Much to everyone’s surprise, the girl with curly orange hair was unbound and laughing.
The leader of the cultists performed the unique and sacred greeting of the Unholy Blasphemers before saying,
“I greet the Witch of Izakan.”
The other cultists lowered their heads in respect, so Arthur imitated them. Thanks to the mask covering his face, none saw the utter shock plastered all over it.
Perceptive as he was, he hadn’t noticed a thing and never expected Jan to be actually their leader.
‘Basically, she became his lover to learn of the plan? She earned his trust and love before purposely putting herself in ‘danger’ and exploiting his feelings to force him to spill the beans about the plan. Was her primary objective to learn about the secret helper?’
Everything was proceeding so fast that neither the parasite nor the captured students could keep up.
Jonathan was speechless as he stared at Jan with quivering lips.
“J-Jan… why?”
“Don’t take it personally, Johnny. You were an easy target for me.”
“W-what about our love? O…O-our conversations…”
“Snap out of it, Jonathan! She’s the damned Witch of Izakan.”
Arthur was totally in the dark, but it was clear that the title ‘Witch of Izakan’ was fairly notorious. One just had to look at Stella’s shaky body and Frey’s fearful face.
Even Verno was stupefied by this as he didn’t dare to stare back at the girl.
“Conversations? You mean about my secrets and my hobbies? All a lie, of course. The thing is, my dear Johnny, I wasn’t really attracted to you or remotely interested in loving you. However, I admit that the result of our brief and romantic meeting was better than I anticipated. Who would’ve thought you would love me so much!”
She giggled and patted her clothes before shifting her gaze to the cultist next to her. It was the man who had slapped her earlier.
Seeing the girl’s green eyes turn cold and fixate on him, the masked man shivered and bowed apologetically.
Fortunately for him, Jan merely snorted and walked away.
“To think Parmenas was in cahoots with you. I expected someone like Mullen or Gregory.” She glanced at the distressed and emotionally unstable Jonathan and asked,
“Did he join the Sun Alchemists? Or does he want the Alchemy Scripture?”
“You…you… how could you? Jan!”
Seeing his act like that, Jan sighed in disappointment and put on a long and oversized black cloak with a crimson oni head on its back.
“Why are people always like this? So surprised that they repeat the same words and can’t formulate coherent sentences. If you want to curse or hate me, then do it. No need for the stupid and pitiful act.”
Jonathan shouted outloud and tried to break free, but the man who questioned him earlier grabbed his head and smashed it to the ground. “Show respect to the Witch of Izakan.”
“Screw you! Aaah!”
“Your reaction is becoming excessive, Johnny. If it makes you feel better, I didn’t do it for amusement.”
As she spoke those words, Jan raised her right hand and snapped her fingers, causing the head of one of Verno’s subordinates to explode like a watermelon.
“Witch of Izakan, do you really want to do this? We’ve done nothing to you.”
“Ah! Pardon me!”
Jan smiled and walked closer to Verno. She extended her hand and caressed his cheek lovingly,
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“This is a warning. You, I’m not going to touch, but those useless bunch shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Warning for what?”
“The Alchemy Scripture is mine… and I don’t really like you people. You and your order are just a bunch of overzealous fanatics. Brainless monkeys.”
Surprisingly, Verno didn’t retort or lash out at her. He moved his face away and closed his eyes as the girl snapped her fingers again, causing two more heads to explode.
“Wait a moment, please!”
Only Feylord Lernon was left, but he didn’t keep silent.
“I’m willing to work for you. Don’t kill me.”
Feylord controlled his shaky body and spoke with a relatively composed voice, but his pale face was a clear indication of the fear swelling with him.
“I know some people and I’m ready to dedicate myself to you.”
“You fucking rat.” Spat Verno as he glared at the blond-haired noble.
“Why am I rat for trying to save my skin? It’s not like you were going to help.”
After retorting, he looked at the smiling orange-haired Witch and continued,
“A friend of mine is part of the Azakin Imperial Family. I can prove my usefulness if you give me a chance. Please.”
“It’s always so cute when people try to escape death by talking non-stop.”
“Please! I can really be a good servant!”
Alas, Jan didn’t seem interested in sparing him.
Feylord watched her raise her hand, seemingly about to snap her fingers. The dread and desperation made him sweat as he closed his eyes and shouted,
“Phoenix Feather!”
A couple of moments passed but Feylord’s head didn’t explode. When he tentatively opened his eyes, he saw Jan’s face closer than ever, though she wasn’t smiling.
“What did you say?”
“Phoenix Feather… there’s one in the academy’s vault.”
With an unusually serious face, the Witch studied his face before speaking,
“You’re lying, aren’t you?”
“No! I swear there’s a Phoenix Feather there.”
“Who told you?”
“Militant Inspector James.”
While tapping her index on her cheek, Jan contemplated for a bit before patting Feylord’s shoulder.
“Alright! I’ll take you in.”
Upon hearing her, Feylord was still in doubt. Only when his binds were undone did he breathe a sigh of relief and edge himself away from Verno, who was venomously glaring at him.
“You’re dead. You’re so fucking dead.”
“No, he’s not.” Jan looked at the cursing and erratic youth while threatening him with a chilling and murderous voice, “He’s one of mine now. Try touching him and see what happens.”
Arthur, possessing the body of one of the Unholy Blasphemers, was stuck in a dilemma. He was highly interested in this Witch of Izakan. Clearly, she was a high-ranking member of her organisation, someone who had a high probability of knowing some things about the Circle of Damnation.
However, he couldn’t gauge her strength, therefore hesitating on whether to make a move here and now or simply continue his act. There might not be another chance to strike her down, not because of the ambush opportunity but her status.
Now that her cover had been blown, she would most likely go into hiding and manipulate things from the shadows, which would make it infinitely harder to track her down.
Her abilities and overall prowess was yet to be determined, but it was apparent that she was not to be underestimated. Nevertheless, Arthur felt that he stood a chance were he to attack at the right time, though his goal was not to eliminate her but to kidnap her.
Obviously, that would make his identity known and those who would witness everything, specifically Verno and Jonathan, would be wary of the unknown and antagonistic variable. Still, Jan didn’t seem to be the easy-going type, so striking a bargain was a viable option.
Unlike Feylord, Arthur didn’t have any valuable information that he could provide, and there was no right way to go about becoming a ‘servant’ of hers.
‘Think, Arthur… think! How do I approach this conundrum? Risk it or just leave? What would Chris do?’
“Alright, I’ve got what I wanted. Take them aw-”
“Aah!”
Jan’s voice was cut off by a cry of pain as one of the cultists fell to the ground.
Everyone looked at the woman, whose clothes were shredded, revealing bloody holes on her chest.
Jan frowned and swept her gaze across everyone. The first thought that crossed her mind was the presence of an unknown and dangerous entity amongst those here.
“Him…”
The fallen cultist raised her weakened arms and flailed them around as she tried to say something.
“Did you see who it was?”
The Witch of Izakan inspected the fresh wounds on the woman’s body, but that made her slightly worried. After all, an attack of that scale should have been visible or noticeable, at least.
“It…was…”
The injured woman coughed blood as she slowly moved her head to the side and tried pointing at the culprit.
“Who? Speak.” Even though the woman was at death’s door, Jan showed no intentions of helping or offering a Healing Elixir. Moreover, with her coldly looking at everyone, no one dared to move, much less get close to help their fellow ‘colleague’.
“Him… the…”
The woman’s voice was getting quieter and quieter and her hollow eyes were focused in one particular direction. Before making any moves, Jan wanted to be certain, so she leaned closer.
It was then that the Witch of Izakan’s expression changed and a gasp escaped her lips as she was robbed of her ability to breathe. Her face turned a purple and a burst of green mist exploded forth, shrouding the whole filthy intersection.