The Owl House of Amphibia

by Iron117Prime

Four human girls, so different and so alike, find themsleves thrown into new worlds of magic, danger, wonder, and horror. As they explore their new surroundings, they not only meet new friends and new enemies, but also discover more about themselves than what they felt before. All it took was a box and a door to change their lives, and the lives of all those around them, forever.

13. Heated Tensions at the Covention

Hi everyone! Back for more I see. Well, I know this is one particular chapter that you've all been waiting to see, and I've been excited to write it myself, as I've got more than a few surprises planned. We get yet another glimpse into Eda's past as we meet a certain someone, as well as cross paths with another individual that the main cast is currently at odds with. Things are gonna be a tad different here due to the presence of our heroes from the Amphibia-side of the story, and I hope you like what I have to give.

With all that being said, let's get started!

Heated Tensions at the Covention

Eda, the Plantars, Anne, Luz, and King were at Eda's stand for 'human collectibles' in Bonesburrow. Even the Salamander was present, just curled up in the corner of the table. While the Owl Lady kept her stand organized and neat, everyone seemed to be minding their own business with Luz reading her Azura book aloud with Sprig on her shoulder to read it with her.

"'Embolden by the dishonor Hecate had shown, Azura lifted her staff to the cotton candy skies and shouted, 'I challenge you to a witch's duel!''"

"Oh, please tell me Azura wipes the floor with her!" Sprig hoped. "That Hecate is a real jerk!"

"I'm getting to it." Luz told him. "But look here, I drew a flipbook!" She gestured to the corner of the page where tiny figures of Azura and Hecate were drawn before flipping over the corner to show them clashing their respective staffs. "Pew! Pew! Pew!"

"Oooh, let me try!" Sprig took the book and flipped the corner of the pages himself. "Pew! Pew! Pew! Oh, this is so cool! How do you do that? Get the characters to move like that!"

"The beauty of animation, my dear Sprig." Luz smiled.

"Hey, show me the picture too!" King requested, to which Sprig showed King the tiny flip pages, but King was unimpressed. "Ha! I could draw better than that! You know, they once called me the King of Artists." He said dramatically.

Anne gave a playful scoff. "Oh, so you're not really the King of Demons?" She asked teasingly.

"I am so the King of Demons!" He pointed to Anne. "The kind where people would leave me offerings in fear of me!"

"But you just said you were the King of Artists." Anne went on with a grin, causing King to backpedal somewhat. "And last time I checked, artists aren't fear inducing. You sure you're not just making this stuff up."

"Oh, he's totally making it all up." Polly said. "He's got twice as much overactive imagination as Sprig does."

"Hey, my overactive imagination is a good thing!" Sprig said to his sister. "And one day, it's gonna save the world just like Azura, as the first and most powerful frog witch in Amphibia and the Boiling Isles!" Sprig declared, hoping to the top of Eda's stand and lunging his fist straight up with determination.

"Get down boy before you break something." Hop Pop told his grandson. "Just cause you learned one little light spell doesn't give you the right to act all cocky."

Sprig hopped down. "That 'little light spell' saved Eda and all of us just yesterday!"

"That it did, but you're letting it get to your head, Sprig." Hop Pop replied. "These folks have known magic all their lives, you've only just did it yesterday. Boasting about it is gonna get you into some serious trouble."

"And I don't need any of that trouble right now." Eda added. "Nor any of that flowery-garbage that's an insult to witches." She pointed to the Azura book. "It's gonna drive away all our serious customers."

"What customers?" Anne questioned, gesturing to the barren and empty market where the group were the only people present throughout the block. There was even a tumbleweed that blew across the street in the breeze. "There aren't even any other stands around."

"Seriously, what's going on Eda?" Luz asked in genuine concern.

An ominous look fell on Eda's face. "This is a bad omen. There must be something horrible happening today."

"Luz! Anne! Sprig!" Gus called to them as he and Willow approached the stand exicteably. "Something amazing is happening today!"

"Gus, Willow! Hey!" Luz greeted with a smile.

"How you doing, Mega-Witch Willow?" Anne greeted herself with a wink.

Willow blushed. "Heh, still not used to being called that. But I'm doing great today! Look!" She showed them a flyer that read 'Covention' at the top with the picture of a witch looking at a reflection of himself in a cauldron with the words 'Which Coven are you?', and the phrase 'Mystery Guest!' was written at the bottom. "It's the annual Covention!"

"Covention?" Anne was confused for a second. "Don't you mean 'Convention'? Like Comic-Con?"

"What's Comic-Con?" Gus asked.

"Only the most awesome human-made attraction in human history! I'll tell you later." Anne said to Gus, who only looked with stars in his eyes at the thought of that.

"I don't know about this 'Comic-Con'… but the Covention is an event where student witches get to see all the Covens before they're placed in one." Willow explained. "There's even a 'mystery guest' this year!" She pointed to the aforementioned phrase at the bottom of the flyer for emphasis.

"What's a Coven?" Sprig asked.

"A group of witches." Luz answered before gasping with excitement. "So, this thing is a job fare for witches!?"

"Eda! Hop Pop! Can we go?!" Sprig jumped up and down with excitement to.

"Absolutely not!" Eda said immediately, causing Luz and Sprig to groan as they sunk to the ground.

"Why not?" Hop Pop questioned with curiosity before shifting to an ominous tone. "Is this place dangerous? Are their vicious predators lurking around every corner? Just waiting for a chance to suck the life out of you in seconds?!"

"Sign me up!" Polly exclaimed immediately, raising her flipper.

"Yeah, that's exactly what it is." Eda said. "I never joined a Coven for a reason. Sure, it's like a fun club for witches, but you're also giving up your magical independence to be part of a crooked system!" She slammed her fist on the table for emphasis, waking up the Salamander. Hop Pop took that very seriously, thinking about what Eda said. Though the Owl Lady caught a glance of Willow and Gus, the former having her enthusiasm sinking somewhat as she lowered the flyer. "Eh, but... you know… no judgement." She crossed her arms and looked away. "In any case, I haven't been to one since we were girls."

"'We'?" Luz, Sprig, and even Anne asked simultaneously.

"Oh no." Polly winced in sympathy for Eda.

"Uh…" The Owl Lady realized what was coming next as Sprig and Luz both shot up from the ground.

"We? Who's we?" Sprig looked to Eda.

"You have a mysterious past!? Now we gotta go!" Luz said as her excitement returned.

"Either that or we just sit around here all day doing nothing." Anne commented, gesturing to the barren street.

"I'd rather to do nothing than go to that place." Eda said with finality. "My answer is 'no'."

"Okay, then you leave me no choice." Luz said mischievously before handing her Azura book to Sprig, the frog smirking alongside Luz as he read a passage from the book aloud.

"'You shall not shan't doeth no harm!' Azura called out…" Sprig began.

Eda's eyes widened as Sprig continued to read aloud. "So flowery, so awful…" She walked away from the stand and took out the Portal Door to open it and walk inside.

"Hecate could only screech, screech as did she, for the screech did worseneth…" Sprig hopped into the portal door just as it closed.

Only for it to open a second later as Eda sprinted out with the still-reading Sprig right behind her. She snatched the wide-awake Salamander. "Get me to Amphibia! Now!"

Immediately, the Salamander acted and ran around Eda to create a ring of multi-colored fire. The flames quickly rose to engulf Eda…

"'Curses, Azura!' Hecate called out as she was blastedeth by the beams of rainbow…" Sprig continued to read as he hopped into the flames as they shrunk and he, Eda, and the Salamander all vanished.

"Three, two, one…" Luz counted down with a smile as a cluster of multi-colored flames appeared once more and Eda stomped out with Sprig still reading the book aloud as he sat on Eda's head with the Salamander on her shoulder.

"Stop it! Stop it! I will literally do anything to stop this!" Eda exclaimed.

---

Two minutes later, the group that consisted of Luz, Anne, Eda, King, the Plantars, the Salamander, along with Willow and Gus all appeared before a large building that seemed like a community center on Earth. A large sign hung nearby that read 'Covention Today' with the addition of 'Alchemists Anonymous Tomorrow'.

Luz, Sprig, Willow, and Gus looked more than a little excited to be here; Anne seemed somewhat neutral but interested; Hop Pop, King, and Polly had neutral expressions; while Eda just groaned with annoyance as the Salamander clung to her shoulder.

"Ugh!" The Owl Lady pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to bring up her hood to cover her excessive hair, forcing the Salamander to climb off and to the ground. "Come on…! Gotta keep a… low profile…!" But it was rather hard, given how much hair she had.

"Again, you could always cut that shaggy hair of yours." Polly reminded as Hop Pop and King tried to stuff Eda's hair into her hood.

"Anyone tries to cut my hair, and it'll be the last thing they do!" Eda warned.

"Is this really necessary, Eda?" Hop Pop questioned as he had a really hard time stuffing it all into Eda's hood, even as King tried to help from the back.

"Do you think all my wanted posters are for petty theft?" Eda replied… just as a bunch of stolen stuff fell out of her hair and hood in front of everyone. "Partly." She finally managed to tie her hood all over her head before recollecting all the stolen contents and re-stuffed it into her hair and hood. "But the big whammy is that I refused to join a Coven." She looked to a nearby wanted poster of herself.

"Wait… it's illegal for not having a job, here?" Anne questioned in surprise. "The worst back home is that you end up living in your parents' basement. Is it like that in Amphibia, too?" Anne asked Sprig.

"Oh heck no. It's not illegal to not get a job." The pink frog said.

"Yeah, us Covenless are called 'Wild Witches'." Eda explained to them. "And if I'm seen, I could go to jail. Again."

"Maybe this informative event will inspire you to join a Coven." Willow suggested, holding up the flyer for Eda. In response, the Owl Lady spun her finger to magically pull Willow's hood up and over her face.

"Let's just get this over with." Eda said as they all entered the building.

"Whoa…" Luz, Sprig, and Anne were especially in awe as they entered the building, with Hop Pop and Polly looking around curiously themselves. The main room was rather large, filled with multiple stands, occupied by various witches and bi-pedal demons who explained the various covens they represented. But there were nine large banners, each with their own respective colors and symbols that hung down from the ceiling. Various young witches, including students from Hexside, attended this event, walking from stand to stand, some even flew on broomsticks above it all.

"Huh… this does look pretty cool." Anne admitted.

"Pretty cool?! This is amazing!" Sprig hopped on Anne's shoulders and looked with excitement in his eyes.

"Was I even alive before now…?" Luz muttered.

"Those are the main nine Covens." Gus explained, pointing to the banners above. "Illusions, Plants, Construction, Bard, Potions, Abomination, Oracle, Healing, and Beast Keeping. But there are hundreds of other ones that you can join." He said as he and Willow led everyone deeper inside.

"There's Flower Coven, Artist Coven, Big Dog Coven, Small Cat Coven, Tiniest Cat Coven." Willow listed off.

"Ugh!" Eda groaned allowed.

"There a Grummpy Coven?" Luz joked to Willow.

"Oh yes." Willow joked back.

"What was that?!" Eda warned, causing the kids to snicker as they ran off, leaving Eda alone with Hop Pop and the Salamander.

"Um, excuse me ma'am…" A male adult witch from behind said to Eda. "But you look rather familiar." He, along with everyone else looked to a nearby pillar, where several wanted posters for Eda were all sticking to.

"Uh… no, I don't… Distraction spell!" Eda reached into hair and quickly threw a bag of Hexmix to the ground, which did nothing. "Damn… I was reaching for the fireworks." She muttered.

Acting quickly, the Salamander spat a tiny ember on the back of the man's robe, causing a slight fire to begin, which Hop Pop noticed and quickly took advantage of. "Uh sir… your robe is on fire." Hop Pop pointed.

"What…?" He looked to his back to see the small rainbow fire quickly spread and quickly tried to stomp it out. "Ah! Somebody call the Fire Control Coven!" He screamed, creating the perfect distraction as Eda, Hop Pop, and the Salamander all ran away.

"Thanks Hop Pop! You too, little guy!" Eda thanked.

The Salamander gave an affirmative hiss and a smile.

"Yeah, maybe coming here wasn't a good idea." Hop Pop said.

"Told you!" The Owl Lady replied.

They quickly caught up with the kids who were still observing the various Coven stands, and one caught Luz's attention. "Ooh, what's that!?" She pointed to a spot where a large bearded man dressed in construction gear, including a hard hat, stood with Tiny Nose next to two large pallets of wood and bricks.

"That's the Construction Coven, and that's even Coven Head Mason, he's in charge of the group." Willow explained. The witch named Mason grabbed both pallets, one in each hand, and vaulted them straight up. In a manner of seconds, all the bricks and wood came back down and to perfectly construct a house.

"Whoa! How'd he do that?! Some kind of crazy construction magic?!" Sprig asked excited.

"Dude's gotta be jacked to lift stuff like that!" Anne added, stunned by the man's display of strength.

"They do have magics that help them with construction, yeah. But they also use Power Glyphs to increase their physical and magical strength." Willow added.

Mason lifted his hard hat, revealing a stack of papers, all of which had the emblem for the Construction Coven on them. He took one and stuck it onto the face of Tiny Nose. The second it made contact, her pupils shrunk as she felt a surge of power flow through her.

"AAAHH!" Tiny Nose gave a mighty yell as an aura of magic power encircled around her, her strength increasing significantly. She even grabbed and lifted the much larger Mason and threw him away, though he seemed unfazed by this. "I am the destwoyer of worlds!" She threw the hard sign away and took the hammer to go on a rampage.

"Hey! That's the opposite of construction!" One witch said as he and another came in to try and stop her rampage.

"Yowza-Wowza!" Luz looked with wide eyes.

"Holy crap!" Anne said at the same time.

"Holy frog!" Sprig also said simultaneously alongside the girls.

Suddenly, light blue transparent doubles of all three of them appeared behind them.

"Yowza-Wowza!"

"Holy crap!"

"Holy frog!"

They repeated like recordings, much to the shock of the trio.

"Yowza-wha…?!" Luz exclaimed.

"I got a blue twin?!" Sprig exclaimed as they saw their transparent doubles walk towards a pair of older Hexide students, all wearing the same light blue color scheme of Gus and their stand. The three transparent doubles vanished as the two students waved their hands in front of their own faces for dramatic affect.

"What's with these guys? Magic holograms?" Anne questioned.

"Ah, I see you've been taken in by the allure of the Illusionist Coven." Gus said with excitement as he joined the two students who shared his magic. "We like to magic with a hint…" He spun a light blue magic circle in front of him, causing him to disappear in a puff of blue smoke, and re-appear at a different spot. "…Of showmanship." He said with a bow, as his peers reappeared around him in the same style.

"Okay, we are definitely taking you to Vegas, buddy!" Anne pulled Gus into a friendly headlock and gave him a noogie, causing him to chuckle.

"Wow… Acceptance...? Comradery…? A since of belonging…?!" Luz looked more than a little excited. "Oh man… Marcy would love this place!"

"Covens sound amazing!" Sprig hopped up on Eda's shoulder. "How come you never joined one, Eda?"

"Take another look, Sprig." Eda directed his attention, as well as that of Luz and Anne to the Illusionist Coven stand again, where another student appeared to join them. He had his sleeve pulled up as a member of that Coven put a gloved hand on the young student's wrist. When the glove was lifted, it had the symbol of a mirror on, which caused blue lines to run up his arm and all the way to his face, leading to his skin to turn slightly pale.

"Wha… what happened to him?" Sprig asked as he and everyone else, even Hop Pop, looked in surprise.

"That's called a Coven sigil." Eda explained. "It suppresses your magic. From now on, that kid will only be able to perform illusion-based spells."

"Seriously? So, he can't even shoot a fireball or anything?" Anne asked in shock.

"Nope." Eda confirmed. "They say it's all about 'controlling any unrestricted magic'." She said with air quotes. "But that's all a load of bullworm if you ask me. I can do any type of magic and I got total control." Eda spun generated a ball of fire in her right hand and one of water in her left for emphasis. "That's why I'm the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles."

"But… what if you wanna switch Covens?" Luz asked.

"You can't." Eda answered to their further surprise. "Once that sigil is on you, that's it. Maybe you can join a different Coven if it allows similar magic, but that's all you can do. Pick a Coven and you're stuck for life."

Luz, Sprig, and Anne looked to each other with winces. That did sound rather extreme with even Hop Pop taking issue.

"Being stuck with a group is one thing… but having a mark put on you like that?" The old frog questioned. "That kinda sounds more like branding to me. Can't say I'm a fan." He said with crossed arms and a look of disapproval.

"Glad we can agree on something, old man." Eda said as the group walked away. King and Polly were right behind them, before a pair of hands set on each of their heads.

"Weh?" King sounded as he and Polly turned to a female hooded student from Hexside with dark purple clothes, from the Oracle Coven, as she eyed them ominously.

"The tea leaves foretell that this…" She spun a pen in each of her hands. "…Will lead you to your destinies." She handed them the pens that had 'Fortune Teller' written on each of them.

Polly was unamused. "Destiny, shemstiny. If you think I'm paying for…"

"It's free…" The student said in the same ominous tone as she backed away into the shadows.

"Free, huh?" Polly said with a smile. "I can do that."

"I was bestowed a gift…" King said as his own excitement grew. "Yes! Offering accepted! The King of Demons is back!"

"Bet I can get more free stuff than you!" Polly challenged. "Queen of Polliwogs vs. King of Demons!"

"I accept your challenge, young Polly!" King said formally as they leaned close to each other with daring expressions. "Ready…"

"Set…" Polly continued.

"GO!" They both sounded as they ran/hopped in opposite directions to collect as many free gifts as they could.

Willow and Gus led everyone else to the back of the room towards an entrance way that was surrounded by several masked witches in white hoods. And above the entrance way, in which several witches and demons were entering, was a large golden banner that had the symbol of a pyramid with a sword pointing downward towards a circle with wings right behind it.

"That panel looks popular." Luz pointed out.

"What's with masked squad?" Anne asked. "Kinda looks like a royal guard thing."

"The uniforms look cool." Sprig said. "But why do their masks like bird skulls?"

Gus gasped with excitement. "It's the Emperor's Coven!"

"Emperor?" The three kids and Hop Pop all questioned. "You guys have an emperor?" Anne asked Eda.

"Unfortunately." Eda looked away with a grimace. "Pain in the ass, that guy."

"So, I'm guessing these guys are important?" Sprig asked Willow and Gus.

"Are you kidding?! They're the top Coven! Only the best witches are allowed to join them!" Willow said excitedly.

"Think they'll sing my forehead!?" Gus asked Willow excitedly.

"Only one way to find out!" She agreed as they went inside and the other three were right behind them…

"Hold on a sec, kids." Hop Pop stopped them.

"Come on, aren't you at least a little bit curious, Hop Pop?" Luz asked.

"A little… but I just don't like the looks of these guys." The old frog said as he eyed the Scouts. "I'm getting a really bad feeling about em."

"Good instincts." Eda nodded. "Out of all the Covens, they're the worst. Literally everything you do has gotta be for that mask-wearing creep. Not a single thing for yourself."

"Well… can we at least just take a look for ourselves?" Sprig asked somewhat dejectedly.

"We get it, Eda." Luz added. "You don't like Covens, you like your own independence…"

"Big time rebel, major respect, by the way." Anne pointed her finger-gun at Eda.

"Thank you." The Owl Lady nodded with a smile.

"But I wanna see what these guys can do, too. Gotta be popular for a reason." Anne said for the sake of her own curiosity.

"And I'm still figuring this world out, so I'm gonna go in and make up my own mind." Luz put in.

"Same here." Sprig added, hopping on Luz's shoulder.

"Then go right ahead." Hop Pop said with a sigh. "Just come right out when you're done."

"Thanks, Hop Pop!" All three said at the same time as they went inside.

The old frog caught the stink eye the Owl Lady was giving them. "I did give the boy permission to explore and learn more about this world, and I gotta stand by that." Hop Pop told her.

"I know, I know… but you also said that you trust me, right?" Eda said as she leaned in close. "Well trust me when I say that those guys, especially their boss…" She pointed to the banner for the Emperor's Coven. "…Are bad news."

Hop Pop thought a bit to what Eda said, but as he did, he happened to glance past her and noticed something. "Speaking of bad news…" He redirected her attention to behind her… where that same witch they encountered before, who had the bottom of his robe all burnt out, had approached a guard with one of Eda's wanted posters.

"I just saw her…" He said to the guard. "She's over there. I think that's her." He pointed directly to Eda.

"Yep, time to go." She immediately grabbed Hop Pop by his arm and pulled him inside. "Hey, kids! Wait up!"

Right as they went inside though, the Salamander remained outside the entrance way, looking directly up to the Emperor's Coven banner and narrowed his eyes with a hard glare. With one hateful hiss, he followed everyone inside.

---

Luz, Sprig, and Anne had sat in what appeared to be a large and circular stadium, which was already filled with other various witches, including many students from Hexside. They were soon joined by Hop Pop, Eda, and the Salamander.

"All right, let's see this mess." Eda said with reluctance.

The lights soon dimmed, causing all the commotion to quiet down. A spot light shinned on the podium at the back of the arena, just below the banner for the Emperor's Coven, where Principal Bump arose with magic smoke around him for dramatic effect. He was greeted by a round of applause and cheers as he conjured up a microphone with bat-wings for himself.

"Hello Bonesborough!" He greeted everyone. "Students ask me all the time, 'Principal Bump, what is the height of magical achievement?'."

"Is it this?!" One student in the front row called to Bump as he stood up and spun a magic circle near his head. This caused his head to grow to enormous proportion. But he was unable to support his own weight as his head leaned to the side and crushed the student next to him.

Bump stared at him blankly before wincing. "Wow. I failed you as a principal." He grabbed the microphone, with some minor feedback before continuing. "It's being selected to join the best of the best. And there are none better than the jewel of the Coven System, and the enforcers of his will… the Emperor's Coven!"

Cue some rock music in the background, a trio of Coven Scouts appeared in the arena in a display of flashy magic, causing an uproar of cheers and applause in the audience.

"Whoa…" Luz and Sprig were in awe upon the dramatic entrance.

"Okay, that's pretty cool." Anne complemented. The trio of friends happened to spot Willow and Gus nearby and waved to them.

"Luz! Anne! Sprig! Look!" They both pointed to Gus' own forehead, that had 'Emperor's Coven' written in white ink.

"Feast your eyes on this elite force." Bump continued, referring to the trio of Scouts that stood proudly for everyone to see. "Each hand-picked to usher in a new age of controlled magic!" The three Scouts then pointed their fingers straight up, spun a magic circle, with each one shooting a stream of fire, a geysers of water, and a bolt of lightning up into the air. The three magics collided together to create some magic fireworks, earning more cheers and uproars from everyone present. Luz and Sprig looked in amazement with even Anne taking an interest.

Eda was far from impressed, but Hop Pop listened to what Bump said before. "So, these guys are like your world's law enforcement."

"Yeah, if those laws were suffocating." Eda commented. "You guys got anything like that in Amphibia?"

"Something similar…" Hop Pop said. "The valley Wartwood is in is governed by toads from Toad Tower. And they're not exactly the friendliest bunch."

"Yep, sounds familiar." Eda responded. She then noticed the Salamander next to her hissing as he glared at the Coven Scouts below before taking him in her hands. "Not a fan either, huh? Good judgement, there." She said with an impressed smile.

"Members of the Emperor's Coven have access to all, yes all, forms of magic!" Bump announced as the Scouts continued to display differentiating forms of magic. "Ooh! Aah!"

"Ooh! Aah!" The audience repeated.

"Hold on a sec… I thought Covens restricted magic." Anne recalled, looking to Eda.

"Look who's been listening." She responded. "Sure, the EC let's you use all your magic, but you still get that sigil." That caused Hop Pop to look questionably. "And like I said before, all your time is devoted to 'his majesty'." She said with air quotes. "You get magical freedom, but trade away your own personal freedom."

Anne looked a bit suspicious at that comment. That did seem kind of a deal breaker. If she had magic powers, it would be cool to be doing all the kinds of magic she wanted to do… but not if it meant that you had to constantly working for somebody else, especially since apparently leaving a Coven didn't seem an option.

"But…" Bump went on. "Only the best can ascend these ranks. Someday, that could be one of you!" He happened to point to one particular student at the front in the audience. And that was none other than Amity, as she set in-between two other female students from Hexside. One was a brown-skinned girl with grey eyes, pinkish-gray hair that was tied back in a ponytail; she also wore red sleeves and leggings with her Hexside uniform. The other one was a light-skinned girl with grayish blue eyes, as well as a third eye on her forehead, with red-violet hair tied back in a bun; her uniform had yellow sleeves and leggings.

While her friends looked with interest, Amity gave an excited squee that was almost adorable… which didn't go unnoticed by Luz and her friends just above her.

"Huh…?" Luz looked in surprise to see her.

"Wait… isn't that…?" Sprig recognized the green-haired girl too.

"Ugh, what's she doing here?" Anne was clearly not happy to see Amity.

The trio of Coven Scouts bowed as they pulled their capes around themselves to disappear in flashes of magic, again for dramatic purposes, as the spotlight focused on Bump once again.

"And now, I am pleased to introduce, the esteemed leader of this Coven, and this year's mystery guest." He began. "You know her! You love her! Lilith Clawthorne!"

That immediately caught Eda's attention. "Huh?"

As the audience gasped in amazement at this announcement, a flash of light drew all their attention to the ceiling, where a large magical projection of a bright white raven appeared before them. The raven flew down to land in front of Bump before releasing a flash of ivory-blue magic energy that enveloped most of the stadium. The projection cleared to reveal a woman wearing a hooded white cape with a raven-like mask on her face. Though she quickly discarded the mask to reveal her full appearance.

This woman was a tall and slender witch with ivory skin, black lipstick, green eyes, and long dark navy, almost black, hair. Her attire, aside from the white hooded cape, consisted of long-sleeved two-tone black dress with dark grey laced boots, and an inverted kite-shaped sky-blue gem on her sternum. She also carried a white raven staff in her hand.

The audience gave a round of applause, with the kids looking particularly impressed. "Well, that was flashy…" Anne commented.

"Hold on… Did… did he just say 'Clawthorne'?" Sprig asked, looking towards Eda.

The Owl Lady sighed. "That's… my sister."

"SISTER?!" The kids and Hop Pop all exclaimed at the same time.

"Your sister is the leader of this Coven?!" Sprig questioned, hopping onto Eda's shoulder and pulling her face in, but was quickly yanked off.

"Unfortunately." Eda grumbled before putting Sprig down.

"Is she like you?" Anne asked Eda, now feeling truly invested.

"Not even close." The older witch pushed the girl back.

"You never mentioned a sister before!" Hop Pop said. "In fact, you never once brought up your family!"

"Yeah, and I'd rather not go into details." Eda said seriously.

Luz gasped with excitement. "Mysterious past!"

"Okay, now I'm definitely interested!" Anne paid attention, getting a good look at the witch down below. "Gotta admit, lady's got style. Sasha might like her."

"Thank you, all." Lilith greeted the audience. "It wasn't easy for me to rise to the top. I also started from humble beginnings…."

"Like me?" The student with the enlarged head muttered with big eyes and a blush.

"…Now I have the highest honor of enforcing the Emperor's will." Lilith continued. "So be more! The Emperor's Coven awaits you!" She finished off her speech by spinning around to conjure another projection of a white raven, which stood up tall to flex its wings, earning a bigger uproar from the audience.

All except for the kids and Hop Pop, who couldn't help but look at Eda and express concern with the hard glare she was giving in her sister's direction.

---

Once the assembly was over, Eda walked out with everyone else, though the kids were right behind her with questions going through their minds and out of their mouths.

"I still can't believe it…! You have a sister?!" Luz said with excitement.

"You've said that already." Eda said in annoyance.

"How many other siblings do you have?!" Sprig asked with just as much excitement.

"Just the one." Eda answered.

"Do you have parents too?!" Luz asked.

"Everyone has parents, Luz." Anne told her.

"Except orphans." Luz replied.

"I ain't an orphan." Eda responded, growing more annoyed.

"Your sister seemed powerful. Which one is stronger? You or her?" Sprig asked.

"Can we stop talking about this?" Eda appeared to finally have enough.

"B-But…" Luz went on.

"She said she didn't want to talk about this, kids." Hop Pop told them. "Now, I think that's enough for today."

"Yeah, I need to go home and wash the con funk off my skin." Eda said, rubbing her arm.

"And we should probably head back home to Wartwood, too." Hop Pop added. "Still got a farm and crops to tend to. You kids go get Polly and King and tell em we're leaving."

"But what about the quiz to determine our Coven type?" Sprig pulled out a magazine and revealed the aforementioned quiz, only for Eda to spin a small magic circle and shoot a beam of energy through it before walking away with Hop Pop. "Hmm… A punky potionist…" Sprig read the section that Eda shot out. As he walked, he happened to run into the back of a certain girl.

"Hey, watch where you're…" However, when Amity turned around to see them, she glared. "Oh… it's you… the so-called three-headed Abomination."

"And you, the mint-green jerkwad." Anne glared.

"Uh… Hi, Amity…" Luz greeted nervously but tried to keep up a friendly demeanor, despite Anne and Sprig glaring at her. "Funny story… not an Abomination. Sorry for the confusion, last week. The name's Luz, and this is Anne, we're humans. And Sprig, the frog."

"Not that it's any of your business." Anne glared at Amity. "How's that shiner I gave you?"

"The what?" Amity questioned.

"The black eye." Anne pulled out her phone and showed her profile pic of Amity's face with the black eye on it before chuckling. "It's actually a good look for you…" Her phone got smacked out of Anne's hand and to the ground. "Hey!"

"You're the reason I got in trouble with Principal Bump, and I never get in trouble!" Amity pointed to them.

"Hey, you deserved it for trying to kill us!" Sprig pointed back at her.

"I wasn't trying to kill you!" Amity argued.

"What else do you call trying to dissect us?!" Sprig countered.

"That was just a bluff to expose you and Willow for the cheaters that you are." Amity crossed her arms before walking away.

Anne scoffed. "This coming from a girl who sticks her hands in crap all the time." That caused Amity to stop and turn around.

"What…?"

Anne grinned. "I mean… what else do you call that walking pile of purple goo? Is there a Toilet Coven around here where you get that stuff from? Oh wait, it's right over there." She pointed past Amity… right towards a bathroom, where the sound of a flush was heard as an old witch stepped out, scratching his own butt with some toilet paper sticking to his shoe.

"Ooooh!" Sprig hollered at Anne's burn while Luz winced.

Amity's face turned red with anger and embarrassment. "You are disgusting!"

"What's the matter, Mint-Hair? Want me to call the Cooling Coven to get rid of all that hot air you got?" Anne roasted again.

"Oooh, she got you again!" Sprig hollered once more while Luz grimaced even further.

"You…!" The enraged Amity looked ready to throw down.

"Amity, what's going on over here?" The same two female students with Amity before joined in, the brown-skinned girl being the one to address her.

"Oh nothing, Skara, Boscha." Amity tried to put on an air of confidence. "Just a couple of humans and their pet thinking they're on equal level."

"We'd have to step down pretty low to be on equal level with you." Anne commented.

"Three for three, baby!" Sprig stuck three fingers out in Amity's face, causing her anger to return as she slapped Sprig's hand away.

"Okay, okay, I think that's enough." Luz quickly got in-between them to prevent a fight from breaking out. "We were just about to leave anyway."

"Good, cause this Covention is for witches." The three-eyed witch girl, apparently named Boscha, said with a condescending smirk. "As in, the actually talented."

"Hey, we're learning to be witches too!" Sprig stepped back in.

"Yeah, we're receiving magic lessons from the greatest witch in the Isles and a ferocious demon." Luz added with confidence.

"Not that it's any of your business." Anne crossed her arms with a stern look.

Amity and her friends didn't seem impressed, especially when the green-haired girl looked past the trio. "Is that your ferocious demon right there?"

"Or maybe it's that ugly round thing?" Boscha questioned as well.

Turning around, they spotted King and Polly coming in from two different directions, both decked out in merch; the former wearing a green shirt and hat with a blue scarf and a cupcake in his hand with a pair of baker witches right behind him; while the latter wore a flower crown with a hammer tied at her back and carried a ninja doll in her hand with a doll-maker witch right behind him.

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

"So will you join the Baker's Coven?" The lady baker witch asked.

King turned around and looked at them, and devoured the cupcake he had. "Hmmm… Nope!" He snagged one more cupcake and ran off.

"Oooh, I like the quality on this assassin doll." Polly said, looking at the doll in her hand. "Hey, where can I find the Assassin's Coven?"

"Uh… there is no Assassin's Coven." He answered.

"Ah man." Polly sulked.

"But I'm glad you liked the doll, so will you join the Doll Making Coven?" He asked hopefully.

"Hmmm… Nah." Polly brushed off as she hopped away.

The two met up in the middle, rather close to their own friends and the Hexside girls. "Polly, I got ten offerings! How many did you get?"

"A full dozen! So, I win!" Polly cheered.

"Well, I demand a rematch…" King suddenly tripped on his own scarf, leading him to slide and crash into Polly, their cupcake and doll falling to the floor.

Luz, Anne, and Sprig went to help them up, only to watch as Amity step on King's cupcake, much to their shock with King gasping in horror.

"Ooops! That was an accident!" Amity smirked.

"Awe, what's this?" Boscha picked up Polly's doll. "Cute." She looked at all of them as she spun a magic circle in her free hand and conjured a fireball, which she used to incinerate the doll in front of all of them, causing Polly's pupils to shrink.

Luz and Anne were about to retort vehemently, but Sprig winced. "Uh oh…"

"Uh oh?" The girls and King asked in confusion, only for Sprig to point to Polly…

The polliwog had a blank look on her face for a few seconds before it turned red with rage. With a yell, the enraged Polly jumped right into Boscha's face, much to everyone's shock. Boscha fell to the ground as Polly picked her up by the collar and punched her in the face repeatedly.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Skara tried to pull Polly off, only for the tadpole to bite hard on her hand. "Ow!"

Just then, Amity conjured an Abomination's arm to grab Polly and throw her away across the room. "Polly!" Luz, Anne, and King screamed in horror, but Sprig was quick to act as he hopped to a nearby stand and hopped again to the nearest pillar, putting him closer to his soaring sister, before stretching out his tongue to catch her and pull her back in before jumping back down to their friends.

"Polly, are you okay?!" Sprig asked urgently.

"She threw me!" Polly pointed to Amity. "Let me at her so I can rip her face off!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You could have killed her!" Anne went up into Amity's face.

"That thing attacked us!" Amity argued.

"Her name is Polly!" Luz got up herself. "And you guys destroyed her doll! And you stepped on King's cupcake! Why?! They didn't do anything to you!"

"Because you losers give us real witches a bad name!" Boscha stepped in too.

"We don't need to! You jerks do that yourself!" Sprig pointed to them.

"You want to repeat that?" The angered Skara also stepped in.

"First you go out of your way to humiliate Willow, now this…?!" Luz exclaimed.

"What? Half-a-witch?" Boscha questioned.

"That's Mega-Witch! Cause she's ten times the witches you guys would ever be!" Anne added. "Now back off our friends unless you want more of this!" She held her fist outward.

"Is that a challenge?" Amity glared.

"You bet it is." Luz glared back. "Just like the Good Witch Azura said when facing down her rival Hecate at the Bog of Immediate Regret… I challenge you to a witch's duel!"

"Count us in too!" Sprig challenged, hopping by Luz's right.

"Nobody messes with our friends and gets away with it!" Anne said, stepping by Luz's left.

Everyone nearby in the Covention, including King, and even Tiny Nose, who stood atop a pile of beaten up Construction Coven witches, all gasped in audible shock.

Amity glared, looking back to Boscha and Skara, the two nodding as they stepped by her side and walked forward to face down the trio. "We accept." Amity said with a confident grin. "Let's set the terms for this duel, shall we?"

"Three-on-three." Boscha proposed. "You three losers against us three winners."

"Sounds fair." Anne nodded.

"One, if we win, you have to leave our friends alone, including Willow!" Luz put in. "And apologize to King and Polly!"

"And two, you leave us alone while you're at it! And never call us or any of our friends losers or any other insults like 'Half-a-Witch' ever again!" Anne stated.

"And three, you have to admit that frogs and humans like us can be witches and practice magic, too!" Sprig added.

"Won't happen, but alright." Boscha shrugged.

"And when we win, not only do you all have to tell the whole Covention that you're not a witch, but you also have to stop training, forever!" Amity declared.

"Do it, guys!" King told them as he and Polly were both standing behind them, still enraged. "Avenge our dishonor!"

"Avenge us by gutting them and bathing in their blood!" Polly exclaimed.

"Fine." Luz, Anne, and Sprig all accepted before the former extended her hand. "Let's shake on it."

Before Amity accepted it, she spun a magic circle around her own wrist and shook Luz's hand, causing both their hands to glow. "The everlasting oath, is sealed."

"Saywhat now?" Sprig questioned in confusion.

"Everlasting oath. It means you can't break that promise. No matter what." Skara said with narrowed eyes.

"Don't worry, I crossed my fingers." Anne whispered to Sprig.

"Meet back inside the theater in one hour." Amity said as she and her group walked away.

"And be prepared for the fight of your lives." Boscha added. "We'll see what kind of witches you are."

However, the minute the three bullies walked away, Luz felt her confidence shrink as a streak of nervousness et in. "Uh… guys… We can win this thing… right…?" She asked her friends shakily.

"I mean… we already made the challenge… kinda a bit late to be doubting yourself." Sprig said.

"Hey, come on! We can totally beat those guys!" Anne tried to encourage as she put her arms around her friends.

"Oh no you can't." King said as he scavenged what was left of his cupcake from the ground and ate it. "I mean you guys know only one little light spell. Those three have been using magic their whole lives."

"Yeah, you guys are dead." Polly said bluntly, which only caused the friend trio to look to each other very nervously.

---

Meanwhile, Eda and Hop Pop were trying to sneak out, with the Salamander clinging to the latter's shoulder… only to get spotted by a certain someone whom the former was very well familiar with.

"Sister." Stopping in their tracks, Eda's eyelids lowered at the sound of Lilith's voice, the black-clad witch giving autographs to some surrounding students. "It's been so long since I've seen you last." Lilith said as she signed the last autograph and approached the two, the students right behind her. "What are you waiting? And who is this?" She asked, noticing Hop Pop and approaching the duo. "Oh don't tell me that this is your latest love interest. I know that Warden Wrath was rather forceful in his approach, but this is just sad."

"Oh, you wish, Lily. Guy's too old for me." Eda replied with her usual smirk. "No offense, Hop Pop."

"None taken, you're not my type either." Hop Pop joked before turning to the witch in front of him. "So, you're Eda's sister. Lilith, right?"

"That is correct. And you are?" She asked.

"Name's Hopediah Plantar. And I'm new around these parts." Hop Pop introduced himself. "Quite the flashy show you put on back there."

"Yep, that's Lily for yeah, always one for excitement." Eda then lowered herself to speak to the students as well as Hop Pop. "You know, when we were kids, Lilith was so excited to see the Emperor's Coven, she peed a little."

Hop Pop took a bit of issue with that remark, but the kids did get a good laugh out of it while Lilith blushed with embarrassment. "T-That's all for today." She ushered the students away before turning to her sister with a glare. "You shouldn't even be here; you're a wanted criminal! Unless…" She gasped with excitement, much to Eda and Hop Pop's confusion. "I don't believe it… you're here to join the Emperor's Coven!" She clasped both of her sister's hands.

"Ha! You wish!" Eda laughed, much to Lilith's disappointment and irritation. "Nah, I only came here cause this guy and his family are new in town." She said referring to Hop Pop.

"And I do have a few questions regarding your Coven System." Hop Pop requested.

"Oh? Well ask away then." Lilith allowed.

"First, I noticed that once someone joins a Coven, they gotta have those brands that suppress all other forms of magic except for the ones related to that specific Coven." Hop Pop began.

"Sigils, not brands." Lilith corrected. "But yes, that is correct."

"And yet, the Emperor's Coven is still allowed to use all forms of magic." Hop Pop went on. "So, why do they need sigils if there's nothing to limit? Seems kinda pointless."

"I can see why you'd think that." Lilith then began to explain. "Yes, the Emperor's Coven doesn't limit one's own internal magic like most other Coven sigils do. However, they do protect the bearer from wild magic."

"'Wild magic'?" Hop Pop asked in confusion.

"Uncontrollable and unrestraint magic that causes more harm than good, such as curses." Lilith explained.

"Curses, huh?" Hop Pop looked towards Eda, who looked away uncomfortably.

"Unless of course somebody else curses you, which is what happened to me." The Owl Lady muttered.

"Edalyn, you shouldn't reveal such things to a stranger…" Lilith scolded in a harsh whisper, only for Eda to interrupt her.

"He already knows."

Lilith blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Hop Pop and his kids saw the Owl Beast and I told them that I was cursed, so he already knows." Eda repeated.

"Certainly, a ferocious beast, let me tell ya. But nothing I couldn't handle." Hop Pop said.

"You?" Lilith looked down questionably at the old frog. "You actually survived an encounter with the Owl Beast and made it out unscathed? Even the most highly trained of witches have trouble just trying to contain it. I find that highly doubtful."

"Hey, don't go underestimating the old frog. He's tougher than he looks." Eda defended.

"You should see the kind of beasts I deal with back home." Hop Pop added. "I've outwitted critters twice that thing's size. You don't get to be as old as me without gaining all kinds of experience." He crossed his arms.

"Your home must be quite a chaotic environment, then." Lilith commented. Though she still found Hop Pop's claims to be doubtful but chose not to get into an argument with him.

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't last ten seconds in that place. Little miss, prissy witch." Eda cracked, earning her sister's ire.

"You think being Covenless makes you so much better than everyone else. But while you run from the law like a degenerate, scavenging through garbage, I'm mentoring the next generation of powerful witch students into the world." Lilith said that last part with pride.

"Well, I got a couple students of my own! And I bet that they can wipe the floor with any of your stuck-up bluebloods!" Eda stated.

"Is that a challenge?" Lilith stepped forward with a glare.

"Oh it's a promise." Eda narrowed her eyes.

"That's enough!" Hop Pop pushed them apart. "We didn't come here to start a fight!"

Right as he said that, Luz, Anne, and Sprig popped in out of nowhere. "Eda, Hop Pop, we need your help!" Luz said immediately.

"We picked a fight with Amity and her friends, and we're pretty sure they're gonna murder us!" Sprig added.

"And it's gonna take place in front of the whole Covention too, so…" Anne said with a nervous wince.

Hop Pop smacked his hand onto his face, with even the Salamander doing the same with his tail to his own face. "Dang it, kids!" The old frog groaned.

"Your students, I take it?" Lilith inquired her sister with amusement while Eda glared. "It seems they've met my strongest protégé." She kneeled down to get a closer look at the trio. "Where did you find these things? I take it the pink one is part of your family, Hopediah? And… are these two… human…?" She poked at Luz and Anne's ears. Luz covered her own with embarrassment, but Anne slapped Lilith's hands away.

"Hey, watch the hands, lady!" She pointed at her.

"A feisty one." Lilith noted before standing up. "Okay, Edalyn…" She spun a magic circle, which caused all of Eda's wanted posters in the building to vanish. "For one day, you won't have to hide from the law. Because I want to see how good a teacher you really are." She said as she walked away.

"Come on kids, time to prepare for bloodshed." Eda told the trio.

"But… whose blood…?" Luz asked nervously.

"Anyone's guess." Eda said.

"First things first, though… what the heck did you kids get into?" Hop Pop questioned.

---

The whole group, along with Polly and King, regrouped around the corner to have some privacy as the kids explained the situation to them.

"You really picked a fight?" Hop Pop questioned disapointingly. "Didn't I warn you kids not to let all this magic stuff get to your head?! You each know only one spell, and not exactly one used for a fight! Meanwhile, those kids have probably been practicing magic since they could crawl!"

"We didn't have a choice, Hop Pop!" Sprig exclaimed. "Amity and her friends wouldn't back off!"

"Not to mention they were mean to King and Polly!" Luz added.

"She even threw Polly across the room!" Anne put in.

"She what?!" Hop Pop exclaimed in shock at that with even Eda being surprised.

"That three-eyed jerk even burnt up my cool assassin's toy!" Polly exclaimed.

"And stepped on my cupcake! They must avenge our honor!" King pointed to the trio, who only flinched nervously at that.

"Seriously, Polly could have gotten really hurt. Or worse." Luz said sincerely.

"That, and that same girl tried to gut us when we snuck into Hexside." Anne also added with a growl.

Hop Pop looked with a stern glare as he heard all of that. "Now, that crosses a line! Nobody puts my kids in danger and gets away with it! But we still got a serious problem. You kids don't know magic other than that light spell, which I can correctly assume isn't exactly used for combat, right?" He asked Eda.

"It can make for a good distraction, but that's about it." Eda said. "Boy, I hope you kids didn't make an everlasting oath to stop using magic or anything." She snorted. "You'd be toast."

"Uh… is there a glowy magic hand thing involved…?" Sprig asked with a wince.

"I crossed my fingers though. Does that help?" Anne offered.

"Sorry, Anne. As much I love doing that myself, the oath is crossed-finger-proof." Eda answered, much to Anne's annoyance. "The only way out of it is either to win, or the person who casted the spell calls it off."

"Abomination…!" The group all peeked out from around the corner to see Amity practicing with Lilith observing her. "Rise…!" Upon her command, an Abomination about her size had arisen from the ground. It yanked off its own head before throwing it at one of three targets, demolishing it.

Boscha and Skara were also present. Even if they weren't technically Lilith's students, she still watched as they practiced their respective magics. Boscha took out a vial of a potion and threw it at the second target, which caused it to quickly melt; while Skara drew a harp and strung it to send waves of red energy that shredded the last target like tissue paper.

"Oh, you three don't stand a chance." King said bluntly.

"Better call for a funeral service, Hop Pop." Polly added, causing her grandfather to glare at her while Luz and Sprig were both very discouraged.

"I can't believe I have to stop learning magic…" Luz looked down in regret.

"Why'd I have to run my big mouth…?!" Sprig fell back on the floor.

"Hey, come on! Don't give up! There's gotta be something we can do!" Anne tried to pick up her defeated friends.

"You bet there is." Eda kneeled down to their level. "Just because you can't use magic, doesn't mean you don't know how to fight. I've seen you kids fight and you've got what it takes. Sprig…" She addressed the pink frog first. "You're fast, you're agile, and you got a tongue that can stretch out a mile! Those three brats over there, can't. And unless they got Palismen, most witches their age aren't as fast as you are! Use that!"

"Maybe…" Sprig thought for a movement. "But… they still got magic and I don't."

"You got your slingshot, right?" Eda asked.

Sprig reached into his coat to pull out the aforementioned slingshot. "Yeah, but I doubt a couple rocks would hurt them. Unless I hit them in the eye…"

Eda reached into her hair to pull out a bag. "These pack a wallop though." She opened it to reveal a series of bottled potions. "I got fire-liquid, ice-liquid, lightning-liquid, fart-liquid, you name it. Your speed, plus a long-ranged weapon with these…"

"I can actually stand a chance!" Sprig saw where Eda was going and took out a potion, which he loaded into his slingshot and pulled back to test it out by launching it at a nearby wall, causing the wall to freeze over before it fell apart. "Oh yeah! I can make this work!" The pink frog said with confidence.

"Anne…" Eda spoke to her next. "You're plenty tough and fast yourself. You know any human fighting styles? I've seen a bit of that too. What is it…? Something about fighting arts…?"

"Marital arts. And I know some Muay Thai." Anne answered. "Not exactly a master but…" She then remembered Sprig using a slingshot. "Wait… we can use weapons, right?"

"Right. You got any on you?" Eda asked with a grin.

Anne reached into her backpack to pull out her pink tennis racket. "Not exactly a weapon, but it can hurt if you hit something with it. Seen a few people kill some zombies with it in the 'Stalking Dead' even." She even got a close look at the wire in the racket as an idea came to her. "Oh! What if I put in a few paper Light Glyphs in here? Maybe blind them and catch them off guard?"

"Heck yeah! Now that's using your head!" Eda ruffled Anne's hair, causing her to laugh. "Alright, your turn, Luz! What sort of weapons or martial arts stuff do you know?"

"Uh…" Luz only responded with a shrug.

"Oh… right." Anne winced. "You and Marcy were the only ones who didn't do any sports or anything."

"Really?" Polly looked unimpressed. "You don't know how to fight? At all?" Luz shook her head with a sad smile. "Dis…appointing."

"You're still plenty smart though." Hop Pop told Luz. "Form what I've seen, you got a real creative streak in ya, Luz."

"Yeah, but that's only good for writing fanfiction and drawing." Luz said. "I could maybe draw a Light Glyph, but I doubt I'm fast enough." She leaned back against the wall in defeat. "Anne's got her tennis skills, Sprig's got his slingshot and frog-speed… Me? I got nothing."

Anne, Sprig, King, Hop Pop, and even Polly looked in sympathy while Eda sighed as she tried to think of something. Only to look and see the Salamander climb down off of Hop Pop and scurry up to Luz, crawling up her leg and onto her knee.

"You got that walking inferno right there." Eda pointed to the Salamander. "So, have him help you out. Problem solved."

"Wait… isn't getting outside help cheating or something?" Hop Pop questioned.

"Witches can use Palismen in duels and that thing's a Palisman. Albeit an unusual one, but it still counts." Eda said. "But I would totally allow it if even it was cheating." The Owl Lady grinned, while Hop Pop was less than amused.

"But… he's not mine…" Luz tried.

"Oh, for the love of Titan, just take it, Luz!" King exclaimed.

"Seriously, that thing drove back Eda in her Owl Beast form! He can even turn into a freaking dragon for crying out loud!" Anne stated.

"And he wants to help." Sprig encouraged. "If it's not against the rules, then I say go for it."

Luz took the Salamander in her hands. "Really? You… want to help me?" She asked, to which the multi-colored Palisman nodded and smiled. This caused Luz to smile. This tiny yet mighty Palisman wanted to help her. She did feel a tad bad that she didn't have any skills that could help in a fight like what Anne and Sprig had, she was probably holding them back; not to mention having this little guy go out of his way to get her out of the jam that she put herself and all her friends in. But if this was what was necessary to get them out of it, to keep learning magic, not to mention getting Amity and those other two bullies to back off and stop picking on her other friends, Willow included, then that's what she'll do.

Luz then stood back up on her feet with a determined look on her face. "Let's do it."

"Atta girl." Eda smiled with pride. "Now bring it in, everyone." They all got into a huddle. "Time to strategize."

---

The auditorium was in an uproar as before with the Plantars, Eda, King, Anne, and Luz, who had the Salamander on her shoulder, on one side facing Lilith who stood on the stage with Amity, Boscha, and Skara.

"Beloved citizens, the Emperor's Coven proudly presents an impromptu demonstration of the sort of witch we seek, every year!" Lilith addressed the gathered audience. "Introducing my personal protégé, Amity Blight, alongside two other promising young students from Hexside, Boscha and Skara."

The crowd applauded rather loudly, with several students from Hexside showing support for their fellows.

"Woo! Go Amity!" One pig-faced student held up a foam finger that had 'Amity #1' written on it.

"Let's go Banshees!" Another Hexside student cheered.

"Uh… Grudgby's not in season right now." A girl student reminded.

"I know… but go Banhsees!" That same student continued to cheer.

"Versus…" Lilith continued but sounded less enthusiastic. "Some… human girls and a little pink frog."

Luz looked more than a little embarrassed at that, rubbing the back of her neck as Anne and Sprig stepped close to her.

"Wait… what?!" Willow and Gus both exclaimed in surprise as they sat in the seats.

"Luz, Anne, and Sprig are taking on Amity, Skara and Boscha?!" Gus questioned before a wide smile formed on his face. "They're even more amazing than I thought!"

Willow, however, looked terrified as opposed to excited. How in the name of the Titan did this happen? It was one thing for when Anne punched Amity… they were in the heat of a chaotic escape. But here… a full-fledged duel? Against three of Hexside's most powerful students? As much as she wanted to root for her newfound friends, she didn't see them winning this.

"Did she have to turn this into such a spectacle?" Hop Pop questioned Eda, referring to the crowd.

"It's all a show to make the EC look good." The Owl Lady was unsurprised before grinning. "But they'll be eating it all up when our kids wipe the floor with those brats."

"Can we though…?" Luz asked nervously.

"Hey, no doubting yourself." Anne put a firm hand on Luz's shoulder to shake off her fear and nervousness. "We all know the plan."

"Those guys have been pushing our friends around for too long. It's time to show them that we can push back!" Sprig said seriously.

"We got this, Luz. You got this." Anne smiled. "As long as we're together, we'll win."

"Weirdos against the world!" Sprig added with a smile.

Luz looked to Anne's hand, surprised to hear this kind of support from her. She always considered Anne a good friend, but she wasn't one to give any kind of emotional support like this. But… it felt good to hear it. She also happened to look to the Salamander on her other shoulder who gave her a wink.

Hearing this and steeling herself with a deep breath, Luz smiled back. "Weirdos against the world."

The bell rang with a literal screech as the six opponents stepped forward and met in the middle of the ring.

"Butcher them!" Polly called to her brother and friends.

"For our honor!" King added as well.

The three Hexside students smirked with confidence as Amity cracked her knuckles and Boscha conjured a fireball in her hand.

"Don't worry. We'll make this quick." The three-eyed girl said in an almost sinister tone.

"We'll see who's quick." Sprig retorted as Luz appeared to be nervous but tried to keep an air of confidence, while Anne held her tennis racket firmly in one hand and pointed challengingly at Amity, silently promising that she was gunning for her.

Amity acted first, creating a purple magic circle in front of her and forcing the friend trio to step back. "Abomination, rise!" Upon her command, a massive Abomination arose from the ground, one that was at least three times the size of one she'd normally summon.

Luz, Anne, and Sprig, and most of the crowd, all gasped at the size of that, with even Amity herself appearing surprised.

"Whoa…"

"Dang, Amity! Nice!" Skara gave a smile and an impressed thumbs up.

With that, Amity's overconfidence only grew. "Show me what you got, humans!" She directed her oversized Abomination to go on the attack, raising its foot to try and stomp on them.

"Fall back!" Anne ordered as the trio ran to get some distance, only for a fire ball to hit the ground in front of them, causing an explosion that knocked all three of them in different directions.

Sprig happened to land close to the smirking Boscha, who had a potion bottle in her hand. "Weaklings like to stick together to make themselves feel strong. So, pick em off!" She threw her vial down towards Sprig, who hopped away to avoid it, only to look in shock as multiple tentacles shot from the ground.

"Whoa!" The pink frog was forced to hop away even further to avoid all the tentacles.

"Sprig!" Anne tried to run and help him, only for Skara, armed with her harp, to appear in front of her.

"Sorry, but no." She strung her instrument to send a wave of magic energy towards Anne, who dashed to the side to avoid the resulting slash on the ground.

"Oooh, rough start." Eda winced slightly. Those three students might be brats, but they did seem to be good with their respective magics. As much as she hated to admit it, she wouldn't deny Lilith's own magical skills either, and if Amity was her top student, then that girl definitely had some talent.

"Hey Eda, you noticed how big that monster thing that Amity-girl made was, right?" Hop Pop got her attention.

"Yeah, big fella." Eda commented.

"Right. So big that even the girl herself was surprised by it." Hop Pop narrowed his eyes.

"Huh, got some good eyes on you. Yeah, I noticed that too." Eda was once again quite impressed with Hop Pop before looking towards Lilith, who had a smirk of confidence on her face. Eda could tell right away by that smirk that Lilith was up to something.

Luz ran away as Amity's oversized Abomination pursued her and appeared to have her back into a corner. "It's over, human!" Amity grinned. "I win!"

"Luz, get out of there!" Willow tried to warn her.

However, as the Abomination raised its fist, the Salamander leapt from Luz's shoulder and was coated in a massive swirl of multi-colored flames just as the fist came down and struck the growing swirl of rainbow fire, which resulted in an aftershock of flames to push the giant back, as well catch the attention of the whole audience, as well the other fighting students and kids, with even Lilith herself looking in surprise.

The flames vanished to reveal the Salamander, now in its much larger Komodo Dragon form, which gave a growl and a hiss towards the Abomination, standing protectively in front of Luz.

"Thanks, buddy." Luz smiled to the transformed Salamander, who smiled towards her in response as he motioned for her to climb onto his back, which she did.

"How'd you do that?!" Amity called out to the Latina girl. "What even is that thing?!"

"A very good friend of mine." Luz said as she patted the Salamander's side with a smile. "Let's light it up!" She pointed forward, which was the signal for the Salamander to open his mouth and launch a multi-colored fireball at the Abomination, blasting its left arm off and forcing it back, much to Amity's own shock before her anger returned.

"Don't just stand there! Get her!" She ordered her now one-armed creation, which advanced to try and step on Luz and the Salamander, which ran quickly to the side to avoid the stomp relatively easy.

"It's big but way too slow." Luz noticed before an idea came to mind. She glanced at the ground, as well as the Salamander's tail before it all finalized in her head. "I got a plan, you in?" Luz asked the Salamander, who nodded with a confirming growl. "Now charge!"

Lilith observed this development with surprise and interest, focusing on the Salamander. 'Is that… some sort of Palisman? Impossible! No Palisman can transform like that or have that much literal firepower!' She looked past the ongoing battles towards her smirking sister. 'What trick are you playing this time, Edalyn?'

Meanwhile, Sprig was doing his best to avoid all the tentacles swarming at him, but he was unable to hop away as Boscha quickly ran to find a good angle and shoot another fireball to cut off his escape route, keeping him from feeling.

"Guess if I can't outrun that thing… I'll have to fight it!" Sprig then hopped straight up from the ground, appearing above the cluster of tentacles as they all shot up towards him. Sprig quickly loaded his slingshot with a round vial of icy-blue potion and fired at the central point in the tentacle cluster, causing a large wave of cyan magical to erupt and coat the tops of the tentacles in ice, binding them all together.

"What the…?!" Boscha questioned in shock as everyone in the audience gasped in shock. Sprig used this to slide down the sides of the bound tentacles, using his own legs as well as his tongue to swing and bounce from every tentacle and launch various other potions from his slingshot, creating explosions of fire, flashes of lightning, and even more spikes of ice before it all mixed together as Sprig hopped out from the cluster of tentacles before they all exploded from the mixture of different potions.

The audience cheered at the spectacle with Willow and Gus looking especially surprised and amazed.

"Way to go, Sprig! Keep it up!" Hop Pop called to his grandson with a proud smile, all while Eda clapped and smiled too.

"Wartwood represent!" Polly cheered for him too.

Sprig then eyed Boscha with a challenging smile. "That all you got?"

"Oh, you are so dead!" The three-eyed girl glared as she spun a much larger magic circle to launch a storm of fire balls at Sprig, forcing him to hop away from them.

Meanwhile, Anne appeared to have a hard time against Skara. She had her tennis racket, which was lined with some paper Light Glyphs, but all the good it was gonna do if she couldn't get close enough to Skara. The harp-wielding student sent wave after wave of magic slashes from her Bard, with Anne doing her best just to try and dodge it.

But one slash did strike near Anne's feet, sending her to the ground. She briefly lost her racket, but as she pushed herself back up and was quick to grab it, she happened to notice how close to the ground the paper with the Light Glyph was.

"Hey, give up while you're down! I don't wanna have to hurt you, so just surrender!" Skara told Anne.

The Thai girl glared before looking past Skara to see Sprig still dealing with Boscha, the two keeping a distance from each other as he hopped from spot to spot, shooting potions at Boscha, who continued to defend herself with fire balls. That's when she remembered something Eda said before the duel.

"The thing about multi-witch duels, is that you don't have to stick with one opponent. Use that to your advantage and make some chaos."

"Not gonna happen!" Anne said to Skara. "Sprig!" She called out as loudly as she could, drawing his attention. "Switch it up!" She held her tennis racket up high and slammed it hard on the ground, lighting up one of the Light Glyphs and creating a flash of blue light that briefly blinded Skara.

"Aaah!" The girl screamed as she held her eyes and Anne ran past her.

Sprig saw what Anne was planning and decided to follow along with it. "Hey, Boscha!" Sprig shouted to her as he loaded one particular vial that had a brown potion inside. "You stink!" He launched the potion at her, and while Boscha did intercept it with a fireball, it exploded and spread a brown cloud over her.

"What in…. Ah! Ugh! Gross!" She covered her nose and waved the stink cloud away from her face as Sprig dashed past her.

Eda laughed. "Knew that fart portion would come in handy one day."

"Hey, get me the recipe for that when you get the chance." Polly requested.

Sprig and Anne met in the middle of the arena and shared a high-five as they dashed past each other to switch opponents. Boscha rubbed her red eyes, tears coming out of all three of them, before Anne appeared in front of her to slam her tennis racket into Boscha's face, the other Light Glyph tied into it activating and further blinding Boscha with another blue flash before Anne tackled her to the ground.

"Get off! Get off!" Boscha struggled, but she was still seeing spots and unable to really defend herself. Anne had also noticed a stray tentacle from the cluster that was torn up before and quickly grabbed it to hogtie Boscha. "Let me out! You stupid human!"

"Stupid human, huh? Well, this human just beat you." Anne grinned at Boscha, regained her vision partially and could only glare at the smirking girl.

Skara had also regained her vision from Anne's blue light flash and noticed the incoming Sprig. Acting fast, she strung her harp to send another wave of magic to slash up the ground, but Sprig hopped into the air to avoid it and already loaded his slingshot with an orange potion.

"Let's see how well you fight without your fancy music!" Sprig fired the potion, scoring a direct hit on Skara's harp, which exploded and caused it to break apart, knocking her to the ground.

"No! My harp!" She cried out in shock, only for a green potion to hit the ground in front of her before a cluster of plant vines emerged from the ground and quickly ensnared Skara.

"Gotcha!" Sprig landed on the ground victoriously. "How's that for a little frog?!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Eda cheered for the kids as the audience continued to cheer.

Willow and Gus looked in shock themselves. Did Anne and Sprig just take down Boscha and Skara? The captain of the Grudgby team and one of her own teammates? Two of Hexside's top students?

"That was amazing…!" Gus was already getting excited.

"Hold it… they're not done yet." Willow advised as the toughest one had yet to be beaten. She focused all her attention on Luz's ongoing battle against Amity.

The Latina girl continued to ride on the Salamander as he ran around in literal circles around the oversized Abomination, as well as dashing underneath it. The transformed Salamander continued to shoot fireballs from its mouth to keep the Abomination's attention focused on it, all while dragging its tail along the ground.

"Ugh! Stop running around and fight!" Amity called out in frustration.

"Come on, we gotta help Luz!" Sprig was about to jump in…

"Wait!" Anne put her hand out to stop the pink frog. "Take a look at the ground."

Sprig followed Anne's line of sight and spotted something being drawn, something he recognized instantly. "Is that…?"

"Oh yeah." Anne smirked. "Knew Luz had it in her."

Finally, Luz and the Salamander appeared in front of the Abomination with Amity right behind it still, almost at the exact same spot as before. Luz happened to look back towards Eda, Hop Pop, King, and Polly, all of whom were smiling and giving her nods and thumbs up. She spotted the same for Anne and Sprig, before looking up and behind to see Willow and Gus, whom she gave a wink to before turning back to Amity.

"You finally stopped running, human!?" Amity challenged.

"Yeah. I'm done. And so are you!" Luz raised her hand and slammed it on a line that was drawn on the ground.

A line that was part of a massive Light Glyph the Salamander had drawn with its tail, and the oversized Abomination was dead in the middle. The lines lit up, which also caught the attention of the surprised Lilith, right before a massive flash of light shinned throughout the arena.

Everyone was forced to cover their eyes, all except Luz who already had her eyes closed before it even lit. Though the Abomination was unfazed, Amity couldn't focus her control on it anymore as she had to cover her eyes.

"NOW!" Luz shouted to the Salamander, who opened its mouth to unleash a much larger multi-colored fireball, one that blew a hole clear through and allowed for Luz and the Salamander to leap through before emerging on the other side as the light died down and the Salamander pounced on top of Amity, pinning her arms on the ground with its claws and spreading them apart.

The green haired girl gasped and shrunk as she found herself under the fiery glare of the transformed Salamander, who's own strength proved capable of holding her down. She could only look in shock as she saw Luz dismount and look down on her hard as Anne and Sprig stepped by her side.

"You lose."

It then became deathly quiet as everyone processed what had just happened.

The duel was over. And the two humans and single frog had won. The top tier students from Hexside, even a personal protégé from the leader of the Emperor's Coven, had been defeated.

Gus was the first to clap for his friends and begin cheering. "Alright! Go Luz! Go Anne! Go Sprig! Woo!"

One-by-one, other observing students and adult witches began to cheer and clap, following Gus' lead. Regardless of the result, the fight was still a spectacle to see. Willow herself couldn't help but smile and clap, cheering for her friends. They actually won! They beat Amity, and even Boscha and Skara together! Seeing her friends emerge victorious against her frequent bullies felt like a personal victory as well, up to the point where tears were forming in her eyes.

"We… we won…?" Luz looked to her friends in partial disbelief.

"We won….!" Anne said in-between her breaths as the exhaustion caught up.

"We won…" A smile was forming on Luz's face.

"We won!" Sprig cheered.

"We won!" Luz's voice began to rise before all three shouted at the same time.

"WE WON!"

"Yeah! That's the way! All bow before those who serve the King of Demons! My cupcake has been avenged!" King shouted with the cheering audience.

"Meh, could have used more bloodshed." Polly brushed off before smiling. "It was still fun to watch though."

"Them's our kids, right Hop Pop?" Eda asked proudly.

"Yep. Them's our kids." The old frog agreed.

The trio of friends turned to see the Owl Lady and Hop Pop both clapping and smiling in their direction with nods of approval. That caused all three to smile to each other before Luz hugged Anne and Sprig in celebration, which they returned. Even the Salamander joined them as he wrapped his tail around their legs.

…This also ended up freeing Amity, but she remained stuck on the ground as her eyes were so wide that they were almost circular.

She lost…? She… Lost…?! Against a couple of humans?! And some weird frog thing?! The same three people who got her into trouble at school had actually defeated her?! Even with Boscha and Skara to back her up… she was still beaten… in front of the whole Convention! In front of Miss Lilith! The leader of the Emperor's Coven!

Amity leaned her head back to get an upside-down view of Lilith, and even from that angle, she could tell that Lilith herself was in just as much shock and disbelief as her protégé. However, she tried to push it all down and assume a professional disposition before walking forward to offer Amity a hand up… which she accepted, albeit shakily.

"I-I'm sorry… M-Miss Lilith… I…" Amity stuttered in her apology.

"Save your apology." Lilith said in a tone that wasn't quite angry, but not quite proud either. "Just assist your friends." She gestured to Boscha and Skara, the former using her own fire magic to escape her bindings while the latter still struggled.

"O-okay…" Amity hung her head down in disappointment.

However, they happened to be close enough to the celebrating trio and their friendly Salamander, that Sprig happened to notice something. He noticed Lilith reaching around to the back of Amity's neck, where he saw her reaching for a piece of paper stuck on that spot, one that had a familiar symbol on it.

"Wait a second….!" The pink frog narrowed his eyes.

"Sprig?" Anne muttered as she and Luz were confused to see him hop from them and land on Amity's shoulders, much to hers and Lilith's surprise.

"Hey! What are you…?!" Amity protested as Sprig reached to the spot Lilith was reaching for and yanked off a piece of paper stuck to the green-haired girl, one that had the symbol of the Construction Coven on it.

The second it was removed, all the splattered goo that was left from the destroyed Abomination shrunk considerably, proving the pink frog's theory.

"A Power Glyph from the Construction Coven!" Sprig announced, showing it off for the whole Convention to see with Lilith's eyes widening in shock, while Amity looked absolutely mortified.

The whole audience gasped in shock, with the one pig-faced student who held the 'Amity #1' foam finger looking especially shocked.

This also included the student from the Oracle Coven. "I mean…uh… I knew it." She put on an act.

"She cheated…!" Willow looked to Gus in surprise, who was just as surprised as her.

"You cheated?!" Anne glared in anger towards Amity, who only backed away, still not over her shock.

"Sure looks like it." Sprig even handed the Power Glyph over to Luz, who looked at Amity and seemed a bit confused to see humiliated and mortified expression on her own face.

"No! I didn't! I wouldn't…!" Amity tried to defend herself.

"Wait, you cheated, Amity?!" Skara appeared before her, having been freed by Boscha a few seconds ago with the three-eyed girl right beside her.

"Ugh, darn it, Blight!" Boscha groaned. "If you're gonna cheat, at least try to actually win while you do it!"

"B-But I didn't…! I didn't know…! I… I didn't…!" With a tearful expression, Amity ran out of the arena, much to the concern of Luz.

"Amity… wait!" She ran after her, much to Anne and Sprig's confusion as they looked to each other before running after her themselves with the Salamander right beside them, still in his Komodo Dragon form.

"Well this turned out to be a total bust." Boshca brushed off. "Come on, Skara! Let's…" Suddenly, her head was pushed down by Hop Pop, who appeared behind her. "Hey! Watch it! What are you…?!"

Hop Pop looked to the back of Boscha's neck. "Nope. No Power Glyphs here." He said to Eda, who was inspecting the back of Skara's neck too.

"This one's clean too." Eda relayed. That was certainly weird. Why would that Amity-girl cheat for only herself? Why not give it to the whole team? Unless… She looked towards Lilith, who tried to hide a guilty expression, a complete one-eighty from that confident smirk she had when the duel started. Ha! Even after all these years, Eda could still read her sister like a book!

"It was you!" Eda pointed to Lilith. "You stuck that Glyph to her! You cheated!"

"I… I only did that because I knew that you would cheat!" Lilith argued.

"Except I didn't!" Eda smirked. "No cheating involved! Those kids won on their own! Fair and square! How's that taste, Sis?" She danced around Lilith. "Even when cheating, you still lose!"

"Oh! That's it! Lay it on her, Eda!" Polly called her.

"Someone call the Healing Coven! We got a witch who's getting seriously burned!" King roasted.

"OOOOOOOOOHHHHH!" The whole audience rung out.

Lilith groaned under all this embarrassment. "Knock it, off! You're making a scene!" She told Eda, who linked her arms together and waved them around in celebratory and gloating fashion.

"You cheated! Hey, where's the Rhyming Coven? What rhymes with 'cheated'?" Eda continued to gloat.

"Okay, you've had your fun, Eda." Hop Pop tried to stop her.

"No way! I won fair and square, and Lily lost cheating! I am so lording her over this!" Eda kept up her smirk.

"Stop… Acting… Like a child…!" Lilith screeched, her composure beginning to fall apart.

"You were defeated, don't get heated, get your stank face treated!" Eda continued to gloat, all while Hop Pop's eyelids lowered in annoyance.

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

"Oh, it's okay, I'm done." Eda said. "Cause my rhymes are depleted!" She rhymed one last time, causing Hop Pop to smack his hand on his face.

"That's it!" Lilith screamed as she quickly summoned her raven staff and spun a large magic circle of glowing ivory-blue energy and lunged it forward to send a blast of magic energy at Eda.

Acting quickly, Eda pushed Hop Pop out of the way but got hit by the blast herself and sent flying and crashing to the other side of the arena, earning gasps of shock from the audience, with Hop Pop, Polly, King, Gus, and Willow looking concerned for Eda.

However, Eda wasn't the least bit injured. In fact, she smirked. "There she is!" She summoned Owlbert in his staff-form and spun him in a circle too, generating a wheel of glowing golden fire, only to briefly loose her grip on it. Though she quickly picked it and lunged her staff forward, sending a blast of golden flames at Lilith, who grunted as she summoned her own magic to block and push it back.

"Witch's duel!" King called out as Eda and Lilith's respective magics clashed in explosive fury.

---

Luz had exited out of the auditorium and looked around for any sign of Amity. She soon spotted her sulking in a dark corner near the bathroom. Luz was about to go and talk to her, only for Anne to put a hand on her shoulder and stop her.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" She asked with Sprig and the Salamander present as well.

"I can't just leave her like this!" Luz said.

"Can't we? I mean, she did cheat. Plus, she's a total jerk. With the way she picked on Willow when she first met, not to mention trying to force us to stop learning magic…!" Sprig replied.

"Got that right." Anne agreed. "I'd say she deserves this."

"Maybe… but… I just can't…" Luz brushed away Anne's hand and went to address Amity. She and Sprig looked to each other in confusion while the Salamander came at their side, transforming back into its smaller form as it looked to them somewhat questionably.

With reluctance, the Thai girl and pink frog joined Luz, if only so that she wouldn't face this alone as they approached the sulking girl. But as they did… Anne heard a few sniffles coming from her.

'Wait… is she… crying?' Anne thought in surprise.

"Amity…" Luz tried to reach out to her.

"Ugh, seriously?!" She looked to her with a glare before turning around. "Just leave me alone!"

"I'm sorry I…" Luz tried.

"What are you apologizing for, Luz? You didn't do anything." Sprig said.

"Didn't do…?!" Amity's eyes widened before she stood up in a fury, revealing her face red with anger, frustration, and grief, much to their own surprise. "You embarrassed me in front of the Emperor's Coven! My whole future! First at school, now this?!"

"Hey, you were the one who went out of your way to embarrass Willow at school! You got no room to talk!" Anne argued, pointing at Amity. "Then you tried to humiliate us in front of everyone here! We don't owe you an apology or anything! Especially after you cheated!"

"I didn't cheat!" Amity exclaimed.

"Oh please! What else do you call this?!" Sprig showed off the Power Glyph that he took from her neck before.

"Guys…!" Luz tried to stop it.

Amity snatched the Power Glyph and tore it to shreds. "I! Didn't! Cheat!" She screamed and cried, much to the trio's shock. "I wouldn't cheat! I would never cheat! I worked hard my whole life to get to the top at school! I'm working hard to get into the Emperor's Coven! I did all that myself, then you three come along and think you can just do magic like it's so easy, but it's not!"

"You're right! It's not easy!" Luz stepped up, raising her voice. "But does being in the Emperor's Coven or the top student at school mean that you gotta pick on everyone you see?! Make them feel worthless even though they're trying just as hard as you?!"

"You're not working as hard as I am…!" Amity argued.

"I'm not talking about us! I'm talking about Willow!" Luz interrupted. "She's incredible! Maybe she's not as good at Abominations as you, but she's a Mega-Witch when it comes to her plants! She's a great witch! But you know what separates her from you? She doesn't go out of her way to humiliate people like you do!" That caused Amity to back away before Luz's look softened. "But you're right about one thing. We did cheat at Hexside. Even if we were trying to help a friend, it was still cheating. I'm sorry if you got embarrassed at school because of what happened. But I do not regret standing up for Willow's sake, or for King and Polly when you and your friends tried to hurt them! I'd do it all over again!"

"And if you try and humiliate Luz, we'll stand up and push back with her!" Sprig said with finality. "Cause that's what real friends do!"

"Come at us all you want, but leave our friends alone!" Anne put in. "In fact, you gotta now, right? That was the oath we made! If we'd win, you'd leave Willow and all other friends alone?"

Amity looked away with a grimace. That was indeed the oath they made… but… "How could you have won…?"

"Are you serious…?" Anne questioned.

"Yes, I'm serious! Humans aren't supposed to do magic! You literally can't be witches!" Amity pointed at them. "And I don't know what exactly you are…!" She pointed to Sprig. "But you're no witch either! You say I cheated?! There's no way you could have beaten me and my friends unless you cheated somehow!"

"We didn't cheat! That was you!" Sprig pointed back.

"Admit it!" Amity exclaimed in tearful rage. "Admit the truth! You're not witches!"

"Oh, you're asking for it…!" Anne rolled up her sleeve and was more than ready to get physical, but Luz stopped her.

"You want to know how we did it?" The girl said to Amity. Wordlessly, and to the girl's confusion, Luz took out her notepad and drew a Light Glyph before pressing it and generating a small sphere of light, much to Amity's wide-eyed surprise. "This is how."

---

Back in the arena, Lilith spun her raven-staff around to create a circular magic barrier to deflect the onslaught of golden fireballs from Eda before retaliating as she condensed all her magic power into the palm of her free hand and shot it at her sister. Eda used her own staff to spin and draw a magic circle in the ground, before dancing backwards and allowing a large and circular column to rise up from the ground. This not only protected Eda from Lilith's attack, but turned into an attack of its own as the column bent down to reveal the face of none other than Hooty.

"AAAH! WHY!?" King and Polly both screamed.

Lilith quickly spun a magic circle over herself to dash away from the advancing giant stone construct resembling Hooty before shooting a blast of magic from her staff to blow off chunks of stone from it, which would quickly rain all over the arena, even toward the audience.

"Run! Everyone, get out! Now!" Hop Pop warned the audience, all of whom quickly screamed as they left the arena and avoid the resulting flying debris, including Willow and Gus. Hop Pop even quickly made his way to collect King and Polly as they continued to watch Eda and Lilith duke it out.

"Now this is a witch's duel!" Polly cheered. "Slaughter her, Eda!"

The stone column construct of Hooty had stretched mostly across the arena, dividing it and separating the two waring sisters. But Eda was quick to act, spinning more magic circles on the side of the stone on her end and sending several smaller Hooty constructs Lilith's way.

However, Lilith proved quick enough to dodge all of it in flashes of blue light, while also spinning her raven-staff, the end coated in magic to slash and smash any that she wasn't able to avoid. She then dashed up into the air and over the giant column, an aura of magic around her, all while the remaining Hooty constructs converged around her, but she spun her magically covered staff to destroy them before throwing it at Eda like a javelin.

Eda quickly used her own owl-staff to create a golden bubble-like barrier and block the strike, even as Lilith herself pushed harder, clenching the staff while being above her sister and further push as she condensed all her magic at the tip of her raven-staff, cracking Eda's barrier. But even then, the Owl Lady's smirk only grew. It looked as if she was having fun with all of this.

Suddenly, Owlbert's eyes lit up before he flew from his staff and smacked Lilith in her head, breaking her concentration and halting her advance. "Ow!" Owlbert even went the extra mile to grab Lilith's hair with his talons and pull her away. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Say goodnight, Sister." Eda spun her staff again and jammed it into the side of the stone column again. This created yet another Hooty face to rise from where Lilith was, with an open mouth to consume and trap her.

"Ah, heck yeah!" Polly grinned.

"Eda…" Hop Pop and King looked concerned.

"Oh relax, I just trapped her." Eda brushed off as Owlbert returned to Eda and reconnected with her staff, the Owl Lady smiling to her beloved Palisman.

"Eda! Look out!" King warned, which drew Eda's attention to the burning hole that appeared on the side of the Hooty construct, with Lilith herself appearing in an ivory-blue flash behind Eda.

"Enough of this!" Eda didn't get enough of a chance to react as Lilith delivered a strike of raw magic power that sent Eda flying and crashing to the side of the stadium.

"Eda!" Both Polly and King exclaimed, but Hop Pop quickly put them down.

"You two stay here!" He told them before rushing in.

Lilith smirked, seeing she had the chance to finally capture her sister, spinning her raven-staff and generating another magic circle… but looked in surprise to see Hop Pop standing in her way.

"Step aside!" She ordered.

"Not before I've said my peace!" Hop Pop crossed his arms, not budging an inch despite the overwhelming magic power right in front of him, with Eda pulling herself up to look in surprise at Hop Pop standing up to her sister.

"You are defending a criminal?!" Lilith questioned, her magic glowing even brighter to try and intimidate him, but he still didn't budge.

"Oh, I'm not talking about Eda, I'm talking about your student that you personally humiliated!" Hop Pop stated.

Lilith's eyes widened, leading her to cease her attack, her magic energy fading. "What are you getting at?"

"That Amity-girl didn't know you put that Power Glyph on her, did she?" Hop Pop began. "She seemed just as surprised as everyone else when she called up that large abomination thing." Lilith didn't respond, the last of her magic power disappearing. But a brief sideways glance from her eyes all but confirmed it. "What kind of teacher deceives her own student like that?"

"It's not any of your concern." Lilith retorted.

"Don't try and runabout this!" Hop Pop pointed to her. "Now, I don't know what kind of relationship you have with her, but she clearly trusted you. And you took advantage of that! You tricked her, used her to cheat in a duel… in which she lost! You humiliated your own student in front of all those people! In front of all her peers, and yours! Is that how the Emperor's Coven does things? Cause if so, I am unimpressed."

That really seemed to strike Lilith where it hurts, evident by her glare. "Who are you to judge me?!"

"Someone who knows a thing or two about accountability and responsibility." Hop Pop retorted. "Eda here is far from perfect. Sure, she's a thief, a con artist, rude, arrogant, and somewhat irresponsible…"

"Thanks, I got it!" Eda called from behind.

"But at least she's honest with everyone!" Hop Pop continued. "Even if it's blunt, she's still honest! She doesn't deceive or trick her kids or mine into doing something that could potentially humiliate them in front of a large crowd! I can't exactly judge on which of you two is the better witch, but she is clearly a far better teacher than you are!" That caused Eda's eyes to widen in surprise. "With what you did to that Amity-girl, you should be ashamed of yourself." He glared at Lilith.

The dark-haired witch was at a complete loss for words. The way this older frog just scolded her… the tone he gave was that of a father berating a child for doing something irresponsible. Just hearing that directed at her made her feel like she was being scolded by her own father. She knew though that this old frog wasn't her dad, but when that all sunk in, all the wind was knocked out of her sails. She couldn't even find the strength to deliver a counterargument, evident as she lowered her guard.

"Now then." Hop went on. "When we agreed to this duel, you said that for one day, Eda wouldn't have to run from the law. And as far as I can tell that day is still going on. So, Eda is going to walk out of here, and you aren't going to stop her. Unless you wanna break your word to your sister."

That earned a growl from Lilith. But as much as she wanted to retort, she knew she couldn't. She was a woman of her word, and she wouldn't break it, especially to her family.

Seeing how Lilith wasn't going to interfere, Hop Pop walked away and helped Eda to stand up right as King and Polly joined them. "You good?"

"Meh, I've had worse." Eda brushed off.

"Only for today." Lilith spoke out, getting their attention. "Only for today, she won't have to hide from the law. But starting at dawn tomorrow, the hunt resumes." She said with a serious look in her eyes.

"I'll be waiting." Eda said with a confident grin before she, Hop Pop, Polly and King walked past Lilith and towards the exit. "See you later, Lily. It was nice catching up." Eda said with an honest smile. And as they walked away, Lilith was left alone as she closed her eyes and sulked.

"Come on, we should get going before she realizes that I tied her shoelaces together." Polly snickered.

Eda chuckled. "Polly, you are a true menace."

"I know." Polly said proudly.

"Let's go! I want to see if I can get more offerings!" King demanded.

"Think you've had enough of that." Hop Pop reeled him in.

Eda chuckled again before looking in the direction of the old frog. "Hey… Hop Pop…" She muttered. "What you said back there… I… Thanks." She said sincerely, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Hey, I only speak the truth." Hop Pop shrugged before looking to Eda with a teasing grin. "In that you are totally irresponsible and a criminal. But still a good teacher."

"Yeah, I am. Nice sneak-in burn, by the way." Eda complemented as they all shared a laugh and exited the arena.

---

Amity continued to stare at the ball of light that Luz had shown her before it vanished. "H-how… How did you…?"

"We don't have bile-sacks like you and other witches do." Luz explained as she drew another Glyph but didn't activate it and just showed her the symbol itself. "But this Glyph lets us do magic."

Amity took the notepad and looked at the drawn symbol. "I've… never seen a Glyph like this before." She then eyed the Salamander that was on the ground beside the friend trio. "What about that? What kind of Palisman is that? To just transform and use powerful magic like it did?"

"Not sure… honestly." Luz answered as she picked up the Salamander in her hands. "We found this guy in an old tower, but not even Eda knows where he came from. But he's helped us loads of times before." She smiled towards the little multi-colored Palisman again, who looked up with a smile of his own and a wag of his tail.

With a sigh, Amity sat back against the wall. "Fine. I concede defeat." With that, a glow appeared on her own wrist, and that of Luz, Anne, and Sprig.

"So… does that mean…?" Sprig asked hopefully.

"I'll leave you, Willow, and all your friends alone." Amity said with reluctance as she stood up. "And I won't do anything to pick on her again."

"And your friends?" Anne questioned skeptically.

"Them too. I'll make sure they understand." Amity said before walking away. "Do whatever magic lessons you want."

As the girl vanished from sight, the trio of friends stood back up as the Salamander crawled up Luz's arm and onto her shoulder. "So… that was emotionally exhausting." Sprig said.

"Think she'll actually do it?" Anne asked. "I get there was that oath thing, but you really think she's gonna leave Willow alone? We're banned from Hexside so we can't exactly check in on them."

"I think she will." Luz said. "She doesn't seem like the type to lie."

"Even though she clearly cheated?" Anne reminded.

"No, she didn't cheat." Turning around in surprise, they saw Hop Pop approaching them with Eda, King, and Polly right beside him.

"Hop Pop? What do you mean she didn't cheat?" Sprig questioned. That Power Glyph…"

"Was slipped in by Lilith without the girl noticing." Hop Pop interrupted. "She had no idea."

"Wait… what…?!" Anne exclaimed as she, Sprig, and Luz were more than a little shocked to hear that.

"Yep. All my sister's idea." Eda confirmed.

The three friends shared surprised glances when they heard. "She… she was telling the truth…" Luz muttered.

"She really didn't cheat… Or at least didn't know about it…" Anne also muttered as a feeling of guilt set in. "Wow, I feel a like a jerk."

"Well… it still doesn't excuse her for being a bully though!" Sprig said.

"No, it doesn't." Luz agreed. "But… maybe this will help her to turn around."

"And even if this whole thing turned out to be more of a spectacle than we planned on, I will say that I'm proud of you kids for sticking up for your friends." Hop Pop admitted, which earned smiles rom the trio.

"Thanks, Hop Pop." Anne said. Yeah, it felt good to stick up for her friends and she would do it again in a heartbeat.

"Well, I'm about all Covened-out, let's head back home." Eda said to everyone.

"Yeah, I've had my fill of chaos for today. Polly is a happy little tadpole." Polly said with content.

"And I've had my fill of offerings too." King said as he carried a bag full of his and Polly's free stuff that they collected together.

"How'd you guys get away from Lilith anyway?" Anne asked.

"This guy talked her into submission." Eda nudged Hop Pop playfully. "I do not envy anyone on the receiving end of his lectures."

"Pretty sure you'll still be on that end soon enough though." Hop Pop said.

"Hey… Eda." Luz got her attention. "You think I'll ever be a real witch?"

"Same for me?" Sprig also asked. "We don't got any bile sacks or anything… so… does that make us frauds or something?"

"What? Is that you guys talking, or those bully-twerps talking?" Eda scoffed. "What even is a 'real witch', anyway? According to these suckers over here…" She gestured to some random witches behind her. "…it means you gotta join a Coven. But I never joined one, and I'm better than all of them combined. You guys gotta be your own witches."

That perked up Luz and Sprig instantly. "Our own witches." They said to each other simultaneously.

"Yeah, and you guys are already that." Anne put her arms around the pair. "Like Eda here, you do your own thing and you don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Real rebel witches right here."

"Awe, thanks Anne." Luz smiled.

"Hey, weirdoes against the world, right?" Anne reminded.

"Weirdoes against the world." Sprig reaffirmed.

"Now let's get going." Eda said. "Gotta head back to Wartwood by tomorrow before Lilith's truce-time runs out and let the heat here die down."

"I still can't believe you have a sister!" Luz stated as the group left the building.

"You gotta tell us all about it!" Sprig added.

"Maybe later. We've had enough emotions to hold us over this week." Eda said.

"I do have one question though… which of you is older?" Anne wondered. "You? I mean you got the hair…"

"Oh, don't even start, kid." Eda warned in a playful manner.

As everyone left, Hop Pop turned back upon noticing the Salamander was still inside, looking up with a glare at something just above the doorway. Coming next to the multi-colored Palisman, the old frog looked upwards to see a sign hung over the exit.

'Come Back Soon! We'll Get You Eventually!' The banner read.

The Salamander hissed hatefully at the message. "Yeah… I don't like it either." Hop Pop agreed as he looked turned around, looking at the banner of the Emperor's Coven with a serious expression before taking up the Salamander in his hands and leaving. Despite the flashy show they put on, every instinct in Hop Pop's body was telling him that the Emperor's Coven was not as good and welcoming as they let on, just as Eda warned.

---

Lilith stumbled into her dressing room, tripping up on her own tied shoelaces and crawled her way towards a desk as she pushed herself up.

"You make it so hard to want to help you, Edalyn." Lilith muttered to herself. But even as she did, she happened to think back to what Hop Pop had told her.

Truth is, she did feel a tad bit guilty for using and deceiving Amity like that. Even if their relationship was strictly professional, Amity still trusted her, and she took advantage of that. She didn't mean to humiliate her like that… but Lilith let her eagerness and competitiveness get the better of her. Still though, the girl showed much potential, and would be a welcome recruit into the Emperor's Coven regardless of her defeat.

Suddenly, the compact mirror on her desk opened up, revealing the projection of a rather short red-skinned with a pair of large severed conjoined hands on her head that made up her hair. Most of the fingers covered up her right eye, with only her left being visible, which was a single reddish-brown eye with a yellow sclera. She wore a white tunic robe with a high collar that covered the lower regions of her face, as well as the sigil for the Emperor's Coven on her neckline.

"Lilith, I see you've let the Owl Lady get the best of your temper. Just remember what Emperor Belos has promised you."

After looking away somewhat, Lilith gave a slight bow. "I will capture her, Lady Kikimora. You have my word."

"Very good." The little demon named Kikmora said before her projection vanished, leaving Lilith alone to look at her own reflection as a dark look formed on her face.

"Your days are numbered, Edalyn."

Done.

Yep, we got to meet Lilith, learn about the Coven System as well as the Emperor's Cogen, and even had our signature witch's duel against Amity. But rather than have it just be between Luz and Amity, we also had Anne and Sprig helping her out, along with the early adaptational appearances of Boscha and Skara, both of whom are part of Amity's initial click during her pre-development phase. Having it be three-on-one would be rather unfair, so it only made sense to bring in those two to help even the odds.

And unlike canon; Luz, Anne, and Sprig actually win the witch's duel this time around, all without Eda having to cheat for them, though she did provide them with some potions to even the odds. Each of them had their own skills that they could use to pull off a win; Sprig with his own natural speed and agility as a frog and his mastery over his slingshot; Anne's own experience as a tennis player and the usefulness of her racket; and Luz's creative mind, despite being not a physical fighter herself just yet, though she did get some much needed help from the Salamander Palisman.

Speaking of the Salamander, he seems to have some personal animosity with the Emperor's Coven. But, for what reason? You shall have to see.

To quote Luz… "Mysterious past!"

And much like in canon, Lilith used Amity to cheat in the duel, despite the girl herself being unaware of that. And there are going to be some repercussions regarding that for both of them, not anything particular huge, but you will see the consequences. I also do plan on expanding a bit more with Amity and Lilith too. Dana said herself that their teacher-student relationship was strictly professional, probably to serve as a foil to the one that Eda and Luz have, but we never really see them interact at all again in canon all the way till the finale, probably because of Disney unfairly cancelling the show (screw you, Disney). But I do plan on fixing that as well, expanding and developing with them a bit more.

Amity also got a real taste of humility here too, all necessary for her own character development. Though unlike canon, the everlasting oath they did was not unbound as Amity accepted her defeat… but that doesn't mean that Boscha will. So, yeah. Three-eyes is still going to be a bully here as per canon. As for what I plan to do with her character later on, you'll just have to see. I'm not saying anything, so I'll leave it all for you to theorize.

We also got some insight into Lilith's character. Despite being in her own pre-development phase, she does seem have her own code of honor, being a woman of her word and allowing Eda to go as she did tell her that for one day, she would not have to hide from the law, as well as some guilt over using Amity the way she did. But of course, she is still firmly loyal to Belos, as unhealthy as that is. Things are going to be very tense surrounding her as this story goes on.

But more on that later. Next chapter, we're going back to Amphibia as I've got quite a few fun surprises planned for the next coming chapters that I'm sure you'll love.

Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there.

Also, best wishes to those who are suffering from the ongoing wildfires in California. It's horrible what's happening over there, so my hopes go out to them.