Chapter 8: Blood, Fire, and the Witch

Elsewhere—

A wave of dizziness hit Althea and Phyllis, and they found themselves landing in the underground district of the kingdom’s inner city.
“We’re… pretty lucky, huh…” Phyllis’s eyes dimmed, and she slumped to the ground, drained.

‘Why is it always the Mistmoon Cult?’
‘Why can’t I ever do anything?’
All she could do was watch the people who mattered slip away.

“Get up, Phyllis.” Althea removed her mask, her face devoid of any smile beneath the cloak.
“Among the kingdom’s powerhouses, who’s known to stay in the underground city?”

“You’re… the princess?” Phyllis’s eyes widened, stunned that the fugitive princess had been by her side all along.

But with danger looming, she chose to trust the so-called “usurper” of the rumors.
“The Great Sage. He runs a shop here, buying rare materials.”

“Everett, huh? Lead the way. He’ll help us.” Althea spoke with certainty.

That great mage owed her a favor from years ago, when she’d helped him. He’d promised, ‘Your Highness, if you’re ever in trouble, come to me. I’ll do everything in my power to help, no matter when or where.’

Boom—
A powerful surge of magic erupted from the tunnel entrance, its intensity palpable even from a distance.

“And… why is there a witch’s aura?”
What was happening over there?

…

Minutes earlier—

Clang—
The clash of a blade against a bone spike rang out sharply.

Tyr barely fended off the relentless attacks, all while worrying about the girl holding off other Mistmoon Cultists nearby.
“Lady Tina, I didn’t expect you to fake being magicless. You hid it well.”

“If that’s a compliment, I’ll take it. Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”
Tina snapped her fingers, and an invisible force swept through the air.

Most of the cultists didn’t even react before they were slapped into walls or smashed into the ground, reduced to pulp.
“Hey, that’s a bit much, don’t you think?” the white-haired man called from above.

“What kind of magic is that, miss? Care to share?”

“Sure, if you survive.”
As she spoke, a shadow loomed over the man.

The air compressed rapidly, accompanied by a whistling gust. Without warning, the man was crushed by an unseen force, bursting into a bloody mess.
“Dead?”

Tina frowned, but the sensation felt real.
“Lady Tina! He’s not that easy to kill! As long as his blood isn’t burned out, he won’t die!”

“What? Burn his blood?”

Tina didn’t quite get it, but she soon understood.
Flames rose from where the man had burst apart, spreading to encircle the battlefield.

The boundary became a hellscape, bathed in eerie purple fire.
Dead cultists withered visibly in the flames, reduced to skeletons, their bones breaking apart and floating into the air.

“This is bad.”
Watching the man reform from blood droplets in the air, Tina realized just how troublesome he was.

This guy could use the blood and bones of the dead to empower himself. As long as there was blood on the field, he was nearly immortal.
“Figured me out, huh, miss?”

The man grinned. “Allow me to introduce myself—Uri Paterson, one of the Mistmoon Cult’s archbishops. A pleasure.
Miss, care to join us? You’re strong, with… unique magic we don’t understand. You’d speed up our goals, and the rewards would be generous.”

“Tina, don’t listen to him!” Tyr roared, but the frowning man engulfed him in a tongue of flame, knocking him out.

“Don’t hurt him, or we have nothing to talk about.”

“Fine, fine.” Uri snapped his fingers, and Tyr was released.

But even those few seconds of burning left Tyr’s skin severely blistered, in desperate need of help.
“So, miss, what’s your answer?”

“Before I consider joining, what does the Mistmoon Cult want?” Tina’s expression was calm.

“Good question! Our goal is to resurrect the empire’s witch. For that, we need lots of living sacrifices, magic crystals, and the most crucial piece—the Witch’s Heart.
Problem is, after she died, her heart vanished. Even our magic compass can’t track it.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“Hahaha!” Uri laughed loudly. “The benefits? The witch holds the world’s greatest power—magic stronger than any legendary spell.
Oh, but don’t think we’re relying on her. Once she’s revived, we’ve got a prison ready to trap her and carve up her power for ourselves.”

“That’s an evil plan…” Tina sighed.

‘And this witch… could it be connected to me?’
“Miss, you’re not thinking of leaking this, are you? I’m telling you because you’ve got two choices: join us or die.
Pick one.”

“What if… I don’t like either option?” Tina met his gaze.

“Oh? You think that mystery magic of yours can beat me?” Uri sneered.

“If killing you once doesn’t work, I’ll do it again and again until you’ve got no blood left. No problem, right?”

“Heh, bold! Let’s see if you melt into sludge first or if I burn out.”

With that, waves of fire surged from all directions. Standing in the center, even staying upright took immense effort.
Tina’s sweat evaporated before it could even drip.

She summoned four invisible hands—her current limit.
Controlling so many at once drained her mental strength heavily.

While pushing back wave after wave of flames, Tina kept up her attacks on Uri.
But after that first hit, he was ready.

“Miss, you can barely protect yourself. Think you can hit me with those slow attacks? Or that I can’t block them?”

Her giant hands were stopped by a searing shield of blood and bone, sizzling on contact.
“Surrender. This level of power’s nowhere near enough.”

The girl in the firestorm slowed her attacks. Within ten minutes, her strikes on Uri nearly stopped, her strength focused on self-preservation.
A blood-stained bone spike shot from Uri’s hand, aimed at Tina’s head.

“Enhanced by blood magic, this’ll end your pathetic struggle, miss.”

Swish—
Tina tilted her head, but the sound of splattering blood still rang out.

“Hit? Not dead?” A strange unease crept into Uri’s heart.

The finishing blow landed, but the girl only lowered her head.
From Uri’s view, blood trickled down the left side of her face—she seemed injured.

But when she looked up, his relief turned to growing dread.
Something was wrong. The blood wasn’t from a wound—it was flowing from her left eye.

“?”
A drop landed on his hand.

“Sweat? No… rain.”
The blood on the ground floated upward, turning into a crimson rain.

As Uri saw the figure standing beside the girl in the blood rain, a rare fear gripped him.
“What… is that monster?”