"

"Not even close." Mom bluntly told me. "Family or not, she's still one of Belos' stooges, which means you need to stay away from her as much as possible."

"But, Oka-san…" I said with a pleading look.

"No buts. Now let's go before she sees us." Mom said as she then grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me away.

"What? No!" I then pulled back, trying to get free from her grip. "Let go!"

"Ryuji, don't make this any harder than it already is."

"Oka-san, please!"

[No one's view]

As Ryuji struggled against Eda's grip with his mother trying to keep him from going to Lilith, Juniper could only watch as she disliked her family fighting like this. While looking around, Juniper gained a look of shock as the fight between her mother and brother caught the attention of Lilith who looked upon the three with surprise.

[Ryuji]

"Uh, Mom?" Juniper whispered to Mom.

"Not now, Juni." She told her before talking back to me. "Ryuji, stop arguing and let's go!"

"No! I need to talk to her!" I said as I kept on trying to get myself free.

"No, you don't!"

"Uh, Mom…" Juniper said.

"Not now, Juni!" Mom told my sister.

"What's the big deal?" I said to my mom, looking her right in the eye. "I'm just going to talk to your…"

"Sister?" Hearing that voice, me and Mom then looked behind me to see Lilith looking right at us, my aunt gaining a smile as she finished another autograph before walking over to us with the young witches and warlocks following her. "It's been so long since I've seen you last." With Mom letting me go, I regained my smile as we both stood up and Lilith made it over to us, my aunt's eyes on my mom. "What are you wearing? You look like some sort of trash collector. Oh, right you are."

"Oh, Lily. I just had to see the leader of the Emperor's Coven in action." Mom sarcastically said before kneeling down to Lilith's fans and whispered. "You know, when we were kids, Lilith was so excited to see the Emperor's Coven that she peed a little." As the kids laughed, I looked up to see Lilith had heard it as she blushed in embarrassment.

"That-that's all for today." Lilith said as she gently pushed her fans away and waved them goodbye. After they were gone, she then turned around and gave Mom a disapproving look. "You shouldn't even be here. You're a wanted criminal!" Her eyes widened at a thought. "Unless…" She gasped in excitement before grasping her little sister's hands. "I don't believe it! You are here to join the Emperor's Coven!" Me, Mom, and Juniper were silent a bit before Mom then broke down laughing.

"In your dreams!" Mom said, causing Lilith to narrow her eyes at her.

"You think being covenless makes you so much smarter than everyone else." Lilith said before she gained a proud smile. "But, while you run from the law like degenerate, I'm mentoring the next generation of powerful students into the world."

"Not as powerful as me." Juniper said as she walked up with a nonchalant expression.

"Hello, Juniper. I see you've been doing well." Lilith said, smiling upon seeing her niece.

"Lilith." He replied bitterly, not using the 'A' word.

"You've grown so much the last time I saw you." Lilith said, ignoring the way my sister spoke to her.

"Cut the crap. If I'd known you'd be around, I wouldn't have come." Juniper replied bluntly, crossing her arms.

Lilith forced a small smile. "And I see that you still have that attitude… How have you been?"

"I've been better."

"Oh, I see. How is school going for you?"

"I wouldn't know. 'Cause I haven't gone to any yet."

Hearing that, Lilith then glanced over to her little sister in annoyance. "Sister, why haven't you placed her in school yet?"

"I gave her a choice and she prefers homeschool." Mom replied while shrugging her shoulders.

"Home…school?" Lilith said with a brow raised in confusion.

"It's a thing that humans do." Juniper chimed. "And it's a plus for me. That way, I don't have to listen to all that Coven crap."

Lilith groaned in annoyance. "Edalyn, what have you been putting in her head?"

"Edalyn?" I asked in confusion.

"That's my first name." Mom told me before she spoke to Lilith. "And I only told Juni the truth and that's that."

"Nope, none of that. Personally, I just find this whole thing as a big waste of time." Juniper commented before darting a look at our aunt. "And it's not like I need some chump to tell me how to live my life. Unlike you."

"Excuse me?" Lilith was offended by what he said while Mom laughed a bit. Feeling the tension, I then decided to step in and clear the air.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let's not go spitting venom at each other." I said as I stepped up between my mom, sister, and aunt. "We don't want to make a scene, now do we?"

"Yes, right." Lilith said, recomposing herself. "Thank you, young man."

"No problem, Aunt Lilith." I said, causing her to gain a look of surprise.

"I'm sorry, but did you call me 'Aunt Lilith'?" Lilith asked me.

"Yeah." I told her as she then took a closer look at me and her eyes widened in shock.

"Those eyes…" Lilith said before she then made a spell circle and used her magic to pull my hood down, gasping from seeing what I was hiding under it, putting a hand in front of her. "Oh, my Titan… Are you…"

"Lilith, I'd like you to meet my son Ryuji." Mom said as she walked up beside me with a smirk.

"Hi, Aunt Lilith." I greeted her with a friendly smile.

"No… it can't be…" Lilith said, now looking like she's seen a ghost. "Edalyn… you-you have two children?"

"Actually, three." I told her. "Me and Juni have a big bro."

"Three? Three?!" Lilith said, looking more shocked than ever. "You mean to tell me that you and Axel had three children?"

"Yeah. What? You jealous or something?" Mom said as she raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Absolutely not!" Lilith said as she quickly recomposed herself. "I'll have you know that I am happily married and a child of my own."

"She's a mom to a Duskerman kid?" I said, surprised to hear that while looking to Juniper who just shrugged as apparently she didn't know this either.

"Honestly, even now, I always have a hard time accepting the fact that you're a mother." Lilith said to Mom. "You of all people."

"Hey, I couldn't really believe it myself that she was my mother when she told me." I told her.

"Told you?" Lilith said to me with confusion.

"Oh, yeah. I was raised by my dad in the human world." I explained to her. "Due to a few… problems, Mom decided to come back here to the Isles and took Juni with her. She and Dad also chose not to tell me or my sis about each other because they didn't want us to cause any trouble trying to learn about the family we had in these two realms."

"Oh, I see." Lilith said before she then gave a nonchalant expression. "So I suppose I have my sister's carelessness to blame for not receiving the chance to meet my two nephews along with my niece." Mom glared at her for that last part.

"Hey, she wasn't careless, she was…" I said before Lilith interrupted me.

"Despite this, I am glad that I finally get to meet you, Ryuji." Lilith said as she gave me a warm smile, one I returned. "I suppose that the sword on your back is a gift from your father?"

"Oh, my Saisho. Yeah, Dad made it for me. Said it's one of his finest works yet." I said before I took my Saisho and brought it in front of me. "Check it out!"

"My, my. Quite the impressive blade." Lilith said, impressed with the sword which I then placed back on my back. "Though I suppose a blade of such caliber would only belong to a member of the Frank Family. With such a weapon, I'm surprised none of the schools had given mention of you as you no doubt are a top student in the Warriors Track."

"Actually, I'm not in any magic school." I told her, making her lose her smile. "I was homeschooled by my dad, just like how Juni was homeschooled by Mom."

"Oh, you were homeschooled as well." Lilith said, looking to the side in disappointment. "That's unfortunate."

"What do you mean?" I asked her, confused by this.

"Well, while I understand Edalyn for trying to teach her daughter herself," Lilith told me, trying her best to use a smile to hide her disappointment. "I had always thought that Axel would've known better and gone by his family traditions, enrolling you in one of the most prestigious schools the Isles has to offer."

"Yeah, well, it's kinda hard to do that considering being related to my dad makes me a wanted criminal." I bluntly told her. "Besides, my dad's a great teacher and he taught me more than whatever those schools could ever teach me. I actually happen to know seven types of magic which belong to the Main Ten."

"Huh. I suppose that is quite impressive." Lilith said to me, her expression not changing. "But it is also more the reason why you should attend school."

"Eh, nah! I'm good."

"Um, Ryuji, I don't think you quite understand…"

"No, I understand completely, but how I learn magic is my choice."

"But think the good you can do for the Isles. You can't forsake yourself of a great future."

"I'm not forsaking anything!"

"Ryuji, please…" Lilith kneeled down to me, putting her hand on my shoulder with a pleading look.

"Would you please stop? Seriously." Giving her a nonchalant look, I then took her hand off my shoulder. "Look, I know you think you're trying to be the good aunt to me, but you have to understand that what I do with my life is my choice and you should respect my decisions. You might be fine with it, but that doesn't mean I am."

"But…"

"Just drop it, okay? My mind's made up. I'm not going to any magic school and I'm okay where I am now."

Taking a deep breath, Lilith exchanged her look of surprise for an emotionless one as she then stood up. "Very well, if that's what you decided. Just know that my door's always open if you ever want to learn how to become a great warlock." She then turned to my mom. "I suppose I am a little impressed to find you with two students, Edalyn, despite your… lack of educational techniques."

"Hey, I'm a great teacher!" Mom counted back. "Also, I don't just have two students, I have three. If anything, I bet she and my kids could wipe the floor with any of your prissy little blue bloods."

"Is that a challenge?" Lilith said as she got up to Mom's face, the two locking eyes.

"You bet it is." Eda replied, not intimidated one bit.

"And who exactly is your newest student?" Lilith asked.

"Eda, I need your help!" Luz said as she popped up between the sisters, my friend looking extremely nervous as she spoke. "I accidentally challenged Amity to a witch's duel and I think she's going to kill me!" After she slumped down to her knees, me and Juniper looked at her in shock from what she just told us.

"Wait, you challenged that Abomination chick to a witch's duel?" Juniper said to her.

"Luz, what were you thinking?" I said as I helped Luz to her feet.

"I don't know!" Luz said. "I just bumped into her, then she said I couldn't be a witch, then she started picking on King, and it just slipped out."

"Hmm." Lilith hummed in amusement. "It seems your student has met my strongest protégée. Look at those ears. Is she human?" Luz flinched as she covered her ears while my aunt laughed. "Where did you even find one of these?"

"And what's wrong with being human?" I said, a little offended by her comment.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ryuji." Lilith said to me, realizing what she did. "I almost forgot that you were half-human, being the son of both Axel and Edalyn."

"Hey, I know that people on the Isles might have reasons to doubt on a human becoming a witch, but Luz here is different from any human you've ever met." I told my aunt.

"And why should anyone believe you?" Looking up to the sky, we watched as Xander flew in and landed a few feet behind Lilith, his wings folding and disappearing as he stood up and walked over to Lilith. "I mean, you're human too."

"I'm half human." I told him as he then stood next to Lilith. "That's been made pretty clear."

"Half human, full human. What's the difference?" Xander bluntly said with that emotionless expression. "The point is that you're human and humans have no place in the Boiling Isles."

"Hey, my dad's human and he made a great change here in the Isles!"

"Yeah, I know all about your father, the Fire Dragon who managed to create something great only just to abandon it. No doubt out of realizing that he was unfit to be the head of his own coven or anyone as important as that."

"Hey, you can't talk about my dad like that!"

"Why not? That's what many people think and I believe that isn't far from the truth. Honestly, the idea of a human leading a coven—Ugh!"

"Hey, my dad is a great man! He would have made a better coven head than anyone else, even the guys leading the Main Ten! Plus, the real reason he left was because of this Coven System!"

"Yes, and for refusing it, he had been deemed a criminal." Xander then turned his gaze to my mom. "Much like your wild witch mother here." This caused Luz to gasp.

"Wait, what?" Luz said as she looked at me in disbelief. "Eda's your mom?"

"Yeah. She is. And a great one at that." I said, making Mom smile at me before I turned back to Xander. "Which is why I'm telling you to leave her out of this!"

"Why? She's already proven to be a disgrace to both the Clawthorne name and all witches and warlocks!"

"What do you know anything about the Clawthornes?"

"Quite a lot, actually." Xander gained a proud smile before he motioned to Lilith. "Considering my mother here is a member of that family just as much as the leader of the Emperor's Coven." Me, Luz, and Juniper gasped from hearing this.

"You're Lilith's son?"

"Indeed. And, unlike you, I was born to both a truly powerful witch and warlock who are both heads of their own covens. Not to mention as part of the new generation to the legacy of the great and proud Duskerman Family. To put it simply, I am a warlock of the finest lineage. As for you, there's a word for what you are, one I believe you might know. What was it?" He pretended to think before he spoke again in a mocking tone. "Oh, yes! Mudblood!" Me and Luz gasped at what he called me.

[Ryuji's aside]

He did not just call me that!

"You take that back!" I sternly pointed a finger at him.

"Uh, sorry." Juniper spoke up with a look of confusion. "But I have no idea what he just said."

"He called me a mudblood. A disgusting thing to call hybrids like us." I explained to my sister. "He's saying that I'm worthless, a piece of trash, the most pitiful excuse of a warlock who has no place in the world or anything anyone would even care about! It comes from calling common or human blood 'dirty blood'."

"And pretty fitting as I really can't see how any witch or warlock would ever have that kind of relation with a human." Xander bluntly said with a blank face. "Your mudblood sister is the perfect example as to why."

"Hey!" Juniper said, offended by that.

"We might be cousins, but what you're saying right now is completely uncalled for, dude!" I told him.

"Whatever. The fact is that you're nothing but sorry, no-good, disgusting mudblood son of wash-ups and that's all you'll ever be!" Xander told me.

"He is not a mudblood!" Luz spoke as she then walked up to Xander with a glare. "Ryuji's the Dragon Kid, the greatest warlock ever!"

"Shut up, human." Xander bluntly said as he then used a blue spell circle and blasted Luz with magic, sending the girl to the floor.

"Luz!" I said as I then went over, kneeled down, and helped her sit up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Luz said as she rubbed her stomach, no doubt where Xander blasted her.

"What the hell is your problem?" I spoke out to Xander with a glare as I stood up.

"You're the problem." Xander bluntly told me. "You think just because you're a Frank, you can come here and become some kind of hotshot? Please! Your father is a cowardly criminal, your mother and sister are wild witches, you have the most pitiful excuse of a demon for a pet, and you're friends with a human who thinks she's a witch. Honestly, I'm embarrassed to even be related to you. Everybody might treat you like you're special, but we both know that you don't belong here." He then turned and started walking away. "Better to just give up and head home now, save yourself the embarrassment."

Watching him walk away, I was way beyond pissed. First, he called me a mudblood; then, he talks crap about my family; then, he knocked Luz to the ground for her standing up for me; and now he's gonna walk away after telling me to give up everything I worked so hard for? Oh, he poked the hornet's nest now! If he thinks he could get away with crap like that, he had another thing coming. With a growl, I then used a spell circle to make a ball of air form in my open hand. Then I threw it like a baseball pitcher and it hit Xander right in the back of the head, knocking him to the floor. Everyone gasped at what I did before Xander got back up on his feet, dusted himself off, and turned his head to give me that cold glare of his.

"You just made a big mistake." Xander angrily said as he turned to face me.

"The only person who made a mistake is you!" I told him. "Listen here, Xander! It's one thing to call me a mudblood…"

"Which you are." He bluntly stated.

"But it's another thing to talk crap about my family and pick on my friends!" I told him.

"Oh, yeah? So what are you gonna do about it?"

"Well, seeing how you seem so sure of yourself about it, let's see who's better at magic. Like Ludolf the Wolf King did when he faced off against his rival Gonzalo in the clash among their packs, I will prove to you how strong I am!" With that, I then pointed at him for emphasis. "Xander Duskerman, I challenge you to a witch's duel!" Everyone except for Mom, Lilith, me, and Xander gasped in shock from this before the young Duskerman gained a smirk and slowly walked up to me.

"I accept." He said, looking quite confident in himself. "Shall we settle the terms of our duel?"

"Yeah. If I win, you have to take back all those nasty things you said and apologize to everyone." I told him. "And you have to admit that you were wrong and that humans can become witches and warlocks."

"Very well. But if I win, you have to tell anyone that you are no warlock and that you don't belong here as well as give up doing magic forever." Xander told me. "Not only that, but as a constellation prize, I get your sword." With him pointing to my sword with that last part, me, Mom, Juniper, and Luz gasped in shock.

"My Saisho?!" I said in disbelief.

"Yeah. It's a Star-Rank weapon, which means it should only be wielded by a truly powerful warlock or witch, not some mudblood."

"But you already have a weapon!"

"Yes and my Sieghild is a fine weapon for someone such as myself. I wouldn't use any other weapon."

"Then why do you want my sword?"

"As a trophy, of course. I would like to remember the moment when I reminded the impudent mudblood that they did not belong in the Isles or served any purpose in this world."

"But my dad made me this sword. He said it was one of a kind, just like me."

"I don't care. That sword is wasted on you. Of course, I can allow you to keep it if you're too scared to face me and admit your defeat."

At first, I was hesitant since losing this duel would mean losing the very weapon that had helped me in the toughest battles I've ever been in and the blade Dad had worked very hard for me to have. But then I looked back to see my mom and sister and Luz looking at me with concern and remembered what Xander had said, knowing that they didn't deserve that. Xander could say all that he liked to me, but he crossed the line when he bullied my family and friends. Turning back to him with a glare, I knew what my answer would be.

"It's a deal, Xander." I told him, holding my hand out to him before pulling it back when he tried to make a spell circle around it. "Whoa, hey! Don't you spell my hand, you little…"

"Oh, calm down. This isn't for an attack." Xander told me with a blank expression. "This is just to make sure neither of us can go back on our little wager."

"Okay…" I said as I then put my hand back out. Xander then put the spell circle around it before then grabbing my hand and shaking it.

"There. Now the everlasting oath is sealed." Xander said with a smug look on his face as we broke the shake, the circle around my hand soon disappearing after we did as I glare at him.

"Well then, looks like both our students and our boys will be duking it out." Mom said to Lilith with a smirk. "Care to see which of us is the better teacher?"

"Very well, Edalyn." Lilith said with a smirk of her own as she then made a light blue spell circle like Xander, all the wanted posters of Eda and Juniper disappearing the instant she did. "For one day, you won't have to hide from the law. Just know that I'm only allowing this because I want to see just how good of a teacher you really are. We'll settle this in the grand theater. May the best witch and warlock win."

"See you at the duel, Ryuji the Mudblood." Xander smugly told me before he and Lilith then walked away.

"Oh, I'll be there!" I told him. "And it's 'Ryuji the Dragon Kid', not 'Mudblood'!"

"Ryuji, are you crazy?" Luz said in shock as she and Juniper ran over to me. "You can't bet your totally awesome sword!"

"Yeah, Dad made that for you!" Juniper added. "That guy's not worth it!"

"Look, I appreciate the concern, but I have to do this." I told the girls. "It's not just me he's picking on, it's all of us. That guy really needs to be taken down a peg and I'm gonna be the guy to do it."

"That's the spirit." Mom said as she came over between me and Luz. "Now, come on, kids. We gotta prepare for some bloodshed."

"Bloodshed?" I said as me and Luz looked up at her in concern.

"Uh, who's blood?" Luz nervously asked.

"Anyone's guess!" Mom said as she then pats me and Luz on the back before getting a look from me and Juniper. "What?"

Going somewhere private to train, Mom placed Luz on a box she found before putting on a headband and quizzing us on what to do in the duel.

"Okay, let's see if you two can handle this." Mom said as she then turned to me. "Ryuji, no doubt your dad taught you about the different types of weapons."

"Yeah, which is why I know I'll be at a disadvantage when I go against Xander." I told her.

"Disadvantage? What are you talking about?" Juniper said to me. "I bet you have more magic than he does."

"It's not the amount of magic that's the problem. It's the weapons we're each using." I said to my sister. "Xander has a lance."

"What? That oversized poker?" Juniper said a little chuckle.

"It's not a laughing matter, sis." I told her. "Lances have a higher advantage in combat against swords, at least that's what I know of W.T. Dad taught me."

"W.T.?"

"Yeah, it's short for 'Weaponry Trilemma', a special study for weapon users like me that tells us the advantages and disadvantages of weapons." I explained to her, using my illusion magic to show what I've listed. "In this, there are four types of weapons: swords, axes, lances, and bows. The study tells you of their own advantages and disadvantages in battle, especially against each other." Using my Illusion Magic, I then made a triangle made of arrows that pointed to each corner in a clockwise formation with the symbol of each of the three types of weapon I talked about appearing in each respective in the flow of the formation. "Swords are made to have a thin blade with a long cutting edge which allows the user to deflect enemy attacks and allow them to strike multiple times in one place, especially when changing direction. This gives the advantage over axes, which are made with the opposite design by having a thicker blade and a shorter cutting edge. That design haves them to try and get close to even get a strike and the weight doesn't allow them to move as freely with their strikes as a sword user. Of course, the advantages of the axe lie with the blade. Though having a short attack range, the blade's thickness can allow it to be used as a shield of sorts, especially with anything that's fired at the user. The weight of it also allows the user to deliver powerful strikes like how one would use a mace. This is what allows it to have the advantages over a lance."

"While having the ability to strike an opponent from a distance, the width and weight of the spear also limit the user's movement and can be blocked if enough force is applied, force for which an axe user can have. Due to not having this advantage, swords aren't able to push it back and its user would end up pushed back by a lance user if they swung it. Not to mention that the spear also allows the lance user to recover and build a defense against a sword user than it would for an axe user."

"Uh, can you repeat that?" Juniper asked as all of this was hard for her to process, causing me to sigh in annoyance.

"Sword beats axe, axe beats lance, lance beats sword." I told her. "That better?"

"Yeah, way better." Juniper said. "Wait, is this where that game Sword, Axe, Lance comes from?"

"Sword, Axe, and Lance?" I asked, curious about that. "Is that like Rock, Paper, Scissors?"

"Basically, yeah. It's become quite popular here in the Isles." Mom told me. "The schools teach the weapon triangle thing in the Warriors Track and Sword, Axe, and Lance has come to be the easiest way of teaching it. No doubt Lilith's golden child knows this and sees all this as just an easy win for him."

"Wait, that's only three. What about bows?" Luz said to me.

"Oh, those are in a neutral zone of the trilemma." I told her with the symbol for bows appearing in the middle. "Yeah, due to their long-distance range in striking enemies and used for projectiles, bows can have an advantage or disadvantage against any of the three depending on the battle." I then canceled my magic, making the diagram disappear. "My point is that Xander's use of that lance would put me in a tight spot considering I'm only using a sword. It also doesn't help considering this is the first time I'm facing anyone who's using a weapon that uses magic like mine. Not to mention that it happens to be a member of a Noble Three family."

"Which is why you'll have to act smarter." Mom said to me. "Axel made that sword so you can take on anything."

"Yeah, but I've never used it against a lance before, especially one made to use magic." I told her.

"Oh, yeah. That's right." She said before she then spoke to Luz. "Okay, Luz, I'm coming at you with a blast of fire. What do you do?" Luz's response to this was putting on her hoody and tilting down on the floor. "Oh, that's right. I haven't taught you many spells, huh?"

"No, you didn't." I told her as Luz shook her head.

"Boy, I hope you didn't make an everlasting oath to give up magic like Ryuji." Eda told her. "You'd be toast."

"Is there a glowy hand thing that happens?" Luz said as she sat up, looking more worried than before.

"You made an everlasting oath with Amity when you challenged her, didn't you?" Juniper bluntly asked her.

"Yes." Luz said with a look of guilt.

"Mom, please tell me that the everlasting oath is just some formal promise that we can go back on." I said with a look of guilt.

"Unfortunately, no." Mom told me. "An everlasting oath is a special spell used for making deals. It makes it so that anyone under will fulfill their end of the deal, even forcing them into doing it."

"Wait, so you're saying that if we lose, we'll never be able to do magic even if we try?" I said as Luz stood up and the two of us look at my mom in disbelief.

"Not unless the oath is broken by the one who made it." Mom told us.

"Abomination, rise." Hearing Amity's voice, we turned around to see her practicing her magic under Lilith's supervision, the witch summoning a small abomination with a pink spell circle on the floor.

The abomination grabbed its head and threw it, hitting some random guy from the Bakers Coven who then got tossed aside by the midget prisoner who then yelled out in triumph. She didn't have much time to do it before she was hit with abomination goo, trapping her on the floor. Following where it came from, I saw Xander standing there with his lance pointed at to midget, his weapon at full extent with the spear glowing in magenta light. After he pulled it back, the light turned from magenta to purple before he then thrust it forward, unleashing this purple glowing spirit with fangs and sharp claws which took the backboard of the Bakers Coven's stand and brought it into the air before dropping it down to Xander. With his dragon wings forming on his back, Xander took off into the air with the thrust of his lance before doing a spin as he pierced through the board, breaking it into pieces. After doing this, Xander stopped spinning and gently floated down to the ground, taking stance with his lance pointing to the ground and his wings spread out along with the spirit going down to float behind him. Seeing that made me and Luz shiver in fear.

"Ooh, boy." Mom said with worry, seeing what we were up against.

"Yeah, you two are screwed." Juniper told us.

"Oh, man! What are we gonna do?" Luz said in disbelief as she went into a panic. "There's no way we can win and now me and Ryuji are gonna lose everything!"

"Hey, Luz, don't talk like that." I said to her in reassurance. "We are gonna win this and we are gonna prove to them humans can become witches."

"That's right." Mom said with a look of determination. "We are not gonna let those snobs win that easy! In fact, we are not gonna let them win at all! I've got an idea." Her headband then suddenly snapped off. "You kids wait right here. Hopefully, I'll be back before the duel." With her walking off, me and Luz looked at each other as we wondered on what my mom was planning to do.

By the time she was done with whatever she was doing, it was about time for the duel to start, so me, Luz, and Mom raced down to the theater as fast as we could. When we got there, the seats were already filled up with the crowd that came to see the duel, amongst them were Willow and Gus along with my sister who sat beside them.

"Beloved citizens," Lilith spoke out to the crowd as she announced the duel. "The Emperor's Coven proudly presents an impromptu demonstration of the sort of witch we seek every year." She then gently pushed both Amity and Xander, making the two smug Hexside students step forward with Amity having her arms crossed. "Introducing Amity Blight and my son Xander Duskerman!" With Xander taking his lance off his hip and thrusting upward where it extended to full length, the crowd cheered away for them.

"Whoo! Go, Amity!" Said a random fan who held up a foam finger.

"And their opponents." Lilith said, me drawing out my Saisho as she said my name. "Ryuji Frank and…" Mom then moved aside to reveal Luz who hid behind her out of fear, my friend still looking nervous. "Some human girl." After they gave a gasp of shock, there was a lot of commotion from the crowd as they talked amongst themselves.

"A Frank? Here?"

"A human?"

"He doesn't look like a witch."

"Humans can't do magic."

"They're not Amity or Xander."

"Go figure it'd go like this." I said, not surprised by this. "We're definitely the underdogs in this picture."

"Eda, what are we going to do?" Luz asked her mentor.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that too." I said. "While I might be able to handle myself a little against Xander, I don't think Luz will be able to hold her own considering she only knows how to do Light Glyphs."

"Calm down. I got her covered." Mom said before she pointed to mounds of dirt layered around the area. "You see those mounds, Luz? They're actually special magic traps I set for you to use in the duel. Get Amity to land on one of those and she'll set off the trap there. Ryuji, I know your magic is strong, but if you find yourself backed into a corner, lure Xander into one of those traps."

"Wait, what?" I said, shocked by this.

"Eda, that's cheating!" Luz said, feeling just the same as me.

"Nobody will know." Mom said as she waved off what we said. "To all the eyes up there, it'll look like you're performing magic. Just trust me."

"Mom, we can't use those traps." I told her.

"Yeah, if we used those to win, it'll just prove Amity and Xander right." Luz added.

"Do you want to feel guilty about it or give up on becoming a witch?" Mom said to Luz who then thought it over before giving a sigh of defeat.

"I know in my heart that it's wrong, but I don't want to give up doing magic." Luz said.

"That's the spirit." Mom said to her with a proud smile.

"Well, I'm not gonna use those traps." I said, still bent on fighting fair and square. "I rather lose trying than not trying at all."

"Okay, then go out there and show your snobby cousin what happens when you mess with the Dragon Kid." Giving me a wink, my mom then went over to watch by the entrance.

By the scream of the bell, me and Luz along with Amity and Xander walked forward to the center until the four of us were standing in front of each other, each of us across our respective opponent.

"Get ready, hybrid." Xander said to me. "For once this is over, only one of us will be walking out of her with that sword."

"Yeah, and then we'll see who's right and who's wrong." I said while taking fighting stance. "Let's just see which one of us is the better warlock." Xander then made his wings appear, but—while they wore forming—they suddenly grew at least three times bigger which made the warlock stumble a bit from the extra weight.

"Whoa!" I said, surprised by this.

"Whoa." Xander said, equally surprised before turning to smirk at me him. "Let's see what you got, hybrid!" With that, he then took off into the air before he then started diving toward me with a thrust of his lance.

"Oh, boy!" I said before I went on to cast my speed spell. "Enhancement Magic: Wind Dash!" Managing to cast it in time, I was able to dodge Xander's attack.

"Ryuji!" Luz called out in concern.

"I'd be more worried about yourself, human!" I heard Amity say before looking over as she then created a spell circle on the ground. "Abomination, rise!" Amity said after she made a big spell circle on the ground, her abomination appearing but it was four times bigger than the one she summoned earlier, making Luz gasp in shock. Amity was just as surprised by this. "Whoa." Amity quickly recovered from this as she then smirked at Luz. "Show me what you got, human!"

"I'm not good under pressure!" Luz screamed as she ran away, avoiding a stomp from the abomination bent on flattening her into a pancake.

"Luz!" I yelled out as I saw this before dodging Xander as he dove at me again. That's where I decided I had enough as I glared at Xander. "Okay, that's it! You wanted to see what I got? Well, you got it!" Raising my sword up with both hands, it then became covered in flames before I then pointed it at Xander who was trying to dive at me again. "Attack Magic: Flame Dragon's Roar!"

Sending off a blast of fire that took the form of a dragon's head, I watched as Xander stopped before pulling his lance back where the spear then started glowing purple before he then thrust it forward, my cousin summoning and sending that spirit he used earlier. When the spirit clashed with the blast, there was a big explosion where I was then shocked by the spirit managing to survive it as it came out of the smoke and started swiping its claws at me. I tried to slash at it, but the spirit was too fast for me to hit it.

"Ha! Is that all you got?" Xander called out as he floated around above us.

Though I tried my best, the spirit eventually hit me and knocked me to the ground before soon disappearing. Wondering why it disappeared, I soon got my answer as I heard Xander laughing and looked up.

"Got you now, mudblood!" Xander said as he prepared to dive at me, pulling back his lance which had stopped glowing at the spear and was now glowing at the tip in blue light.

Though shocked by this, I then heard screaming and saw Luz running with Amity's abomination right behind her, the slime golem thing taking off its head before throwing it away. Seeing how Luz was about to run past me, I saw that head was gonna land where I was. Seeing Xander about to strike me from above, I smiled as I got an idea.

[No one's view]

"Nowhere you can run now!" Xander said as he dove right at Ryuji, striking him which causes him to turn into a puff of light blue smoke and leave the lancer in shock. "What? An illusion double?"

"Hey, Xander!" Hearing his voice, Xander then turns to see Ryuji standing far from him with a smirk on his face, the young Duskerman glare at him with a growl as he prepares to attack him again. Before Xander could move, Ryuji then pointed upwards with his free hand. "Heads up!"

With that, Xander then looked up and gasped in shock upon seeing the head of Amity's abomination falling towards him.

"Oh, no." He said before the head landed on top of him, slamming him to the ground as it turned into a puddle of purple slime.

[Ryuji]

A brief moment after the head splattered on him, I watched as Xander got up on his hands and knees while covered in abomination goo, coughing a bit from the experience before he tried to get himself out and struggled to do so while he was stuck in the slime like a fly on flypaper.

"Hey, I tried to warn ya!" I called out, the crowd laughing at the struggling warlock who became shocked at this before growling at me.

"Frank, when I get out of here, you are so dead!" Xander said as he then pulled on some abomination goo on his head, the slime stretching out as he did. "You know how hard it's gonna be to get abomination goo out of hair?" The slime snapped back and made the warlock slap himself in the head.

"If it's anything like your ego, I bet it would be pretty hard!" I said, getting another laugh from the crowd along with a growl from Xander before then running off with a speed dash.

[No one's view]

Back with the duel between Amity and Luz, the witch smiled as her abomination continued to chase the human girl, confident that this would be an easy wind for her.

"Amity!" Hearing her name, Amity then turned to Xander was still struggling to get out of the abomination goo puddle caused by her abomination earlier. "Watch where you throw that abomination goo!"

"Hey, I'm just trying to win and prove that human how much of a fraud she is!" Amity told him as the Duskerman was reaching the end of the puddle. "Don't blame me that you fell for that hybrid's trick!"

"Fine! But did you have to make it so thick?" Xander said as he got out of the puddle and tried to pull his lance out of it, the tip of it stuck on a strand of abomination goo. "I almost drowned in it!" The strand then snapped, causing Xander to fall to the ground.

"Sorry, but I didn't know you were gonna get stuck in it!" Amity said before she turned back to the chase before her. "And if you're just gonna yell at me, then I guess you don't want to know about that fire blast!"

"What fire—aah!" Xander said as he was then knocked away by a dragon-head-shaped blast of fire.

After being pushed into a corner, Luz began to whimper as she had nowhere else to run and the abomination towered over her, the golem regaining a new head as it walked right towards her. Luz thought it was over until she then noticed one of the mounds Eda made right in front of her and, much to the teen's luck as she held up her hands, the abomination stepped on it and triggered one of the magic traps which erupted into a pillar of fire, shocking Amity.

"How did you do that?" Amity asked with a glare.

"I, uh… Magic?" Luz answered, nervously.

Up in the upper section of the stands, King was scatting wearing a whole bunch of more clothing and hats along with all sorts of souvenirs from the Covention.

"Things that are free! People are giving offerings to me! I love offerings!" King said while singing a little tune as he walked up to Juniper, Willow, and Gus. "What did I miss?"

"Luz and Ryuji are in a witch's duel!" Willow informed him, sounding very worried.

"Yeah, and they're kicking ass out there!" Juniper said, thinking differently.

"Yeah! They can win it all!" Gus added, thinking much the same. "Yeah-yeah!"

"Wait, what?" King said with surprise, looking towards the two duels happening below.

[Ryuji]

After he recovered from the attack, Xander took off into the air and started blasting blue magic blasts at me, me using my Wind Dash to dodge them as I ran around the area.

"Hold still, you little bastard!" Xander angrily said to me, continuing to fire at me.

"Here's a better idea! How about you come down here and face me like a man?" I said before I then took my sword by both hands and drew it back for a slash attack before I parkour a wall, the blade being surrounded in wind as I did this. "Attack Magic: Wind Cloak! Tempest Slash!" Sending a slash of wind at him, Xander tried to dodge but got one of his wings cut in half. Landing on my feet, I watched as Xander then fell and crashed to the ground. I smiled as I removed one hand from the grip, feeling proud of myself.

Hearing the howl of the wind, I looked over to see Amity and her abomination being blown away and knocked to the ground by a gust of wind, no doubt caused by one of Mom's magic traps. I didn't like seeing Luz cheat her way to victory, but I saw she had no choice given the odds stacked against her.

"Hey, I saw you that time!" Amity said as she picked herself up. "You didn't use your hands! What are you even doing?"

"Not dying!" Luz replied back before she ran away screaming as Amity got her abomination back up and continue going after her.

"Oh, you're in for it now, Frank!" I heard Xander say as I saw him get himself back up on his feet with his lance as he looked at me with a face of rage, his wings gone and the lance's spear glowing magenta. "No one clips my Dusk Wings! Raaah!" With one thrust of his lance, a strand of abomination goo fired out from the tip and it turned into a spiked barb as it came at me.

"Oh, crap!" I said with shock before I then used my Wind Dash to dodge the slime barb, making it hit the wall behind me and leaving a hole in it. "Crap, crap, crap, crap!" I said with fear as I then started running while Xander started thrusting his lance multiple times as he tracked me. It was only after a while that Xander spoke out to me.

"Hey, Frank! I see your human friend is giving that abomination a hard time!" Xander told me as he kept trying to hit me. "But isn't she supposed to be facing the spell when she casts it?"

Looking over, I was shocked as I saw what he was talking about. As Luz ran around the place, the abomination tripped multiple traps which slowed it down before it hit one, my friend only running away and not even trying to make it look like she cast a spell. I was starting to get worried that Luz was gonna get caught cheating the duel. I didn't have much time to worry about her as I was then smacked to a wall by Xander's barb after he whipped it at me. After landing on the ground, I quickly picked myself and held my sword in both hands as Xander started charging at me, thrusting the barb at me. I dodged it, but soon found myself ducking, jumping, and doing the old bob-and-weave as Xander began whipping at me. After a while, when I got the chance, I slashed at the barb with my Saisho, cutting it off by the strand. But before I could turn to face him, Xander smacked me away with the spear of his lance, having gotten close enough while I was busy with his barb. After landing on the ground, I tried to pick myself up, but only managed to get to my hands and feet before Xander had the point of his lance right at my face.

"Looks like I win." Xander said to me as I looked to see that smug look on his face. "Guess you won't be needing that sword anymore, mudblood."

Looking down at my Saisho, I found myself looking myself right in the eyes through the reflection on the blade. While I knew that I was outmatched and surrendering seemed like the only option, deep in my heart, I knew that I couldn't give up so easily. I worked so hard to get where I was, to prove I was worthy of this sword. I helped the Element Gang fight the Dark Gang and all kinds of powerful bad guys. I never once gave up then and I was sure as hell wasn't gonna give up now!

"No, not yet." I said as I then grabbed my Saisho by the hilt before using it to help me get to my feet. "This isn't… over." Fighting through how tired I was feeling, I managed to slowly get back on my feet turned around and looked at Xander to show him my determination. "I'm still… not giving up." Xander gasped as he was shocked, no doubt from seeing me still willing to fight. Xander quickly shook it off before he growled at me.

"Look, just give up! There's no way you can beat me or my Sieghild!" He told me as he then raised his lance. "You're history!"

Gaining a smirk, I then swiftly dodged the swings from Xander by bobbing and weaving. After a while of doing, I made a spell circle with my foot before bringing it up and aiming it at Xander. Though he tried to block it with his Sieghild, the wind blast I kicked at him still pushed him back a bit away from me, leaving about two and a half yards between us.

"Well, you do make a good point. Your Sieghild has proven to have an advantage over my Saisho." I told him. "But I still got the will to win, which is how I've gotten so far and why I won't give it up now!" Putting on a serious face, I then pointed my Saisho right at Xander. "Just who the hell do you think I am?"

[No one's view]

Looking at him from the sidelines, the Clawthorne gazed upon Ryuji in awe while seeing a teenage Axel in his place as the boy reminded them of his father. From seeing this, Eda then gained a smirk from feeling proud of her son for keeping his ground.

[Ryuji]

"Such foolish nonsense." Xander said as he then glared at me, gripping his Sieghild tightly by the handle. "I'm giving you one last chance, hybrid. Surrender now and accept your defeat!"

"I told you I'm not giving up!" I told him.

"Fine, then I'll just beat you until you give me that sword!" Xander said before he then charged at me, raising his lance above his head for a strike.

"I'd like to see you try!" I said as I then got into stance for a forward slash while holding my Saisho to the left side of me.

[No one's view]

After Ryuji made his declaration, the Saisho's blade slowly becomes enveloped in a bright white which then slowly spread out to the guard after covering the blade completely. Ryuji barely noticed it as he was focused on his counterattack against Xander who also had yet to notice as he kept his focus on his hybrid cousin. With the sword's blade and guard completely covered in light, everyone looked at the duel between the cousins in awe as they awaited on what was about to happen.

[Ryuji]

"By the way, I don't care what you call me, but I can tell you that I'm not mudblood!" I said as Xander had reached halfway to me. "I'm Ryuji the Dragon Kid!" Xander then got close to where the spear would slam me as he brought it down. "And my magic is never giving up!"

With that, I then slashed at him, managing to block his attack with my blade hitting the spear of his lance. After a moment of holding on, I pressed on until I pushed back his attack, forcing him to hold his lance out to the side before I then created a spell circle with my free hand and used it to send a wind blast at Xander. I watched as my attack sent my cousin skidding across the ground by his feet with Xander quickly using his lance to stop himself as he was now a few yards away from him, luckily not hitting any traps that weren't already set off.

"What?" Hearing Xander say that, I was a little confused until I looked to my Saisho and saw that it was glowing, not in any of the usual colored lights it normally got when I cast a spell attack with it but in white light. Another thing that got my attention was that its guard was glowing too.

Bringing it up in front of me, after gazing upon it in awe for a moment, I then watched as both the blade and the guard changed shape. The blade went from a thin curve to a thick cone and the guard grew bigger until it was big enough to cover my hand if I held it. A while after this change, the light then began to slowly fade away from my weapon, starting from the tip of the cone down. After it was gone, I was surprised to find that I no longer had a sword in hand, but a battle lance with a large and long spear that had the same engraving as the sword's blade with a gold vamplate with eight, downward-curved plumes aligned along its edge. The tip of the lance was the same gold as the bottom of the spear.

"Whoa!" I said, not really expecting this. Neither was much anyone else as I heard a gasp from the crowd. Even Lilith was shocked by this.

[Ryuji's aside]

Wow! I knew Dad said the Saisho had special features, but I didn't think he made to change into a lance! I really have the coolest dad in all the realms!

"Hey, you're cheating!" Xander called out with a look of anger, pointing at me with his lance. "You switched out your weapon!"

"Actually, I didn't." I told him with a smirk as I showed him the grip of the Saisho which was the only thing that stayed the same. "See? This is still my Saisho."

"You mean you turned that sword into a lance?" Xander said to me in disbelief. "How is that possible?"

"I told you before, my dad made me this sword. Just like me, it's got its own set of tricks." I then pointed my lance at Xander who was still in disbelief. "What's the matter, Duskerman? Upset me and you are now on equal footing?"

"Grrr! Go to hell!" Xander declared with a growl, charging at me with his lance at the ready.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you first!" I did much the same and it wasn't long until we clashed lances at the point.

With me having a grin while Xander growled angrily at me, we stayed like this until we pushed each other back before we then began clashing spear points. I would have to admit, Xander's Sieghild was well made if it could handle being bashed at by my Saisho without much of a dent. Guess I shouldn't be surprised considering that this was a weapon made for a child of one of the Noble Three families. After clashing for a while, we both backed away from each other to give ourselves some distance, Xander's Sieghild glowing magenta as he pulled it back before its tip was covered in abomination goo. Deciding to try that trick out for myself, I pulled back my Saisho and then focused my Plant Magic into it, causing the spear to glow in green light before the tip was covered in a thorny vine.

"Attack Magic: Vine Whip!" I called out before swinging my lance at the same time as Xander, sending an outstretching vine that countered his slime strand before the two of us began whipping at each other in a clash of Abomination Magic and Plant Magic.

[No one's view]

Watching the duel continue, the crowd was in awe at seeing Ryuji managing to counter Xander's attacks, all of them even more surprised than when his weapon changed form.

"Whoa. I didn't know Ryuji knew how to use a lance." Gus said, surprised by this.

"He recovered pretty quickly too." Willow added, just as surprised.

"Of course! Why wouldn't he?" King told the two. "He is Axel's son after all."

"Hell, yeah! Whoo-hoo!" Juniper cheered out, excitedly. "Go, DK!"

At the entrance, Eda looked at her son in awe for holding his own in the duel for a moment before gaining a smile and looking to Lilith who was watching the duel with surprise.

"Ha! How do you like me now, Lily?" Eda called out, trying to rile her sister, but Lilith manages to keep her composure.

"Don't be so cocky, Edalyn." Lilith said with an emotionless expression. "Your child has not yet triumphed over mine."

[Ryuji]

After a while of clashing whips with each other, I decided to end the little standoff by thrusting a vine right at Xander, breaking through the abomination whip and knocking him to the ground.

"Is that all ya got?" I said as Xander picked himself up.

"Hardly!" Xander said as the light on his lance changed from magenta to purple with the slime evaporating from the tip before he then thrust his lance forward and unleashed that spirit minion of his.

"Time to switch it up!" I said before taking my Saisho in both hands and holding it above my head, the vines disappearing as the light on the spear changed from green to gold. "Earth Magic: Rising Pillars!"

Strike the lance into the ground, I watched as my elemental magic flowed through the ground before stone pillars rose from it right in the path of Xander's summoned spirit. The spirit tried its best to dodge the rising pillars, but soon got overwhelmed by my spell and slammed right into one that rose up right in front of it, disappearing upon impact.

[No one's view]

On the other side of the pillars, Xander watched as his spirit disappeared and growled in frustration that his attack failed. With his spear losing its purple glow while the tip started glowing light blue, Xander pulled back his lance as he then brought out his Dusk Wings. With a single thrust of his weapon, Xander then jumped as he flew towards the pillars, spinning before he began cutting through them like a drill. Upon reaching the other side, Xander stopped and stood at the ground with a look of anger as the pillars collapsed behind him.

"Alright, hybrid! Now I've…" Xander said before he gained a look of shock upon finding Ryuji gone. "Wait, where'd he go?"

"Up here!" Looking upward, Xander finds Ryuji coming down at him with the Saisho thrust forward as its spear was surrounded in a spiraling golden light. "Attack Magic: Shining Drill!"

Seeing this, Xander quickly jumped to dodge as Ryuji hit the ground, leaving a cloud of dust. After landing and regaining his foot, Xander turned back with the intent of attacking Ryuji only to be shocked to find him gone with a large hole in the ground where the Frank boy struck. Perplexed by this, Xander looked around to see where Ryuji had gone, unable to hear the sound of dirt being moved beneath him. It was only a moment until Ryuji popped out of the ground behind him, the hybrid boy sporting a grin as his lance stopped glowing.

"What?" Xander said in shock after turning around to find Ryuji behind him.

"Peek-a-boo!" Ryuji said before he swung his lance and smacked Xander away, sending the Duskerman boy rolling across the ground.

"Yes! That's the way to do it!" Eda said, impressed by Ryuji's sneak attack.

[Ryuji]

After landing flat on his stomach about two yards away from me, I watched as Xander then struggled to get himself while using his Sieghild as support.

"I don't understand." Xander said with a glare pointed at me. "How are you this strong? You're just a hybrid."

"Yeah, I'm a hybrid, but I'm also the guy who was trained by a great warrior who fought for both peace and justice." I told him as I pointed the Saisho at him, tensing my muscles as I prepared myself to finish this. "Even after learning everything I could be taught in both combat and in magic, I trained and managed to grow with my magic. I went through a great journey where I fought against powerful opponents, learning something new from every battle. I wanted to be as strong as all the amazing fighters I met, better than them even, both the good guys and the bad guys. I kept on training and pushing past my limit!" Pulling back my Saisho, I got ready to finish Xander off with the hollowing of wind surrounding my lance. "Attack Magic: Tempest Thrust!" A moment after saying that, I then charged forward right at Xander at top speed with a Wind Dash and closed the distance. "Here…comes…Dragon…Kiiid!"

Before he had time to react, I then thrust my Saisho, slamming the orb of wind it had at the tip right into Xander's gut. With Xander giving a groaning grunt from the impact, the orb exploded and unleashed a powerful burst of wind that surrounded the place, a powerful gale that I managed to keep my ground against with a smile.

[No one's view]

With powerful winds blowing throughout the theater, everyone around the two boys used their arms to shield themselves against the gale. After a moment, the wind finally died down and everyone looked in shock and awe as they watched Xander crash to the ground, losing his grip on his Sieghild while skidding across on his back until he stopped near a mound concealing one of Eda's magic traps with his lance landing beside him, only a yard and a half away from Ryuji.

[Ryuji]

Walking over to him, I watched as Xander then woke up with a groan and sat up where I then had the point of my Saisho right at his face.

"I beat you. It's over!" I told him, Xander giving me a groan of exasperation that he had been defeated.

Not long after that, I heard cheering and looked out to the crowd as they all cheered for my victory. Though surprised by this, I eventually smiled upon hearing the compliments.

"That was awesome!"

"He beat a Duskerman!"

"He really is a Frank!"

[No one's view]

While the crowd cheered, both Lilith and Amity looked upon the defeated Xander in absolute disbelief.

"I've never seen moves like that." Lilith said. "And the way he used those spells… He really is Axel's son."

"No way." Amity said.

"Yes! Yes! That's my boy!" Eda cheered out for her son's win from the sidelines.

"Yeah, that's my friend!" Luz called out excitedly. "DK! DK! DK!"

From this, the whole crowd soon joined and began cheering out Ryuji's nickname as the Frank boy's weapon turned back into a sword within a flash before he then placed it back on his back, Ryuji smiling proudly at this while Xander growled in annoyance.

Amongst the crowd, Juniper, Willow, and Gus were cheering out with everyone else until Gus spoke up.

"Alright, Ryuji! Way to rock it like a hybrid!"

"He did really well for a half-witch." Willow put in.

"Oh, that's no half-witch." Juniper told them with a proud smile. "That's my brother!"

[Ryuji]

I really got to say, it felt great to hear such a cheer from people for what I did with my magic. This was short-lived when I heard Amity's growl of anger.

"Okay! You're hybrid boyfriend there might've won his deal, but I'm still gonna beat you!" Amity said to Luz, looking furious as she waved her arm. "Abomination, attack!"

With that, her abomination then continued to chase Luz who then ran away. After a while, Luz had managed to lead the abomination into a trap, causing a puff of smoke that knocked the slime giant down.

"Grrr! If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself." Amity said with a growl of annoyance before marching over to Luz just as her abomination was back on its feet. "Abomination, halt!" Following her command, the abomination froze after it managed to pull off its head.

[No one's view]

Back in the stands, the trio gained looks of worry as they watched an angry Amity march towards Luz.

"Uh-oh. I think Luz might be in trouble." Willow said as Juniper then looked around.

"Hey, has anyone seen King?" Juniper asked, the little demon no longer with them.

"This I gotta see!" Hearing his voice, the three then looked to find King a couple of rows below as he tried to get a much closer look at the duel, slowly climbing down the seats.

"Go, Amity!" The dueling witch's fan exclaimed, causing King to pause.

"Hey, you root for Luz or nobody!" The demon exclaimed before slipping on one of his scarves and starting to tumble down.

"King!" Juniper said as she then chased after him with worry, rushing down the seats to try and catch him.

[Ryuji]

As Luz stood there with worry, I actually feared what Amity was going to do to my friend as the witch marched her way over to her.

"Okay, human. Enough playing around." Amity angrily said. "You either tell me how you're doing all of this or I'm gonna…"

"No, Amity! Don't step any closer!" Luz told her, stopping the witch's approach. Looking over between them, I saw a mound hiding one of my mom's traps sitting there.

"Why? What happens if I step closer?" Amity asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Hearing a couple of grunts, we all looked to the stands and saw King tumbling down the seats with Juniper close behind him. As he pounced off the last seating row, Juniper tried to catch him, but fell short and landed flat on the edge of the stands while King flew into the area where he landed on the mouth. With that, the trap was tripped and a whole bunch of spikes erupted from the ground. Luckily for King, the clothing he was wearing took the hit.

"Huh? Hey, I'm okay." King said as he hung by his clothes on the spikes, Juniper giving a sigh of relief.

"Spikes?!" Luz said in shock as me and her looked at my mom.

"Mom! Seriously?" I spoke out, my mom shrugging with a nervous smile.

"What the…?" Hearing his voice, I turned over to Xander as he then picked up his Sieghild and poked the mound near him with the tip, causing a burst of fire to pop out. Watching him glare after looking around, I knew he had figured out what was going on. "Hey, there's magic traps all over the field!" the crowd gasped in shock from hearing this.

"I knew it!" I turned back to see Amity jabbing a finger at Luz while Xander flew over to her with a glare and his mother walking over to them. "You were cheating!"

"Amity, no! I didn't mean to…" Luz said as she tried to explain herself while me and Mom got over to her with Juniper jumping down to join us.

Meanwhile, Lilith kneeled down touching a spike that crumbled to dust.

"Oh, Eda." Lilith said after she kneeled down and touched a spike which then crumbled to dust before she then stood back up with a proud smile directed at my mom. "I do believe this means you lose!" My mom growled at her sister with a glare in response.

"I can't believe this!" Xander spoke out in anger. "Were you planning to use these traps if I was close to beating you?"

"What? No!" I told him, trying to explain. "My mom put those traps there! I only wanted to fight fairly!"

"He's right. Ryuji never wanted to cheat his way to win. Neither did I." Luz spoke up as she looked to Amity. "Amity, it wasn't my idea to cheat. When I found out what Eda did, I tried to stop it, but…"

"Who could believe anything you say?" Amity snarled at her.

"Yeah, and here I thought Franks were honorable." Xander said, making me look down in shame. "Guess I was wrong."

[No one's view]

"Shall we take our leave, Amity?" Xander asked as his Sieghild folded itself down before he put it back on his hip.

"Yeah, let's go." Amity said before the two then turned around and started walking away.

As the two were walking away, Juniper gained a look of surprise upon seeing something stuck to their necks before she then whispered to her mother who became just as surprised.

[Ryuji]

"Hold it right there, you two." Mom said as she and Juniper walked over to the witch and warlock, the two teens stopping upon hearing this.

"Hey, get your hands off me!" Xander said as my sister and mom then lifted up the hair at the back of both his and Amity's heads.

"Hey, what are you…" Amity said before Mom and Juniper pulled something on both hers and Xander's necks.

Upon doing so, we all then watched as Xander's Dusk Wings returned to the size they were a while before the duel started and Amity's abomination shrunk down from a giant to that mini version of itself, the slime golem dropping its head which squashed it.

"Power Glyphs from the Construction Coven!" Mom said as she and Juniper held said glyph stickers.

"These guys had their magic supercharged the whole duel!" Juniper added, me and Luz gasping in shock with the crowd from seeing Amity and Xander using power boosts in the duel.

[No one's view]

Upon hearing this, the crowd was in utter disbelief that the witch and warlock they admired had been cheating the whole duel.

"Okay, I did not see this coming." Said the Oracle Coven witch from earlier.

"They cheated." Willow gasped while looking at Gus.

[Ryuji]

"Seriously? You were using Power Glyphs the whole time?" I said to the witch and warlock who looked to be stunned in shock, angry with both of them. "And you had the nerve to call us cheaters."

"Wait, this is a mistake! We didn't know we had those!" Xander told me, his look of worry surprising me as I saw he was telling the truth. "We never even been near the Construction Coven!" Hearing that, I then realized that my mom wasn't the only one who was planning on cheating.

"But I think we all know who has." I said, glaring at Lilith who had looked away while trying her best not to look guilty.

"Mother?" Xander said in disbelief as he figured it out. "You put those glyphs on us?"

"Whoa!" Luz said with shock as she realized it. "So both our teachers put up a safety net so we wouldn't lose."

"Yeah, only difference is that one of them told her students about her plan instead of going through with it without their consent." I said before speaking to Lilith. "For crying out loud, Xander's your son."

"Yeah, and you just tricked him into cheating?" Juniper added, our aunt looking down in shame. "That's cold, Lilith. Really cold."

"Ah-ha!" Mom spoke up as she started to do a series of victory dances, surprising her sister before turning to her. "Yes, yes, yes-yes-yes! You cheated! Perfect, prissy Lilith cheated! Hot damn! I love Coventions! La-la-la!"

"I only did that because I knew you would cheat!" Lilith responded in annoyance.

"Still cheated!" Mom said as she was enjoying the moment. "Welcome down to my level!"

As Mom continued to gloat, me, Juniper, and Luz looked to the crowd as they began to murmur amongst themselves, no doubt still in disbelief of what they found out. Looking over at them, we watched as Amity and Xander looked around nervously. No doubt in shock from being lied to like that, me and Luz walked over to comfort them.

"I can't believe this." Amity said before she ran right out of the theater.

"Amity, wait!" Xander called out as he then ran after her.

"Xander! Amity!" I said before King called out.

"Juniper! Ryuji! Luz!" King said as he struggled to get free from the spikes. "Help me!"

"I'll get him down, you guys go after Amity and Xander!" Juniper said as she then ran over to help King.

"Right! Come on, Luz!" I said as me and Luz then ran out of the theater.

[No one's view]

"Okay, King. Hold still." Juniper said before she grabbed the little demon and managed to pull him out of the spikes, ripping his new clothes in the process

"No! My offerings!" King said in dismay.

"You'll get more offerings, King. Right now, we got to help Luz and DK." Juniper said as she pats his head like a mother would for her child before she ran off to catch up.

"Hey, wait for me!" King cried out as he followed. But they left the theater though…

"Knock it off!" Lilith demanded, growing annoyed as her sister continued to dance. Her outburst made Juniper and King stop at the exit and watch at what was about to unfold. "You're making a scene!"

"You cheated!" Eda said as she wasn't gonna let this go before she stuck out her ear. "Hey, where's the Rhyming Coven? What rhymes with 'cheated'?"

"Stop acting like a child!" Lilith said, getting more annoyed as her little sister continued to gloat.

"You were defeated! Don't get heated! Get your stank face treated!" Eda rhymed, putting Lilith to a near meltdown level.

"Rhyme one more thing." Lilith growled in a very threatening tone. "I dare you!"

"Oh, it's okay. I'm done." Eda said with a wave. Lilith sighed as she tried to recompose herself before Eda spoke up again. "Because my rhymes are depleted!"

"That's it!" Lilith screamed, summoning forth her white staff before spinning it around and producing blue energy which she used to blast Eda right into the theater's podium, the audience gasping at this sudden turn of events.

"There she is!" The Owl Lady said with a grin as she then summoned her own staff and span it around, creating a big, fiery circle of magic in front of her.

When she stopped though, she accidentally dropped her staff, but quickly retrieved it as she then thrust it forward and blasted a yellow beam at Lilith. Lilith retaliated by sending a blue beam which clashed with her sister's attack. After watching this for a moment, King and Juniper looked at each other as they tried to decide what they were gonna do.

"Eh. She's got this." Juniper shrugged before she and King then left, leaving her mother and aunt to their witch's duel.

[Ryuji]

After getting out of the theater, me and Luz then looked around to try and find Amity and Xander.

"Amity? Xander!" Luz called out as we looked around. "Where did they go?" It was then that I heard sniffling and looked over to a nearby alley.

"Over there!" I said as I found the witch and warlock, pointing over the two sitting as they sat there in the alley with Amity holding her legs close to her as she hide her face while Xander looked at her with concern.

Seeing this, we looked at each other as we felt bad for the two before slowly walking over to them.

"It's okay, Amity. Everything's gonna be alright." Xander said as he had a comforting hand on her shoulder. His look of concern turned into an angry glare as he turned and saw me and Luz. "What? Did you come here to gloat?"

"What? Gloat?" I said, trying to show him I was sorry. "Xander, I came here to apologize."

"Well, it's too late for that." Xander bluntly told me as he stood up. "You humiliated me in front of everyone! I'm a total laughing stock because of you!"

"Xander, I didn't mean to humiliate you."

"Well, you did!" I was surprised by his outburst. "Honestly, it was bad enough when you showed up and everyone started treating you like you were special just because you're the son of someone who ran like a coward from something that changed everything! You think it's so easy just because you're a Frank while I had to work my way up from the bottom to prove myself as a Duskerman! You have no place here in the Isles! Say it! Say you don't belong here!" After a moment of silence, I then knew what I had to do.

"You're right. I don't belong here." I admitted, surprising Xander before I then took out my Saisho. Taking a deep breath, I then concentrated my magic into the sword, trying to make it change form. Opening my eyes, I looked at it with a serious look as it was glowing and slowly trying to change shape. "But that's not gonna stop me from trying to do what's right." After a moment of this and my Saisho returned to normal, Xander spoke up with an emotionless expression.

"I heard you say that you were raised by your father and didn't have your mother around." Xander said before he then leaned against a wall and slid down to sit down before he held his legs close to him. "I'd say you had better luck than me with that."

"What do you mean?" I was confused by this.

"I mean you have a father who cares about you. I'm not even sure my dad even cares about me."

"What makes you think that?"

"For most of my life, I was raised by my father. I know what you're thinking, but it's not as great as it sounds. My father was absolutely strict with me, even when he was training me to use my lance. He always expected me to act and look like Duskerman should. In fact, this isn't even my real hair." He motioned to his head when he said that. "He had me comb it down and dye it just so I would look more like the Duskerman I am."

"That sounds awful."

"It was, but I still have to do it, all for the Duskerman name. Though considering how he usually keeps himself busy running the Warriors Coven instead of spending any time with me, I doubt he even cares."

"I doubt that." I then sat down next to him. "My dad always said that all fathers care for their sons."

"Yeah, all but my dad. After Mother became the head of the Emperor's Coven and he let me stay with her, I really thought I escaped the dread and finally had a parent who cared about me. But, as I just found out, not even my own mother cares about me. All my family cares about is their reputation. No matter what I do, I can never get their approvable, to get them to be proud of me or even have any trust in me. Makes me wish that I wasn't born as a Duskerman or the son of Lilith."

After hearing all that, I really felt bad for him. He had grown up without being shown fatherly love and had been lied to by his own mother who was the one person he thought he could trust. At first, I thought Xander was just this big, jerky, blueblood asshole who reminded me of Roman Torchwick, but it turned out that he was just this broken kid who thinks he's alone in the world. The Duskermans were known to be perfectionists, especially with strength. The way he acted wasn't his fault, it was just how he was raised. Seeing how much pain he was in.

"Then stop trying so hard to prove yourself to them." Putting a hand on his shoulder, I got Xander to look at me and see the smile I was giving him. "You're not your father, Xander. You're not Lilith either. You're you. This magic you got isn't theirs or anyone else's but your own. Whatever you decided to do with it in your life, instead of doing it to prove yourself to somebody who doesn't see how hard you work, do something that you want to do. Who you become is your choice and no one can tell you different."

From this, Xander looked at me with surprise for a moment before he then pushed my hand off with a sigh. After doing so, he then created a spell circle between us before grabbing me by the wrist and pulling my hand into it. After our hands flashed, the spell circle disappeared.

"What did you do?" I asked him.

"I broke the everlasting oath." He told me with an emotionless expression.

"Does that mean I can keep doing magic and keep my Saisho?"

"Star-Rank weapons belong to the strongest. Someday, you'll have to prove you're worthy of that sword again. You better be ready for that, Dragon Kid." Xander then turned to Amity as he began to comfort her again.

I smiled at Xander as I saw that, under that tough guy act, he was a big, old softie. Looking back to Luz, I remembered there was still one more apology that needed to be said to one witch who obviously needed it.

"Hey, Xander." Xander then turned back to me. "You mind if Luz talks with Amity for a moment? She really feels guilty for what happened and just wants to apologize. I can see you care about Amity and I think a little talk between her and Luz might do them both some good."

"Ugh! Fine." Xander groaned as me and him then scooted away from Amity before he spoke to Luz. "Make it quick, human."

"Thanks, Xander." Luz said as she gave him a grateful smile before she walked over to Amity. "Hey, Amity."

"Ugh! Seriously?" Amity groaned in annoyance as she turns away from Luz. "Just leave me alone. You already embarrassed me enough."

"Amity, I didn't mean to embarrass you." Luz said, giving Amity an apologetic look.

"That's all you ever do!" Amity said as she became furious. "First at school and now this!"

"Yeah, but…" Luz didn't get to finish as Amity stood back up while turning around and glaring daggers at her.

"But nothing! You made me look like a fool in front of the Emperor's Coven, my future! You think it's so easy to be a witch, but I have been working my whole life to get to the top!"

"I can see that, but things aren't that bad. You might have another chance."

"Where? The Emperor's Coven was the only place where I could become someone great and I lost that all because of you, a human who thinks she's a witch! Say it! Say you're not a witch!" Though stunned by Amity's outburst, Luz sighed as she looked down in shame.

"You're right. I'm not a witch." Luz then got down to her knees before she took out her notepad. Curiously, Amity sat down as Luz began writing on the notepad. After a moment, seeing Luz hold up a light orb with a little smile, I smiled for her still holding on to the hope that she can become a witch by using a Light Glyph. "But I'm training hard to be one."

While Amity looked at the orb in awe, I looked at Xander as he gasped from seeing Luz do magic.

[No one's view]

Back in the theater, the duel between the two witch sisters was still going as Lilith spanned her staff to deflect blasts from Eda before stopping to send a burst of blue magic at her younger sister. In response, Eda then created a magic circle around her before stepping back as the area within that circle rose up and protected her from the blast. What rose up was a large stone creature that resembled the house demon Hooty which curved down as it headed to Lilith. Using her magic, Lilith swiftly dodges the creature before blasting it to a wall, the collision causing the crowd to flee as flaming pieces of stone flew into the stands. After this happened, golden circles appeared on the stone pillar before Lilith and small versions of the creature she defeated popped out and attacked her, this being the work of Eda who was making multiple spell circles along her creation. Lilith managed to escape the attack and went on to attack Eda, the Owl Lady quickly creating a force field to block her sister who tried to break through the force field with her staff. As Eda gained a grin, Owlbert eyes opened and it wasn't long until he flew off the staff and started attacking Lilith, the elder witch being dragged away as the little owl pulled on her hair.

"Say good night, sister." Eda said as she spans her staff before stomping the bottom of it on the stone creature.

After doing so, a large spell circle appears beside Lilith. Owlbert stops attacking and flies away before Lilith is then eaten by another stone creature resembling Hooty. Eda stands there while smiling proudly as she then watches Owlbert return to his place on the staff and become wood again. Looking back at where she trapped her sister, Eda lost her smile upon seeing a hole burning in blue flames at the side of her creation.

"Enough of this." Lilith said as she then appeared behind Eda, her sister gasping in shock before being sent flying into a wall.

As Eda picks herself, Lilith then spins her staff and creates a ring of blue fire before she starts her way over to her sister.

"Lily, wait." Eda said with a pleading look. "The curse." This shocks Lilith as she then stops spinning her staff and looks at Eda with concern, the blue flames on her staff dissipating. "Look at me, look at my face. The curse is worsening and I can't keep up with it." Lilith then began to walk over to her. "I don't know how much time I have left."

"I'll admit I was surprised when I saw you here today." Lilith said to her sister.

"I just had to see my sister for possibly the last time."

"Eda, I…" Before Lilith could say anything, something hit her in the face. "Aah!" Looking to the ground, she then saw it was a Hex Mix bag which made her growl as she then turned back to Eda who was already running out of the theater.

"It's been fun! Let's call it a draw!"

"EDAAAA!" Lilith yelled out in frustration.

[Ryuji]

After a brief moment of Amity looking at the orb in awe, the witch then spoke.

"Pfft! That's nothing. A child could do a light spell." Amity scoffed as she turned away, making Luz feel depressed as she then made the orb disappear. "But… I've never seen it cast like that."

"Hold on, was that…?" Xander asked with surprise.

"Glyph Magic." I said, keeping my smile as Xander turned to me. "Yeah, Luz actually knows Glyph Magic."

"How did a human like her learn magic that no one in centuries?" He asked me.

"I have no idea." I answered. "But she learned it on her own."

"Unbelievable." Xander said as he took all this in.

"It doesn't come naturally to me like it does for you and Xander and Ryuji, so I've had to improvise." Luz said as she explained. "Before I came here, I always felt like I was…out of place in the world. The only person I ever had that could understand me was Ryuji. When I learned about Glyph Magic and used my first glyph, I actually felt like I belong." Smiling at Amity, Luz then placed a hand on Amity. "Amity, I'm really sorry for what happened. I know that life doesn't always make it easy for you and, when it comes to magic, there is no shortcut. I can totally see you've been training hard to become a witch. I've been doing that too. We practically have the same goal. But I learned that you don't need it to become a witch and that you'll get rewarded through your efforts. I know you feel broken up because of what Lilith did to you, but that's no reason for you to throw in the towel. You'll become a great witch one day. I will too. All we have to do is just keep working to that goal."

Hearing that speech from Luz, Amity looked at my friend with surprise for a moment before looking at me and Xander as we both smiled at her. From this, she then gained an emotionless expression with a sigh as she then gently pushed Luz's hand off her shoulder before making a spell circle along with gently grabbing Luz's hand and putting it through. What Xander had done after I talked with him, Amity did the same and broke the everlasting oath.

"The oath is unbound." Amity said before she got up to her feet. "Let's go, Xander." With that, Xander then got to his feet as he then joined Amity, the two beginning to walk away.

"Did it work?" Luz asked, wondering if this meant she no longer had to follow the oath they made. "Can I still learn magic?"

"Humans have no magical ability." Amity said as she and Xander stopped before looking over her shoulder at Luz. "But I doubt that'll stop you." She then turned to Xander. "Shall we go, Xander?"

"Yes, we shall." Xander said as the two then continued to walk away. "Goodbye, human, Dragon Kid."

"You know, I think we may have earned the respect of those two." I said as we smiled at the departing duo.

"Yeah, I thought Amity was just some bully." Luz added. "Turns out that she's just a girl who pretends not to care but secretly does. She kind of acts like Weiss."

"Yeah, I can see the Shnee in that witch." I then turned my gaze to Luz. "Much like how I can see the Rose in you. In fact, this kind of reminds me of when Weiss and Ruby first met."

"Hey, you're right. It is like how they met!" Luz said as she then got that excited look in her eye. "Hey, maybe I can get her to open up more like how Ruby did with Weiss."

"Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves." I told her. "You've earned her respect, but it might take a little more time before you and Amity can bond like that. Though it does kinda feel like we're living the life of RWBY, huh?"

"Yeah, it kinda does. I feel like Ruby."

"Well, we already have our own Weiss now."

"Don't forget about your Yang!" Looking to the side out of surprise, we then watched my sister and King come over to us, Juniper smiling at us. "Sorry we're late. I had to wait up on King because of his tiny legs."

"Don't worry. We understand." I told her as me and Luz regained our smiles. "Do you even know what we're talking about?"

"Yeah, RWBY, right?" Juniper said as I then raised a brow at her. "I found some comics in my trips to the human realm."

"Let me guess: Yang's your favorite character?" I asked her.

"Hell, yeah! She's an awesome babe, just like me!" She told me.

"Yeah, and just as hotheaded." I said, earning a punch to the arm from my sister. "Now that I think about it, it does feel like we're seeing the making of a real Team RWBY."

"You seriously think Amity would be friendly like that?" Juniper asked, raising a brow as she lost her smile.

"Well, if she's like Weiss, then there's a possibility she could." I told my sister. "So we have Luz as our Ruby, you as our Yang, and Amity as our Weiss. All we need is our Blake."

"Hey, what about me?" King spoke up.

"Sorry, but I'm not sure you can really fit the cut." I said before I noticed he lost all the stuff he had. "Hey, I see you lost your offerings. Do you want to get more?"

"Nah! That stuff just weighed me down." King replied, not bothered by the loss. "But I have something for you, Ryuji and it's the best thing. It's free, comes from my heart, and I always have more than I need."

"Is it love?" Luz said with a gasp.

King made a look of disgust. "Ugh! No!" King groaned with disgust before he pulled out a tote bag, no doubt one for the Covention. "Tote bags! They have so many uses!"

"Like what?" I asked him.

"Like this!" King said as he then slumped the bag over my arm before getting inside the bag, riding in it like a chihuahua being carried in a purse as he then pointed forward. "Away, fair chariot! Away!" I chuckled at this while Luz patted his head.

"We need to go!" Mom said as she then ran up to us.

"How'd you get away from Lilith?" I asked her.

"Let's just say she had a real snack attack." She answered with a laugh and a snort at her own joke. "Wait, I got a better one."

"Eda…" Luz said, getting my mom's attention. "Do you think I'll ever be a true witch?"

"What? I don't know." She replied to us. "I mean, who's a true witch and warlock? These suckers?" She pointed her thumb at a pair of warlocks who then walked away from being offended by this. "According to them, that means being in a coven. But I never joined one and I'm better than all of them combined. So is my husband and our kids for the same thing." Me and my twin smiled at the compliment. "Like I always say, when it comes to being one, you gotta be your own witch."

"My own witch." She repeated what her mentor said with a smile.

"Now, let's go before my sister realizes I tied her pointy shoes together." Just when she said that, we all heard Lilith scream from within the theater. "And that's our cue!"

"Right behind ya, Mom!" I said while Juniper laughed at what we heard as we all made our way out of the building.

"Sister? Wait, you mean Lilith is actually…" Luz exclaimed, surprised by this.

"Mine and Juni's aunt, yeah." I told her as we all then walked out the door and headed home. "Lilith's our mom's older sister."

"Wow! Now that's a mysterious past payoff!" Luz said.

"Oh, you think that's all the mystery I got?" Eda asked amusingly. "Wait until you hear about my parents."

"Wait, you're parents? As in Ryuji's grandma and grandpa?" Luz said as she was surprised by this. "First I find out your Ryuji's mom and Juni's his sister…"

"Twin sister." Juniper added.

"Wait, you two are twins?" Luz asked, surprised once again.

"Yeah, we are." I told her.

"Dios Mio! First I find out Eda's your mom, then I found Juni's your twin sister, then I find out that Lilith is Eda's sister, and now you have grandparents?" Luz excitedly said. "I need to know more!"

"You very much don't!" King chimed in.

"Yeah, what he said." Juniper backed him up.

"Yeah, I think I had enough of learning about the Clawthorne Family for today." I added.

[No one's view]

Back in the Covention, Lilith struggles to walk in as she opens the door to her dressing room, tripping from her shoes being tied together.

"You make it so hard to want to help you, Edalyn." She grunted standing back up. "Even your own children are as troublesome. It seems as though the apple truly doesn't fall too far from the tree."

On the desk in front of her, some sort of pendant with the Emperor's Coven's symbol chimed before it popped open, making her gasp in surprise as she sees a female demon of a diminutive stature on the glass within the pendant which seemed to act almost like a small communication screen.

The demon's full-body frame was quite petite as she the size and appearance of a small child with red skin and large pointy ears. Her hands and feet were shaped like bird talons with dark red claws. Her "hair" was a large, dark turquoise hand that covered her head with light turquoise talons acting as bangs that covered her right eye, leaving her remaining round eye with a dark-brown iris and a yellow sclera visible. It ended in a hand-like bun tied at the back of her head with a black scrunchy, giving her hair the appearance of conjoined hands. Her attire consisted of a white robe with grayish-yellow highlights, a collar that obstructed her mouth with a yellow band going around her neck, and a triangular-shaped shoulder area. Beneath this robe was a dark gray tunic fastened with black wristbands.

"Lilith, I see you let The Owl Lady get the best of you. You must watch your temper." The demon said to her. "Remember what Emperor Belos has promised to you."

"I will capture her, Lady Kikimora." Lilith said as she made a small gesture by bowing her head.

"And the Demon Flame." The demon known as Kikimora reminded her. "She's to be captured as well. You haven't forgotten yet, have you?"

"No…I haven't." Lilith tried her best not to show the guilt she was feeling.

"Also, the Emperor wants to capture with Dragon Kid Warden Wrath informed us about." Lilith was surprised by this. "Out of anyone, he must be captured at once. Is that clear?" Lilith recomposed herself before she gave her answer.

"Yes, ma'am. I will have all three of them in custody. You have my word."

"Very good." The demon did an eye smile as the screen turned black.

"Your days are numbered, Edalyn." Lilith then gained a troubled look diverting her gaze away. "As for you, Juniper, what will become of you will be uncertain. But I am certain that neither you, your brother, or my sister can run from me forever. Run all you like, but soon enough, the three of you will be brought to justice. And I'm afraid that you are going to have to pay for your father's crimes, Ryuji."

[Ryuji]

"Ah-choo!" I sneezed from feeling that sudden tickle in my nose as I walked with Mom and the girls with King still riding in the bag over my shoulder.

"You okay, bro?" Juniper asked as I sniffled a bit, confused by this. "That was a pretty big sneeze."

"Yeah. I'm fine." I told her as I rubbed my nose with my finger. "Maybe somebody out there is talking about me."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Juniper told me. "Seeing how you won a duel against a Duskerman and all."

"Yeah, that is a pretty big deal." King added. "Especially since that Duskerman is the son of two coven heads."

"Yeah, pretty sure anybody would be talking about a fight that awesome." Luz put in. "And here I thought you wanted to stay out of sight."

"Oh, come on. I'm sure it will all blow over soon." I told the three. "By then, I'll be continuing my summer in the Boiling Isles, quietly and inconspicuously."

"Quietly, huh?" Juniper said, giving me a questioning look.

"Inconspicuously?" Luz said, giving me the same look.

"Ya seriously gonna say all that with a straight face?" Juniper asked me. "Even after what you just pulled?"

"Hey, it's fine. I'm not a big deal like Dad." I told her in reassurance. "Now, if he did that, I bet no one would ever stop talking about it."

"Yeah, right." Juniper said before she then backed up to walk beside me. "By the way, been meaning to ask ya. What's Dad like? I mean, really. I know I heard people talking about him before but I think it would be better if my own brother told me about him. You did grow up with him after all."

"Yeah, I can see that." I said before I began telling her about Dad. "Well, he's a really great guy. He taught me everything I know."

"Did he also teach you how to use a lance as much as a sword?" my sister gave me a knowing smile.

"Yeah, he did. He also taught me how to use an axe and a bow. Remembering that, maybe a lance or a sword isn't the only thing my Saisho can turn into."

"Seeing how it changed back there, I'd have to think the same thing. Guess Dad did make sure you were ready for everything."

"Yeah, he did. He may not be a powerful warlock, but he's the best dad I could ask for. He even showed me his definition of being strong."

"What's that?"

"He always said that there's no such thing as simple or normal. That it's just the way life rolls and, through your own hard work, you can accomplish so much. But, most importantly, have heart as that can see you through."

"Wow. Sounds like a guy I would like."

"Yeah, and he would love to have you around. Hey, Mom said you've been trying to help her break the curse, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, would you mind if I help you with that? Out of anything, I would like our family to be together again."

"Yeah, me too. Guess I can't ask for any better help than from my own bro, huh?"

"Yeah."

"And maybe we can figure out how to break your curse too."

"That would be great." There was a moment of silence before Juniper spoke again.

"I bet Dad likes your human friend there, huh?"

"Oh, Luz? Oh, yeah. He definitely likes her."

"Really? Did he say he approves of her?" Hearing that, I lost my smile as I turned to see her giving me a teasing smug.

"Really? You're teasing me now?" I gave her a nonchalant look.

"What? I'm just asking if he saw you and Luz as a thing. I know I do." I blushed at her comment.

"Hey, I told you. Me and Luz are just friends."

"Doesn't seem like that to me."

"Stop it."

"Come on, I've seen how you two are."

"Sis!"

"Oh, do I hear wedding bells?"

"That's it!" Now pissed off, I then tried to grab Juniper, my sister running past Luz to get ahead.

"Gotta be faster than that, bro!" I then growled in annoyance as my sister laughed while she kept walking, now behind Mom.

"Juni!" I tried to run after her but then remembered Luz and stopped when I got a bit ahead of her, turning to see her eyes widen and her hands in front of her mouth. Worried that she overheard me and Juniper, I then went over to talk to her and she stopped walking as I got her attention. "Luz, you didn't hear any of that, did you?"

"Huh?" Luz said, snapping out of some sort of trance before she gave me an embarrassed smile. "Oh, sorry. I just can't get over the fact that my teacher is your mom and you also have a twin. As well as that there is so much more about your family I didn't know about."

"Oh, so you didn't hear me and Juni talking just now?" I asked, surprised by this.

"No." She told me, making me sigh in relief. "Why? What were you talking about?"

"Oh, that?" I said with a nervous smile, blushing as I tried to escape the conversation. "She just wanted to know more about our dad. Nothing too big."

"Oh. That's cool." Luz said to me with a smile.

"Ha-ha! Nice recovery, bro!" Juniper laughed as we looked to see her still walking, her comment making me glare at her.

"Luz, mind carrying King back to the Owl House?" I said as I gave her the bag with the little demon in it. "I need to talk with my sister."

"Oh, sure." Luz said as she then put on the bag.

"Thank you. Now…" I said before I then ran after Juniper, my sister running with a laugh as she saw me. "JUNI!"

Okay, well, that was a family reunion I'll never forget and not at all how I thought it was gonna be like. Pretty sure that Lilith will be after me now like the rest of the Emperor's Coven. At least I got the respect of my Duskerman cousin like how Luz got the respect of Amity. Not sure if we'll be buddies with those two. Considering how they only warmed up to us a little, only time will tell how far things will go. I have no doubt I'll be the talk of the town after winning that duel, but I'm sure that'll all pass eventually, right? Anyway, now Luz knows that her own mentor is my mom and that the witch girl we've been hanging out with is my twin sister, my human friend now even more eager to learn magic and more about Mom's side of the family. Me and Luz are still set on our goals with me becoming the greatest hero in all the realms and Luz becoming a powerful witch as long as we keep working hard and never giving up. DK out!

Author's Note: Hey, guys! I hope you all like the new chapter. Well, Ryuji finally got to meet some people from his mother's side of the family. Though it wasn't how he thought it was gonna be, he at least managed to earn the respect of the warlock lancer Xander. Though now new questions have been added. What does Lilith know about Eda's curse? What exactly did Belos promise her? How will this affect our heroes? Many answers to come as the journey continues. Also Xander Duskerman is voiced by Kyle McCarely. In the next chapter, Luz and Ryuji will be left in charge of the Owl House while Eda is out doing errands. What can possibly go wrong? That's all I got for now. Don't forget to leave a comment to tell me what you think of it. See you all in the next chapter!