A woman with long blonde hair wearing a light purple dress could be seen inside a cave with nothing but a single chair and a table in it.

She sat on the chair, facing the table while doing something on the laptop in front of her. She looked out of place wearing her dress, but alas, the dress was sort of a uniform that established her identity as a Witch.

The laptop’s screen was turned on, and a black silhouette of another woman appeared. Her face and body were black, but her pink lips were visible for some reason.

The silhouette wore a pointy hat, which was another distinctive clothing feature of a Witch.

“Greetings, Alolla.” The Witch spoke with a smile.

[Greetings, Ravella. How is the plan?] A voice leaked out from the laptop’s speaker; it was sweet and seducing.

“I could say the plan is only half-success. The Demon did manage to find the existence of the strongest witch’s vessel, but…”

[But what?]

“The Demon didn’t do anything to her because it found something more important to its race instead.” The Witch’s face turned grim as she continued. “They found a clue about the Demon King’s vessel instead of taking the strongest witch’s vessel.”

The silhouette, Alolla, on the screen appeared to be frowning from the information.

[This couldn’t be a good sign. If the Demon King revived before the strongest witch bore to existence, then… Our plan will be thrown into jeopardy. Our revenge will be for naught, as the Demon King will ravage Humankind before us.]

“That’s tru–” Suddenly, Ravella switched her attention to the cave’s ceiling, confusing Alolla on the screen.

[What happened?] She asked.

“There is a source of Mana that makes its way over here,” Ravella said, waving her hand. Then, a plain brown staff appeared in her hand. She gripped it tightly and brought it closer to her chest before tapping it on the ground.

A faint blue spherical barrier covered the diameter of 1 meter with the Witch as the center.

[Are you attacked?] Alolla asked, concerned.

However, Ravella didn’t answer her. Instead, she strengthened her grip against her staff with both hands and muttered, “It’s coming.”

As soon as she said that, the cave’s ceiling collapsed, and the ground shook as if being hit by an earthquake.

Following this, nine seemingly similar objects with a diameter of 1 meter breached through the ceiling. Seeing those objects, Ravella’s eyes widened.

“Alolla! Convey my message! The strongest witch’s vessel is in Los Angeles!” She quickly shouted as the objects, or it would be better to call them attacks, hit her barrier.

Boom!

The barrier cracked after receiving the first attack._-.

“Ugh!” She grunted as she put more Mana into the barrier, trying to mend it.

However, the second attack followed suit as soon as the barrier was mended. It was stronger than before, and the crack became bigger.

BOOM! BOOM!

[Ravella!!] Alolla shouted, but the third attack hit the barrier, destroying it and sending the laptop flying away. It crashed on the wall and destroyed it.

Ravella was left alone in the cave, looking at the six white attacks that kept coming to her.

“I won’t die this easily!” She tapped her staff against the ground three times as the fourth attack hit her, sending her flying and crashing into the wall away from the attack.

Boom! Crash!

“Guak!”

Miraculously, her body wasn’t too injured. The Magic that she used earlier strengthened her body, and she could avoid some bad injuries thanks to that. “Hahaha… I am alive.”

She had been launched away from the area of the attacks. Thinking that she was saved, she pulled her body from the ground.

But, she immediately realized that her expectation was far from the truth.

The rest of the attacks suddenly bent midway, coming toward her at the same time, each stronger than the first four attacks.

As a Witch that had a vast knowledge of Magic, Ravella immediately knew the nature of the attack.

“Grr! It’s homing!”

She quickly pointed her staff at the remaining attacks and activated her Magic. A giant Fireball appeared from the tip of the staff, and she immediately launched it, hoping to stop the attack by clashing them against her.

“Fireball!”

The Fireball made its way toward the attack, only to be engulfed in it and made the attack stronger than before.

“How can this be?!!” Her shout resounded in the cave, followed by five explosions as the attacks hit her.

Boom Boom Boom!

A few seconds after the explosions, the cave was destroyed entirely. Debris and dust filled the area. One area visibly got roughed up more than the others.

A pale, slender hand slowly crawled out from the pile of debris. The hand was covered in blood, and it slowly pushed away the debris that covered it.

The owner of the hand was surprisingly Ravella. One way or another, she managed to survive the attack due to the Magic that she used earlier.

After trying a few times to push the debris away, she finally managed to crawl out entirely.

Her dress was ripped, and her body was covered in cuts and injuries. Her staff was destroyed, and her left arm was reduced to a stump.

“Guh. Tsk!” She clicked her tongue and spat the blood in her mouth. Her pretty face was half-destroyed, charred beyond recognition. “Who dares to attack me?!”

Her base was supposed to be secure without anyone knowing about it. Heck, the world probably was ignorant of their existence. But, someone had purposely sent an attack toward her base, even leaving her to be half-dead.

If not for her attempt to defend herself and her perception of Mana, she would surely die in the surprise attack.

“I need to get out of here fast.” She muttered, holding her left hand with her remaining hand to prevent blood loss.

Her legs were fractured, but she kept dragging them to leave the place. It would be bad if someone saw her in her state, especially someone who had attacked her earlier.

‘If only I am as skilled in Healing Magic as Alolla… Damn it!’

Each Witch had its own specialty in Magic, much like Awakeners. And Ravella’s specialty was unsurprisingly Magic that used Null Attribute Mana such as Mana Bullet and Barrier like earlier. That was the only reason why she managed to survive the attack.

She could use other Magic, but not as skillful as Magic with Null Attribute Mana.

“This is really a mess…” Ravella muttered as she kept walking to the forest in the distance.

***

[28 April 2023, 01:10 PM]

[Hospital – San Diego]

I felt like floating in the middle of darkness as soon as I lost my consciousness. I didn’t know what had happened, but I knew one thing that I should do. And that was to open my eyes, and I did.

The first thing I did was open my eyes slowly, and suddenly, I felt a bad headache attacking my head.

“Ugh.” I grunted in pain in response and held my head with my hand.

Only then did I notice that I was sitting on a chair in the middle of a hallway with white walls. A few people wearing hospital gowns walked past me, and I noticed a person with a lab coat in the distance.

‘Am I in hospital?’

As I thought that, a voice called out to me from my side.

“You are awake?”

I looked to my side and noticed someone familiar wearing a rather tattered suit sitting beside me.

“You are… the one that I met that time,” I said, pretending to be ignorant of his identity.

“Indeed. Our first meeting couldn’t be any worse, but let me introduce myself. I am a captain of Squad 4 from the Association. My name is Frank William. I already know yours, so you don’t need to introduce yourself.” Frank said.

I nodded while secretly checking all my belongings.

My [Horus’ Sunglasses] was still on my face, and I still had my mask on, so they didn’t take all of them.

Usually, when someone fainted, the doctors or others with some medical knowledge would open that someone’s mask to allow fresh air to move easier. But, there was no sign that my mask was removed.

Frank sneered, seemingly realizing that I was checking my mask. Then he said, “Don’t worry. I didn’t remove your mask. I stopped my subordinate from opening your mask because I know you want to keep your privacy.”

“How thoughtful of you,” I spoke. “But…” I stopped for a while.

Anything in this world had some cost. So, in exchange for honoring my privacy, Frank must’ve something in mind.

I had some guesses in my mind, but most probably, ‘He either wanted to ask me about what I did on that mountain, or he wanted to ask me about who shot the arrow that froze the lake.’

Because I was here, I bet he also sent someone to check the place where my Stellar landed. I hoped to get some information about the Witch too. Maybe they also found Zaiden too

If she was somehow skilled in making a Barrier, she might survive against Stellar. I couldn’t be sure before I was sure she had died.

“Tell me what you need from me,” I asked seriously.

My Mana had yet to recover fully, so I was still a bit dizzy and languid, but I needed to take care of Frank first before resting.

“I am glad that you are smart,” Frank said, taking his phone from his suit pocket.

He then operated his phone before showing the screen to me. What he showed me was a broken Dark Arrow, or rather, a part of its arrowhead.

“My subordinate found this in a place where an unknown attack landed. For your information, the place was an absolute mess. It destroyed a part of a canyon, but we found nothing in that place that could serve as a clue beside this dark thing and…”

Frank swiped the phone screen, changing the image to another. This time, it was an image of a destroyed laptop.

“This laptop. There is also a trace of blood among the debris of the destroyed canyon. Do you know something about it?”

So they did indeed check the canyon where the Witch hid. And, the worst happened as they didn’t find the Witch anywhere, but they did find the blood trace, huh?

I couldn’t tell the Association about the Witch’s existence, not yet at least. The world wasn’t ready for the knowledge about the Witch’s existence yet, especially when the Demon had just re-appeared.

At the same time, I didn’t want to hide what I was capable of. I certainly hated being looked down upon. So I answered.

“I do know something.”

Frank’s lips curled into a smile as he put his phone back in his pocket.

“So you did know something. Do you mind telling me about it? I did APPRECIATE your privacy, so you don’t mind telling me about who the fuck used that big attack in the middle of a city, no? Also….”

Frank suddenly bowed his head slightly. “I heard from a boy that you were the one who fired the arrow that froze the lake. A lot of my subordinates were saved because of you. Thank you.”

At least he was a decent human being who knew how to thank you. Also, they had found Zaiden as expected, huh. That took care of one of my worries.

“Don’t mind it. I just did what I requested.” I answered.

He raised his head and looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“Request? So someone did ask you to come to help us? Or, you helped us after hearing my request for reinforcement?”

“I fired the two arrows to help with the monster outbreak. But, the request that I received was different.” I raised my index finger. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you about it, but… I can tell you something that you asked.”

“That’s reasonable.” Frank nodded.

I stood up from the chair and stretched my arms before turning to Frank.

“That black thing in the picture is an arrow. And, I was the one who fired that ridiculous attack.”

If only I didn’t wear my mask, Frank surely would see my big grin. Flexing my power as Rai was something that I needed to do to get trust as a Mercenary.

Also, Frank’s expression was a sight to behold. His smile froze, and then he chuckled lightly.

“Hahaha, there is no way you are the one who fired that ridiculous attack, right?”

“It is I who fired it,” I answered seriously as I took off my sunglasses, showing him my blackened left eye. “I sacrificed my eye to use that attack.”

I technically didn’t lie. To use Stellar, I must know my target’s location. And to find out my target’s location, I used Horus Eyes, which blinded my left eye.

Frank frowned as he looked at me seriously. It seemed like he believed what I said.

Even if I was only D-Rank Awakener, an Artifact allowed people to use a big attack like what I did if they sacrificed something. So, my excuse was reasonable for him.

“I had said that it was reasonable for you to hide the request that you took, but… I must ask this, seeing that you are willing to sacrifice your eye to finish the request.”

“Go ahead. I might not answer, though.”

“Who requested you?” Frank asked.

“Ah, that. I can’t really tell you. But, I guess you would be anxious if I said that, right?” I sneered. “Don’t worry. The request is not something illegal. It’s to kill something that’s not a Human. That’s what I can say to you.”

“Something that’s not a Human?”

“That’s right. I hope that satisfies you.” I turned around and began to walk away while waving my hand.

“Well then, I must take my leave because it seems that something is still alive.” 

“Wait!” Frank shouted from behind, trying to stop me. 

I ignored him and used the Stealth effect from my coat to disappear from his sight.

The Witch had survived my attack, and now she knew that someone had noticed the Witch’s existence.

She would most likely visit a Witch that could heal her injury and convey her message to the other Witches.

‘This is turning a little bit troublesome.’ I thought. ‘But well, I can’t do anything in this state. Let’s just rest and prepare for the future.’

I exited the hospital and looked at the sky. The sun had passed my head, leaning over to the west.

‘On the bright side, the Witch will move actively. If they approached Lily, then that meant Bathory’s Witch Factor had yet to settle on anybody. Or, she had been awakened and tried to move into the most fitting vessel.’

“Tsk!” I clicked my tongue as I walked away. I couldn’t even try to find the surviving Witch until three days to use Horus Eyes again when my eye was healed. It was the worst situation as of now… for Zaiden, that was.

‘This situation will prove to be troublesome no matter what. I will definitely get caught in it too. No doubt about it.’

Once again, I hoped that fucker snapped out of his dream about saving heroines and started to get stronger real quick. I, myself, couldn’t stop the Witch alone.

A mere lie couldn’t stop their hate against betrayal and the world; they had long since they threw their trust against Humankind.

They could only be stopped by someone with an honest feeling or someone with a fucking Loving Trait like Zaiden. Those Witches could tell our emotions after all, unlike Chloe, who could only tell a lie.

“Now then, I should prepare my ally too. I need my little sister and my clueless Hero to get stronger. In order for me to survive in this world.” I muttered in a low voice.

***

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