“Dianna Lyn, A witch”

With those words leaving the woman’s mouth, everything began to fall into place, her shining silver hair which rivals even the most beautiful moonlight, and her commanding cyan eyes that boast of unmatched authority.

If the girl could find one word to describe it, ‘ethereal’ would be a perfect fit, seeing as it stays true to her alien-like beauty, almost as if she didn’t belong to this world of mortals.

‘Diana Lynn… sounds familiar….’

Wrecking her mind to fill the gaps, the girl pondered for a moment while trying hard to remember, only for her gaze to end up back where it started.

It was a shame, she wanted to keep looking as beauty inevitably pleases the eyes, much less a once-in-a-lifetime kind like the ‘witch’ in front of her, she would’ve been stuck in a daze if it weren’t for the horrifying screech that brought her back to her senses.

“Tsk, you give them an inch; they take a mile”

The witch spat out in irritation, her words full of spite even though countless monsters began to approach, their numbers far too many to count with the naked eye, making it feel as if the whole forest came out to play.

The girl began to shake, her legs trembled from the cold shiver just by taking a glance at those horrifying amalgamations, locking her body frozen in place on what she believed would soon be her grave.

“Welcome to Kells child, what your kind unanimously refers to as hell”

In contrast to her terrified expression, the witch simply scoffs and rummages through her pocket, pulling out a pocket watch without a care in the world, watching the hands tick before turning to face the frightened girl.

“If you don’t wish to die, then stay put”

[Minor seal, 2nd commandment]

Despite the witch’s words, the girl became overrun with fear when one of the creatures decided to pounce on her, causing her to close her eyes and surrender to impending fate.

Yes…all she did was blink, yet once she reopened her eyes, flowers of crimson blossomed everywhere and engulfed her surroundings, leaving nothing but a putrid, foul stench in its wake.

It didn’t take the girl long to notice that those fireworks of blood belonged to the monsters that once swarmed her, not even a trace of their shadow could be found, all that remained was a forest of red mist.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

With just a mere thought, the witch erased them all without repercussions, not even fazed at the miracle she made and only showing visible frustration on her face.

“Not exactly how they go by the books…”

The witch sighed and put back her pocket watch, seemingly disappointed by the subpar display of such a bland scenario, her face clearly exclaiming a ‘how boring’ expression.

“still alive child?”

As the witch glanced back at her, the girl forced her knees to stop shaking and did her hardest to stand up.

“yes… thank you”

“Not very chatty huh?”

Stifling out a yawn, the witch stretched out her hand and brought it close to her ears, tapping it slightly as if making a phone call gesture.

“Yeah I got it, whatever…huh? Fine, stop your nagging otherwise I'll never be done with it”

Reluctantly, the witch turned back her gaze to the young girl and sighed with an annoyed expression, twirling her hair between her fingers and rubbing her temples in frustration.

“Planning to stand there all day?”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll escort you back to the border, make haste before I change my mind”

The witch placed her hands on one of the trees and channeled mana through the circuits of her forearm, leading the tree to emit a faint glow that led to the border.

“I… apologize, but I can’t return to the human settlement, sorry for wasting your time, miss witch…”

“What? Are you right in the head child? Might I remind you that you just barely escaped death”

“I’m aware… I'd rather choose this hell than go back, at least in here I have a better chance of surviving”

“Now listen here-”

Just as the witch was about to refute the young girl’s stubbornness, a call demanded her attention and made her halt her statement, she picked up the transmission with the same gesture as before and clicked her tongue angrily.

“What now? I still have important matters-”

The witch complained heavily, she furrowed her brows with tired eyes while answering the call with angry huffs, until her outburst was cut short and she suddenly went quiet.

“Child… do you have a name?”

“No… only a number, 454E44”

“...”

The witch went silent, she gazed at the meek child’s desperate eyes, those very same eyes that she once had, ones that were full of despair, resentment, fear but also hope.

“It’s okay miss Witch, you don’t have to worry about a ‘defect’ like me, just letting me stay in this forest is all I ask”

Dianna Lyn flinched, her lips quivered at the word ‘defect’, she didn’t know if it was due to pity or the fact that they were kindred souls, but she found herself leading the kid back to her hut before she knew it.

Silently, the child watched the witch’s back as they trod the forest, taking in the magnificent and equally horrifying view the two of them passed by while pondering what was on the witch’s mind.

But the child didn’t understand, perhaps she’ll never realize how much that message shook the witch in front of her.

Because right now… only one thought dominated Dianna Lyn’s mind, her head was in shambles while thinking about Blanca’s message.

Mistress wait, that child is not normal, after running a few bio scans on her I’ve found her whole body to be genetically modified.

Particularly with runes engraved at her heart and brain, which meant she was like you, a human weapon meant to imitate the witch Dianna Lyn.

The only difference being that she was manufactured independently from the tree, resulting in an inferior defect.

[In other words… a pseudo-witch]