Small reminder for Luz's attire is in this story: A red sleeveless open hoodie/hoodie vest, black sports tank top that goes to her stomach, dark blue shorts, black leggings to her calves and black steel toed slip on sneakers.
Warning: Spoiler for a certain spell glyph.
The day was rather boring as Luz, Eda, and King were at now at Eda's human treasure stand waiting for any customers to come by. Eda was currently dusting the table as Luz was reading her Azura book in silence, she knew how much Eda hated the book series for it's "flowery talk" and respected her by note reading at out. King was currently napping on the table since nothing was happening. It had been a rather boring morning and nothing seemed to make it exciting, not since Luz's early morning practice against her sandbag followed by some shadow boxing and King's latest demon lesson but now, it was so slow and no one seemed to be around.
"Hey, Eda, is it usually this slow?" Luz asked as she look to her from her book.
"Eh, somethings but it won't get better if you're reading that garbage." Eda said as she used her feather duster on the book. "Luckily you're not reading aloud or else it would drive away our more serious customers."
"Um, Eda? In case you haven't noticed," Luz said as she closed her book, gesturing all around them. "There are no customers, there's not even another stand in the bazaar besides us."
True to the her words, there was no one else in sight. No monsters of any shape or size, no guards on routine route, not even a fly in the air.
"Is something happening today?" Luz asked as King opened one eye, looking to them.
"I'm not sure but..." Eda said as he face became grim. "something tells me this an omen, a sign of chaos for whatever may befall us today."
Luz simply looked at her like she was crazy before her friends, Willow and Gus, came walking towards the stand while Willow was holding a poster in her hands.
"Luz, something amazing is going on today!" Gus said as he and Willow stopped in front of Eda's stand.
"Guys, hey!" Luz said with a wave as, happy to see them.
"It's the annual Covention! Student witches and wizards are able to see all the types covens before they're placed in one." Willow said as she held up the poster, showing the words "Covention, Which Coven Are You?" with a small witch looking into a bubbling cauldron to see herself as a full witch. Below it, were the words "Mystery Guest!" "There's even going to be a mysterious guest this year!"
"So it's like a job fair for aspiring witches? Cool." Luz said as she turned to Eda. "We should check it out."
"Not on your life, kid." Eda said as Luz lost her smile and frowned at her. "Covens may seem all friendly and club like, but it's nothing more then a system used to keep people in line and stunt their magical growth and independence."
Eda slammed her fists into the table to make her point but then saw the upset look on Willow's face since she and Gus grew up following this "system used to keep people in line."
"You know you sound like a crazy conspiracy person, right?" Luz commented as Eda turned in a huff.
"So what? And no judgement to anyone who does follow this system." Eda said as she looked down. "Besides, I haven't been in a coven since I was with Li-"
Eda stopped herself from finishing, not wanting to reveal too much about her childhood.
"With who?" Luz asked as Eda tried to say something else to throw her off but drew a blank. "Is this why you don't want to go to the Covention? Because of this past you have with someone?"
"It's none of your business." Eda said to Luz.
"Well, if you won't tell me, then I'll go to the Covention myself and find the answers." Luz said as she tried to leave.
"You are not going to that Covention! Do you have any idea how many guards are gonna be there?" Eda said as she put a hand on her shoulder. "For all we know, Wraith put out an arrest for you after you kicked his head in!"
"Then why haven't I been caught yet? And besides, I can take care of myself." Luz said as she pushed Eda's hand off her shoulder, right before Eda stood in front of her.
"As your magic teacher and the owner of the house you live in, you are not going to that Covention!" Eda said as she put her finger in Luz's face.
Luz put on a blank face as she stared at the finger and back to Eda, a bit annoyed at how difficult she was being right now.
"Eda, I am warning you only once." Luz said in a tone that made Willow and Gus sweat a bit. "Get out of my way or there will be hell to pay."
"Ha! You think you scare me? Sure those kickboxing moves are something, but I have years of magical experience and spells at my beck and call!" Eda said as she leaned closer to Luz face. "What can you do to me?"
Luz chuckled a bit before pulling out her Azura book and handing it to King, who was now wide awake and standing on the table.
"King, read aloud please." she said with a smirk.
King opened the book to a random page and then began to read it's "flowery" nonsense.
""You shall not shant doeth, no more harm!" Azura calleth out!"" King read as Eda's face went blank as they all listened to the demon reading.
"So flowery, so terrible." Eda said as she began to walk around Luz, wanting get far away from it.
Luz didn't let her as she kick her by the side of her knees, making Eda fall to her knees as Luz but her in a headlock with both arms.
"Nope. You will stay and listen." Luz said as King kept reading, making Eda squirm from both the grappling hold and the reading.
"GR. GRR! Stop it, stop it, stop!" Eda said as she had enough. "You can go to the Covention, just stop this garbage."
"Okay, I will...but you have to come with." Luz added, making her turn to her head to Luz.
"I what?!" Eda asked.
"King, louder." Luz said to the demon as he began reading the book louder than before.
"UGH! Alright, alright! I'll go with you!" Eda said as she squirmed in the hold.
After telling King to stop, packing up the stand, and getting Eda a cloak to hide herself, the group now stood before a large building in town, housing the one thing Eda wished she did not see today. The Covention Center.
"UH!" Eda groaned as she rubbed her temple. "I can't believe you talked me into this."
"More like I forced you but whatever helps you save face." Luz said with a smirk as Eda sent a look to her.
She then began to put on her cloak to conceal her identity but it was too small and couldn't fight all of her hair.
"A little help?" she asked the group. "I need to keep a low profile."
"Yeah, I gotcha." Luz said as she went to Eda, helping her push her hair in and pull her the cloak hood on her hair.
"More, more!" Eda said as the cloak stretched and concealed her hair, giving her the look of a person with a big head. "Thank. You all may not know this but my wanted posters are for more then just petty theft. I'm also wanted for never joining a coven, if the guards find me, I'll be hauled off the to jail. Again."
"Well, maybe today, you'll change your mind and finally join one." Willow said as she came up to Eda will holding a wanted poster.
"Not in your life time." Eda said as she drew a spell circle and made Willow's uniform cloak pull over her head.
"Eda!" Luz said as she held her friend get the cloak off.
"Let's just get this over with." Eda said as the group entered the covention center.
when the group was fully inside, Luz was amazed by the center. Creatures of all shapes and sizes walking around or flying around on broomsticks with nine large multicolored tapestries handing from the roof.
"Whoa! This place is crazy." Luz said as they began walking around.
"Those flags you see are the main nine covens in the Boiling Isles but there are hundred of others besides them." Gus said as Willow nodded in agreement.
"There is a covens for flowers, artists, big dogs, small cats, tiny cats." Willow listed to Luz before Eda groaned loudly.
"Do they have a coven for grumpy people?" Luz asked with a smirk.
"Hey!" Eda shouted with her fist in the air.
"They actually do." Willow said before she, Gus, King, and Luz ran off laughing.
"So, have you guys been practicing some of those moves I showed you?" Luz asked Gus and Willow.
A while back, after Luz showed them some kickboxing moves, his friend were eager to learn a bit themselves while also mixing it with their magic. Gus was more excitable then Willow but that didn't stop her from showing them a few things and telling them to practice whenever they had spare time.
"Heck yeah, I have! I haven't been able to stop trying to kickbox while using magic!" Gus said as he pumped his first. "I can be a one man army with my magic!"
"Hehehehe, yeah he could. And I've been working one a bit myself, maybe changing a few things to incorperate my plant magic if that's fine." Willow said as they stopped running.
"Not at all, I just hope I can see it sometime when you guys come over again." Luz said as they stopped before a presentation of sorts.
There was a large elf standing next to a 2 stakes of bricks. Luz could also see the tiny nose conspiracy girl she meet in the Conformitorium standing next to him.
"What's up with that?" Luz asked as she pointed to it.
"That's the Construction Coven, one of the main nine." Willow said as the elf lifted both stacks of bricks into the air and let them fall/assemble into a fully functioning house.
"Damn." Luz mumbled at the feat of strength as she saw the elf take off his hard hat to reveal a stack of small papers under, taking one.
"They can use power glyphs to increase their strength for their constructions." Willow said as they saw the elf peel the front of the paper like a sticker, revealing a stone gray colored fists with a thunderbolt crack in it; their symbol.
"Power glyphs?" Luz asked with interest at the glyph, seeing the elf put it on Tiny Nose.
Her eyes widened before she felt of rush of power exploding from her body like she was in an anime.
"AHHH!" she shouted in power before lifting the elf up and throwing him into the air. "I am the strongest being alive, fear my power!"
Tiny Nose then went on a rampage, tossing the tools from the coven aside and lifting a hammer to smash everything around her. Even the other Construction Coven wizards.
"Now that could come in handy." Luz said as she pulled out her phone, opening the camera and zooming in on the power glyph sticker on Tiny Nose. "Don't know if it'll work like the light spell but I have to try."
She took the photo and got the full glyph sticker, nodding with a smile as she looked at the photo on her phone.
"Nice." Luz said as she put her phone away before a blue copy of Luz then appeared behind her, repeating her words as it walked into a nearby stand before vanishing. "What the what?!"
"I see you've noticed the Illusionist coven, my current track at school. We like to use our spells with a little showmanship mixed in." Gus said as he quickly drew a spell circle, disappearing in a puff of smoke before reappearing a feet few away and giving a bow before two older Illusion track students appeared next to Gus.
"Cool. These covens sound amazing." Luz said before looking to her teacher. "Makes me wonder why exactly you chose to NOT join one."
"You're about to find out." Eda said as she turned Luz towards the Illusionist Coven, watching as they induct a new member with a magic tattoo. "Whenever someone joins a coven, all of their other magical attributes are sealed away and make them only able to do the magic of that coven."
"Really? That seems like a huge downside." Luz said as she watched the new member's skin turn pale blue.
"Exactly and since I never joined a coven, my magical potential is limitless with all magic attributes." Eda said as she made a ball of fire and a ball of water in her hands before putting them out. "And that is what makes me the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles."
Luz smiled to her teacher as they walked away, not noticing King had fallen behind.
"I can understand that." Luz said to her teacher as she nudging her with a smile before they to a section with six guard like people standing in rows of three, each wearing caped uniforms evocative of ravens and masks that conceal their identities. "What coven is this?"
"The worst of the worst." Eda mumbled as she lost her smile.
"It's the Emperor's Coven." Gus said, getting excited at the sight of it. "Do you think they'll autograph my forehead?"
"Maybe, let's go find out!" Willow said as she and Gus rushed in.
"The Emperor's Coven? What type of magic do they do?" Luz asked Eda, who crossed her arms at the sight of the section.
"All of them." Eda quickly said as she looked away.
"All types of magic? If that's true, why didn't you this one?" Luz asked.
"That's personal, kid. And if you expect me to go in there, you can forget it." Eda said as she turned around. "I'll wait here."
"Really?" Luz asked as Eda kept her back to her, drawing out a sigh. "Fine, it's your choice but if you change your mind, come and find me."
Luz turned around and entered the section held by the Emperor's Coven, seeing that it lead to a large, domed arena with rings of seats to overlook it. A stage was in the middle of underneath a banner with a what Luz assumed was the symbol for the Emperor's Coven, a triangle with a winged sword and a smaller winged shield in front of it.
'It's like the Roman Colosseum we learned about in history class.' Luz thought as she found a seat and waiting for whatever presentation to begin before she heard footsteps and turned to see Eda sitting next to her.
"You changed your mind that quick?" Luz asked her.
"More like I had no choice, the fuzz." Eda explained as she held a bored look. "Let's get this junk over with."
Music began to play as the crowd began to cheer as a swirl of magic appeared on stage before becoming Principal Bump of Hexside. He drew a spell circle in the air to create a microphone with bat wings before speaking to the crowd.
"Hello, Bonesborough! Students ask me all the time what the height of magical achievement is." Bump said to the crowd.
"Is it this?!" a student with beige skin, dark brown eyes, and brown hair shaved at the sides with his uniform hood up asked as he stood up and drew a spell circle next to his head.
The spell made his head massive, turning him into a living bobble head, before his neck couldn't support it and he fell on the student next to him.
"Wow, what a blunder." Luz quickly said as she and Eda shared a little laugh.
"I'm...afraid not." Bump said before grabbing the microphone. "It's joining the best of the best, the Emperor's coven! An elite force dedicated to maintaining order and enforcing his will!"
Luz watched as 3 members of the Emperor's Cove appeared before Bump as the crowd cheered and clapped, looking to the side and seeing Willow and Gus. They were frantically pointing to an autograph on Gus' forehead that he was able to get, causing her to giggle and give a thumbs up to how excited they were from it. She turned back to the presentation, only to caught the glimpse of a familiar head of green hair sitting in front of her.
'Is that...Amity?' Luz thought as a blush came to her face, remembering what happened last week when she posed as Willow's abomination project.
The presentation, the fighting, the sudden kiss on the check she gave Amity in the lunchroom and the accidental kiss on the lips when she escaped.
"Gaze upon the chosen members of the coven, sworn to usher in a new age of powerful and controlled magic." Bump said as the wizards drew a small white magic circle each before unleashing separate types of magic, water, fire, and lightning, and combining them into an explosion like fireworks.
"This is an elite force? They look more like party performers." Eda joked at the fireworks, laughing a bit as she nudged Luz.
Luz didn't seem to hear her as she paid attention to the presentation and took small glances at the back of Amity's head while still thinking back to what happened at Hexside, mainly the kisses.
"Members of the Emperor's coven have access to all forms, yes you heard correctly, all forms of magic. Oooohh. Aaaahh." Bump said as the crowd copied his "oh" and "ah." "But only THE best of the very best can be one of the Emperor's Coven. And I know someday, that could be any one of you."
Bump pointed towards a random student in the audience, which happened to be Amity as she squealed in excitement. at his words.
'So cute.' Luz thought as Eda laughed at her, making Luz a bit upset before elbowing her.
"Hey, what was that for?" Eda said as she rubbed her arm.
"I'm trying to listen. I'm still on the fence about the coven system but that doesn't mean I can't pay attention." Luz half lied, not wanting Eda to laugh at the girl she may or may not be crushing on.
"And now, it is an honor to introduce our mystery guest for this year's Covention!" Bump said as the three wizards vanished in thin air. "She is the top witch and leader of the Emperor's coven. You know her, you love her! Lilith Clawthorne!"
"Lilith?!" Eda said in shock as Luz turned to her in surprise.
"Lilith? Wait, "Li?" Luz questioned as she remembered Eda was going to say someone's name earlier today and could only guess it was this "Lilith."
a flash of light came from the ceiling and formed a light blue astral raven preached on a stick. The bird dove off the stick and to the stage before Bump, landing and sending a wave of magic that wash over the crowd as a witch appeared in it wearing a mask and white cloak before she waved her arms out to make the bird caw before it disappeared in magic particles. She was a tall, thin woman with pale skin and mint-green eyes with long, smooth black hair, black lips and black claw-like nails. A turquoise diamond-shaped jewel is embedded in her sternum while she was currently wearing a formal dress covering her body and legs in two shades of black, and wears black high-heeled boots. As the crowd cheered for her, Eda had her mouth open in a trance of shock before Luz snapped in her face and out of her trance.
"She was the one you were talking about back at the stand, wasn't she?" Luz asked.
"That...is correct." Eda said slowly.
"Thank you everyone." Lilith said with a smile as the crowd clapped, making her cloak and mask float into Bump's hands with the wave of a finger. "It wasn't easy for me to rise to the top and become the leader of the Emperor's Coven. I too, started from a normal humble beginning."
"Just like me?" the big headed student asked himself.
'Not like you but close.' Luz thought before turning her attention back to Lilith.
"But wow, I have the honor of enforcing the Emperor's will. So work harder, be more! The Emperor's coven awaits you." Lilith said as she raised her fist before drawing a large magic circle around herself.
It conjured a large raven projection, unfurling it's wings before dispersing in orbs for all to see.
"Dang." Luz said as she gazed at the display while Eda looked at Lilith with a mix of anger and annoyance.
As everyone left the arena, Eda clenched her fists and made her way to the exit before Luz stopped her.
"Eda, wait. You said you knew her, what's your relationship with Lilith anyway?" Luz asked as Eda had been rather negative towards Lilith with her gazes.
"That's private, kid. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head home and wash this conformity swill in the air off." Eda said as she walked away.
Luz watched as her teacher left in a huff, sighing in defeat that she still won't fully trust her with her secrets.
'I'm gonna let you be for now, Eda, but you're gonna have to fully trust someone one day.' Luz thought as she turned to her left and walked, too caught up in thought that she didn't notice she was going to bump into someone.
"Ah." Luz let out as she stumbled back. "Oh, sorry. I wasn't-"
She paused as she recognized who she bumped into, the girl she developed a crush on after the whole Hexside incident.
"URH! Hey, watch where-" Amity said as she turned around before recognizing Luz, growing anger. "You!"
"Hehehe, Hey, Amity." Luz said with a nervous laugh, blushing for two reasons.
'Still hot when she's angry.' Luz thought as Amity got in her face.
"I remember you, you're that fake abomination Willow used. The one who did all those punches and kicks!" Amity said as she pointed at Luz.
"Ye-Yeah that's me and for the record, I'm really sorry about all that last week. I never meant for you to cause all that trouble or make you lose your "Top Student" status, I just wanted to help Willow." Luz said as she gently took Amity's finger out of her face. "My name is Luz Noceda, I'm a human."
"Get off me!" Amity said as she yanked her hand away from Luz, blushing as the memories were still fresh. "You got me in trouble with Principal and I hate trouble!"
"Well, again, I'm sorry about that but I didn't want to be dissected." Luz said as Amity turned to walk away, quickly walking next to her. "I just wanted to help Willow get a good grade."
"I don't care what you were doing or why you're here." Amity said as she refused to make eye contact with Luz. "This Covention is for aspiring magic students and magic users alike, no human or whatever you are can be here."
"Well, yeah, I know but I kinda belong here too." Luz said as she walked in front of Amity, forcing her to stop as Luz turned to face. "I may not be going to Hexside or any other magic school but I am learning from an experienced magic user and taking lessons on demonics from an expert on demons."
"An experienced magic user and a demon expert?" Amity asked with her arms crossed, gazing at something behind. "And is that your demon expert right there?"
Turning around, Luz was met with the sight of King in a green baseball cap, a pale green t-shirt, and a pink and light pink stripped scarf with two bakers walking behind him with a tray of cupcakes in hand.
"Um, yeah." Luz said with a sweat drop forming, watching as King ate a cupcake before rushing off to Luz with another.
"Luz, look at all the offerings I've been getting!" he said with excitement. "The king of demons is on a role."
King was so busy being happy about his "offerings," he didn't notice his scarf unfurl a bit to his feed and make him trip. He would've fallen on his face if Luz didn't act fast and caught him before he hit the ground and was lucky enough to save his cupcake.
"I get that you love the attention but you should lighten up on the sawg, too much and you'll be sent to the ground." Luz said as he put him down and and handed him his cupcake back.
"Once again, your kickboxing reflexes have saved the day!" King cheered as he held up his cupcake in victory.
"This is your demonics teachers? He looks more like rowdy pet." Amity said with a smirk, causing King and Luz look up to her.
"HEY! I am not a pet!" King shouted to her as Luz got up and stared her down.
"Look, I don't know what your problem is but you don't have to be such a jerk all the time." Luz said as she glared at Amity, though her blush was still present.
"You're calling me a "jerk?" Says the human that had the audacity to trick the teachers at my school and make the ridiculous claim that she can learn magic!" Amity said as she stared Luz down. "You can call me whatever you want but don't think for a second that you can even think about calling yourself a witch, that would be an insult to witches everywhere."
The way she talked, all high class and thinking she was better than her, made Luz remember some of the bullies she dealt with back home. Mostly with her kickboxing, thus leading to trouble with Principal Hal, but she didn't regret standing up for the little guys. Something she'll have to do now, different dimension or not.
"Okay, Amity, if you think you're such a good little witch, how about you prove it?" Luz challenged as she narrowed her eyes to her.
"Prove it?" Amity asked before realizing what she meant, giggling a bit at her. "Oh my. You don't mean a duel, do you? With those kicks and punches you do against my magic?"
"Yeah, that." Luz said as he pointed at Amity. "I challenge you to a duel!"
At the proclamation of a duel, everyone around them to gasp in shock and gaze at them. Amity kept her smug gaze as she stepped up to Luz, getting in her face as Luz lowered her finger and kept her glare.
"I accept." she said to Luz before stepping back, remembering the last time they were that close.
'Why am I remembering that stupid kiss now?!' Amity thought to herself as she looked away and blushed, coughing into her fist.
"So, do you want to lay out the terms or should I?" Amity asked Luz as he blush faded.
"So how about this for our terms? If I win, you have to be nicer to people and admit that a human like me can be a witch." Luz said as she pointed to herself.
"Alright then but if I win, you have to admit to the whole covention that humans can't become witches and you have to give up learning magic. For good!" Amity said as she sent a challenging glare to Luz.
"Do it, Luz! Use your kickboxing to knock her on her ass!" King cursed as he pointed to Amity, still holding his cupcake.
"I plan to, buddy. It's a deal, Amity." Luz said as she held her right hand out to her. "Shake on it."
Amity closed her eyes as she drew a magenta spell circle around Luz's hand, causing it to glow before she shook it and the glow spread to her hand.
"Deal. And with the Everlasting Oath, neither of us can back out." Amity said as she let go of Luz's hand.
Luz pulled her hands back and stared at it, watching the glow fade before curling it into a fist.
"So when do face off?" Luz asked as she brought her hands into her hoodie vest pockets. "I can assume we'll be fighting in that arena, right?"
"Yes, we'll be dueling in the theater in one hour." Amity said as she held up a single finger before turning to walk away. "Let's see what your magic training can do with your little kicks and punches."
'And this time, I'll be read for them.' Amity thought as she clenched her fists, remembering all what Luz did at Hexside and all she tried to copy. 'Your fancy moves won't take me by surprise again.'
"Oh man, this is gonna be so cool!" King said with excitement before he took a bite out of his cupcake. "You can totally beat her!"
"Yeah, and I have advantage over her." Luz said as she turned down to King. "Though she's seen some of my moves, she hasn't seen all of them. And I know how to beat her abominations. Let's go find Eda, I'll need a bit help to strategize."
"You go on, I'm going to find claim more offering." King said as he turned to walk away, but turn back to point at Luz. "But I'll be there to cheer you on!"
Luz shook her head with a smile at the demon, turning to go find Eda for some help with the magic duel. After a few minutes of searching and her time frame cut to 53 minutes til the duel, Luz found Eda having a stare down with Lilith.
"Uh oh. I don't think this will end well." Luz said before walking up to Eda and getting her attention. "Hey, Eda!"
Her shout got both Eda's and Lilith's attention, making the former smile before gesturing to her.
"Speak of the devil, here's my student now. Say hello to Luz." Eda said as Luz stood beside her.
"Eda, listen. I ran into Amity after you left the arena or theater and long story short, I'm dueling her in about an hour and I need you help to strategize." Luz said as she pointed to Eda.
"Well, it seems fate is working in our favor today. Your student has just ran into my top pupil." Lilith said before leaning closer to Luz. "And look at her ears, is she a human?"
Lilith raise a finger to touch Luz's left ear but failed as Luz quickly knocked it away with a strong back hand.
"UH!" Lilith grunted in pain as she held her finger, leaning back as Luz frowned at her.
"Mind your space and you got a problem with humans, Ms. Emperor's Coven?" Luz asked as Lilith, narrowed her eyes at the witch.
"Forgot to mention, she's a feisty one." Eda said with a smirk as Lilith shook her hand, fading the pain away.
"I can tell, you certainly have a unique apprentice. Makes me curious to see what she's capable of." Lilith said as she lifted her other hand, drawing a spell circle and caused all the wanted posters for Eda in the covention center to burn to ash. "There. For one day, sister, you are a free woman but only because I want to see what you and your "feisty" little human can do."
Lilith narrowed her gazed at Luz, a bit miffed at the strike to her hand, before turning to leave and find Amity so she can prepare her for their duel.
"Come on, kid. It's time to prepare for battle!" Eda said as she put a hand on Luz's shoulder, confident in her abilities.
"Yeah and that's why I need to talk strategy with you." Luz said to her teacher.
"Then let's get a move on!" Eda said as she patted Luz's back.
The two found themselves an empty part of the center and Eda discarded her small cloak in exchange for a sweat bad that mostly held her hair.
"Alright Luz, let's see if that kickboxing of your's can handle this scenario. I come at you with a blast of fire, what's you plan?" Eda asked as she leaned in.
"If you're far enough, I dodge the blast and try to get in close to land a hit but if you can keep up the pressure, I'll be stuck on the defensive." Luz said as she rubbed her chin. "And with who knows how many spells you have, I'll be pushed back since I don't have any ranged attacks."
"What about the light spell? King said you threw one of those in my monster face." Eda said, pointing to her face as she reminded Luz of her cursed form.
"And that was lucky, you were gaining and the spell could only blind you temporarily. Luz said as she pulled out her phone, going to photos for the light spell she found and the power glyph she snapped from Tiny Nose. "If I'm going to win, I'm gonna need a spell that can hurt and a faster way to use it than just drawing it."
"Really?" Eda asked as she rubbed her chin before a thought came to her, making her hit her head. "I totally forgot! I was working on something special for you after you told me you used the light spell on your gloves hands."
"You have?" Luz asked, surprised and a little happy that Eda remembered that.
"Uh huh. I was gonna save them for your next lesson but I think you need them now." Eda said as she reached into her head, ruffling around before pulling out a small box. "The material wasn't easy to find but I managed to get enough for two."
"Two what?" Luz asked as she took the box in her hands.
"Open it and find out." Eda said to her student, smiling at her.
Luz opened the top of the box slowly and saw what was inside, a pair of elbow length grayish black gloves. They didn't look like anything special but they felt somewhat like a mix of paper and leather, smooth yet tough.
"Gloves?" Luz said as she took them out of the box and began putting them on. "Why gloves? If it's to protect my hands, I have boxing tape."
"These gloves are special, kid, and they're to ensure what you did with that light glyph doesn't happen again." Eda said as she pulled out a the diamond pen from her hair. "Go on, draw your glyph on an area of the glove's palms."
"Okay." Luz said, unsure of why but did so anyway and drew a small light glyph in the area below the middle and ring finger on both gloves. "Now what?"
"Activate it and trust me, it'll turn out differently than before." Eda said as she crossed her arms, still smiling.
Luz grew curious to why but just shrugged as she used her thumbs to press both glyphs, causing them to glow on the palm and the back of the glove. She then gasped as a balls of light forms from her hands, not crumbling the gloves up like before.
"What? But how?" Luz questioned.
"I made them from a special material that can have magic imprinted on it, rare stuff but not impossible to find. I figured since you can't use paper forever, you can use those gloves with your glyphs when you need to in a pinch. And the upside is the the glyph is now permanently imprinted on the glove, so you can always use it, along with any other glyphs you find." Eda said as she pointed to the palm. "If another glyph can fit in anywhere on the glove, you can them whenever you want."
"Eda." Luz said as tears began to fill her eyes, so happy for this as it was the nicest think Eda had ever done for her, literally.
She then got up and hugged her teacher, letting her test flow on her chest.
"Thank you." she mumbled.
"You're...welcome, kid." Eda said, still uncomfortable with her hugs but still hugged back. "And, if you need a new spell to add to the gloves, I can show you that fire spell I mentioned earlier."
"That'd (sniff) that's be great." Luz said as she pulled back, wiping the tears from her eyes and pulling out her phone with the needed app open. "Ready!"
Eda nodded and slowly drew a spell circle, letting Luz record it before a fire ball appeared from it.
"Now do your magic, kid." Eda said as she snuffed out the fire ball.
"Got it." Luz said as she edited the video like the last one when she learned the light spell.
Invert the colors, bold any lines, slow down the video, go frame by frame, and zoom in on the circle. Luz played the video again, watching closely before stopping at two frames before the end and finding a new spell glyph for fire. It was a large circle at the bottom of the spell circle with a dot in the center and a curved triangle on top of it with a smaller circle and curved triangle on top and touching the top of the spell circle. Luz quickly saved the separate frame and drew the spell circle on her new "glyph gloves," right on the area before the thumb.
"Now to test it." Luz said as she used her pointer fingers to touch the glyphs, making them glow orange before fire balls formed in Luz's hands. "Sweet!"
"And now you have some proper long range attacks! That kid won't know what hit her!" Eda said as she pumped her fist at Luz taking a few steps back before crouching a bit. "Now, show me your aim! We've only got time before your duel!"
Luz nodded to Eda before crushing the fireballs in her hands, making her fists on fire.
"You got it, Eda." Luz said with a smirk.
Later in the arena theater, after both sets of teacher and students prepared themselves, everyone in the covention was assembled to watch the apprentices of two powerful witches face. Lilith and Amity stood on stage looking confident and smug while Eda and Luz stood on the other side watching them, the latter of witch was bouncing in place to get herself ready for the duel.
'You got this, you can beat her.' Luz thought as she gazed at Amity, somehow hating that smug gaze and still think she's cute at the same time. 'No! Cain't let cuteness get in the way!'
"Citizens of Bonesborough, it is with great honor that the Emperor's Coven shall present an example of the kind of witch or wizard we recruit ever year." Lilith said as she guided Amity forward, presenting her to the crowd. "Allow me to introduce one of my pupils, Amity Blight."
Amity gave a smug look as the crowd and all the magic school students that knew her cheered at her introduction.
"Yeah, Amity!" one said while holding up a foam finger with Amity's name on it.
"And today, she will be facing, some human." Lilith said as she gestured to Luz, seeing her know wearing elbow length glove and bouncing on her feet with a determined look.
This caused the crowd to murmur among themselves, thinking Luz stood no chance against Amity.
"A human?" What's a human doing here?" Humans can't do magic?" "She can't win, she's not Amity." they said as Gus and Willow looked worried, they might have known about Luz's kickboxing but they've never seen her use it in a magic duel before.
'Wait, that's a human? It appears Amity was right, she wasn't an abomination. And those attacks she did.' Principal Bump thought as he remembered those punches and kicks, forming an idea in his head.
"Alright, you ready kid?" Eda asked Luz as she stopped bouncing on her feet.
"Yeah, I'm ready. This feels no different then when I'm against an opponent with more experience than me. I could win before and I can win now." Luz said as she took a deep breath, comparing this feeling to her kickboxing matches.
"Then get out there and show them what you can do!" Eda said as she pushed Luz forward as Amity jumped off the stage.
Both girls walked to the center as a bell rung, exactly like the school bells in Hexside as they stopped before each other.
"Hope you're ready." Amity said as she cracked her knuckles but eyed the gloves with inner curiosity.
"Bring it on." Luz said as she got in her kickboxing stance, fists in front of her face and right foot back with her left foot forward.
'Let's see what this human can do.' Lilith thought as she paid close attention to her and Amity.
Amity draw a large spell circle on the ground in front of her, hovering her hands over it.
"Abomination, rise!" Amity shouted as she raised her hands and summoned an abomination larger than any she summoned before, at least 4 times her size. "Whoa! Hahaha, show me what you got against this, human!"
"I will! Doesn't matter how big it is!" Luz shouted as she reeled her right arm back, opening her hand and pushing her new fire glyph before closing it to get a flaming fist. "It's gonna become mush all the same!"
Luz threw a fireball at the abomination's face, making it stumble and groaned as everyone was shocked by this. They thought humans couldn't do magic and yet, here a human was, creating a flaming fist before them.
"What the heck?! How!?" Amity demanded from her, looking at her gloves before figuring it out. "The gloves, you're using magic with those!"
"Yeah, I know!" Luz said as she charge at Amity, ignoring the abomination regrowing it's head. "I also know to ignore a puppet and go for the master!"
Luz closed the distance as fast as she could as she reeled her left arm back, pressing the light glyph and making a ball of light and throwing it to Amity, who instinctively put her arms up to block the blinding light. When the light died down, Amity opened her eyes to see Luz right below her, reeling her right fist back for an uppercut.
'She's faster than before!' Amity thought as she prepared her arms, feeling the heavy impact of Luz's punch. 'And her punch is even stronger than I thought!'
Luz didn't stop as she kept through punches at Amity's defense, a bit surprised she could defend like this but didn't think about it long. Her defense was lazy and had so many openings, she threw a kick to Amity's right leg and caused her to stumble.
'Go for the jaw!' Luz thought as she threw a punch to Amity's jawline.
'NO! I won't go down like this!' Amity thought as she remember what Luz did before and how she tried her best to mimic the moves she saw. 'I am not going to lose to you again!'
Amity fell with the stumble, making Luz miss by inches before throwing a punch of her own and hitting Luz's cheek. This surprised everyone who knew of Luz's kickboxing.
'She punched her?!' Eda, Willow, and Gus thought in shock.
'She punched me?' Luz thought as she quickly got back, seeing the abomination almost stomp on her. 'That punch actually surprised me, I din't think she was one to get her hands dirty.'
"Don't give her room to breath!" Amity commanded as her Abomination pulled out it's head, throwing it at Luz to try and crush her.
Luz quickly dived out of the way, hearing it crash behind her, before quickly tapping her fire glyphs and threw fireballs at Amity. Well, around her since Luz didn't want to do permanent damage to her cute self. Amity covered her her face as the fireball crashed around her.
"Like I said, I'm going for you and not your much monster!" Luz shouted before she held a hand behind her, using the fire spell to boost her towards Amity. "You surprised me before, but that won't happen again!"
Luz stopped in front of Amity and delivered a hard punch to her stomach, making her keel over and gasp before she grit her teeth.
"That's what you think!" Amity shouted as she grabbed Luz's arm, throwing a sluggish knee to try and break it but Luz countering it with her own. "I will win! And I'll use your own little moves against you!"
Luz gave a straight kick the get Amity off her arm, causing her to stumble back as she got back into her stance.
"Sorry to say, but you'll need a miracle to beat me in kickboxing!" Luz shouted to her.
'So, "Kickboxing" is what it's called.' Lilith and Bump thought, curious to the humans attacks.
"Well, lucky for me, I do have a miracle." Amity said, smiling deviously before looking to her abomination. "Abomination! Cower, merge, and armor!"
With the triple order given, the abomination began to fall to a puddle before moving towards Amity and slide up her body. Amity was soon covered in her abomination before it began to mold into something different, it began to mold and harden into a sort of armor around Amity's body with six tendrils popping out of her back.
(Imagine Fate Zero Mordred but without helmet. Replace the red with purple, the silver with pink, and gold with black.)
Everyone, even Lilith herself, gasp at the sight of the armor and the level of effort it must've took to mold it.
"HOLY BELLOWS!" Willow, Gus, and King, who was covered in even more swag, shouted in unison at the sight of Amity in abomination armor!
"What the heck are you teaching her, Lily?!" Eda shouted as her sister, who stood still before she shook off her surprise and smiled at Amity.
"Something I could never be more proud of! She's even more talented than I thought before!" Lilith shouted before looking to Luz, who was still in shock of the armor. "I'd suggest you give up now, human! You put on a good show but I think Amity is done playing around!"
Luz quickly shook her head to get back in the right mindset before firming her face.
"Not chance! Armor or not, I'm not backing down!" Luz said as she activated both her light and fire glyph at the same time, causing her fists to become golden flames. "So bring it on, Amity!"
"Consider it brung, human!" Amity shouted as they charged at each other.
Amity mentally commanded the tendril to form fists at the end and launch at Luz, forcing her to bob and weave two before throwing fire ball at the rest Her path to Amity was clear as Luz reeled her fist back, right at the same time as Amity. Their fists met in the middle before they before Luz broke the clash with her superior strength, pushing Amity back before they engaged in the very first Kickboxing match on the Boiling Isles. The crowd watched in awe and roared with cheers, watching as Luz had the superior skill in kickboxing while Amity was slowly improving, using her armor and tendrils to attack and defend but Luz was able to keep up.
"This is insane!" Gus said in shock as he grabbed his hair, watching as Luz did a roundhouse kick against two tendrils, ducking and firing a fireball at Amity, right into the chest.
"I know! I didn't think Amity would've copied Luz from just seeing her fight once!" Willow said as King shouted as loud as he could.
"COME ON, LUZ! KICK HER IN THE ARMORED BUTT!" he cheered as Luz actually had some supporters in the crowd.
Back with the fight, Luz dodged two more tendrils before blocking a knee kick from Amity and closing the distance to give her a left hook but she blocked it as well.
'She's getting better as we fight! I've read about this online but I've never seen it before.' Luz thought as she jumped away from all tendrils trying to pummel her into the ground, looking at the armor and noticing cracks slowly closing. 'Her armor is cracking! It's probably taking a lot of her magic to keep it strong and control those tendrils but if I can break it, I can win!'
With a new plan in mind, Luz rushed towards Amity as the armor'ed girls sent all of her tendril fists at Luz and combined them into a large right fist! That didn't stop Luz as she kept running, coming within inches of the fist before sliding under and to the left. She quickly got back on her feet and rushed to Amity, readying both hands with golden flames.
"Got you!" Luz shouted as she used her left hand to chop through the tendril, making the fist fall to muck on the ground before she rushed Amity, who put up her arms to block again. "It's over!"
Using all the strength she could muster in each punch, Luz punched all over Amity's guard and her upper body. With every flaming punch, Luz could see the cracks getting bigger and bigger without fixing themselves. Amity was to busy defending Luz's rush to notice, big mistake on her part as she left the punches hurt more and more before realizing her mistake.
'My abomination armor!' she thought in panic before it was too late, feeling the arm parts break as they were both knocked away from her face. 'No!'
"Game over!" Luz said as she reeled her right arm back, making a golden fire fist shine brightly before hitting Amity as hard as she could in her stomach.
"UUH!" Amity let out as the fire fist exploded, knocking them both back as her armor broke apart and fell to the ground returning to muck.
Luz managed to roll from her back to her feet and stumbled into a steady stance while Amity flipped and landed on her stomach. The remainder of Amity's armor was a shoulder guard for her left arm, a bit for her chest, and some covering both her thighs; it looked like it was struggling to form again or even stay solid as Amity tried to get up from the ground.
"Th-This isn't over!" Amity said, refusing to admit defeat.
Luz had to admit that her determination was admirable but she had to know that this fight was over and she couldn't go on. As Amity held her head down as she got up, Luz noticed something on her neck, something...familiar.
"Huh?" Luz wondered as she lowered her fists and walked to Amity, confusing the crowd as they stopped cheering for a moment.
Luz helped Amity to her feet, looking at the think on her neck and gasping as Amity pushed her away.
"Get off me." she said as the rest of her armor fell to the ground.
"Amity, you have something on your neck." Luz said as she gestured to her neck.
"On my neck? What are pulling?" Amity asked as she reached for her neck. "There's nothing on m-"
Amity froze mid sentence as she pulled something off her neck and brought it to her front to see it, it was a power glyph from the Construction Coven.
"Wha-how?" Amity asked as everyone gasped at the sight of the glyph, mumbling about Amity cheating. "I-I-I didn't know! I would never use something like this to win!"
From what Luz saw on her face, the pure shock and fear at the glyph, she had to be telling the truth and if Amity didn't put the glyph on her neck, only one other person could've.
"It was Lilith!" Luz shouted as she pointed an accusing finger at her, making everyone stop and listen as she walked up to Amity from behind. "She power glyph on your neck before the duel started!"
Everyone gasped once again at the news, shocked that the head of Emperor's Coven would stoop to cheating using her star student! Though Eda had a different reaction.
"Cheated?! You cheated!" Eda said with a smile, rushing her face and mocking her. "You cheated, miss perfect isn't so perfect after all! Hot dog, today is a great day!"
"I only cheated because I knew you would cheat!" Lilith said as she pointed to Luz as Eda began to dance around her, more specifically her gloves. "Magic manipulating gloves?! The human wouldn't stand a chance if you didn't give her those!"
"You still cheated! Welcome to my level, sister!" Eda mocked as Amity look around the crowd, seeing their shock, sadness, and...disappointment at her.
"Bu-But I didn't know." she said as she looked to Luz, beginning to cry from her own teacher making her cheat without even knowing.
The green haired girl ran out of the theater with a look of sadness, anger, humiliation, and betrayed. She might not know betrayal but the other feelings where nothing new to Luz since she had felt before whenever she suffered a devastating defeat in a few matches. The sadness of letting those who supported her down, the anger of not being strong enough to win, and the humiliation from being outmatched by someone better than her.
"Amity." Luz mumbled before she ran after her, leaving Eda and Lilith to argue and escalate into a fight.
After she got made her way out of the theater arena, Luz looked around for Amity with goal of just talking to her. She soon got her wish when she turned to see Amity sitting in a dark corner of the Covention center with her knees to her chest and her head burrowed in them.
"Hey." Luz said as she walked over to her, hands in her pockets.
"Go away, just leave me alone." Amity said as she turned her head away from Luz.
"Look, I may not understand how you feel about what Lilith did, but I do understand how you feel right now."
"How I feel?! You don't know anything about how I feel!" Amity said as she got up and faced Luz, showing her dried face. "Everything was going fine until you came! You embarrassed at school and you cost me my one chance to impress the Emperor's Coven, one that I have worked my entire life for!"
"I never meant to embarrass you, I just wanted to-" Luz tried to say.
"To what?! Prove you can be a witch?! Well, you can't! A human can never be a witch, so say it!" Amity said as she pointed to Luz. "You cheated with those gloves, the duel was mine from the start!"
"You nor anyone else, said that I couldn't use magical items to help me win." Luz said as he limps became firm. "If anything, the duel was a draw."
"A draw?! There is no draw in a duel!" Amity said as she lifted her fist at Luz. "Why won't you accept the truth?! You are not a witch!"
Luz simply let Amity punch her in the cheek, not moving or flinching from the hit as she kept her gaze at Amity as she was left breathing heavily from the hit.
"Are you done?" Luz asked as she grabbed Amity's fist and moved away from her cheek, which was now bruised. "Because If you are, then I have something to say to you."
"Like what?!" Amity asked as she tried to jerk her hand away from Luz but the grip was too strong.
"You're right, I'm not a witch." Luz said, causing Amity to stop jerking and look to Luz in surprise while she lifted her to Amity's face so she could see the two glyphs on her gloves. "Not like anyone else but that won't stop me from becoming a witch my own way."
Luz used her thumb to press the light glyph below her middle and ring finger, causing a light orb to form as Luz pointed her palm up as she left go of Amity's fist. The green haired witch just stared at the orb for a moment before she quickly scoffed and turned away.
"That's just dumb light spell, a little kid could do that." Amity said as she stepped away from Luz, before turning her head back a bit. "But, I've need seen it cast like that before."
"I know but this just proves a human can do magic, I just have to find the glyphs for the spells and I don't know how many of them are out there." Luz said as she leaned against the wall, snuffing out the light and leaning against the wall. "That is, if that Everlasting Oath doesn't get in the way."
After staying silent for a moment, mulling over everything that's happened since she met Luz vs what she was told and shown, Amity made a choice that she hoped wasn't going to be regrettable.
"Give me your hand." Amity said as she drew a spell circle, putting her hand through and taking Luz's hand to cause them both to glow for a moment. "The oath is unbound, you can continue your training."
As she let go, Luz stared at her hand for a moment before looking up to Amity and smiled at her.
"Thanks, Amity." Luz said as Amity began walking away before stopping, turning back to Luz.
"Just one more thing and it's been bugging me ever since it happened." Amity said as a blush came to her face but forced herself to continue. "Back at Hexside when you impersonated an abomination, why did you kiss me on the cheek?"
This caused Luz to burst out in a blush of her own, staring at Amity with wide eyes.
'Shit! I didn't expect her to bring it up!' Luz thought as Amity waited an answer.
"Well?" Amity asked her.
"Oh yeah! W-Well, I ju-just thought..." Luz stuttered as she scratched her cheek.
"Thought what?" Amity asked her.
"I...thought you were cute." Luz mumbled just loud enough for Amity to hear, causing the green haired girl to turn into a tomato.
"C-C-C-Cute?!" she stuttered out as Luz turned away with a blush of her own. "Y-You ga-gave me a random kiss b-because I was cute!?"
"Well...I was never one to think with my head, so I just went for it." Luz quickly said as Amity just stared at her.
'Just...went for it.' Amity repeated as she thought back to their other kiss, the accidental one. 'No! That was an accident! Nothing more! But...'
Looking around for anyone pausing, Amity took a deep breath before doing something Luz or Amity herself, never expected. Moving quickly to Luz, Amity gave a her a kiss on the cheek before she began speed walking away.
"Consider that payback!" she quickly said as Luz stood their like a statue.
'She-She kissed me!' Luz thought as steam seemed to be coming from her eyes, her brain processing at such a high speed to process this.
"Hey, Luz!" King said as he came to her, taking her out of her daze. "I've been looking for you."
"Oh sorry, I just had to...talk with Amity for a bit." Luz said as she noticed all of King's swag, a lot more than before. "You really took advantage of getting "offerings," didn't you?"
"Maybe but I got something for you too!" King said as he pulled something out for Luz, a bag with "Covention" on it. "A tote bag!"
"Wow, thanks, King." Luz said as she took the bag as King jumped inside it.
"I also makes a good chariot! Now onward!" King said as Luz chuckled, putting the tote bag on her shoulder.
Luz chuckled at King, rolling her eyes to him, as Eda came up behind her in a rush.
"Come on, kid. Time to scram." Eda said before taking a quick look back to where she came from.
"Why? Did something happen between you and Lilith?" Luz asked as Eda turned back to her.
"You could say that but if you ask me, Lily should stop "snacking" on the job. Eda said with a chuckled, a little inside joke.
"King?" Luz asked him as Eda walked ahead of them.
"Big battle, Eda escaped by throwing a snack in her face." he explained quickly.
"I won that fight...by a technicality." Eda mumbled the last bit to herslef.
"Okay?" Luz said, unsure before looking up to Eda. "Hey, Eda. You ever think I'll become a true witch using my own way?"
"Using your own way? Of course you will!" Eda said before gesturing to everyone around here. "These rubes think you can be a true witch by joining a coven but I never did and I'm more powerful than they'll ever be. It's about being your own witch and you're already on the right path, kid."
Luz smiled to Eda as King gave a nod to her speech.
"Thanks guys." Luz said as she walked up to Eda.
"You're welcome, now let's go before Lilith finds out I tied her shoelaces together." Eda said before an angry screamed was heard where she came from.
"I think she found out." Luz said before Eda pushed her forward.
"Yep, she did. Now let's hurry." Eda said as they headed for the exit, a banner saying "COME BACK SOON! WE'LL GET YOU EVENTUALLY!" hanging over it.
"So, Lilith is your sister, huh? Older or younger?" Luz asked as the doors slid open for them.
"I won't say but play your cards right and I might tell you about my parents." Eda said to her.
"Hmm, no thanks. Just Lilith." Luz said as King nodded to her.
"A wise decision!" King said to them.
As they were almost out of the building, a sudden voice stopped them.
"Excuse me!" he said, causing them to turn around and see Principal Bump running towards them. "Human, I wish to speak with you."
"Speak with me?" Luz asked before guessing the reason. "Look if this is about what happened at Hexside-"
"This has nothing to do with that. This is more about what you did during the duel and back at Hexside." Bump said as he punched the air. "That battle form you did."
"You mean my kickboxing?" Luz asked a Bump nodded while pointing to her.
"Yes, that "kickboxing." After seeing once again today, I have gained an interest towards the battle form and would like to make you an offer." Bump said to Luz.
"What kind of offer, Bumpy?" Eda asked as she narrowed her eyes at the principal.
"The kind that will make up for the "Abomination incident."" Bump said as he looked back to Luz. "I would like you to come to Hexside and teach your "kickboxing" to the students as a extracurricular activity. With it, comes you ban lifted and your credentials vouched for by me."
"You want me to teach a Hexside?!" Luz asked in shock as Eda and King were shocked as well.
"Yes. Just from that duel alone, all the student in the crowd became so fascinated with it and even tried copying like Ms. Blight. If left unguided, they could hurt themselves." Bump said as he pointed to Luz. "Even though you are young, you are the only one on the Boiling Isles that can teach them properly. So, what do you say, human?"
Still shocked about the offer, turned to Eda for help but she looked just as shocked as Luz was.
"She'll do it!" King answered for her, making Luz and Eda turn to him. "Luz will happily be their commander and instruct them in the ways of kickboxing!"
"Alright then." Bump said as he shook Luz's hand and turned to walk away. "Come to the school when you want to discuss when your first class will begin."
As King waved goodbye and Luz and Eda just starred at him, neither of them could predict how this would effect the students or how serious they would take it.
Luz's Glyph Gloves: Elbow length grayish black gloves with a texture mix of paper and leather, smooth yet tough.
Light Glyph: Located on the palm, below the middle and ring fingers, center.
Fire Glyph: Located on the palm, in the area below the thumb.