Chapter 590: The Witches’ War
The environment shapes everything it touches, Heidi thought as they crossed the palace compound through the driving rain. Cliff wolves are ferocious because the mountains make them so. Dogs are soft because the house makes them soft. The assistant witches had brought gold and goods flowing into Sleeping Island through the Sleeping Spell, and the comfort had done its work. Even her combat witches were starting to believe Tilly’s nonsense. The window was closing.
She did not have much time.
Camilla Dary appeared in the palace doorway as the three of them came through the gate.
“What do you—”
“I heard a Wolfheart witch had arrived,” Heidi said, the picture of mild concern. “Apparently her condition is serious. We came to visit.”
“Annie is resting under Della’s conciliation. You should leave her alone.”
“Her name rings a bell — we thought perhaps she was one of ours, separated from the group when we fled Archduke Island. We’d like to see her. Just a brief look.”
Camilla hesitated. Then: “Come in.”
This woman, Heidi thought as she followed. A common witch who carries herself like the owner of the place. Tilly’s faithful dog. One day—
The corridor was long and plain, the walls rising from stone that Lotus had shaped from the island’s bedrock. They passed through it to the side room, and Camilla stopped.
“She’s in here.”
Heidi stepped inside first. A girl lay in the bed with her eyes closed, breathing in the shallow way of someone whose lungs were doing more work than they should. Skyflare examined her carefully and gave the smallest nod.
Heidi turned to Camilla and stepped close, lowering her voice — a gesture of concern, nothing more. The body positioning was deliberate: it kept Camilla’s view of the room blocked, and gave Nightfall the space she needed to work unseen.
“Who sent her here?”
Camilla did not answer the question.
She gave Heidi a look that carried something odd in it.
“Why are you trying to kill her?”
Before Heidi could respond, Nightfall made a sharp sound behind her. “This witch is a fake.”
Heidi spun.
The girl in the bed was gone. Where she had been, a small black sphere of condensed magic power hung in the air, suspended.
“Seed of Peaceful Death.” Camilla’s voice had gone cold. “I thought you came for a combat witch. I didn’t expect a murderer.”
Heidi moved without thinking — a burst of her ability, directed at Camilla, fatal in intent. But by the time she crossed the space, Camilla’s form had dissolved into mist. Not there. Never quite there.
Shadow. The ability. Of course.
“Come out,” Heidi said, grinding the words between her teeth.
Footsteps in the corridor — rapid, retreating. The witches who had been positioned in the dark were already falling back.
“Skyflare!”
Skyflare stepped out of the side room, pulled a deep breath, and exhaled a stream of red flame that had no interest in straight lines — it moved along the walls, around corners, chasing the retreating figures as if it had thought behind it, burning doorframes and window casings as it went.
A scream from somewhere deep in the corridor.
“My lady.” Nightfall’s voice was tight. “We have to leave. This was a trap — all of it.”
The scream had felt like a small satisfaction. Heidi moved toward the window.
Out of the palace, the three of them stopped.
In the courtyard, in the rain, a black-haired woman stood waiting. Her eyes held a golden light that the downpour did nothing to dim — visible even through the mist, even at distance. She carried no weapon. She did not need one.
Ashes. The Extraordinary.
Where Tilly went, Ashes went. That had always been true.
Heidi turned — and found two more figures in the palace doorway. Andrea. Shadow. Shadow was making faces at the three of them with the cheerful nonchalance of someone who had won and already knows it. The scream had been theater. Shadow could do that.
Which meant Tilly had never left Sleeping Island. The Twin Dragon Island departure had been staged — two days ago, carefully arranged, with enough lead time to position everyone for this moment.
Heidi had walked them directly into it.
She was twenty years old. Heidi could not make sense of that. A girl of twenty, and Heidi could not see a path through what she’d constructed.
“Don’t trouble yourself explaining.” Ashes’s voice was conversational, each word precise. “Surrender now and I’ll spare your life.”
No one who heard her would have thought she was bluffing. Ashes as an Extraordinary was a natural suppressor of all other witches — with a God’s Stone of Retaliation, every magic power in the vicinity became unreliable. It was why Heidi had not struck first. Why she could not simply overwhelm them.
But there was still a seam.
The opening was at the palace doorway. Andrea and Shadow stood there. Two ordinary women — ordinary in the sense that they were not Ashes — and if Heidi could reach them, she would have leverage. A threat with teeth: give ground, or watch one of yours die. She had already decided who the first would be. Shadow had been taunting her. Shadow deserved the distinction.
No hesitation. She grabbed Nightfall and ran for the doorway.
“Skyflare — hold Ashes!”
Skyflare drew her dagger and moved. Nightfall, understanding the plan, summoned the Seed of Symbiosis as she ran — a shared anchor, a binding.
Andrea raised something in the doorway. A long bar. She held it calmly with both hands, and the calm itself was wrong, the kind of calm that meant she had done this before, that she had waited for exactly this moment.
What is that?
The sound that followed was not like any weapon Heidi had ever heard.
It was the last thing she consciously registered before everything went dark.
Chapter 590: The Witches War
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
“Damn it,” Heidi thought indignantly, “These witches’ minds have already begun to fall apart, and they would have never bothered to ask why they do what they do when they were in Archduke Island. The enemies of the Bloodfang Association must be taken care of.”
The environment could influence a person. The ferocious cliff wolves lived in the mountains, and the dumb dogs lived in the warm house. Through the Sleeping Spell, assistant witches brought in many gold royals and goods for the island, turning this place into a haven. Even the combat witches had started believing Tilly’s nonsense talk. Apparently, she did not have much time left to deal with it.
“You can control the attack time of the Seed of Peaceful Death, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, when you implant the seed in Annie’s body, don’t make it take effect instantly, and kill her silently when she boards the Charming Beauty,” Heidi nodded and said, “Now we shall visit this traitor, Annie.”
When Annie died on the ship as if from the cold plague, the crews would throw her body into the ocean to avoid infection. No one would ever know the truth.
“Shall I attack her in broad daylight?” Nightfall was surprised.
“It would be more suspicious if you did it at night. Besides, I’m not sure whether Camilla will let me into the palace or not.” Heidi glanced over at her. “Shaji just learned that a witch from Kingdom of Wolfheart is sick. Isn’t
it pretty normal that the Bloodfang Association which represents Kingdom of Wolfheart come to visit her?”
“You’re right, my lady.” Skyflare lifted the Hood from behind her cope. “If anything happens to Annie, Tilly and Camilla would still suspect us even if we weren’t there.”
Opening the door, the harsh wind mixed with rain swarmed into the room. Putting on her raincoat and waving to the two of them, Heidi walked out into the storm.
She was determined to do it.
…
Camilla Dary appeared in the doorway as the three of them walked into the palace’s compound. “What do you…”
“I heard from Shaji that a Kingdom of Wolfheart’s witch has arrived here.” Heidi Morgan shrugged. “It’s said that her condition is pretty bad, so we came to visit her.”
“Annie has fallen asleep under Della’s conciliation. I suppose you’d better leave her alone.”
“Her name does ring a bell, so we just want to have a peek. We suppose maybe she was a part of us and got lost when we ran away from Archduke Island.”
“This…” After a moment’s hesitation, Camilla said, “Okay, come in.”
Heidi was fed up with this conversation. A common witch dared to treat this place as her own turf and considered herself as the Chief Butler of Sleeping Island. Heidi sneered secretively. This woman was just Tilly’s dog. If she had not said ‘come in’ at last, Heidi would have taught her a lesson.
On Sleeping Island, most of the abodes relied on Lotus to rise from the underground, so there were very few multi-story buildings here. Tilly’s palace was no exception.
Going through the long corridor to the side room, Camilla leaned over and said, “She’s in the room.”
“Mm.” Heidi could not wait to walk into the room. She shook her head to give a signal to Skyflare.
After carefully examining the girl who was lying in bed with her eyes closed, Skyflare nodded slightly.
“So, who sent her here?” Heidi came up to Camilla and whispered to her. It looked like an act of concern, but it was actually to block her view, so Nightfall could implant the Seed of Peaceful Death into Annie’s body.
Instead of answering her, Camilla gave her an odd expression.
“Why are you trying to kill her?”
Heidi was confounded. Before she could do anything, Nightfall behind her had already cried out, “This witch is a fake.”
Turning violently, Heidi saw that the girl lying in bed had already disappeared, Nightfall could only see the magic power cohere as a small black ball suspended in midair.
“Seed of Peaceful Death. You really can go so far.” Camilla shook her head. “I thought you were just speaking of the combat witch, but I didn’t expect that you’re a brutal murderer.”
“Shut up!” Heidi’s anger was out of control. She used a fatal magic power and flew at Camilla. But by the time she could reach Camilla, the girl’s figure had turned into mist.
Now Heidi knew what had happened.
“Shadow, come out.” She gritted her teeth.
There were hurried footsteps rising from the corridor. The witches hiding in the dark were evacuating from this place fully.
“Skyflare, get her!”
“Yes.” The latter dashed out of the side room, took a deep breath, and breathed out a stream of red flames. The flames crept along the walls and chased the targets as if it had its own consciousness. It burnt the windows and doorframes along the way.
“Ah!” A scream came from far away.
Nightfall hurriedly said, “My lady, we need to get out of here as soon as possible! They lied to you. This whole thing is a trap!”
“Get away from the window.” Shadow’s scream made Heidi feel better, but she also knew that they could not stay here very long. She just could not understand how Tilly could know what had happened to the Bloodfang Association years ago.
Out of the palace, the three of them stopped.
In the heavy rain, a black-haired woman stood in the courtyard. Her eyes shone like golden stars, which could be clearly seen even in the mist of the rain. The three of them felt fear even though she stood without weapons.
It was the Extraordinary Ashes.
Usually, she would stay with Tilly Wimbledon.
Turning her head, Heidi saw two familiar figures appear in the palace’s doorway,
Andrea and Shadow. Shadow was making faces at the three of them nonchalantly. Apparently, the previous scream had been fake.
If they were both here, it meant that Tilly had not left Sleeping Island at all.
Heidi was at an absolute loss after realizing the truth.
“Don’t bother to explain. I can spare your life if you give in now,” Ashes said this word by word.
No one would think she was bluffing. As an Extraordinary, she was a natural enemy of all witches as long as she wore the God’s Stone of Retaliation. Heidi would have taken action earlier if it were not for her.
But there was still a chance they could win.
The breakthrough was at the palace’s doorway. She could threaten Ashes if she could capture Ashes’ two partners.
Without hesitation, she grabbed Nightfall and rushed toward the front door of the palace. “Skyflare, stop Ashes!”
As a combat witch, dagger and crossbow were the best weapons she could use when her magic power could not be exerted. Skyflare pulled out her dagger and dashed toward Ashes. Nightfall knew her intentions so at the same time she summoned the Seed of Symbiosis.
A threat was useless unless fear supports it. Heidi had already made up her mind to kill one of them, and leave one as hostage. Of course, Shadow who had taunted her for such a long time, was her main target.
But seeing Andrea hold a long bar in her hand calmly, she was shocked.
What was that?
Then a loud roar made her fall into a deep torpor.