Ch. 69 The Two Witches (49)
by Afuhfuihgs
Witch – Chapter 69 – The Two Witches (49)
A single blue butterfly fluttered in pitifully, as if trying to block Lucia’s sword and prevent her from harming Leo.
“Leo…!!!”
The heretic’s cry echoed from behind.
This butterfly must be some vile trick of the heretic.
Lucia should have been wary of the butterfly scattering mana with its fluttering wings, but she didn’t falter. Instead, she tightened her grip and pressed forward.
She had no intention of letting the opportunity to kill the apostate slip away because of some heretic’s trick. She had the skill to handle it, and even if it were a trap set by the heretic, she was confident she wouldn’t fall for it.
Kill the apostate, execute the heretic… and then hunt the witch of Venetia.
If she wasted any more time and the witch escaped… all the effort of running here for ten days without rest would be for nothing.
The butterfly, touched by Lucia’s aura, flickered with a blue light before vanishing into nothingness.
One thrust into the Holy Eye, and it’s over. Lucia’s sword pierced the apostate’s Holy Eye, and the mana within it exploded.
No matter how powerful the Holy Eye, it wouldn’t dare to regenerate after this.
A deafening roar echoed. The divine energy erupted with a silver light, so intense that it blurred the line between day and night.
With his head blown apart, he wouldn’t be able to regenerate.
If there were even a hint of regeneration, she planned to chop him into pieces and feed him to the fish.
“A butterfly…?”
As the light faded, what came into Lucia’s view was… not the decapitated apostate, but a swarm of butterflies that had settled in his place, mocking her as they fluttered toward her.
She had felt the sensation of piercing the apostate through her sword… but now, in his place, a swarm of butterflies filled the air, flapping their wings in unison as if laughing at her.
No matter how many she cut down, the swarm of mana-made butterflies showed no sign of stopping, overwhelming Lucia’s vision.
Should I have killed the heretic first after all?
The apostate could be killed anytime, so once the butterflies passed, she would kill the heretic first.
Lucia chastised her past self for not decisively ending lives and waited for the swarm to pass. She gathered divine energy throughout her body, preparing defenses against any dark magic that might come.
Only after the swarm had completely passed did she lower her arms, which had been shielding her face, and surveyed her surroundings.
“Such petty tricks…”
Instead of the cratered ground or the distant scenery of Venetia, a small, unfamiliar yet familiar village greeted her—a village reduced to ashes by fire.
The charred roofs collapsed, sending up clouds of dust and a pungent smell of burning.
A flock of crows circled above the village, pecking at the charred remains of what had once been human bodies, now impaled on spikes in the center of the village.
The cries of the crows swallowed the village, as if no living soul remained.
An illusion spell?
She didn’t know how the spell had been cast, but for a petty trick, it felt eerily real.
The lake near the village likely had women’s corpses floating in it, becoming food for fish.
This was the hell Lucia herself had created.
A decision made to eradicate everything related to witches.
She couldn’t remember every detail, but villages where witch trials were held often ended up like this.
This was the method Lucia used during witch trials. It wasn’t surprising, nor did it unsettle her.
Instead, she calmly walked through the village, observing her surroundings.
She hadn’t thought she’d been caught in a spell, as she had surrounded herself with divine energy to resist. That left only one possibility… a barrier that could alter the environment, ignoring her divine energy.
She was impressed by the heretic’s skill in casting such a high-level spell.
But she had chosen the wrong opponent.
As the head of the Heresy Inquisitor, Lucia had memorized countless ways to dismantle barriers.
Destroy the core maintaining the barrier.
A simple and straightforward method.
Her Holy Eye glowed as she traced the flow of mana.
Inside a barrier, mana spreads from the core.
All she had to do was find the source of the mana and destroy it. She didn’t want to waste any more time.
“Huuu… Mom, Dad…”
At the center of the barrier were two graves.
Flowers that had grown by feeding on the corpses’ flesh pierced through the graves, surrounding a crude wooden plank that served as a tombstone.
Lucia instinctively adjusted her grip on her sword.
The girl crying in front of the graves must be the guardian of the core.
The guardian’s body was covered in flowers that had bloomed from the graves. The shape of a butterfly, similar to the heretic’s form.
“Is it you…? The one who did this to my mom and dad…. You’re worse than Leo…!”
The guardian turned to look at Lucia.
Tears of blood streamed down her cheeks instead of tears.
The scenery created by the heretic. The guardian, who resembled the heretic…
“I see. There was a survivor.”
The heretic might have been a survivor of the witch trials.
So what?
Should she kneel and apologize?
How ridiculous.
As the head of the Heresy Inquisitor, she only killed those who defied God’s will. She wouldn’t sheathe her sword until her vengeance was complete.
As the guardian reached out her hand, a swarm of blood-red butterflies, dyed by the blood they had drunk, fluttered toward Lucia.
“Leo…! Wake up…!”
“Jo-Josie?”
Leo regained consciousness, feeling the warmth on the back of his head. He frowned as water dripped onto his face, thinking it was rain.
“Thank goodness…”
The first thing Leo saw was Josie’s face. He realized that what he thought was rainwater were Josie’s tears streaming down her cheeks.
She saved my life again.
The warmth on the back of his head must be Josie’s lap.
As he recalled the situation before he passed out, Leo hurriedly tried to sit up.
“Ugh…!”
“Don’t move too much.”
Leo grimaced at the pain in his side. Remembering that Lucia’s attack had severed his upper and lower body, he frantically checked his legs.
Seeing his legs intact and in their proper place, he let out a sigh of relief. Having his body split in two… was an experience he never wanted to relive.
Then… what about Lucia?
There was no way Lucia would let them both live.
“Josie, what happened to Lucia?!”
“I used a barrier to trap her. Don’t worry. She won’t be able to get out for a while.”
Josie pointed to one side as she tried to calm Leo.
In the distance, tree roots had risen to form a dome-like space. Blue butterflies settled on it, scattering mana.
It was the first time she had used a barrier, but with Lucia unable to break free for over ten minutes, Josie had bought enough time to save Leo.
Though she had hastily and clumsily cast the barrier out of fear for Leo’s life and a mix of emotions, it had given her time to heal him.
She hadn’t brought any potions, so all she could do was reattach Leo’s lower body…
“How long has it been since I passed out?”
“About fifteen minutes. It’s okay. Let’s go to Mom now. Given the situation, we can fly there.”
‘I should’ve learned teleportation… Something about space… and the body…’
She regretted not learning it when her mother had warned her about how dangerous it was, but it was too late now.
“If we use magic, they’ll track us. The Heresy Inquisitors are trained to detect mana flow and dark magic to hunt witches.”
“Then let’s run. It’s not far to Venetia.”
“You go alone, Josie. I’ll stay here and hold off Lucia. You hurry and find Lady Estelle. If it’s Lady Estelle… even Lucia will have to retreat.”
Leo avoided Josie’s outstretched hand.
No matter how powerful the barrier, Lucia was the head of the Heresy Inquisitor. The barrier would likely break in a few minutes.
Having felt Lucia’s speed with his entire body before passing out, Leo knew that unless someone acted as bait, they would both die.
He had to protect Josie.
Leo’s mind was only thinking of Josie’s safety, and he couldn’t—and didn’t want to—think of anything else.
With the Holy Eye, he could buy as much time as possible.
[Hasten to Venetia.]
As if it were time to die, the angel’s words, which he had forgotten until now, came to mind. He still couldn’t understand the angel’s meaning or why the Holy Eye had been bestowed upon him.
Leo was a fool.
He wasn’t meticulous enough to analyze, gauge, or care about such things.
Right now… yes.
If he were to interpret the angel’s words freely, it would mean protecting Josie in Venetia.
“No.”
Contrary to Leo’s resolve, Josie’s response was cold.
Tears that had momentarily stopped now streamed down her face.
“Why do you keep trying to die? To me, that just sounds like you’re giving up.”
“Josie… that’s the only way to survive.”
“If we die, we die together. If we live, we live together.”
This wasn’t the time for arguments,
Leo’s face turned red.
Why?
He couldn’t understand why Josie was so attached to his life, but her sincere words struck a chord in his heart.
“Josie, why are you like this…?”
‘Do you care for me that much?’
Leo swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say and met Josie’s gaze.
He had noticed Josie’s feelings after the incident with Emily, but he couldn’t show his own.
Not just because of Estelle’s watchful eye, but because he felt unworthy. After all… Leo’s actions had been such that it was a miracle he hadn’t been thrown to the monsters as food.
He had tried to kill the very person who had saved his life.
Conversely, he couldn’t understand why Josie felt any affection for him.
Beyond comprehension, Josie’s feelings seemed genuine. That’s why he felt so awkward, being pulled along without being able to respond.
It was the same now.
Whether they ran or fought, they would only die…
So why was Josie crying?
Unlike Josie, who had become a roof to shield him from the rain, Leo had done nothing for her.
“Your life belongs to me. Did you forget? The curse of a witch’s daughter is powerful. You can’t defy it!”
Josie clenched her teeth and shouted. Her fists trembled, and she was so agitated that the butterfly perched on her hair, covering her right eye, flapped its wings vigorously.
It was a desperate excuse.
But she wanted to hold onto Leo no matter what.
Josie didn’t want to lose anyone precious to her again.
‘Why are you trying to take him away? My parents were enough. I can’t lose Leo too…’
“Alright. Let’s run away together.”
Leo took a deep breath and conceded defeat.
As Estelle had once said, he had no confidence in overcoming Josie’s stubbornness.
He couldn’t waste any more time and push Josie into danger.
“Really?”
“Yes, first we need to find Lady Estelle and inform her of the situation. If we’re not careful, all of Venetia could be subjected to a witch trial.”
After speaking with Lucia, Leo was certain that was a real possibility.
“We don’t have time. Let’s hurry. It’s fine to use magic. Lucia will head to Venetia anyway.”
“Okay…!”
As Leo reached out his hand, Josie smiled brightly and took it. Warmth passed between their palms.
Just as Josie was about to use mana to lift them both…
“Using mana? You’ve saved me the trouble of searching.”
“Josie, watch out…!”
They had wasted too much time.
Leo clenched his teeth.
From the darkness, silver light erupted, scattering afterimages as it surged forward.
They shouldn’t have used mana…!
Leo pushed Josie aside and raised his sword to block Lucia.
But Lucia’s speed as she dashed past him, smirking, far exceeded his ability to react.
Faster than when she had pierced his side, Lucia’s sword shot toward Josie’s heart.
‘Am I going to die like this…?’
As Josie sensed death approaching, everything seemed to slow down.
The sword aiming for her heart, Leo’s terrified expression… Lucia’s smirking face.
She didn’t want to die like this.
She wanted to experience so much more with Leo.
Traveling together, eating delicious food, learning about each other.
She wished her mother would one day accept Leo and bless their relationship.
Come to think of it, it had been a while since she’d seen her mother.
‘Should you wash up before bed?’
‘I’ll take care of it.’
The last conversation she’d had with her mother was her being annoyed.
How ridiculous.
I should’ve just listened to her…
Josie closed her eyes, accepting her death.
Thud!
The sound of the sword piercing flesh echoed loudly.
The sound of blood pouring onto the ground…
Yet Josie felt no pain.
Instead of pain, a warm hand gently stroked her head. There was no cold touch of a blade, only a comforting, soft warmth enveloping her.
Is death this warm?
When Josie cautiously opened her eyes, familiar pink hair came into view. Red eyes, gentler than ever, looked at her with a warmth meant to reassure.
“Mo-Mom…?”
“It’s okay. Mom’s here now. When you wake up, everything will be fine.”
Blood poured from the sword embedded in Estelle’s chest, yet she smiled, as if to reassure Josie.
“Mom… No…”
‘Mom can’t die. We need to heal her quickly…!’
Josie couldn’t hold back the flood of emotions.
As her mother had said, she hoped that when she woke up, everything would be alright.
Lucent
0 Comments