Chapter 485
Chapter 485
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 485
Chapter Title: The Location Point Crisis
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Location Point.
The vanguard outpost established by Duke Tiphereth in the present world for subjugating homunculi and public enemies.
At the time of its initial founding, there had been fewer than ten branches worldwide combined. But after long years of negotiations with officials from various nations, branches sprang up everywhere, steadily expanding their influence.
This was due to the intertwined interests of witches and the political and financial elites who wielded power across the world.
From the perspective of the high-ranking figures in the present world...
The atrocities of homunculi and public enemies were disasters that even advanced science and technology couldn't handle.
The mere existence of Location Points served to block the catastrophes caused by homunculi and the rampages of public enemies, functioning like an all-purpose problem-solving agency.
As such, politicians from every nation had granted massive benefits and extralegal privileges to establish and maintain these outposts.
For witches—especially exiles—the existence of Location Points was most welcome.
Unlike Gehenna, the present world lacked clear laws protecting witches.
This meant they could face attacks from public enemies or suddenly turned exiles at any moment, breeding constant unease.
No matter how superhuman witches might be, they needed an organization for sharing information and guaranteeing personal safety.
Thus, while Location Points had originally been set up as forward bases for subjugation operations, in modern times they served multifaceted roles: information hubs, safe havens for rest, research labs, and more.
In a sense, they were mini-Gehennas.
This granted them tacit authority as neutral zones in the present world, allowing branches in major cities across Eastern Europe, the African continent, and South America—regions dense with public enemies.
In other words, an attack on a Location Point was as shocking as assaulting an embassy.
"......"
Sua Branch Chief furrowed her brow as she scanned the report received via fax.
It contained only extremely concise sentences.
The Dar es Salaam branch in Tanzania had been invaded, suffered heavy losses, and withdrawn.
Just days earlier, the Addis Ababa branch in Ethiopia had been hit and collapsed. This meant the two largest branches in East Africa had fallen.
"Is Kether Duke... really not going to make a move...?"
Kether had long served as the cornerstone suppressing witch society.
Even after rumors spread that she could no longer act, the public enemies had remained quiet—until recently, when they began showing their fangs.
Various incidents worldwide corroborated that the rumors were true.
The public enemies had first struck at the thorn in their side: the Location Points, in an organized assault.
Public enemies made up less than 5% of all witches.
Yet they were aggregates of madness and obsession, sparing no means or methods in pursuit of magic.
Even when Cliffort—composed of vicious exiles and public enemies—collapsed, these were the elite of evil who survived Duke Tiphereth's vengeful dance after her return as a vengeful spirit.
Not even same-hierarchy witches could compare to their combat prowess.
And now, they had joined hands for collective action.
In less than a week, Mexico City, Cairo, Lima, Santiago, St. Petersburg, and nine other branches totaling twelve had been annihilated.
South American branches, which had somehow continued operating amid rampant public enemy activity, collapsed entirely, turning the continent into a lawless zone.
The public enemies' business operations embedded in underground economies worldwide also sparked aggressive expansions and clashes.
This chaos forced exiles into hiding, and with fewer subjugations, disasters presumed caused by homunculi exploded in number.
In a word: turbulent times.
Like the era when petty kingdoms proliferated wildly after an absolute ruler's death, the public enemies—suppressed by Kether—were now unleashing a backlash in unison.
The biggest problem was that witches inside Gehenna and exiles outside showed no proper response.
While advanced nations provided billions in annual aid to Gehenna and Location Points, the underdeveloped Third World and public enemy-infested South America offered little.
In short, they weren't fingers worth biting hard for, so everyone crossed their arms and watched, thinking, "Give them what they want."
Few were willing to taste blood defending a small table against starving fighting dogs.
It was a truly complacent mindset.
The branch chiefs, who at least sensed the crisis's gravity, were running around subjugating threats under Eloa Tiphereth's lead—but they were outnumbered.
"How vexing..."
It laid bare just how many unearned benefits witches had enjoyed.
Not only public enemies, but even "old witches" were on the move.
Sua Branch Chief wondered if they could properly respond when these foes, content with the fringes for now, gained momentum and targeted major branches.
Her worries were already mounting.
2.
Her former lover and partner of mixed emotions, Bianca Bellili.
She was dead.
Pure-blood witch Clech Asmode accepted the cruel reality.
With the loss of her backer, over 10,000 organization members, and even the boss, Alcoriza Familia had completely collapsed.
If Clech had paid a little attention to mergers and acquisitions, absorbing Bianca's remaining assets would have been easy.
But Clech did not.
"I'll have my revenge..."
What she wanted was revenge—nothing but revenge.
Extracting fitting retribution from the vermin who had snuffed out her beloved lover's life.
Rumors said Bianca had clashed with a male witch in her final moments.
Some even claimed she died at the hands of a man named Shin Si-woo.
But at least among public enemies, no one took those rumors at face value.
"There's no way Bianca died to some pathetic nobody."
Who was the Witch of Desire?
22nd Hierarchy, the undefeated guardian who had never lost once in her long life.
The idea that she fell to a mere man in a single duel was nothing short of a bad joke.
Judging there must be some unknown inside story, Clech scoured Bianca's workshops.
Publicly known sites had already been looted by other witches.
However, securing escape routes and safe houses for emergencies was basic public enemy know-how.
Clech knew several of Bianca's secret workshop locations.
After three days of searching, Clech found promising leads.
A place of hot memories where they had once exchanged passionate love now tore at her heart like a rusted blade. Meanwhile, a drawer in what seemed to be Bianca's final workshop held a collection of her investigative materials.
It was true that Bianca had targeted a male witch.
Good information.
It gave her a grasp on the incident's circumstances.
The odds of Bianca falling to a single male witch were zero.
Which meant Duke Tiphereth—who hadn't fallen for Bianca's bait—had subjugated her.
"Ah..."
Clech felt rage toward the beast, mingled with profound despair.
No matter the foe,
even if it meant staking her life and liquidating all assets, she was confident she could seek revenge.
But Duke Tiphereth was the exception.
Clech vividly remembered Duke Tiphereth beating three great public enemies like dogs in midsummer, forty years ago.
Clech herself was called a pure-blood witch, standing at the tail end of the 21st Hierarchy, but against that mad vengeful spirit, no odds stood a chance.
"The target doesn't have to be her personally."
Clech's red eyes scanned the documents again.
According to Bianca's notes, Shin Si-woo and Duke Tiphereth shared an extremely close relationship.
He was her disciple—and possibly her lover, the notes speculated.
What if the duke, who had wandered the present world after losing her beloved disciple, now lost her cherished man as well?
Sharing even a fraction of this pain would make for excellent revenge.
"In that case..."
But here arose a problem.
Shin Si-woo appeared to stay only within Gehenna.
Clech's autonomic magic was far from stealthy.
Infiltrating Gehenna to meet him might be feasible, but the moment she tried to kill him, swift intervention was certain.
That Bianca—far more cautious and meticulous than Clech—had gone to the trouble of luring him out proved it.
Two witches somewhat acquainted with Bianca had pledged aid to Clech.
In exchange for minor gestures of goodwill, they would help with her revenge.
But Clech didn't trust them.
The "Witch of the Crucible" and the "Sword Witch" were no better than vultures circling for scraps of flesh.
Show the slightest opening, and they'd stab her in the back.
What Clech recalled was the "Deep Sea Witch, Shalith Nukelavi"—who had covenanted with her predecessor.
One of the old witches rumored to have been purged by Kether Duke.
Yet she lived on, having built her kingdom in the ocean depths.
Thanks to her predecessor Asmode disguising Shalith's death at great risk, some 300 years ago.
Whether Kether hadn't noticed,
or had turned a blind eye to Shalith choosing a life cut off from the world, Clech didn't know.
One clear fact: the Deep Sea Witch still lived.
And she had covenanted with the predecessor under Nukelavi's name.
A vow of "one life for one life."
Clech immediately set course for the Arctic Ocean.