AN:

It's been a while since I saw the finale, and I have a list of ideas to expand on the source material. I'm sure some concepts didn't cut in the shortened seasons.

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Chapter 22: Covention Part 5

Lilith crossed the arena, a frown marred on her face. Eyes narrowed at the swordsman. "I can understand how that little girl could contend against Amity. Even a power Glyph on an amateur is enough to be trouble. What I don't understand is how you succeeded."

Shirou shrugged. "It's magic…"

Lilith felt a vein pulsate. "I know that, but how-"

Eda cut her off and smirked. "Oh, Lilith. Quit being a baby and accept the loss."

Lilith groaned. "I'm not a sore loser."

Eda shrugged. "I saw that power glyph on your little girl's neck." A Cheshire smile appeared. "I don't suppose you know how that got there, huh?"

Lilith's eyes widened. "I… was just helping my protege through alternative methods to victory. You also used power glyphs, so why is it a problem when I use it?"

Eda grinned. "My girl knew she had one on her from the very beginning. Everyone saw her activate it. From the look on that girl's face when she saw that Power Glyph on her neck, she had no idea it was there. All that bravado at the start of the match, and she didn't even know she was being helped."

"I… I…" Lilith didn't know what to say that wouldn't paint her as a bad mentor.

"Ah-ha! Yes, yes, yes-yes-yes!" Seeing this, Eda started her victory dance. "You cheated. Perfect, prissy Lilith cheated. Hot dang, I love coventions! La-la-la—"

Lilith fumed. "I only did that because I thought you would cheat!"

Eda blew a raspberry at her. "I won't lie. I was thinking about setting up traps around the arena, but my servant here said we had to be the bigger person." She gestured to Shirou, who rolled his eyes at her antics. "Either way, you still cheated! Welcome down to my level!" Eda continued to dance… Kind of.

Lilith clenched her hands and glared at her sister. "Knock it off. You're making a scene!"

Taking a few steps from the Owl lady, Shirou couldn't help but feel embarrassed about being near this display. "Yes, Eda. I'm happy you're happy we won, but can't you take this somewhere else?"

Eda lunged at Lilith with an accusing finger. "You cheated. Hey, where's the Rhyming Coven? What rhymes with "cheated"?

Lilith raised her arms in contempt. "Stop acting like a child!"

"You were defeated; don't get heated. Get your stank face treated."

Lilith growled. "Rhyme one more thing. I dare you!"

Shirou pinched his nose. "Please listen to her."

Eda waved it off. "Oh, it's okay, I'm done… Because my rhymes are depleted!"

The hero slumped his shoulders in resignation.

Lilith grit her teeth, her anger reaching the limit. She screamed. "That's it!" Lilith summoned her staff. A twirl formed a spell circle, shooting a magical blast at Eda and throwing her into the wall behind the dais.

"Eda!" Shirou rushed across the arena to check if she was okay.

Everyone in the audience gasped. Even those who had started walking away returned from the commotion.

By the time Shirou reached the crash site, the cloud of Lilith's blue magic had cleared out, revealing Eda had splayed against the wall, smirking. 'Oh, I guess this is just a family spat to her.'

Eda didn't seem fazed by the attack. If anything, she was pleased. "There she is!" She summons her own staff and spins it in a circle, only to fly out of her hand and clatter on the ground. Not missing a beat, she picked it up with a roar and sent a burst of magic back.

Lilith's spell circle held it off before retaliating with more power.

Seeing the sisters act like this, he figured he would intervene if it got serious.

Students cheered. "Another Witch's duel!"

Lilith's blue magic and Eda's orange magic collided in even force, evenly matched and exploding in a white light.

Elsewhere

Luz ran out of the entrance to the theater and looked around. Around a dark corner, she found Amity tearing up next to the bathrooms.

The girl's hand tensed on her hair. The other rubbed the back of her neck. "It's not my fault... I didn't know…"

Luz walked over to her. "Amity... I'm sorry."

Recognizing the voice, Amity didn't bother looking up from the floor. "You're a witch! Humans can be witches! Alright! You won. I lost! Is that what you came here?!"

"N-No. I-" This all felt so wrong.

"Can't you just leave me alone? It's as if I'm destined to fail at every turn whenever you're around."

Luz frowned. "I didn't mean to make you feel that way."

"I try so hard every day, but things have gone wrong ever since I met you and your friend. I lost my standing in school not once but twice."

Luz rubbed the back of her neck. "Okay, that sounds bad, but you can always get it back."

Amity simmered in her frustration. "You made me look like a fool before the Emperor's Coven. That's supposed to be my future!" She glared up at Luz. "You act like it's so easy to be a witch. I have been working my whole life to get to the top! Do you know how much I've done to make my parents proud? Do you know how it feels to be a disappointment to those you care about?"

Faint memories flashed through Luz's head. Her expression grew somber as she pressed her back against the same wall and sat beside Amity. "Yeah… I guess I do…" Amity turned to face her. "Back home, I was never a great student. Sometimes, I think I wasn't a good daughter either. I tried so hard to be what they want."

"Then you get it…" Amity's expression seemed to soften. "I have to do everything I can for them."

Luz huffed. "You know. Since I got to the Boiling Isles, I've had second thoughts about that. Even without the bet, I'll admit, I'm not a full-blooded witch like everyone else here. I won't ever be."

Amity looked away. "Glad you acknowledge it."

"But that doesn't mean I can't learn magic." Luz pulled out a notepad and pencil.

Amity was confused. What magic was she going to do?

Luz slowly drew out the light glyph, then tapped it. She gently cupped the ball of light produced, smiling at it and holding it up to Amity. "I'll never be able to draw spell circles with my bare hand, but I think this is a good start."

Amity stared at the light in awe.

Meanwhile

The Arena

Cut back to Eda and Lilith's duel, where Lilith is spinning her staff. When Eda's attack stops, she pushes her hand forward, her spell circle turning into a burst of magic. Eda takes a few steps back, spinning and drawing a spell circle on the ground. She lifts her hand, creating a growing pillar of wood that splits Lilith's attack. The pillar bends, its owl face hooting lowly.

Lilith stared at it, then teleported away from its approaching beak. Stray magic enters the audience. They scream and flee. Two new owl faces extend from the large pillar.

Eda draws four more spell circles on the opposite side.

Lilith easily teleported away from all of their beaks, destroying one on the ground, then three in the air with a grunt.

Eda smirks and spins her staff, creating an orange shield as Lilith hits it with magic and her staff. The shield cracks, but Eda's expression doesn't change.

Owlbert's eyes glow. He flies into Lilith's face, interrupting her attack. He hoots and pulls her hair. "Ow, ow, ow-ow-ow. Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!"

Eda's shield fell. "Say goodnight, sister." She spins her staff and smacks the butt of it into the wooden pillar. A large owl's face forms right next to Lilith, and with a hoot, it captures her in its beak. All falls silent. Owlbert lands back on Eda's staff. She smiled at him, then looked concerned when she saw the flaming hole in the new owl tube's side.

Lilith appears directly behind her. "Enough of this." Eda gasped, thrown into the wall with a scream, leaving a crater. The raven-haired smirked and spun her staff as she walked toward her soon-to-be capture. "I'll admit I was surprised when I first saw you today."

Just as she was a few feet away, a shimmer of lines and lights filled the air before her. Near instantly, a fence of longswords materialized from the magic, crashing into the ground between them.

From the side, the meddler spoke. "I'll have to ask that you refrain from harming my friend any further."

Lilith stepped back and readied her palisman. It would seem this young man had more tricks up his sleeve. "I'm not trying to, but she forced my hand."

"While my experience with sister relationships is limited, I'd hope that not all of them would be antagonistic."

"My sister is ill. I'm only trying to help her, but she keeps pushing me away."

Meanwhile, Eda managed to push herself up and lean against the giant sword. After giving it a firm knock, she chuckled. "Heh. Red, I knew you were holding back against the squirt." Gold eyes drifted back to Lilith. "Lily, I know you're worried, but things have changed."

"It's true, Lilith." She turned to Shirou. "I found a way to sedate her curse more effectively than those potions."

For a moment, Lilith dared to hope before she hardened herself. "You're lying! We've both been looking for a cure for over twenty years and found nothing." Lilith grit her teeth at Eda. "You expect me to believe some human waltzed into your life and solved all your problems?"

"I wouldn't say that." Shirou deadpanned. "Granted, I can't do anything about her drinking, lack of personal hygiene, and hermit status."

Eda's face morphed into a look of betrayal. "Hey!"

"No one in the Isles can help her except the Emperor!" exclaimed Lilith.

"Unless he's proficient in soul magic, I have doubts."

Lilith couldn't answer that. The Emperor was a master of all the coven magics and secretive about the forbidden wild magic that infected her sister. "Out of the way, now!"

A pair of red oak tonfa traced in his hands. "Make me."

The colossal walls of the arena echoed with the roar of the crowd. The spectators drew in again to witness another fight with the stranger redhead.

Shirou twirled his tonfa. His eyes met the chilling gaze of Lilith.

Her Palisman sent an eerie wave of light rippling through the air. Lilith wasted no time, raising her staff high above her head. A cascade of dark magic surged forth, lancing toward Shirou like a tidal wave of shadows.

He reacted swiftly, spinning his tonfa. The embedded holy attribute he added allowed him to make a whirling barrier that deflected the oncoming darkness.

The crowd erupted into applause, thrilled by the display.

Shirou surged forward with incredible speed, closing the gap between them. The tonfas became a blur as he launched a rapid series of strikes.

Lilith pushed herself to keep up and managed to parry or dodge most of his blows. However, one of Shirou's tonfa landed a glancing blow, sending the witch staggering back.

Lilith retaliated with a spell that conjured spectral chains from the ground, seeking to ensnare Shirou and render him helpless.

He leaped, twisted, and contorted his body, narrowly avoiding the arcane bindings.

With a flick of his wrist, Shirou sent one of his tonfa spinning like a deadly boomerang, forcing Lilith to back away and block herself with her staff. The tonfa struck the staff with a resounding clang, and Shirou capitalized on the opening, disarming the witch with a forceful strike.

The staff clattered to the ground, and Lilith was left seemingly defenseless.

Shirou closed in, poised to strike the finishing blow, but Lilith traced a circle with her finger and summoned a flurry of vines surging toward him.

Taken off guard, Shirou was struck and sprawled across the sandy arena floor. The crowd fell silent, fearing the worst.

Rising to his feet, Shirou charged at Lilith once more. The tonfa flew forward like boomerangs. While Lilith summoned a dirt wall to protect herself, Shirou traced a quarterstaff and vaulted over the wall.

Newly traced tonfa shot through the air from behind, striking her in the back as Shirou jabbed the staff at multiple joints.

Lilith, losing feeling in her limbs, fell to one knee. Underestimating this brat had been her undoing. She attempted to move her finger for another spell only to feel restrained. Lilith screamed as she struggled to move. In the corner of her vision, she stared at a plain-looking sword stabbed into her shadow. The crowd erupted into wild applause.

After dismissing the other weapons, Shirou helped Eda up. "Don't worry. Lilith. I'll let you free once we're out of the building."

Lilith growled as her struggles were to no avail.

Eda and Shirou walked their way toward the exit. "Well, it's been fun, sis, but let's call it a draw!"

"Goodbye, Lilith."

Lilith could only glare at their retreating figures as the crowd clapped. "Argh!"

Elsewhere

Amity turned away from this strange form of magic. "That's nothing. A child could do a light spell."

Luz's expression fell. She extinguished the ball of light and turned away, scooping up her notepad.

Amity berated at her reply. "But... I've never seen it cast like that."

Luz scratched at the blank paper. "It doesn't come naturally to me like it does for you, so I've had to improvise." Her right hand traced over the command seals on her left. "I got lucky getting a servant like Shirou."

Amity took note of the design. "Hard to believe you got a familiar contract of all things. He's more than he lets on."

"Yeah... I still don't know how this works, but I'll get there."

"You might not have an innate magical ability, but I doubt that'll stop you, especially with Eda and Shirou by your side." With that, Amity stood up and left, more content than when she started.

King ran up to the girl "Luz! You left us!"

Luz got to his level and rubbed his skull. "Yeah, sorry. Personal stuff and all." Luz patted his head as Eda and Shirou arrive."

Eda grabbed Luz's hand "We gotta go."

Shirou rolled his eyes, following along. "Yeah, I wonder why?"

Luz went along with it. "What happened with Lilith?"

Eda smirked. "Let's just say her schedule has been frozen. Wait. Wait. She-"

Before they could exit the building, Luz interrupted her. "Guys..."

Eda and Shirou stopped and looked back.

"Do you think I'll ever be a true witch?"

Eda felt put off by it. "What? I don't know. And who's a true witch? These suckers? According to them, that means being in a coven, but I never joined one, and I'm better than all."

Shirou shook his head. "Considering my knowledge of traditional witches from human legends, I'd also stray from that."

"Yeah. Who cares what everyone else is doing? You gotta be your own witch."

Luz seemed to brighten at the statement. "My own witch."

Shirou nudged her shoulder. "Only you can decide that."

Eda clapped her hands to wrap it up. "Now, let's go before Shirou sets my sister free." In the distance, they heard Lilith's screams.

He chuckled. "Don't worry. I'm giving us a head start."

"And that's our cue!"

Luz ran up to her. "You have to tell me all about the drama with your sister!"

Eda smirked. "Oh, girl. I've got drama like you wouldn't believe. Wait until you hear about my parents."

"That's not something to be proud of..." deadpanned the hero.

After about twenty minutes, the sword that pierced Lilith's shadow faded into motes of light, releasing her. She entered her dressing room. and grunted. "You make it so hard to want to help you, Edalyn."

Suddenly, the compact mirror on the counter opens, showing off the insignia of the Emperor's Coven. Lilith gasped.

On the mirror, the figure spoke. "Lilith, I see you let The Owl Lady escape you. Just remember what Emperor Belos has promised to you."

On a related note, the emperor has also expressed interest in the young man you fought against. The ability to perform conjuration magic without a spell circle is elusive. He will be your secondary objective for the empire."

Lilith nodded. "I will capture them, ma'am. You have my word."

"Very good."

Blight Estate

A bruised Amity sat at her desk, sketching on paper. Earlier today, she went back to the arena to speak to Lilith. However, seeing her trapped, Amity decided to leave her be. A part of her was still upset that her teacher tried to help her win.

A knock came to her locked door. "Hey, sis. You okay?" the muffled voice of Edric asked.

Emira followed. "Yeah. We just wanted to check up on you. Mom was being... well, Mom."

Their mother, Odalia, didn't take the news of her loss very well. Most of dinner was taken up by lectures, criticisms, and how she reflected their company.

Amity leaned back on her chair and sighed. "I'm... keeping it together." Thoughts drifted back to that human girl. "I'm doing... enough?" While the words came out, even she had trouble believing in them.

It seemed the twins shared a similar thought. "You are, sis... We'll talk more tomorrow.

"Goodnight, Mittens. Oh. If you see Shirou again this week, tell him to stop by. He's a mean cook."

Amity huffed with a slight chuckle. "Sure..." Looking back at her drawing, she judged it to be close but not quite there. There was a near copy of Luz's command seals on the sheet. Perhaps she could find a helpful familiar of her own.

AN:

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