Save the Witch (1)
What should I call her? Just 'witch'?
I glared at the witch of unknown identity, racking my brain. For starters, as long as she was wearing that Magitech brainwashing collar Elfin had mentioned, it was clear she was under the control of those demon siblings. But I had no idea if this witch had started getting manipulated around the academy and made her way here, or if she'd been traveling with the demon pair from the beginning.
That made sense—Elfin had never mentioned a 'third' person beyond the demon siblings.
She was probably with them the whole time.
The demons sneaking in was a confirmed fact, witnessed by others. This witch had just slipped past those witnesses' eyes. And the reason was the Magitech gear plastered all over her under that cloak. It didn't make sense that she'd been lugging that stuff from the Demon Realm all the way here just to hand it off to someone she'd brainwashed en route.
They probably brainwashed her long ago and fitted her with the gear back then.
If they had things like Magitech brainwashing collars or cloaks that hid identities, they were definitely tied to Magitech somehow. Maybe there was an even bigger force behind them. There could be some faction targeting something inside the academy, with the demon siblings and this witch as their subcontractors.
I'll figure it out once I survive this and get out.
With three of them total including the witch, if she'd come for me, the demon siblings must have gone after Elfin or Yustina. If I could just survive this witch, I trusted Elfin or Yustina would use their power to uncover the truth.
To do that, I needed to slice off her cloak first and call for help.
I'd love to just cut that collar off her neck.
There was a huge difference in difficulty between slashing a fluttering cloak and aiming for the neck. I'd gauged the enemy's skill to some extent and knew my own limits. So I'd stick to doing what I could, as best as I could.
Whoosh!
"Be careful, young master!"
In that instant, the witch fired seven icicles straight at me. I tried to dodge with Shadow Step like before or parry with my sword, but something felt off—instinctively wrong. The sharp icicles sliced through the air. I could almost feel the split airflow with my skin.
Just as I threw myself aside, a massive shield blocked my path.
Clang, ting… Crack!
It wasn't just any shield—it was Charlotte's mana shield. The magical barrier in front of me blocked the witch's icicles. It held fine against the first and second, but by the seventh, huge cracks spiderwebbed across it.
Still, the key point was that none touched my body.
"Charlotte, thanks!"
I gave her my thanks and prepared to counterattack. Before that, though, I was pretty shocked that her shield had stopped the witch's icicles. These ones were completely different from the first set. In speed, power—every aspect—they weren't even comparable.
The initial attack had felt like she was holding back, but this one was full throttle, intent on killing me for real. If I'd tried dodging or batting them away like before, I might've taken at least one hit. Charlotte's mana shield had basically saved my life.
Why the sudden change?
Was that pitiful "save me" act from earlier all fake? Had she played weak on purpose before revealing her true power?
...No, more likely she was resisting the collar as much as she could, holding back her full attack power to get that message to me.
Now, her eyes were completely clouded and dark—fully under the collar's control, it seemed.
"Ah, ahahahahaha! I'll freeze you all to death! The sword brat, the girl—everyone! Everyone into cookies!"
And her words were utter nonsense now. Convinced she'd completely lost it, I shifted my stance slightly. From here on, I'd have to go all-out every second.
I'm still inexperienced, but...
It had been a week since enrolling at Denebergen Academy. On the first day, realizing my abundant talent for aura magic, I'd devised ways to wield it suited to my constitution. Not for helping others, but as Professor Dane had suggested—casting it on myself to enhance my abilities.
Simple muscle or speed boosts would help plenty, but I had something uniquely suited to me.
"First, aura of stamina."
The trembling in my legs from the brief fight stopped. My frail body straightened, my dizzy head cleared. It felt like a sick patient's illness had vanished—but this only lasted until my mana ran dry.
But if aura magic ended at stamina recovery, my odds against the witch were still low. I'd just last longer, not fight better.
Crack!
"Kihihihihihi! I'll tear you to shreds!"
Right then, ice bombs detonated indiscriminately in the air. Tiny but razor-sharp ice shards scattered everywhere, hurtling to pierce skin and bone deep.
I strained my eyes to track them all, but no matter how good my vision, catching every microscopic particle was impossible. Charlotte, who'd just raised her shield, couldn't cast again instantly either.
Impossible, impossible, impossible... The world filled with that word.
But gathering mana and focusing it into both eyes turned the impossible-filled world suddenly slow, shifting to possible.
Visual Enhancement
In an instant, the world decelerated, almost freezing. Was this what Liwin felt casting time-stop magic on a specific area? I could see the trails of the fast-flying shards and their future paths.
All I had to do was step where they wouldn't hit, advancing slowly but surely, one foot at a time.
So this is the world seen with enhanced vision.
There were countless types of aura magic. Mages who learned both regular and aura magic often used auras to boost regular spells' firepower or reduce mana cost. They could enhance debuffs, summons, or mental magic too.
And of course, physical enhancements like strength, speed, or flexibility were possible.
What I'm confident in is sensory abilities, after all.
Sensory organs counted as physical too: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, balance, and more. I could enhance multiple senses with aura magic.
Since auras could shore up weaknesses or amplify strengths, why choose? Do both.
Stamina aura covers my weakness, sensory auras solidify my strength.
Stamina aura as baseline, and first up among senses: visual enhancement, no question.
I'd pushed smell and taste aside—they didn't appeal—so that left hearing, touch, and sight. Hearing and touch helped in battle plenty, but sight came first for reading, dodging, and blocking attacks.
And this was the result of a week's training.
'Slow world.'
Focusing my mind slowed everything in my vision. Was it because my reaction speed surged alongside? But seeing mana flows that were invisible before proved the enhancement worked.
For example... My magic knowledge was shallow, so I couldn't grasp it fully, but I could watch the witch's mana morph into spells and explode.
No need to understand. Just spot where it'd burst and evade.
I closed in on the witch with efficient Shadow Steps, not wasting a single footfall.
Slow, but steady.
In this slow world, even I moved slower. I was sprinting full-tilt, but it looked sluggish—like how the enemy seemed slow to me.
Charlotte's voice calling from behind and the witch's shrieks smeared into incomprehensibility. A side effect of over-enhancing sight and reactions.
I see it.
And the second benefit of visual enhancement emerged. First was the sight boost plus reaction surge; second was pure visual: x-ray vision.
Things unseen became visible. Mana flows invisible to normal warriors visualized like streams; shapes hidden by cloth pierced my sight.
That's... her body under the cloak?
Earlier, when the cloak had fluttered open, I'd glimpsed inside. Now, unopened, some barrier remained, yet I saw through.
This is still unrefined.
Practice had been tricky—too much penetration showed muscles and bones under skin, turning my stomach. I hadn't said it aloud, but once I accidentally pierced just clothes and silently apologized to Charlotte.
An ability that'd worried me, yet in real combat, it pierced just right.
All Magitech gear. Life support devices, that too, the collar's definitely the brainwashing one, cloak's Magitech too...
My Magitech knowledge was limited, but famous stuff like life support I recognized. The collar matched the one on that beast days ago. Cloak's principle escaped me, but Charlotte was right—complex innards screamed Magitech.
Life support devices.
Most concerning: all that gear stuck to her was life support. Basically, they were puppeteering a corpse-like human.
Who the hell were the demon siblings and their backers to do this?
But that wasn't for me to uncover now. I advanced lightly, step by step.
Walking without visual enhancement felt worlds apart. I saw her escape routes, her responses—all of it.
It'd be absurd not to slice the cloak in this perfect field of view.
Slash!
The witch's cloak split precisely in half.