Save the Witch (3)
The moment my past life's name was called, two questions flashed through my mind. The first was how in the world this witch knew my name.
So it really is Katarina.
I'd suspected as much, and here was the confirmation. Katarina, the mage who'd fought alongside me in the resistance army in my previous life, had fallen victim to the demons' brainwashing. The life-support devices plastered all over her body were forcibly keeping her flesh—little more than a corpse at this point—alive. For a human body that would normally crumble after a century or so to endure five hundred years... just how powerful was that magitech?
This isn't the time to dwell on that.
My second question was just as pressing. Even if this witch was Katarina, the resistance mage from my past life, how had she recognized me? Neither Elfin nor Yustina had spotted me at first glance. Elfin figured it out from my swordplay, but that was because she was a swordsman of her caliber—something a mage like Katarina shouldn't have managed.
Yet Katarina's voice felt like it had peered straight into my soul.
[Yeah, that's right. I could hear all about what kind of person you are.]
[What? Wait, hold on. Hear?]
[How to put it... When your ability connected us, it felt like your memories flowed into me. Reincarnation, huh? Amazing... Looks like you've been through a lot too.]
[Feels kinda exposed all of a sudden...]
Cheongsimsul was originally meant to let you hear the opponent's thoughts. It amplified hearing to the point where your senses transcended their natural limits, picking up even what shouldn't be heard. But this was my first time using it in real combat—or maybe my skill was still lacking—because something had clearly gone wrong.
So Cheongsimsul didn't just let me hear her mind... it linked us directly, letting my memories leak into her?
Once I grasped that, I felt a small relief. This wasn't a fight against a true enemy, at least. My techniques, my strengths, my weaknesses—they'd all be exposed to her now. It wasn't just me reading minds anymore.
But luckily, I was facing an old comrade, Katarina. I had no idea how she'd ended up this way, but she was a mage from the past who'd been captured by demons, brainwashed, and forced to live for five hundred years. With her external and internal personas split like this, it wasn't an issue at all. The one chatting with me through my thoughts was the real Katarina; the one fighting me out here was the brainwashed fake.
[Hey, heads up. The witch is about to launch icicles.]
[The witch?]
[Yeah, I've decided to call the me fighting you out there the witch. I'm Katarina in here, and that scary old hag outside is the witch. What do you think?]
[...Easy enough to keep straight.]
As she said, the blizzard whipped up by the witch still raged in reality. Standing at its center, enduring the cold while facing her down, and holding a telepathic conversation via Cheongsimsul at the same time—it was no easy feat. Katarina was in a state where her inner and outer selves were completely at odds. She could be chatting amiably with me one moment and mercilessly hurling dozens of icicles and ice bombs the next without batting an eye.
I have to stay focused on the fight even while we talk.
But in the next instant, a few words from Katarina drastically lowered the difficulty of battling the witch. She was straight-up telling me the witch's next moves.
[Anyway, two icicles are coming at the center of your right side soon, and one at your ankle. Dodge them.]
That was Cheongsimsul's true purpose. Reading the enemy's thoughts in combat to predict their actions. You could hear their target and prepare a block, or catch a sudden scheme and counter first. It had turned into the bizarre setup where one persona was spoiling the other's attack patterns for me, but the essence was the same.
[Announcing it ahead of time? What a polite witch.]
I grumbled playfully, and Katarina scowled.
[I told you, I'm Katarina, and the one outside is the witch!]
True to her word, the witch conjured icicles right away. Snowflakes and ice shards from the blizzard fused into them, hurtling faster and sharper than before, gunning for my life. My normal reflexes might've barely dodged or parried them, but with the warning, I sidestepped with ease. It felt like glimpsing the future.
[I'll keep telling you what attacks are coming. But don't let your guard down—stay sharp.]
[We've worked together before. You know I don't slack off.]
[Heh heh, true enough. Speaking of, that aura magic enhancing your senses... pretty impressive. It's got its flaws, but I'd love to help refine it if we had time.]
[No time? What do you mean?]
I answered while aiming for the witch's choker in reality. Just like how slicing the cape hadn't dropped the barrier, cutting the choker alone might not snap Katarina out of it.
[I'm gonna die soon. Not physically—mentally.]
[...What?]
I gaped, mouth frozen wider than if the blizzard had hit me. We'd just reunited after five hundred years—how could she drop dead now? I'd been inwardly thrilled to reconnect not just with Elfin, Liwin, and Yustina, but with this unexpected tie from my past life. Sudden mental death? It made no sense.
[A normal human mind can't endure five hundred years, Dane.]
[But you're still...]
[I've been hanging on by a thread. The moment I resisted the brainwashing just now and called out for you to save me, it hit rock bottom.]
[Then why not stay quiet and hold out a bit longer!]
I shouted, and Katarina gave an awkward laugh by way of explanation.
[Haha, if I hadn't intermittently weakened the magic's power, you and Charlotte would've been goners already. Hey, I'm a mage who's lived over five hundred years, you know.]
That made sense.
[...So that's why the spells started off manageable but got fiercer—the witch's influence was growing as yours weakened.]
[Exactly. Anyway, even if my persona vanishes completely, the life-support devices will keep my body intact. But then you'd be facing the real 'witch,' obsessed solely with killing you and Charlotte.]
If we waited even a little longer, Katarina's true self would die out entirely. As she'd said, no human mind could survive five hundred years. Even if I severed the brainwashing choker, she'd likely end up a vegetable, body alive but mind gone. And if I failed to cut it before her mind fully died, I'd be up against a five-hundred-year veteran witch hell-bent on our deaths.
[But... you asked me to save you.]
[Yeah, you can save me.]
[By cutting the choker? But even then, your mind dies, leaving your body a living shell. Same difference.]
[True. But Dane, don't you think five hundred years is an absurdly long life for an ordinary human?]
[Well...]
Only then did I understand what Katarina meant. She wasn't asking me to save the evil witch by restoring her to her original self. What she truly wanted was peaceful, complete rest. For her body and soul to enter eternal slumber together.
[Kill me, Dane.]
[...You mean that?]
[Yeah. Call it fate. Dying at the hands of a comrade's reincarnation from five hundred years ago... It might sound selfish coming from someone who has to kill her old ally, but...]
[Fate my ass. Why the sudden talk of dying? You're still...]
[A lot happened in the five hundred years without you, but sadly, no time to tell it all. One thing's certain, though—every day was hell.]
Katarina smiled sadly, then beamed.
[Death is the only thing that can make me happy now, Dane. Please end this hell.]
I was lost. My thoughts wouldn't settle. Killing a comrade from five hundred years ago with my own hands? It was too much—for me, and even more for her. There had to be some way to restore her, let her live a normal, happy life. Yustina the dragon or Elfin from the imperial shadows might know a miracle fix.
For now, I nodded, still aiming to sever just the magitech brainwashing choker without granting her request.
[Anyway, what the hell happened? Why are you covered in magitech gear, captured by demons? Was it those demon siblings?]
[No. Neither they nor I... we're tools. Tools wielded by the half-demon of the Demon Realm. Puppets to fulfill his goals.]
[...The half-demon of the Demon Realm?]
Her words instantly brought Liwin to mind. A half-demon born of human and demon. There were probably others besides her, but hearing "Demon Realm" made it all too confusing. Was that what Yustina meant when she said Liwin had changed?
[You're thinking of that girl Liwin, huh.]
[Yeah... Wait, how do you know her?]
[I told you, your memories flowed in. Don't worry, though—the half-demon controlling me isn't that Liwin girl. However...]
[However?]
I tilted my head, and Katarina gave a bitter smile.
[They're in a cooperative relationship. Helping each other toward different goals. Like an alliance. Your friends probably know more about this than I do.]
[Elfin or Yustina...]
Liwin's name, from the last place I'd expected. At least I could relax knowing she wasn't the mastermind sending the demon siblings and witch to kill me and the other students. But allying with that mastermind for her own ends? That sat wrong.
When I get out, I'll grill Elfin and Yustina for sure.
I steeled myself and reached out to Katarina again.
[So... what's this half-demon's goal, the one manipulating you? Why hide in the academy's back mountain? There must be a reason.]
I had mountains of questions, but no time for five hundred years' worth. Still, I needed to know why her of all people was ensnared and puppeted, and what he wanted.
[Our goal in sneaking into the academy's back mountain... Right, but first—ice bomb incoming at your head. Dodge.]
I sliced the ice bomb with a golden sword aura as she warned, then refocused on her words through Cheongsimsul.
[Even the demon siblings couldn't tell you this. It's info only I can give. Cheongsimsul's pretty great, huh.]
[Got it—spill it.]
[Ahaha, same impatient guy after five hundred years. Mages need patience to sync up. Anyway, the goal's simple: confirm and capture the target.]
[Capture?]
Capture made me think of beasts or people. I'd figured the demons came seeking some hidden academy treasure, so this was unexpected.
[Yeah, we heard the special class does most of its training there. When we learned the target was in that special class, the demon siblings and I waited in these mountains.]
[The target's in the special class?! One of us six is your target?]
[According to our intel, yes. Sorry, I don't know the source...]
[No, that's plenty.]
Listening closely, it seemed there was a mole inside Denebergen Academy. They'd gotten details on the special class roster and first lesson location—had to be. Too many suspects to narrow down, but vital info to relay to Yustina and Elfin once I escaped.
[Anyway, orders were to grab the target and kill the rest. If I'd shown my full power from the start, it would've been doable.]
[You think so?]
[Huh?]
Evidently, the one issuing orders from behind the demon siblings and Katarina didn't know everything. They were unaware that Elfin, the imperial shadow leader and elf genius, was now a professor, or that dragon chairwoman Yustina—Yuz—was enrolled as a student. If they knew, even Katarina wouldn't claim she could handle them both.
[So, who's the target? Which of our six? Or seven including the professor?]
[No, not the professor. One of the students. Definitely...]
Katarina's voice grew faint. Proof her persona was fading. Fearing it'd be fully swallowed by the 'witch' if we kept talking, I tensed up.
But she gritted her teeth and forced out words.
[For now, Dane, it's not you. Not the prince either. Not Konet or Yuz... no, Yustina.]
[Then, Gines?]
I thought of the red-haired cat beastkin summoner mage, my hand trembling. But Katarina named someone else.
[Charlotte.]
[...Charlotte?]
[Yeah, she was our target.]
Was this the same Charlotte? The maid who'd always served the Lehinar family. The genius girl who'd shown magical talent and followed me to Denebergen Academy. The one who'd saved my skin multiple times in the fight just now with her barriers. Never dreamed her name would come up here.
[...Why Charlotte?]
To my question, she uttered something incomprehensible.
[The last legacy of the old kingdom. A piece essential for the great revival of Drelin.]
...Drelin? The Drelin Kingdom I'd destroyed five hundred years ago?