Amity looked as shocked as Luz had ever seen her before; for a moment, the red color that formed her eyes faltered and turned golden again. "What... what are you saying, Luz? You can't be afraid of me... you're joking, right?"

"You know I can't lie, Amity" Luz replied. "You're really scaring me!"

Amity placed a shaking hand on her cheek. "But... but you shouldn't be afraid of me! I love you, remember? You feel safe in my presence..."

"Not now!" Luz told her as she sobbed and pulled away from Amity's touch. "Not now because you are no longer yourself! You are not like this! The person I fell in love with was a wonderful cotton candy hair goddess with a heart of gold, who spent her time helping others and giving me a deeper love than I could ever imagine! She was a beacon of hope in the middle of an ocean of sadness, and just having her next to me made me euphoric, happy, content, safe! With her I felt able to face anything, even monsters of my mind! But now you are no longer like that! Amity, look at how this... fragment of soul, or whatever it is, is turning you! It's infecting your mind, you no longer recognize what is right or wrong!"

"Don't talk nonsense!" Amity screamed, but as she did so she recoiled and rose into the air, as if just staying close to Luz would burn her. "I know very well what is right and what is wrong! I'm the good guy here!"

"Really? And tell me, since when does the good guy in the story sit on a throne made of dark magic surrounded by horrible monsters?" Luz pointed out. "Since when does a good person unleash fear on the innocent? Since when do good people terrorize a town for their own amusement?"

Amity trembled and retreated further, using the dark tendrils emerging from her back to climb up to the ceiling like she was a spider. "I'm not terrorizing the town for my own amusement! I'm doing it for a greater purpose! I'm doing it to kill Belos!"

"Well, that's not the right way! It's like saying that to win a war you have to exterminate an entire town, killing thousands of innocent people, so as to scare your opponent!" Luz told her.

"And so? That's exactly how it should be done! This way the soldiers will suffer less!" Amity answered her, her voice becoming more and more aggressive. "If a single town spares an entire nation from suffering, then it is right to destroy it!"

"No, it's not! Amity, this is not morally acceptable, and you know it!" Luz screamed.

"Morally acceptable!? Morals are for humans! I'm not human!" Amity screamed back, and her face twisted into a grimace. "I am a witch! I am a being who can decide everyone's future! I decide good and evil! I was given this power, I have a duty to use it! And using it means making sacrifices! Not everyone can survive, but I don't care! I will do this, whether you like it or not, because it is my destiny, and I am not bound to the pathetic morality of the weak humans!"

Luz remained silent, unable to articulate the words; only sobs emerged from her mouth. That couldn't be Amity, Amity wasn't like that. Amity would never say things like that. That must have just been a nightmare. She had to be dreaming, it was the only explanation... it HAD to be the only explanation. That Amity couldn't be real, it had to be just a horrible dream from her mind, and she would soon wake up and discover that it was all fake...

She lowered her head and closed her eyes. "Fine" she whispered. "So be it. Come on, take my fear too. Command your Abominations to make me experience my worst nightmares"

Amity's furious face turned shocked and (at times) a little scared. "What? Luz, no... I don't want..."

"You don't want to take my fear? Then why do you take other people's?" Luz answered her by looking up, staring at her with eyes full of tears. "You said doing the right thing requires sacrifice, so what are you waiting for to sacrifice me?"

"I don't want to sacrifice you!" Amity protested. She seemed increasingly restless.

"Oh, no? So everyone else is fine, but I'm not? Tell me, what is special about me compared to others? How can I contribute to the world you will create after defeating Belos? I'm not even a real girl!" Luz told her, staring at her more and more intensely. "What is the quality that I possess that stops you from throwing me away like you are doing with everyone else?"

"You're smart!"

"And you are more"

"You are sensible!"

"Willow is more"

"You have a great sense of observation!"

"Gus is better than me at that"

"You are strong!"

"You want to compare me to Boscha?"

"You are brave!"

"Hunter fights monsters without batting an eyelid"

Amity seemed out of options. Her face seemed to be contorting further and further into a grimace of confusion. "You... you are special! I love you!"

"Oh, so it's just a preference?" Luz said back to her. "You spare me just because you love me, while you exploit everyone else and justify yourself by saying it's for the greater good? So if you didn't love me, would you terrorize me like you're doing to everyone else?"

"No... no! It's not like that! I..." Amity was stuttering, and suddenly some tears began to flow down her face; as soon as she realized it she almost slapped herself. "NO! What am I doing!? I can't cry, I shouldn't cry! Stop confusing me, you stupid puppet!"

"Puppet, hm?" Luz told her in a slightly disappointed voice. "Are you calling me that again, like you used to do when you enjoyed bullying me?"

Amity looked in total panic. "No! It's not like that! Pupp... L-Luz... no, what's going on? Why is it suddenly so hard to say? Why do I feel so bad? Why do I want to curl up on the ground and cry? I'm not like that! I'm not weak! And you love me... you should love me... no, what am I saying? You don't have to love me, I don't decide that... no, wait... what's happening to me!?"

Amity was starting to hold her head with her hands and looked like she was about to start pulling her own hair out. Seeing this, Luz climbed onto the throne so she could get closer to her. "Amity, what you're feeling right now is the real you. You're breaking the veil of lies before your eyes. Please, come to your senses! You're a good girl, I know you're good! Come here and let me hold you. And don't being afraid to cry, is a good thing! I'm also here to comfort you!"

"N-No! Shut up! Stop... it hurts!" Amity screamed in what sounded like a feverish delirium, and moved away from Luz, moving her dark tentacles as if they were the legs of an insect. "Stop confusing me and putting these strange ideas in my head! I won't go back to being weak! I won't go back to being pathetic! I can finally... I can finally decide my own destiny!"

"Really?" Luz murmured. "Amity, maybe it's just because we have different points of view… but right now… you just seem like a puppet to me"

Amity shuddered and looked at Luz with wide eyes; she seemed unable to believe that she had actually heard those words coming from the mouth of one who was actually a puppet. The red in her eyes flashed and slowly took on a more golden hue. "I… am… a puppet…?" she whispered in terror, and instinctively crouched down and wrapped her tentacles around her, but still reached out to Luz: "Help me... please, help me!" she begged through tears.

Luz climbed towards her and struggled to reach her, even though the dark magic enveloped her and seemed to try to chase her away. It was as if a conflict as intense as a hurricane was taking place inside Amity and she wanted to both bring her closer and push her further away. "Amity… I'm here. Remember what you told me at the beach, when you helped me get over my trauma? You said you'd always be here for me. Well, it's the same for me. I'm here for you. I will always help you. And I will always love you, even when you make mistakes. Amity... give me your hand... let's go home"

Amity trembled as if she were now the terrified one, and for a moment she seemed to want to retreat from Luz again, but then, slowly, she raised her right hand even more and moved it towards her. Their fingers touched...

Just then the windows exploded and what looked like two large birds flew through them; their arrival made all the Abominations screech, and Amity instinctively moved away from Luz and actually threw her away without meaning to; fortunately the puppet was caught on the fly by one of the birds, which turned out to be Eda in her fairy form. "Urgh… everything okay, kiddo?" she asked.

Luz wanted to be grateful to Eda, but at that moment she was only able to glare at her. "Eda… thanks for your help… but you have really bad timing"

"YOU!" Amity screamed, and immediately her expression turned furious and the red in her eyes became deeper than ever. "Give her back to me! You won't take her away from me!"

"Amity, calm down!" Lilith exclaimed, coming between them. "We're not trying to take her away from you! We don't want..."

But the dark tentacles turned into sharp blades and Amity threw them at the two fairies, and Lilith was almost pierced by them. "Shut up! You are no longer my fairy godmother, Lilith! I am a witch now, and we are enemies! Submit to me, or I will destroy you!"

The Abominations started to climb the walls, trying to reach them despite being in the air, but they were distracted by a crowd of people who entered and threw rocks, books and whatever else they had in their hands at the monsters. "Luz! Are you okay?" Willow screamed. "We came as soon as Raine found us!"

"Yeah... and damn, the situation here is tragic to say the least!" Gus gulped as he looked at what was happening.

Edric and Emira ran forward, completely oblivious to the danger of the Abominations. "Mittens!" the older brother yelled at her. "Look, I admit you're very cool right now, but could you please stop summoning monsters?"

"Yeah! Come on, get down from there and let's talk about it, I'm sure we can find a solution..." Emira tried to say.

But Amity let out a crocodile-like screech and swung one of the dark tentacles like a whip, and nearly hit them both if Lilith hadn't rushed to save them and grabbed them around the waist and carried them flying with her. "Shut your mouth! I don't want to listen to you! I don't want to listen to anyone anymore! I'm independent now! I'm the one who decides for you!" Amity screamed, and then she glared at Eda again, "And you give me back my Luz NOW!"

With a sudden movement that seemed lightning-fast, she moved one of her tentacles like a whip again, this time directed towards Eda's face; if she had hit her she would surely have thrown her against the wall. But King quickly climbed onto the shelves and then threw himself from above, emitting his sound wave and disintegrating the dark tentacle on impact; he risked falling immediately afterwards, but Eda caught him quickly.

Amity was really livid at that point. "You really don't want to give up, huh!? Well, then I'll make you do it! We'll see how fast you'll fly after I'll tear off your wings! I'll teach you a good lesson... DON'T MESS WITH THE FEAR WITCH!" she screamed with a fury no one would ever expect her to have, and suddenly the dark magic enveloped her; all the Abominations in the room turned into shapeless globes and flew towards her, and formed first a pair of bat wings, then a tail, then claws, then a snout; within moments, a huge dragon composed of dark matter had appeared in the library, and when it opened its eyes it revealed them to be blood red like Amity's.

"Wow... she just became a witch and is in full omnipotence delirium, but we cannot deny that she's really good at using magic" Eda commented a little impressed, but she was forced to shut up when the dragon moved its jaws and tried to bite her. Knowing that it was better avoid to face it in an enclosed space, both Eda and Lilith, still with Luz, King, Edric, and Emira under their arms, flew out the windows and headed towards the sky; a split second later the roof of the library shattered and the giant dragon flew after them.

Fortunately the roof had exploded outwards, and very little rubble fell into the forbidden section; which was good, because everyone else was literally paralyzed. "So… now Amity can transform into a dragon?" Willow stuttered as soon as she could regain her ability to speak.

"I don't know if this is the most epic or terrifying thing I've ever seen" Gus commented. "Well... at least it can't get any worse than this"

He hadn't even finished speaking when Hunter flew through the broken roof and landed in front of them. "Guys, we have another problem"

The eyes of Willow, Matt, Boscha, Skara, Cat, Amelia, Raine, Derwin, Katya and Amber all focused on Gus, who cringed. "You just can't keep quiet ever, huh!?" Willow scolded him, and then she turned to Hunter: "What's happening this time?"

Hunter was sweating from his forehead. "Do you know what happens when a new apex predator is thrown into an environment already occupied by another? That the other immediately notices it, and its only instinct is to confront it and destroy it before it can threaten its superiority..."

"Get to the point!" Boscha blurted out. "What's the new problem?"

"Exactly what I just told you. The old apex predator has noticed the arrival of a competitor and is coming to face it" Hunter replied. "Belos is coming here"

Eda: "Luz, I saved you!"

Luz: "Eda... I was this close to make Amity come to her senses!"

Amity: "Give me back my Luz!"

Eda: "Ok, I admit I made a mistake... but girl, seriously, you don't want to fight, I remind you that Lilith and I are two of us and we have a few decades more experience than you. You will also have the powers of Grometheus but You're still a newly minted witch. How do you plan to beat us...?"

Amity: *freebooting Maleficent*

Eda: "Uh... you're good"