Witch – Chapter 67 – The Two Witches (47)

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A sword, gleaming like moonlight, grazed past Leo’s hair. A moment slower, and his face would have been split in two. Cold sweat dripped down his back.

His body trembled violently, but Leo tried to remain calm, preparing for Lucia’s next attack.

Everywhere he looked, Lucia seemed full of openings, but Leo instinctively knew those gaps were traps meant to lure him in.

‘This time, it’s the shoulder. I can block it!’

He tried to read her movements and guard with his sword, but in an instant, Lucia twisted her body and aimed a kick at his abdomen.

“Ugh…!”

“That eye… so you’ve been chosen.”

Despite having fought continuously until Josie arrived, Lucia’s breathing remained steady. She spoke to Leo with an air of leisure, as if she were merely observing him.

The Holy Eye, bestowed by an angel in a dream upon the chosen.

Unlike Lucia’s silver Holy Eye, Leo’s golden one was the real deal, a rarity even among Holy Eyes.

[It is written that this eye is the will of God, the prophet, the eye of the seer.]

Lucia frowned, recalling the Bible verse she had read countless times, now sick of it. Her silver Holy Eye was nothing more than a human-made imitation of Leo’s golden miracle.

The fool of the Holy Kingdom.

There were countless people in the Holy Kingdom more deserving of that eye than Leo Patrick Florence. The angel’s choice left a bitter taste in her mouth.

What were the angel’s criteria? Why did she, Lucia, have to settle for a fake? It was infuriating.

If only he had died when she threw him to the orcs.

Then she wouldn’t have to grimace at the sight of that eye.

Even as Leo’s golden gaze bore into her, Lucia pointed her sword at his eye, as if she could pluck it out at any moment.

“Josie, hurry…”

As Leo urged the fallen witch, Lucia forced his attention back to her with the tip of her sword.

Even if he gave it his all, he’d only manage to scratch Lucia. Yet, Leo’s concern for the witch, who reeked of evil, irritated her.

Despite the pain of the sword pressing into his cheek and the blood dripping down Lucia’s blade, Leo worried about Josie.

“That eye… since when? You don’t seem like the type to hide a Holy Eye.”

A single thrust of the sword would kill Leo.

Leo swallowed the metallic taste of blood and glared at Lucia.

“Since the day you threw me to the orcs.”

“I see. So that’s how you survived.”

When Leo had gone to the Holy Kingdom alone to find Lucia, she had promised to accept him into the Heresy Inquisitor if he could defeat the orcs. He later learned in Venetia, while training with Nicks, that it had been a lie.

The orcs were not something the old Leo could handle. Even if she had assigned two Heresy Inquisitors to help, it still would have been impossible.

“What? Do you covet this eye too?”

With his Holy Eye activated, Leo immediately recognized that Lucia’s eye was a counterfeit. Unlike the Holy Eye he had seen in the mirror, Lucia’s emitted not a holy aura, but a witch’s.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you want to live as a blind man for the rest of your life?”

Leo’s guess was correct. As Lucia’s sword dug deeper into his face, he let out a laugh instead of a scream.

“That eye doesn’t suit you.”

“I agree.”

Leo hadn’t sought out the Holy Eye. It had been bestowed upon him by an angel in a dream, a gift he hadn’t asked for.

Sometimes, he wondered if he would have suffered less at Estelle’s hands without it.

But it had its uses.

He had healed Josie when she fell during the Death Worm extermination, and now he could act as a shield for her.

Even now, aside from the wound on his cheek, his injuries had healed enough for him to continue fighting.

“Since you’ve received the angel’s revelation, there must be divine will at work. If you kill that witch now, I’ll let you join the Heresy Inquisitor.”

“What…?”

“Return to the Holy Land as an Inquisitor, and your trashy reputation might recover a bit. Serve God. This is my final mercy.”

For such words to come from Lucia’s mouth…

Leo felt nauseous at the thought of Lucia trying to recruit him again, now that he had the Holy Eye’s power.

Kill Josie, and you can return…?

Anger surged to the top of his head, and he wanted to charge at Lucia immediately, but he held back. Acting rashly now would only endanger Josie.

“Lucia, Josie isn’t the witch you’ve been looking for.”

“…….”

“Josie is human. A naive, kind-hearted country girl who saved the life of the foolish man who tried to kill her.”

Josie, who had promised to be Leo’s sole refuge when he had nowhere else to run, was undoubtedly human, even if she was the daughter of a witch.

She was jealous of Emily’s actions, felt others’ pain as her own, could be stubborn at times, and was so innocent she believed holding hands could lead to pregnancy… such a simple girl.

Lucia only hunted witches as an Inquisitor. The fact that she hadn’t killed Leo yet was likely for that reason.

Perhaps it was also her small act of faith in Leo.

“So?”

“So… Josie isn’t a witch. She’s human…”

“If she spreads the aura of a witch and defies the natural order, then she is a witch. Even if that girl isn’t a witch, reeking of evil like that makes her a heretic.”

Humans touched by a witch’s hand crave it again and again. That was the lesson Lucia had engraved into her soul through her life. Her siblings, her family—they had all been the same.

Witches, like divine messengers, offer mercy only to suddenly demand the hearts of loved ones, spreading curses that paralyze human reason.

She had told Leo as much when he expressed his desire to become an Inquisitor… yet here he was, spouting nonsense, bewitched by a witch.

Lucia shook her head.

She condemned the angel’s choice to bestow the Holy Eye upon Leo.

She had planned to spare his life out of sentiment, but if he was bewitched by a witch, letting him live would only lead to further atrocities.

“Then… are you saying all innocent people are…?”

“Have you forgotten what I taught you? If they emit the aura of a witch, they are heretics by definition. Heretics cannot be innocent.”

Leo clenched his teeth so hard they might shatter.

He didn’t care if his teeth broke. The pain only fueled his anger as the sword dug deeper.

“Leo, this is my final mercy. I’ll send you off without pain. Repent your sins before God.”

Lucia’s sword gleamed with a silver aura.

Leo tried to block it, but the aura-infused blade extended into the sky and sliced through his brain.

“Guh-…!”

With a short scream, Leo collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Now, only one remained.

Lucia approached the girl who had been crouching in fear. Even if she wasn’t a witch, as Leo had said, the foul stench she emitted was enough to make her one.

“Le… Leo…?”

Only when Lucia was right in front of her did Josie snap out of her daze.

Beyond Lucia, she saw Leo’s fallen body. Blood and a white fluid pooled on the ground from his head.

Leo…? Why…!

“Le, Leo!? Wake up!!”

After hearing from Leo that Lucia was the murderer of her parents, Josie had briefly lost consciousness. Now, she was on the verge of losing another precious person to the Heresy Inquisitor’s hands.

As Josie tried to run to Leo, Lucia grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground.

“Ugh…! Le… o…!”

Josie kicked and struggled, but Lucia’s grip only tightened.

She tried to use magic, but for some reason, her mana wouldn’t gather.

‘Am I going to die like this?’

Josie desperately tried to pry Lucia’s fingers off her neck, but she couldn’t even move a single one.

“L…e… o…”

“Leo is dead. Heretic, repent your sins through death.”

Breathing became difficult, and her fragile neck felt like it would snap at any moment, but Josie clung desperately to her fading consciousness.

It’s a lie. It’s a lie…

Leo… Leo’s life… it can’t end so meaninglessly.

Josie’s kicks and struggles grew weaker. Her small hands, gripping Lucia’s wrist, lost strength and hung limply, swinging like a pendulum.

In her blurring vision.

A golden flash filled Josie’s sight, and she smiled faintly.

“Let go of her right now!!!”

“You should’ve stayed dead… So you’ve chosen to become an apostate after all.”

Lucia clicked her tongue and turned around.

She had given him the chance to repent in death as a prince, but…

With a golden glow, Leo’s sword surged toward Lucia’s hand, which was choking Josie.

Lucent