I told you I’d make it here, Morgana.
At long last, I had done it. I had reached the very top of the Witch Queen’s Spire. The very symbol of her rule over the blasted lands beneath.
Lightning raged from the dark and angry clouds above. The violet wind howled in my ears, reminding me that I had reached the point of no return. Even if I turned back, there would only be legions of witches and their foul familiars waiting for me, ready to tear me apart for the havoc I had wreaked from forcing my way here.
In front of me was a large walkway surrounded by numerous standing torches on both sides. Armored humanoid witchspawn guarded the way forward, my presence drawing their attention immediately. Though they shuffled toward me slightly, they dared not attack without a direct order from their master.
She sat upon her massive throne at the opposite end of the walkway, gazing at me with a frosty and unimpressed stare. Her hair was long and darker than the night. Glimmers of light sparkled within the depths of those silky strands, reflecting the flashing lights of the storm that raged above us. Her eyes were the color of freshly spilled blood, twin crimson orbs piercing deep into my soul. Though I sensed no emotion within them other than mild amusement, I understood very well that the being I now faced was a creature who had lived for an almost unfathomable period of time.
The Witch Queen had seen many things and experienced much more than I could even imagine. In fact, this was probably the closest I would ever come to facing down a god. But even so, I advanced undaunted. Deity or not, I would drive this blessed blade through that black heart of hers and prove Morgana wrong once and for all. At last, I would show her that I am capable of slaying the Witch Queen and maybe, just maybe, she would finally look my way.
I dashed forward, and the Witch Queen responded with a mere wave of her hand, signaling the humanoid witchspawn to descend upon me. They did so with fervor, accelerating towards me without the slightest shred of hesitation.
But it was useless. They were stronger than the rest of their ilk, but I had dealt with their kind more than enough as I forced my way up this damned Spire. With a single wave of my sword, I cleaved through more than half of them, the searing flames of the sun bursting forth at my command. Another swing saw the rest of them cut down, and I continued my advance toward the Witch Queen.
“Kaslavna.” The Witch Queen addressed one of her subjects who stood below her throne. “Leave and fly north.”
“But Your Majesty! We—Ghk!”
The Witch Queen hadn’t appeared to do anything, but Kaslavna was silenced immediately and rather painfully, the witch clutching her throat and staggering backwards. Immediately, the witch named Kaslavna dropped to her knees, bowing her head before being levitated into the air and launched northward without being able to utter a single word of protest.
What...? Did she just...?
My eyes widened at the sight of the Witch Queen so effortlessly handling her subordinates. She may have been the strongest of all witches, but those surrounding her were by no means weak. For the first time since I began climbing the Spire, I felt a seed of doubt begin to worm its way into my heart.
Caliburn vibrated in my palm as if to reassure me that victory was but a foregone conclusion. Even so, I couldn’t fully believe in myself to emerge victorious despite the confidence I had held seconds ago. That single display of power had truly battered my morale. I had expected her to be powerful, but never had I seen such raw magical power.
In fact, merely attempting to gauge how much mana she possessed made my head swim, and I could feel the mana density in the air grow tremendously with every step I took toward her. In short, she was a monster beyond monsters. An existence so unfathomable that I likely would have already collapsed if not for Caliburn’s protective abilities.
Again, the Witch Queen merely waved her hand, not even deigning to address me nor acknowledge my presence. The three remaining witches below her throne responded to her signal immediately, beginning to cast complex spells that I couldn’t even guess the nature of. Whatever they were doing, it was bad and I needed to stop it as soon as I could.
Caliburn responded to my will, lending me its immense power as I catapulted myself across the room and toward the nearest witch. Incredibly, she had already finished casting her spell even as the edge of my blade pressed against her neck.
My cut was clean, beheading her in an instant, but her spell completed before I had taken her life, causing an immense eruption of umbral energy to burst forth from her fingertips and envelop me.
“Eighth Ember: Flare!” I raised Caliburn above my head, my Chivalric Arts producing an omni-directional burst of golden light and flame from my body, eradicating the spreading darkness around me all at once. Amplified by the power of my Sigil, Cross Radiance, not even the Witch Queen’s trusted coven would be able to stand in my way.
The only problem is the Witch Queen herself... But she doesn’t seem keen on interrupting the battle. It was strange, honestly. She could likely finish me off while her coven kept me distracted, but for some reason, the only thing she was doing was lazing around on her throne as she watched me fight my way toward her.
Perhaps she felt like she needn’t intervene if I couldn’t even handle her coven. After all, it wasn’t as if they were witches I could take lightly.
The moment I finished dispersing the shroud of umbral energy that had been cast upon me, I was forced to dive to the side. One of the two surviving witches had summoned a massive avian witchspawn while I was preoccupied, and the airborne beast had dove straight at my head in an attempt to pluck it straight off my body.
It swooped past me now, but I ignored it, throwing myself directly at the caster with Caliburn leading the way. The legendary sword glowed and pulsed with a bright light as I neared the witch with prodigious speed, spearing her through the chest in a single stroke.
She coughed black blood, but continued feeding mana to her flying witchspawn, attempting to direct the creature one more time before Caliburn sapped the last of her life.
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“...You’ll never defeat Her Majesty.” She snarled.
I didn’t answer her. Instead, I flicked my wrist upward, splitting her in half. As quickly as her life ended, so too did the massive witchspawn’s talons disappear from behind my head, a mere second away from closing around my too-fragile skull.
There was only one witch left to deal with before the Witch Queen herself, but I doubted I would be able to finish her off as quickly as I had the other two. Or at least, that was what I’d thought.
I approached her cautiously instead of dashing toward her, noticing that the familiar glow of foul witchcraft was absent from her fingertips.
Whatever spell she was casting had long been finished, yet there was nothing strange about her. No witchspawn army or champion hiding in her shadow, no powerful artifact crafted through her twisted magics. Nothing.
Through Caliburn, my golden eyes had been gifted the ability to see through all falsehoods and detect hidden magical traps that witches often employed. I saw none around this witch, nor could I sense any wards upon her person.
“...Have you accepted your death?”
The witch cackled, fixing me with a wild smile in response. “Oh, no. It is you who shall die here, foolish hunter. You may slay us, but our souls are bound to Her Majesty. So long as she lives, so shall we!”
“Then I’ll just have to kill her too.”
She didn’t even resist as I finished her off with a single clean cut, divorcing her head from her body. It fell to the ground with an audible thump, the rest of her corpse following soon after. I turned, facing my final foe.
“...So you’ve finally reached me.” The Witch Queen said. She sounded bored and completely disinterested, yet her eyes remained solidly fixed on mine. “I must applaud your efforts, though it’s a shame.”
“A shame? That I’m coming to kill you, you mean?” I smirked, attempting to muster every ounce of confidence and courage that I had while I ascended the steps to her throne.
The Witch Queen shook her head. “A shame that you’ve come alone. Perhaps if there had been someone by your side, you might have emerged victorious. But as you are now... You cannot possibly hope to win.”
“Is that so?” I laughed. Surely she was simply bluffing.
The Witch Queen shrugged, staring up at me even as I completed my journey to her throne. Though I was standing directly in front of her with my sword poised and ready to rid the world of her presence once and for all, she didn’t raise a single finger to stop me.
I thrust my blade down, feeling a great sense of relief and comfort in my heart as my long journey finally came to an end. The Paladins and witch hunters who had followed me into battle had all perished during the journey, but at last I would be able to honor their noble sacrifices by bringing this accursed era to a close.
But...
“...W-What the hell is this?” My hand trembled, the tip of Caliburn halted just before it could pierce the Witch Queen’s heart. Despite the fervent protests of my blade, I simply couldn’t bring myself to finish the job.
“Come on, Soleil.” The figure beneath me stared upwards with almost pleading eyes. “It’s simple, isn’t it? All you have to do is plunge your sword through my heart and all of this will be over.”
“I... I can’t...” I stammered, stumbling back. I had expected the Witch Queen to put up a fight. To wield terrible abilities beyond my comprehension, forcing me to draw out every possible fiber of strength in my body to overcome her overwhelming power. Instead, I was faced with... this.
Sitting on the throne in front of me was not the black-haired, crimson-eyed Witch Queen. It was Morgana in all her glorious beauty. She looked at me with a coy smile and seductive eyes that I had never seen before. I knew it wasn’t really her, but even so, I was unable to even lift a finger against her. Not while she was giving me that look.
“You can’t?” The Witch Queen asked, seemingly amused. “But you’ve stabbed and cut at me so many times, haven’t you? What’s one more final thrust to finish the job?”
Of course, she was referring to Morgana. I had never so much as issued a single attack against the Witch Queen. I never had the chance.
“That... was different. The circumstances were different and—” I stopped, forcibly reminding myself that the woman standing before me was not Morgana despite how identical she looked and sounded. After all, she never showed up to fight with me in the end.
“And?” The Witch Queen prompted with Morgana’s irresistible visage and well-modulated voice. “You can talk to me, Soleil. It is the job of a ruler to listen to the woes of her subjects, is it not?”
“I am not your subject.” I tried to speak firmly, but my voice wavered.
“But you are, Soleil.” The Witch Queen smiled. “You know that better than anyone else. You are a slave to your desires, forever chasing a love that will never be fulfilled.”
“S-Shut up! Shut up!” I roared, my arms shaking as I found a new surge of resolve within me. I raised my sword once more, but still I hesitated to deliver the final blow against the seemingly defenseless Witch Queen. “You don’t know anything! You know nothing about me!”
“But what if I told you I could fulfill that love of yours, Soleil?” The Witch Queen asked, her voice low and sultry as she whispered her words into my ear. I was stunned by her sudden advance, unable to thrust my sword into her chest yet again.
This was the kind of thing I had dreamed Morgana would do to me, yet I knew it could never happen outside of my dreams.
Is this... a dream, then? Yes. That’s what it is. Just... a dream. A haze overtook my mind. I could feel Caliburn’s insistence to resist as it vibrated violently in my hands, but I ignored it. I’d fought so long and hard for Morgana’s love, and I’d bulldozed my way to the top of the Spire just to prove my devotion and resolve to her.
Why couldn’t she understand?
If she wasn’t here with me, then I might as well indulge in this fanciful dream of mine. The Witch Queen was at my mercy anyway. With Caliburn in my hands, I could free myself from her wiles at any moment. Even Aluvsha would forgive me for being selfish just this once.
“...I could stay in this form for as long as you wished, Soleil.” The Witch Queen continued. She lifted her hand, tracing a finger from my lips down to my navel. “We could fulfill every fantasy you’ve ever dreamed of.”
I should have said no. Instead, I said “What do I need to do?”
The Witch Queen placed her hand on my shoulder, slowly sliding it down my arm until she reached my still-clenched hand. She didn’t need to speak. I understood what I needed to do. But even so... Could I really do this? Could I turn my back on the one thing I’d sworn to do? Could I forsake the sacrifices of all those who followed me into this damned Spire?
Caliburn clattered to the ground, and I found that I could.
“...Morgana,” I murmured, fully allowing myself to be absorbed into this delusional dream.
“Yes. I’m here, Soleil.” Morgana smiled at me, pulling me into her gentle yet strong embrace. This was the warmth I’d always dreamed of.
It was the only thing I had ever wanted. To show you this unshakeable love of mine for you, Morgana... A love so strong that I couldn’t even raise my sword against a mere facsimile of you. This only happened because you didn’t come with me.
So please... Forgive me just this once.
When our exchange of passion concluded, I pulled myself free from “your” grasp. “Your” breath was labored, just like mine. I wanted to whisper sweet nothings to the “you” who laid beside me. But instead, I spoke the one word that I should have uttered at the start.
“...Caliburn.”