CA – Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Lisa remained in Reese’s room for nearly an hour before emerging. Her face was stained with tears, but the deathly aura around her had dissipated considerably, and a rare hint of joy even touched her features. After leaving the room, she hurried away.
Mario caught a glimpse of a worn piece of parchment clutched in Lisa’s hand and frowned. He walked through the open door and approached Reese from behind. After a moment of thought, he asked, “Why did you give her the spell?”
Mario had been by Reese’s side since she was just a bishop, so he knew the depths of her hatred for Lisa.
Lisa had only returned to Eden ten years ago to escape the power struggles of the Central Church. Before that, she had been one of Cambecus’s trusted aides. Relying on Cambecus’s backing, she had schemed against Reese, both openly and secretly, for years. However, she never succeeded in suppressing Reese; instead, she inadvertently gave Reese the opportunities she needed to climb to her current position.
The water in the cup had grown cold. Reese set up the exquisite teapot again, using light magic to heat it. She focused on brewing the tea, answering Mario’s question casually, “Why not? It’s not like it’s anything important.”
As she spoke, she sifted through the fresh roses on the table. But they had been there for some time, and their petals were no longer vibrant. Reese frowned and, with some dissatisfaction, picked one out.
Seeing that Reese was not displeased by the topic, Mario continued, “I thought you hated her.”
Reese plucked a petal and dropped it into the teapot. She glanced up at Mario and said flatly, “Is there any cleric who came from Eden who doesn’t hate Lisa?”
“Do you know why I never killed Lisa back then?” After rising to power, Reese had taken the opportunity to eliminate many of her former enemies, but she had left Lisa untouched.
It wasn’t because she feared Cambecus. By then, Lisa was far from the center of power and had even lost her position as bishop. If Reese had truly wanted to act against her, she could have found a way.
But Reese hadn’t done so, because she didn’t want Lisa to die too soon.
“If she had died long ago, wouldn’t I have missed seeing her in such pain and despair today?” Reese lowered her gaze, carefully comparing the petals and placing the freshest ones into the pot. She spoke nonchalantly, “That would have been a true pity.”
Those who push others into the abyss will eventually be devoured by darkness themselves.
Reese had once thought the “darkness” that would consume Lisa would be abandonment by Cambecus, the man she had always relied on. But reality had turned out to be far more interesting.
The water in the teapot began to boil, and the scent of roses filled the room.
Mario reached out, lifted the teapot, and leaned over slightly to fill the cup in front of Reese. He said in a low voice, “Wouldn’t it have been better not to give her the spell?”
To let her watch her own daughter die in despair.
“It would have been very good, but Grace seems to value that little knight of hers.” Reese picked up the cup but didn’t drink, merely holding it in her hands. She said softly, “Exchanging one Lisa for an innocent little knight—isn’t that a rather perfect ending?”
“I thought you disliked such perfect endings.”
Reese let out a low laugh. “I don’t,” she said gently. In the past, she would never have bothered with such things. Seeing Lisa suffer until death was what she wanted.
“Perhaps I was suddenly reminded of the many people who have died by my hand,” Reese said with a self-deprecating smile. “So I’ve started to fear that one day, karma will come for Monica.”
She was actually starting to go soft. How amusing.
But even if she had “gone soft” and given Lisa the spell, whether the little knight’s life could be saved remained an unknown.
Because The Inquisition would not let them go.
If Lisa was still foolishly believing that Cambecus would protect them, she was bound to be disappointed. Reese knew the man; right now, he surely wished Lisa and Karen would both disappear and stop causing him trouble.
Lisa had the spell, but she still needed time to master it. Karen’s breathing grew weaker by the day, and eventually, she was kept alive only by healing magic. Although Tang Qiu doubted whether the forbidden technique would work, Lisa insisted it was the only way to save Karen. It would be a shame for the vibrant, blonde-haired girl to die like this, so Tang Qiu indulged Lisa’s final struggle, assigning ten clerics to cast healing spells on Karen around the clock.
After the Holy See’s defeat at Rose Manor, the entire Anersai City fell into the hands of the Vampires. Not only that, but Black Witches also began to operate within the Gosse Empire. The pleas for aid sent daily by the empire’s knights nearly buried the desks at the church.
This left Tang Qiu with no time to discuss the matter of the Divine Ruins with Reese.
The appearance of Black Witches meant the deaths of a large number of civilians. In a small city far from the capital and near Edry, the entire population was wiped out overnight. By the time Tang Qiu arrived with her people, the foul stench of blood had already spread to the neighboring towns.
The clerics of the Gosse Church had all sustained injuries, minor or severe, at Rose Manor. The ones following Tang Qiu now were Reese’s subordinates.
Mario was extremely adept at handling such matters. As soon as he entered the small city, he directed the priests and knights behind him to check for survivors.
Monica stood beside Tang Qiu, her face pale from the thick smell of blood. A thought occurred to her, and she said in a heavy tone, “Black Witches have appeared in the Bill Empire as well.”
She paused before adding, “Just a few days before I left.”
Tang Qiu glanced at her and frowned. “Did they also slaughter an entire city like this?”
They walked forward along the street, their silver boots stained with blood as they trod on the blood-blackened ground.
Monica recalled, “In the Bill Empire, they massacred several neighboring towns. The bodies were piled up in one place, and strangely, there were two white-robed witches among the corpses.”
She had always found the presence of those two witches’ bodies suspicious and had wanted to investigate further, but Reese had forced her to leave.
A flicker of understanding crossed Tang Qiu’s eyes. They had just reached the center of the small city, where a large pile of already-decaying corpses was amassed. Among them were two witches in white robes. Their faces were as pale as paper from blood loss, their white robes stained almost completely red. They lay on the ground, no longer breathing.
Tang Qiu pointed at the white-robed witches on the ground and asked Monica, “Was this what you saw back then?”
Monica followed her finger and looked, her expression turning grave. “It’s very similar.”
Very similar… Tang Qiu nodded, her tone calm. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Black Witches performing a blood sacrifice.”
She and Lucille had not only seen Black Witches performing a blood sacrifice but had also witnessed a strange dark array.
It seemed the Black Witches’ target wasn’t just the Gosse Empire. She wondered if other countries were experiencing the same situation as Gosse and Bill.
A dark array that required self-sacrifice to complete, and one that likely involved all the nations of the Statu Continent. It seemed the Black Witches were plotting something big this time.
Tang Qiu searched the vicinity for the dark array. Monica joined her for a while but found nothing. She eventually gave up and went to help Mario check for survivors.
Not long after Monica left, a girl with brown hair and gray eyes emerged from a nearby alley. She wore a heavy cloak and had her arms wrapped around herself. Even under the bright sun, she looked cold.
Tang Qiu glanced up at her and tossed her a Light Ball to warm her hands.
Erin caught the Light Ball and walked over to Tang Qiu. The little gray furball was sleeping in the hood of her cloak. She looked around and frowned. “…The dark aura here is so heavy.”
Tang Qiu paused, puzzled. “Why don’t I feel it?” She could sense the dark aura, but it wasn’t as heavy as Erin described.
The dark presence she sensed was faint, almost negligible.
Erin thought for a moment, then stomped on the soft ground. “Maybe because I’m a Black Witch?” she said, uncertain.
“I can feel a very strong dark presence beneath my feet.”
Tang Qiu looked down. She recalled the dark array that had inexplicably sunk into the ground and vanished last time. She described it in detail to Erin, then said, “I can take you to the place where that array disappeared.”
After hearing Tang Qiu’s description, Erin looked somewhat lost. She didn’t know of any dark array with that kind of ability. After a moment, she walked past the corpses on the ground to the two sacrificed white-robed witches.
Looking down at them closely, Erin murmured, “I know this person.” She pointed to the older of the two witches.
“The Anderson witches always liked to be alone. I was very clingy as a child, so I was especially unpopular. Only the Garcia witches were willing to talk to me.” Erin’s emotions were much calmer now when she spoke of her childhood. “This witch once gave me a bone staff.”
When she was little, she used to play with Vera and Laurel. An older witch gifting a bone staff to a younger one was a symbol of blessing. Erin had never received one from an Anderson witch, but thanks to Vera, she had received many from the Garcia witches.
Erin had always felt that the Garcia witches were the most like ordinary humans, as long as one avoided matters related to the Dark God.
Because once the Dark God was involved, they became even more insane than the Anderson witches.
The Anderson witches, though mad, at least retained a shred of reason. But when the Garcia witches went mad, there was no reason to be found. They were fanatical and paranoid in their devotion to the Dark God.
Erin tore her gaze away from the witch’s corpse and rubbed her nose, saying dejectedly, “These white-robed witches hold a high status in the Garcia Family. For even them to be sacrificed means the Garcia Family is already completely confident they can summon the Dark God.”
Tang Qiu asked, not quite understanding, “Where did they get such confidence?”
Had the Dark God given them some kind of sign? Was the Dark God truly planning to descend upon the Statu Continent?
Erin explained, “They probably divined it through witchcraft.”
Thousands of years ago, witches primarily studied witchcraft. Although they sometimes needed corpses as materials for their spells, they weren’t as bloodthirsty as they were now.
Witchcraft covered many aspects, the most profound of which was divination. Now, witchcraft was no longer valued, and very few people studied divination. As far as Erin knew, the only Black Witches who had achieved mastery in divination, aside from the reclusive Morgan Family, were the red-robed witches of the Garcia Family.
For the Garcia Family to be slaughtering humans and carving formations so openly across the Statu Continent meant they must have divined something.
Erin thought of the Dark Key that had fallen into Vera’s hands, and a sense of unease grew in her heart.
Tang Qiu noticed the apprehension in Erin’s expression and frowned. “You can’t break this array?”
Erin shook her head in disappointment. “This isn’t the array I researched back then.”
“The Garcia Family’s plan will surely involve many innocent people. It would be great if the Holy See could send a Cardinal to drive them from the continent.”
Although Erin was a Black Witch, she didn’t want to see the Statu Continent shrouded in darkness.
Unfortunately, Tang Qiu could only shake her head helplessly at Erin’s suggestion. She sighed. “A Divine Ruins is about to appear in the Mentos Desert. The Holy See will be focused on that for the time being.”
Divine Ruins… Erin looked blank. “What’s a Divine Ruins?”
“The Earth Mother’s palace?” Tang Qiu shrugged. “I’m not too sure myself. If you’re curious, you can come with me to find Reese tonight.”
“Is Reese that Red-robed Archbishop?”
When Tang Qiu nodded, Erin instinctively shrank back and waved her hands. “Never mind, never mind. It’s fine if you just tell me after you find out.”
It was better for a weak little Black Witch like her to keep a low profile.
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