Chapter 96: Slave
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 96: Slave
Evangeline soared into the sky, her overflowing magic power fueling her as she shot forward. It was a speed so immense that it was difficult to even perceive something was coming, let alone react, but Linna immediately shouldered her rifle and pulled the trigger at Evangeline.
As befitting a witch who had lived for hundreds of years, her near-perfect marksmanship succeeded in aiming squarely at Evangeline.
Evangeline, who had been charging in a straight line, ignoring the incoming bullet with a sneer, suddenly spun and plummeted the moment it touched her body.
“…This is.”
“Shit, it’s a flying witch! Run!”
As the two witches fled, Evangeline stood still and wiped away the stream of blood flowing down her cheek.
A bullet that had pierced through the magic surrounding her body. It was something akin to Yohan’s magic nullification…
‘No, that’s not it.’
If Yohan’s magic nullification made magic ‘as if it never existed,’ the bullet that just flew in had ‘erased’ her magic before reaching her.
Not nullification, but annihilation. Realizing the identity of the witch who had invaded her forest, Evangeline smirked and began to walk slowly.
The magic of annihilation, true to its name, possessed far superior offensive power than Yohan’s nullification… but its versatility was no match for his.
“Approaching carelessly would be dangerous.”
Her opponent was a bee with a sharp stinger. A creature she could swat dead in a single blow, but one that could also hurt her if she let her guard down.
Evangeline thought of hundreds of ways to capture the Witch of Annihilation and slowly began to corner her.
This forest was her domain; there was nowhere to run.
“Hey, run faster!”
“Hah, haah… Haaah…!”
Linna gripped Linne’s hand, pulling her along as they fled the forest with all their might. If they had overflowing magic like other witches, they would have flown away just as Evangeline had done earlier. But perhaps because they were born twins, they possessed only about half the magic power of other witches.
Furthermore, annihilation and creation were types of magic ill-suited for flight. At least, it wasn’t their specialty.
“Gasp, pant—!”
The snow-covered midwinter mountain was draining their stamina in real-time. This was dangerous.
“She’s coming—!”
Sensing the magic from afar, Linna immediately threw herself and Linne to the ground. Along with the feeling of cold snow blanketing their bodies, a powerful wave of energy brushed past their backs.
A magic cannon, an attack any witch could use by simply blasting out magic power. Because it was such a basic technique, it served only to forcefully remind them of the gap in power between them and their opponent.
The witch of this forest was no ordinary witch. She wasn’t someone they could defeat by charging in recklessly, but an opponent they should have meticulously planned for before attacking…
─Are you done running?
“Eek—!”
The voice echoed from all directions. Even though they had seen Evangeline’s position from the flash of the magic cannon, it was a trick designed to make them wonder if she was somewhere else.
Linna realized they were being hunted. It was only natural. This forest was that witch’s territory, and they were hunters who had invaded without proper preparation.
An unprepared hunter becomes the prey.
“Damn it, Linne! Do it!”
“…But.”
“No buts! We’re dead either way, so what’s the difference!”
With those words, Linna immediately kissed Linne. A dense exchange of magic power followed. Pulling away, Linna wiped her mouth in annoyance, stumbled slightly, and leaned against Linne.
“You really… have to… do it right…”
“—Yes.”
Linne, now infused with the magic of both twin witches, became a whole witch for that moment. As a counterpart to Linna, who possessed the magic of annihilation, Linne, who wielded the magic of creation, thought of an object that could break through their current predicament.
There was no need to imagine it in detail. As long as she had a desired outcome, the magic of creation would automatically create the most suitable object to meet that condition.
And so, what was created was a war weapon even larger than the Fenrir they had defeated earlier.
A magic golem that flew through the sky, unleashing a torrent of bullets and all sorts of magic.
It was an MTB (Magical Titan Bot).
“This is…?”
Linne gasped in awe, looking at the MTB that had taken her inside and soared into the sky. Normally, it was something that existed only as a blueprint, lacking the infrastructure to be built, but the magic of creation had made imagination a reality.
Aboard the MTB, Linne felt a surge of confidence that she could defeat anyone. Anyone would feel such confidence aboard this golem, which was comparable to a giant robot.
Linne turned the cannon toward Evangeline, and in the next instant, was sliced in half and fell to the ground.
“Huh…?”
“What is this toy?”
Evangeline, who had leisurely arrived beneath the MTB and swung the blade of her hand, tilted her head in confusion as she watched the machine get cut apart without any resistance.
“Why are you the one using magic?”
“Ah, ahh…”
“The amount of magic power… Aha, I see. Since her magic didn’t work on me earlier, she must have poured all her magic into you, right?”
Instantly grasping their situation, Evangeline chuckled and grabbed Linne by the hair.
“How foolish. Her magic was more threatening than yours. Why on earth did you make this choice?”
“Let… let me gooo…”
“Hm? How about you answer my question first? I’m the type who can’t stand foolishness.”
From Evangeline’s perspective, their choice felt utterly stupid. The flexibility to switch to a completely different type of magic after a single missed attack was commendable.
However, changing the type of magic before fully understanding the opponent was the wrong choice. For Evangeline, the magic of annihilation was far more annoying than the magic of creation.
If the two had worked together organically to attack her, she might have been in danger too… but that didn’t happen.
“You’re not going to answer? Fine, okay. Well, in that case, I’ll just finish this up quickly and go back for some tea…”
Snip─.
As she was about to stand up while holding Linne, Evangeline saw her own hand fall to the ground. Before the pain could even register, rage surged through her.
The severed hand wore the ring Yohan had given her, and as it hit the ground, blood, dirt, and snow sullied it.
Swoosh- Evangeline turned her expressionless face toward Linna, the one who had cut her hand. She was grinning, as if she had accomplished something great.
“Heh, heh— Thanks. For telling me something useful…”
“You, fucking, bitch.”
“Ugh—Oof! Gack, gack—!”
Evangeline relentlessly swung her severed wrist at the smiling Linna. As Linna’s face was mangled, Evangeline’s own wrist began to shatter, but she paid it no mind.
She felt no pain from her severed wrist, no humiliation at being bested by these immature witches. Only a primal rage.
Rage toward the insolent sow who had dirtied the ring Yohan gave her.
She unleashed her fury.
“S-stop! You’ll kill her…!”
“I’m hitting her to kill her. What’s the problem?”
“Please, stop…!”
Linne clung to Evangeline’s body, trying to block the blows with her own.
“I’ll do anything, anything… so please save Linna…”
“…Hrmm.”
Hearing her words, Evangeline stopped beating Linna, let go of her collar, and picked up her severed hand from the ground.
She roughly pressed it against the stump of her wrist to reattach it, then frowned and wiggled her fingers. It seemed that using her severed wrist as a club hadn’t been a good idea; her fingers wouldn’t move properly.
Seeing Evangeline’s hand trembling, Linne quickly spoke up.
“Your hand…! I can fix your hand, too…!”
“Oh? Is that so…”
“So please…”
Evangeline hummed, pretending to think it over. A witch’s technique to gain the upper hand in a negotiation. In truth, she had long since abandoned any thought of killing them.
The sin of dirtying the ring had already been paid for with a thorough beating, and any further venting of her anger would be a pointless waste of emotion.
If she could work them like slaves, keeping them alive was the more rational choice. And she was, of course, a rational witch.
“Alright. On the condition that you fix my hand.”
After her proffered hand was healed, Evangeline grinned and put the ring back on. Then, she returned to the cabin with the unconscious Linna and the trembling Linne in tow.
Click. The door opened, and my shivering teacher appeared. She trembled from the sudden change in temperature and began to whine.
“Ugh… Yohan—can you get me some tea?”
“Yes, Teacher.”
Having been waiting for her, I quickly poured boiled water to make tea and served it to her.
My teacher took the scalding hot tea, warming her hands for a moment with a giggle.
“Oh, Teacher. Your hands look a bit cleaner.”
“O-oh? R-really? Maybe they got dry because it’s cold outside…?”
“There’s no way the cold would make your hands prettier…”
Caressing her hands, my teacher subtly glanced toward the door. I followed her gaze, then quickly ran to the door to check outside.
“Ah, no—!”
As I heard my teacher’s protest, I threw open the door and found two witches sitting outside, shivering.
A long-haired witch whose hands and face were bright red from the cold, and a short-haired witch whose face was covered in blood.
“…Teacher?”
“W-what is it?”
“Who are these people?”
“My slaves…?”
I couldn’t comprehend it—not only had she brought back fellow witches to enslave them, but she had also left them outside in the middle of winter in such an injured state. I brought the two of them inside the cabin.
Two more witches.
The worst-case scenario I had imagined had come to pass.