Chapter 155: Empress
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 155: Empress
Fear is contagious.
There was no exception, not even for the special forces soldiers who seemed to have had their capacity for fear surgically removed.
A monster that was fine even when riddled with a rain of bullets. A being that stood up nonchalantly even with a hole in its head.
It was only natural, in a way, to feel fear before such an incomprehensible monster.
“Fi-fire—!”
The members of the Anti-Witch Special Forces unleashed a merciless barrage of special silver bullets. They were anti-magic rounds, consecrated by high-ranking priests to break a witch's magic, but unfortunately, these bullets could not kill Hekaterina.
After all, it was something that even the anti-witch agents known as Holy Knights had failed to accomplish for hundreds of years.
─rK, Uoooooooo-!!
The monster's arm swept through the soldiers. The suits the soldiers wore absorbed most of the impact, so there were no instant fatalities, but… not a single one who was so much as grazed by the blow could get back up.
In an instant, nearly half the unit was wiped out, prompting the helicopter watching from above to provide covering fire.
“All units, equip weapons—!”
“Equip weapons!”
Realizing that guns alone wouldn't be enough, the soldiers drew weapons like swords and axes from their packs. As they channeled power into them, stored divine power began to flow along the blades.
At the same time, their suits began to whir loudly. With a sonic boom that shattered the sound barrier, the soldiers appeared before Hekaterina and began to tear into her.
─Kuk, ku-!
But Hekaterina did not die.
The divine-powered cold weapons the soldiers swung so fiercely were also a poor match for Hekaterina.
That was the kind of witch Hekaterina was. The natural enemy of Holy Knights. The monstrous shell she wore was nothing more than a husk manifested by magic.
Her true body was the core, protected by several layers. Unless their blades could cleave through meters of flesh, muscle, and bone to reach that core—Hekaterina could not be killed.
─Gurrrrr……!
In the end, Hekaterina succeeded in felling all the soldiers. Perhaps she had retained her reason even after transforming into a monster, for thankfully, no one was dead.
Having neutralized all the soldiers and even the helicopter, Hekaterina decided to see the face of the one who had attacked her, shattering the visor of the soldier at the very front.
“...Huh?”
Seeing the red hair spilling out from under the helmet, Yohan let out a gasp of shock. Hekaterina also saw the face of the soldier in her grasp and carefully let go.
“...Elesis?”
The future, decades from now.
A Holy Knight who should have long since grown old and died was standing right there.
“Wha-what...?”
Hearing the name, the red-haired soldier looked at Yohan's group in bewilderment.
“...How do you know my grandmother's name?”
“...Grandmother?”
“Yes, my grandmother.”
Hearing the soldier's words, Yohan carefully pressed his lips together. It seemed they had a long talk ahead of them.
After their injuries were treated, the soldiers were stripped of their weapons and confined to a room in the cabin.
They had despaired at the fact that they, who had trained for years to capture witches, were neutralized so easily, but they seemed to accept it somewhat after hearing there were nearly a dozen witches here.
Among the captured prisoners, Elesis's granddaughter, who introduced herself as Aris, stepped forward as their representative.
“So... you're the witches who disappeared long ago?”
“You know about us?”
“...The seven witches said to have helped the first emperor establish the nation... But there's one more of you.”
“Ah, that's Adelheid. She was originally the empire's witch.”
“Ah, Lady Adelheid!?”
Recognizing Adelheid, Aris shot to her feet in surprise and quickly saluted. Adelheid nodded awkwardly, accepting the salute.
Only then realizing she was standing before legends from the distant past, Aris spoke in an extremely polite tone.
“Th-then, Your Ladyship and everyone, why are you here...?”
“We were thrown decades into the future by an accident during a magic experiment.”
“A magic... experiment.”
Even in this age of advanced science, it seemed magic was still entirely the domain of witches, as Aris looked at the group with a slightly bewildered expression.
After a moment of contemplation, she seemed to realize this was not a matter for her to decide and spoke cautiously.
“Um, I don't believe this is something I can make a judgment on. Would it be alright if I contacted headquarters...?”
“Fine. Go ahead.”
“Thank you!”
After getting her confiscated equipment back, Aris attempted to contact headquarters. It wasn't long before she connected with HQ, and she began relaying the story she had just heard.
The person on the other end of the radio reacted as if they couldn't believe what they were hearing, but they didn't completely dismiss the report from their field agent.
[─We'll send someone who can assess the situation. Stand by.]
“Yes, understood.”
Yohan didn't know who was coming, but seeing Aris's relief at the promise of support, he realized he could now have a more personal conversation with her.
“Um, you said your name was Aris.”
“...Yes, that's right.”
“Elesis's granddaughter.”
“Yes. Did you know my grandmother?”
“Is she well?”
“She passed away a few years ago.”
“Ah...”
Hearing that she was dead, the reality of being in the future began to sink in. Right, I see. She's gone.
Yohan looked at her for a moment with a bitter expression before asking something he was curious about.
“─Who did Elesis marry?”
“...My grandmother was single her whole life.”
“Single? But you said you're her granddaughter.”
“Ah, she was an unmarried mother. She never told me who my grandfather was.”
“I see.”
In that moment, Yohan felt a sense of relief at Aris's words, followed by a wave of self-loathing. He had taken her virginity, sure, but to feel relieved that she had lived her entire life without a husband?
That was truly an inhuman thought.
While Yohan was feeling disgusted with himself, Aris scratched her cheek and spoke up.
“Um, actually—I did pester her when I was little and managed to hear my grandfather's name...”
“Really? Who is it?”
“Yohan.”
At those words, Yohan froze. And he wasn't the only one—the other witches who overheard were startled and stared intently at Yohan.
While Aris tilted her head, unable to understand what was happening, a loud BOOM—! echoed from outside the cabin.
“Wh-what was that!?”
Thinking a shell might have fallen, Yohan looked outside to see a long rocket stuck deep in the cabin's garden.
Clank— A woman kicked open the rocket's door and jumped out. The woman who emerged from the rocket groaned in pain as she began to vigorously dust herself off.
While the group looked at her face with expressions of welcome, Makina, now out of the rocket, casually walked into the cabin.
“Yo! Long time no see!”
As if she'd been forcibly socialized, Makina offered a deadpan greeting and began to scan the faces of the witches inside the cabin.
Her assessment finished in an instant, she cleared her throat and nodded.
“Evangeline, Margaret, Hekaterina, Beatrice, Regina, Linna, Linne, Adelheid.”
After pointing to each witch and calling out their names to confirm her memories were correct, she pointed to the one she hadn't named yet and said.
“And Yohan.”
“─H-huh?”
“That's everyone, right?”
While Aris panicked at hearing Yohan's name, Yohan himself cautiously nodded.
Seeing this, Makina pulled something that looked like a smartphone from her pocket and immediately made a call.
“Hey, it's me. I confirmed it. It's them. Uh-huh. Yeah.”
Click— Makina ended the call, spread her arms wide, and beamed.
“Welcome—! To my empire!”
“...My?”
“Oh? You didn't know?”
As she said this, Makina tapped her eye. It began to whir like a camera lens.
Realizing the person before him was a mechanical doll, a chill ran down Yohan's spine. An android this sophisticated? Nothing like this existed even on Earth.
“The Witch of Machinery, Makina Type 33.”
Having introduced herself, Type 33 then spoke the name of the current emperor.
“Welcome to the empire ruled by the great Empress Makina—! O, witches!”
If there existed a being that was immortal, eternally beautiful, and terrifyingly powerful—it would be strange if they didn't become the ruler.
He had certainly thought as much.
But still, even so...
‘She really became the empress?’
The future, decades from now, was already in the grasp of a witch.