Fiery light marred by the amethyst light of darkness covered the Witch of Fire's body.

Blazing flames filled with anguish and despair rose from her feet as the previously emotionless face of her gained some life within them.

She moved her hands and caught the swords moving towards her torso and neck.

The witch grinned menacingly as she caught the swords with her hands.

"No way!" Noah and Ciel exclaimed in unison, their eyes widening in disbelief.

The intense heat emanating from her grip began to wrap around their weapons, even Ciel's icy sword started to melt under the pressure. Noah and Ciel could feel the searing pain through their hands.

But before they could make their next move, the Witch of Fire pushed them back with a surge of power from intense heat emanating from her hands, sending them both flying backward.

Her grin widened, a sinister gleam in her amethyst eyes.

Before Noah and Ciel could prepare, the Witch stomped her foot forward.

—Stomp of Fury

The impact cracked the charred ground as intense fiery flames spread out from it, filled with the Witch's fury.

Perhaps, it's deeply rooted from the situation she was in before her corruption.

However, Noah was in no way of knowing that.

The flames surged like a tidal wave, threatening to consume everything in their path.

Noah and Ciel barely had time to react, throwing themselves to the side to avoid being engulfed.

The heat was unbearable, the very air around them seemed to shimmer with the intensity.

They hit the ground and rolled to their feet, barely dodging another burst of flames.

Just as Noah got up with the help of his sword, he noticed the hazy white aura wrapped around his sword.

"What is this!?" He exclaimed.

He pondered what's this for.

However, He doesn't have any idea what the hazy white aura is, except for one thing.

'My sword...... feels more sharper than before.'

'Maybe with this—'

Before Noah could think anymore. The heat emanating from the flames seemed to trigger something in their mind.

It was their hate.

The hate was slowly destroying their composure. However, for people like Ciel who embrace her hated and Noah who suppressed and hid it, it was bearable.

Without a moment's hesitation, they charged forward, closing the distance with the Witch of Fire.

Noah lunged first, his sword glowing with a hazy white aura.

He aimed a precise strike at her side, but she twisted her body, deflecting his blade with a burst of flames effortlessly.

He spun around, using the momentum to launch another attack, but she was already a step ahead, her fiery tendrils lashing out to block him.

Ciel, moving with the grace of her Frost-Time state, darted in from the other side.

Her icy sword which already had been fixed, clashed with the Witch's fiery tendrils, causing steam to rise in the air.

She pressed on, her movements a blur as she tried to find an opening.

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But the Witch was relentless.

—Dress of retribution

Her flames wrapped and swirled around her body like a piece of garment, increasing her speed and strength by a mile.

—Blades of Lamentations

With her pale, delicate arms covered in flames, she slashes it towards Ciel like a blade.

Ciel, in turn, covered her arms and sword in another layer of ice and parried the Witch's hands.

The ice and fire clashed, causing shockwaves and impact to ripple between them.

As the battle between them raged on, the ground beneath them continued to crack and splinter under the intense clash between cold and hot.

The very air around seemed to vibrate with the sheer power of their clash.

Cold and Hot air emanating from their clash swept like a wave around them.

Noah, who was merely at the peak of level 1, couldn't handle the impact and was sent skidding backward.

Gritting his teeth, Noah forced himself to stand, the hazy white aura around his sword intensifying like a star a blaze.

As he watched Ciel the Witch clashing intensely to the point that there was only the blur of ice and fire, Noah felt small.

'The Hell..... they're too strong....'

'Maybe......I don't deserve—'

"Aww!!! F*ck!!!"

Before Noah finishes lamenting, a piece of ice cube hits his head.

"What the hell are you dawdling there for!? Out of the way!!!" Ciel's sharp voice cut through the chaos.

Noah snapped out of his self-pity, the sting of the ice rock and Ciel's words jolted him back to reality.

"Can't you let me finish being emotional here!?"

he shouted back, frustration evident in his voice.

"So what? You're still weaker than me," Ciel retorted, her eyes never leaving the Witch of Fire.

"This b*tch..." Noah muttered under his breath, feeling a mix of irritation.

However, despite the irritation and frustration shown in his face, what in his mind was completely different.

'Haha, She's right. Why the hell I'm thinking of quitting when I just stood here.'

'However, it's not my character to lament this easily. What the hell happened.' A question arose in his mind.

But instead of pondering over it, he snapped himself back by slapping himself.

'I might not know who you are, but everyone deserves salvation.'

'Even if you're a Fallen.'

He clenched his sword tighter, and what remains in his mind was to free the Fallen from the corruption of the seed of darkness.

He's fully aware that he wasn't strong enough to give the Witch the salvation she deserved.

Even Ciel, powerful as she was, was having a hard time keeping the Witch in check.

However, what mattered was the small difference he could make, the contribution that would help end the Witch's spirit's suffering.

"Wooooo......."

Taking a deep breath, Noah charged into the fray.

He moved swiftly, the hazy white aura around his swords moves wildly like a flame.

[Cut]

Holding his sword up, he slashes it towards the back of the Witch's neck while she's occupied.

However, instead of cutting through her, it only glazes the Witch's hardened skin.

Even with this ability that should be able to make the user cut anything was rendered useless against absolute power

Dammit!" Noah cursed, frustration and determination mixing in his voice.

The Witch of Fire turned her attention briefly to Noah, a sinister smile playing on her lips.

Noah paid no heed to this and just continued slashing his sword towards the Witch.

As if it were nothing, the Witch continued to counter the both of them.

Their clash raged on, with the Witch effortlessly deflecting Noah's sword strike and Ciel icy attacks head-on.

The air around them sizzled and cracked with the intense heat of the flames and the biting cold of Ciel's ice.

Noah's sword, though enveloped in a hazy white aura, could barely deal a massive damage.

He pushed forward with every ounce of strength he had, but each strike was met with impenetrable wall of her fiery power.

Ciel, using her Frost-Time state, were moving too fast to that point that there's only a blur.

She's slashing and thrusting her icy sword with incredible speed.

Yet, despite her best efforts, the Witch of Fire counters her every attack effortlessly with the same speed. Maybe even faster than her.

With a swift and brutal backhand, the Witch sent Noah flying backward.

Thud!

The Flames in her arms burned through Noah's clothes, burning his flesh and crashing to the scorched ground, head first with a thud.

His vision blurred as blood flowed from the wound on his head, seeping on his eyes and covering his eyes.

The excruciating pain course through his body like a wildfire, with each heartbeat of his heart sending a fresh waves of agony crashing through him as the fierce flames burns and searing it's way through every fiber of his body.

Ciel fared no better.

A fireball, explodes near her faces.

Ciel managed to anticipate it, making her able to block it in time with her ice.

However, the aftermath of the explosion burns through her flesh.

She gritted her teeth against the pain, but the Witch was relentless.

She followed with a flurry of punches and kicks, which Ciel managed to block.

Thanks to her eyes, her Ego Weapon.

The Witch's punches and kicks might be chaotic, unrefined and amateurish for someone like Ciel who trained for martial art, but the power it contained was not a joke.

Making Ciel, every time she blocked the Witch's attack began to severely weaken.

The tide of the fight began to slowly turn to the Witch's favor, as her attacks became more vicious.

A powerful kick from the Witch sent Ciel sprawling besides Noah, blood trickling from a wound on her forehead.

Noah, attempting to rise, found himself knock back by a searing waves of flames.

As they lay on the ground, the Witch of Fire slowly walked towards them.

Each step causes the flames and heat around them to intensify, along with the changes in her appearance.

Because they're focused on ending the Witch as fast as possible, they didn't notice that she's about to step into the next stage.

Seeing this, Noah couldn't help but glace to Ciel, who was beside him.

"We're f*cked......."