SHK CH 93 (Patreon)
Content
Thinking about the holy sword, Sol couldn't help but wonder how powerful it would be. But now wasn't the time to think about that.
"So, aside from this, do you have any other failsafe?"
The spell she was speaking about seemed good and all, but it didn't seem like this was the only thing she prepared.
Thinking about the sudden coming of Theresa, he added, "Is Theresa part of the plan?"
"Fufufu~Indeed. Though, the rest will be a little surprise."
Camelia knew how much of a fan he was about the four-direction witches, so meeting Persephone should be quite a shock in a good way.
Thinking about the four witches, she frowned a little as she remembered the fourth one.
Learning about something like that suddenly could be bad, so she opened her mouth,
"Sol, it's about Kali."
----
[Unknown place in Lustburg]
In one of the bars of Lustburg, the atmosphere seemed strangely quiet as it was completely devoid of any clients despite the current festive atmosphere.
The bartender, who was swiping a glass, seemed strangely stiff and mechanical in its way of moving.
Opening the door, a red-clothed young girl who seemed to be no older than 15, entered her face, immediately settling in a frown as she saw the bare tender.
"How many times did I tell you to stop your sick game before we truly get discovered?"
She held her nose in disgust because of the rotten smell that filled the bare and went to take a seat in the farthest part of the room.
The man kept a simple smile and didn't even answer, it was only after he finished and was sure that everything was clean that he began paying attention to her.
"How are you, milady? Will you take something strong or some soft liquor?"
The girl mimicked the action of barfing as an answer.
"I would never eat anything from those hands filled with death after what happened last time. Who knows what if some rotten flesh or maggots wouldn't be in my drink."
She shivered as she remembered the first time she had accepted a drink from that man.
"Hahaha~This was just an accident, an accident. Trust me."
"Humph"
The man continued to grin, unfazed by her actions.
Finally, unable to take the silence, she asked,
"When will your true body arrive? Or do you plan to use this marionette during our fight?"
"Haha~No way, it's the queen of swords we are talking about, you know? If I don't go at her with my will firm and decisive, I will be immediately cut down by her."
The girl grunted but inwardly acquiesced. Even for her, Lilith was a very tricky opponent.
"So, necromancer, do you think it was truly wise to contact the duchess? Even though she accepted, I feel like this is fishy. Perhaps they already know about us infiltrating the capital."
The bartender, or rather the zombie acting as a bartender didn't seem particularly worried.
"To be honest, we already nearly won. All the better if they know about our presence. At least they will understand that we hold the city hostage. Or are you hesitating now, witch?"
Kali frowned a little at the naked provocation,
"Your mouth is as vile as your magic. I already decided to swear loyalty to the Crimson lady. Or do you mean to say that I am not welcome?"
As she said this, her aura began to flare, four concentric circles formed behind her before combining into one.
"Oh, no no no, you are quite welcome. Kali, the witch of destruction and daughter of Ambrosia, the thousands spells witch. It's a great honor to have you in our ranks. Also, Hum, could you calm your magic? I quite like this place you see? Also wouldn't want to be spotted too soon."
'What a bold-faced lie.'
Still, this allowed her to calm her mood.
"No matter. The plan is progressing as we wished. Since that suprême daughter lost her power, she is effectively useless. The only one who can really fight against us right now is that false queen and perhaps the Duke Highland. But once again, that little traitor of our will take care of him. Our goal is to spread terror this time and show how useless those goddesses are. For that, some sacrifices are necessary. Don't you think so?"
Kali scoffed, humans were always such hypocritical beings.
They wanted to preach freedom from the goddesses but still used the power of another one.
But this didn't matter, as long as they could bring what they promised, she would follow them even if she had to be hated by all her family.
'Soon, this curse will be erased.'
Her eyes flickered as she thought about one of the most important keys, the prince.
She didn't know if he really obtained a core with how rare it was. But the simple fact that he was an S rank hybrid was too much of a temptation for many people.
Though she didn't really care either, the royal family was like another curse for her family. The first king tricked Medea and the last king tricked Persephone. There was no way the son was anything good.
Thinking so, she could only give a bitter smile inwardly,
'The me from before coming here would have never thought like that.'
----
[Tower of babel]
"One of the four witches might be an enemy."
Remembering those words of Camelia, Sol could only feel his headache growing.
This wasn't just because he was disappointed that one of the witches could become an enemy.
More than anything, it was because she was powerful. Extremely powerful.
Even though he had never seen her, he had heard her legend, the youngest yet the strongest out of the four witches.
Befitting her name, her power was geared toward absolute and complete destruction.
Because of his worries, after leaving the church, he went to visit Medea. He had been curious about what exactly did 'destruction' mean, and posed the question to Medea. Was it some kind of element? Or was it because of the results of her actions?
----Flashback
[A few hours ago]
"You are wondering what kind of power Kali has exactly?"
Medea, who was busy trying a new mark of tea, stilled as she was about to take a sip of her drink.
"Yeah, I mean. Does she have something like the destruction element or something?"
He asked with a curious expression. Edea chortled at this question.
"Concepts such as destruction and creation do not exist as elements. Or you could say that they exist in everything."
She proceeded to explain the principles. Witchcraft, anything that could result in destruction was called destruction-type magic and anything that could result in creation was called creation magic. There was no magic of creation or destruction by themselves.
Tilting his head in curiosity he asked, "Then, why is she called the witch of destruction?"
"Kali… Back then, Kali was seen as the most untalented out of all of us. Initially, she should have learned death magic. But, she was ultimately unable to. After that, she tried many other special elements, but in the end, she could only use the four basic elementals magic. Fire, water, wind, and earth."
She grimaced a little as she said that, " Because of that, even though she was one of us, she was judged as a failure by the witch community and many petitioned for her to be cast out of the four directions."
Basic elements in themselves weren't bad. Reaching the peak in any of those elements could bring catastrophic might. But how many people could reach the pinnacle in magic?
Sol was curious, if it was so, why would she still be known as a direction? Did Ambrosia use her authority?
Edea could understand what Sol was thinking and shook her head.
"Kali didn't need to rely on mother."
Edea had a weird expression as she said that,
"Even now, I don't really know how she did it. One day, she went from an untalented witch to a true monster able to absorb knowledge. She could easily understand theories that escaped her in the past. Even though she could only use the four elements, she managed to reach an incredible height in her magic and became a true walking calamity. But, "
She closed her eyes, "This wouldn't have been enough to be recognized. It isn't like there aren't any witches using one or many of the four elements."
"So what did she do?"
"She created her own magic. A very powerful magic geared toward absolute destruction. We call it decay or decomposition."
Medea shook her head, "Thinking about it. Her magic is really incredible. Though, now that I think about it, I still remember what she said back then."
"What did she say?"
"I remember that she laughed when she showed us her magic and said that now that she mastered this magic, she was basically similar to a certain overprotective brother."