Chapter 6: New World Order

Tropes That Appear In This Chapter:

Abilene Paradox: When Eda and Lilith bet their and their apprentices' futures in a duel (Eda and Luz joining the Emperor's Coven if Amity wins, Lilith and Amity become Wild Witches if Luz wins) with an everlasting oath, it takes a scolding from their irate apprentices for Eda and Lilith both to admit that it was a bad idea. The only problem is that they both think that the other is too stubborn to agree to nullifying the oath before the duel is set to end.
Adaptation Expansion: Eda admits that her record of petty theft is not only out of necessity for her impoverished lifestyle, but because her curse gives her kleptomaniacle urges, not unlike a bird stealing shiny objects for nest-building.
Crippling Overspecialization: Discussed. While Amity is exceptional in Abomination Magic, that is the only mystic art she's exceptional in. Luz meanwhile has an entire arsenal of magic — light blasts, plant magic, healing magic and so on — that makes her a Jack of All Trades. When Lilith and Eda pit them against each other, Lilith quickly understands how her apprentice is put to a disadvantage after Amity explains to her what she's dealing with (omitting the part where Luz is half-angel, of course).
Entertainingly Wrong: Lilith presumes that not only is Luz Eda's half-human child, but that she inherited her curse. Since angels are considered mythical creatures on the Boiling Isles and it would put a target on Luz's back if the Emperor's Coven found out, Eda has to play along.
I'm Having Soul Pains: It's specified that the pain angels feel when they lie, while excruciating, has no physical presence on their bodies, implying that the pain is itself entirely magical in nature. While Luz helps herself to ice water and healing pollen after lying for Amity's sake, it's more to take the edge off than to actually heal any damages.
In Spite of a Nail:
- While Amity's bitchier moments in "Covention" are omitted here (crushing King's cupcake and calling Luz an embarrassment), Luz and Amity are still forced into a witch's duel, complete with an everlasting oath, because of their respective mentor's personal beef.
- While Eda didn't cheat like she did in canon, Luz manages to keep the everlasting oath from activating on Lilith and Amity by lying and saying that she was also illegally using power glyphs, rendering it a tie like in canon.
Internal Reveal: Amity reveals that she knows Luz is an angel.
No Sense of Personal Space: Luz helps herself to a dollop of icing off of Amity's cheek and it takes Amity pointing it out for Luz to realize that such actions aren't. Luz admits that she was actually much worse as a little girl.
Out-of-Character Alert: After Lilith essentially gambles Amity's future on a petty bet with her sister, Amity is visibly horrified to the point of a panic attack. This comes across as very strange to Lilith, who knows Amity is usually headstrong and confident enough in her abilities. The fact that Amity knows Luz is an angel - a magically being believed to be exceptionally powerful in Demon Realm folklore - no doubt has to do with this, though Lilith doesn't know that.
Perfect Pacifist People: Luz reveals that in spite of angel's magical power, physical excursions are forbidden in the Divine Realm outside of self-defense or defending others. Instead, angels will "duel" through heated debate before a panel of judges.
Point of Divergence: While in "Covention" Eda laid out traps in the arena to help Luz (who at that point had no combat experience) during her duel, here there was no cheating on Luz's end, meaning that only Amity (through Lilith and a power glyph) the sole cheater.
Pop-Cultural Osmosis: When Eda remarks that being at the Covention would be more bearable with "someone who hasn't drunk the Emperor's Kool-Aid", Luz voices surprise that she knows what Kool-Aid is, let alone that she used the phrase correctly.
Pragmatic Adaptation: While in canon Amity doesn't show any signs of more-than-platonic affection towards Luz until "The First Day", here (recanting the fic's version of "Covention") she's already struggling not to out her feelings to Luz.
Taking a Third Option: Luz and Amity manage to worm their way out of the duel their mentors pushed them into by making their fight not a Wizard Duel, but a game of rock-paper-scissors. The first person who makes 100 consecutive wins is declared the winner. The point of course wasn't to best each other, but to annoy Eda and Lilith into agreeing to undo their unbreakable vow.
Amity: You're pretty good at helping people in unconventional ways.