"Thou do not understand, Azura. I only wish to help thee." Amity narrated as she read a passage from her Good Witch Azura book. "Deny thy allegiance and pledge yourself to me! Together, you and I shall be invincible and rise above the weak! If you refuse my offer, then I shall throw you to the mercy of my many pets! Join me, child, or else."

"I shan't, Balthazar!" Luz chimed in, reading from the same page. "You may be a King, but thou hath no power over me, vile man! I have sworn to do only good, and I will never abandon the people I love! Now release Hecate or suffer mine wrath!"

"Ewww! Get a room!" Boscha shouted from another table.

The two girls paused before bursting into laughter as Amity put her book away.

"To be continued." She said with a playful smile.

"Balthazar is SO going down." Luz replied, manically rubbing her hands together.

"Heck yeah he is." Amity giggled and took her girlfriend's hand just as the teacher walked in to start class.

But before the teacher could speak, a new voice came over the intercom. It was Principal Bump.

"Attention students and faculty. Please report to the grudgby field for an important assembly." His voice said before cutting out.

"The grudgby field?" Luz asked before she and her girlfriend got up from their seats and headed towards the door; the rest of their class followed suit.

The pair was soon met up with Gus and Willow in the hallway.

"Hey, what's going on?" Gus asked.

"No clue." Amity answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"Whatever it is, it must be pretty important." Willow said before she noticed a pair of Coven Scouts standing on either side of the doorway leading outside.

The students piled themselves into the bleachers surrounding the area just as Principal Bump walked out to the middle of the field with a microphone in one hand.

"Hello, students." He began. "Sorry for the interruption, but thank you all for coming out here on such short notice. The reason I've called this impromptu assembly is because… there's a special guest who decided to drop by and he says he has a surprise for us."

"A surprise?" Luz whispered to her friends.

"Thank you, Principal Bump. I'll take it from here." An eerily familiar voice said.

Luz's heart dropped into her toes the moment she saw Emperor Belos himself step into view; a hushed, but still audible gasp could be heard from everyone around them. The student body fell silent as the Emperor made his way onto the field and stopped next to Principal Bump. Willow, Gus, and Amity quickly joined in their friend's shock and terror. He took the microphone and cleared his throat.

"Good morning, students of Hexside." He said. "I suppose you're wondering why you're all here. The answer is this: I have a special treat planned for you. Who is familiar with the Bonesborough Brawl? If you are, raise your hand."

Quite a few students, including Amity, raised their hands.

"Excellent, because I've planned an activity that is just like the Brawl. But I'm giving a lucky few of you the chance to participate." Belos explained. "I have randomly selected nine students from this school to go up against nine of my best scouts to represent the nine covens. Each participant will fight a scout using one track of magic that is the most fitting to your set of skills. Once a player is eliminated, the victor will move on to another opponent until only two remain and the last competitor who is left standing wins. Wouldn't that be fun?"

A vast majority of the students either clapped their hands in applause or looked on with visible excitement; even Principal Bump had a look of intrigue on his face as he listened. This did sound fun. Luz, Amity, Willow, and Gus on the other hand all gave each other anxious expressions. This had to be some kind of trick; knowing Belos, he would never do something as random as this. What was he up to?

He took a scroll out from behind his back and unfurled it. "When I call your name, step forward." He glanced at the list. "Matt Tholomule."

A student from the Construction track, Matt Tholomule, anxiously stood up and walked out onto the field.

"Callisto."

An Oracle track student with a crescent moon for a head gulped and went out to join Matt.

"Boscha."

Not even batting an eye, Boscha stood up from her seat and confidently strode out onto the field.

"Skara."

Giving a shrug, Skara nervously trekked down.

"Cat."

One of Boscha's grudgby teammates of the Healing track followed.

"Thad."

A boy with long bangs and bat ears from the Beastkeeping track nervously sauntered his way down.

"Augustus Porter."

Gus tensed up in an instant. He really didn't want to go, but a comforting pat on the back from Luz gave him the bit of courage he needed. So he hesitantly went.

"Willow Park."

Willow's eyes widened, but she glanced at her friends, who gave her reassuring nods. She took a deep breath and walked out.

Luz and Amity held hands; that was already eight students, including their friends. Who was going to be the ninth?

"Amity Blight."

The two girls froze in place and nervously looked at each other. Did the Emperor just call for Amity? After giving Luz a quick kiss on the cheek, Amity stood up from her seat and reluctantly maneuvered her way down to the field with her friends.

"Good luck out there, boo." Luz whispered as she pulled her uniform's hood up, unaware of the Coven Scout sneaking up behind her.

When Amity made it out to the field, Belos directed her and the other students to a designated spot for each of them, forming a circle around him. He snapped his fingers and nine Coven Scouts walked out and faced each student. Most of the competing students were eager to start, but Amity, Gus, and Willow were nervous and confused more than anything. With a smirk, the Emperor snapped his fingers a second time and Kikimora ran onto the field beside him.

"With Kikimora as your referee, the match will begin on my signal." He said before disappearing behind a curtain on the other end of the field, leaving his little servant in the center.

"Okay, children. The Emperor and I want a good, clean fight." Kiki said after clearing her throat. "Freelance fighting will be allowed to some extent, but anyone using any kind of magic outside of their specific track will be immediately disqualified. And team-ups are strictly prohibited here; any attempt in doing so will also lead to disqualification. So if everyone is ready…" She glanced upward to see the Emperor taking a seat in the higher corner of the bleachers where he could see everything. The participants each took a stance and faced their opponent, ready to fight.

The Emperor raised an air horn over his head. "…Let the Emperor's Battle Royale begin!" He blew the horn and it let out an ear-piercing shriek, giving the competitors the signal to start.

Kiki and Principal Bump ran off to the side as the fight officially began. The nine students raced across the field in all directions as they clashed with their opponents; fists were flying and magic flashed and boomed. The rest of the student body watched on in awe; a few even started streaming the fight for their Penstagram accounts. Luz cheered like mad as she watched her friends and girlfriend use their skills in plant, illusion, and abomination magic to try and best their adversaries.

"Way to go, guys! You got this! Woo-woo-woo-woo!" She shouted from her seat.

Amity blushed at Luz's praise and continued her assault on her opponent. Belos watched silently but intently from his perch. But what everyone else didn't know was that this wasn't actually Belos at all; it was an illusion being projected by a pair of hidden scouts. The real Emperor Belos had snuck into the school, made his way to Principal Bump's office, and sifted through the student files until he found what he was looking for.

"There you are." He said, taking a folder out of the cabinet and sitting down at the desk; the folder had Amity's name on it. "Let's learn a little more about you, shall we?" He smiled and started to read.

Back outside, Amity fought valiantly. Using her abominations and her quick thinking, she was practically obliterating the competition. But she was so focused on her fight that she didn't even realize Luz was in trouble. In fact, everyone in the crowd was oblivious to their surroundings; they were only paying attention to the brawl. Luz was knocked out with sleeping nettles and taken away by the scout behind her without anyone even noticing.

In the office, Belos silently read through the file, keeping track of every little detail about the young witch. "Hmm. Straight A student, former grudgby star, accomplished in abomination magic… My, my. What an experienced young lady." He smirked, not entirely believing everything he was reading.

A Coven Scout burst in just as Belos had closed the file.

"We just retrieved the human, my lord." He said with a salute.

"Perfect." Belos said as he got up and put the file back in the cabinet. "Go wait for the other scouts at the grudgby field. I'll meet you there."

The scout nodded his head and obeyed.

Belos then took a pen and paper out from a drawer, wrote something down, and folded it up with his wax seal before exiting the office. He walked down the hall and glanced at the lockers around him, trying to find a particular one. At last, he found it. He took the note and, making sure it didn't try to bite him, stuck the paper to the locker door before making his leave. He headed back towards the field.

He smiled. "See you soon."