Chapter 591: The New Journey
Heidi slipped in the rain and the courtyard stones rose to meet her — cold, immediate, indifferent to the distinction between floor and face.
She did not know how to describe what she felt. The body registered no great pain, but the paralysis was total: she lay on the wet flags and could not summon enough will to care about the rain flooding her mouth. She heard herself shouting at Nightfall to press the attack, and she heard Nightfall hesitate, and then the sound of footsteps returning.
“My lady — are you hurt?”
Moron. “If we seized them, we had a chance. Unharmed and beaten does us no good.” The words came out thin, all the fury behind them spent.
Behind her, Skyflare screamed.
Then the sounds of fighting tapered off.
The numbness began lifting, replaced by something worse: a pricking fire along both thighs, conspicuous now that the rain had soaked through everything. She forced her head up. Andrea was crossing the flooded courtyard toward her, unhurried, the iron bar still in one hand.
“Done resisting?”
“Yes.” Nightfall dropped to one knee before Heidi could speak. “I give in. Please — don’t kill Lady Heidi.”
Andrea wiped her face with her sleeve and looked down at them. “If I meant to kill her, she’d already be dead. Her Highness Tilly still needs answers.” She raised her voice toward Shadow. “Get Pandora out here. The leg wound needs attention.”
The pain arrived properly then — a dense, dragging weight beneath her hip, the limb feeling borrowed rather than owned, and then a sharper sensation that at least confirmed she still had use of it.
It’s over.
She knew precisely what came next. Tilly had moved only after securing enough evidence to reconstruct the Bloodfang Association’s history without Heidi’s confession. Iffy. Softfeathers. Probably others she had underestimated — witches she had marked as assets and watched with a proprietary eye, assuming their loyalty was simply a function of their dependence.
The rage that arrived then was not hot. It was a decision. She released what remained of her magic power and aimed it at Andrea’s back.
Power of Pulverizing. Anything hollow, within ten steps, collapsed inward.
“My lady, no—!” Nightfall’s voice broke.
Too late, Heidi thought. At least that much.
But nothing happened.
An invisible resistance scattered her power as though it had struck glass. She stared. Andrea turned with an expression that had moved past contempt into something tired.
“You’re wearing the God’s Stone of Retaliation.” Heidi’s voice came out hollow. “Then what hurt me — it wasn’t your ability at all?”
“You incorrigible bitch.” Andrea raised the iron bar and brought it down.
The courtyard went dark.
“That’s settled.” Andrea watched two Sleeping Island witches carry Heidi and Skyflare toward the palace. She looked at Ashes. “How did yours end?”
“Skyflare may not live to reach the Western Region.”
“Tilly wanted them alive.”
“I know what Tilly wanted.” Ashes licked a raindrop from the corner of her mouth. “Skyflare has real technique. She doesn’t surrender — she calculates. If I’d left her any room to maneuver at the essential moment, something would have gone wrong. So I didn’t leave room.”
“You—” Andrea had no ready answer.
“If you’d shown the Glassbead sooner, they might not have committed so fully.” Ashes’ voice was measured, not accusatory. “But you raised the flintlock instead. They had no way to know what it was.”
“Stop.” Shadow stepped between them, arms folded, with the expression of someone who has been mediating this same argument across many years. “Lady Tilly is waiting for a report. Standing in the rain arguing is how you get typhoid.”
They looked at each other. Then, without speaking, they walked inside together.
After she gave her report, Andrea watched Tilly’s face and found none of what she expected. The great threat to Sleeping Island was resolved; the evidence secured; the Bloodfang Association’s leadership broken. Tilly should have looked lighter for it.
Instead she looked diminished — not grief exactly, but something without a name.
Ashes drew close and took both her hands. “What is it? Are you unwell?”
Tilly shook her head. “When I first read Roland’s letter, I didn’t believe it,” she said. “We’ve found our own place. A real one. Why would anyone choose to repeat what we already lived through?” A pause. “Why would she?”
“Not all combat witches will follow Heidi Morgan into that thinking,” Ashes said. “Especially now that living conditions have changed. Several in the Bloodfang Association itself had already turned. Nightfall proves it — she didn’t fight to the death when the moment came.”
“She’s right.” Andrea surprised herself saying it, and didn’t try to dress it up. “Give it time. People move toward what’s good for them. The Witch Union is evidence of that.”
Tilly breathed in. “Most of the Bloodfang Association’s witches knew nothing about what Heidi was doing. Iffy confirmed it.” She straightened. “After I speak with Camilla, I’ll call them together. Anyone who wants to wait here for the outcome of the trial — they’re not our enemies.”
The two nodded.
Sleeping Island had grown loud with witches, and no one wanted to see that change.
“When the storm breaks, we bring Heidi to the Western Region,” Tilly said.
Ashes’ eyes sharpened. “To fight the church?”
“Yes.” Tilly’s eyes closed briefly, and when they opened her voice had steadied into something she had clearly been working toward all day. “The Judgement Army, the God’s Punishment Army, the Pure Witches, the Battle of Divine Will. Roland was right — real liberation comes only when the church is gone. I would fight for that even if he weren’t my brother.” She looked between them. “Will you come?”
“Of course,” Ashes said, without hesitation. “I’ll always be with you.”
Andrea nodded. And for a reason she could not begin to account for, her mind produced — out of nowhere, with perfect clarity — the smell of ice cream bread.
Chapter 591: The New Journey
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Heidi slipped and fell in the rain, the flowing rain pouring into her mouth, nose, and collar.
It was hard to describe her true feelings. Although she did not feel much pain in her body, she was powerless after the fall.
“Don’t worry about me. Go and kill her!” she shouted out not even bothering to examine her injuries.
But Nightfall disappointed her.
The combat witch from the Bloodfang Association hesitated, then stopped and came back to her finally, asking, “My lady, are you alright?”
“Moron! We could only turn the tables if we seized them. If we couldn’t, what was the point of staying unharmed?” She wanted to vent her anger but found that she was too tired to open her mouth and say anything.
Behind her, she heard Skyflare’s scream, and the fights gradually died away.
It was very difficult for her to resist long when faced with the Extraordinary, Ashes.
The paralytic feeling in her body began to fade, but a nervous flush along her thighs which pricked painfully was very noticeable once she was soaked with the rain.
Heidi managed to look up but only saw Andrea walking slowly toward her.
“Don’t you want to give up resistance?”
“Yes,” Nightfall answered, she turned around and knelt down. “I give in. Please don’t kill Lady Heidi.”
Andrea wiped the water on her head and said, “If I intended to kill her, she’d be dead by now. Her Highness Tilly hasn’t yet figured something out, so I must spare her life for now. As soon as all the evidence against her is certain, she’ll be justly punished.”
“Evidence?” Nightfall was at a loss. “Annie betrayed the Bloodfang Association’s witches, this is why my lady planned to harm her.”
“Oh? Is that what she told you? As far as I’m concerned, Annie never joined the Bloodfang Association.” Andrea shrugged. “You’ll know what kind of person she is when the truth is revealed.” Then she turned and shouted to Shadow, “Go and fetch Pandora to stop the bleeding from her wounds, or she’ll be doomed.”
At that moment Heidi finally felt the pain, and her whole leg could not move. It felt like a mass of heaviness beneath her yet did not belong to her. A sharp pain in her leg replaced the burning feeling, making her feel a bit better.
It was over.
And she knew exactly what would happen next.
Tilly must had somehow learned the truth about her since she dared to do this. It was not difficult to find the truth with a bit of clue. Even if the Sleeping Island’s witches could not find the truth, those people in the Western Region could.
She was afraid this had something to do with Iffy and Softfeathers.
She had belittled Tilly.
Heidi thought for a moment. Then she gritted her teeth and released her magic power with her last ounce of strength just as Andrea turned her head.
She could destroy anything hollow within 10 steps from the inside, whether they were living things or vessels.
She called it Power of Pulverizing.
Although a defeat was inevitable, Heidi was not willing to let Tilly win so easily. At least she wanted to teach Tilly an unforgettable lesson.
“No, my lady!” Nightfall noticed and cried out.
It was too late! Heidi sneered secretively.
But her power did not take effect.
An invisible barrier dispersed her Power of Pulverizing.
“You’re wearing the God’s Stone of Retaliation!” Heidi mumbled with dilated eyes. “Wait. The thing that had hurt me wasn’t Andrea’s new ability?”
“You do seem quite energetic, you incorrigible bi*ch,” Andrea said with disgust, raising the iron bar and smashing it with all her might.
Heidi was instantly blind.
…
“This is the end.” Seeing Heidi Morgan and Skyflare being carried away, Andrea asked Ashes, “So how are things on your end?”
“It’s okay, but I’m afraid that Skyflare may not survive until the day when we arrive in the Western Region.”
“Lady Tilly said to keep them alive if possible. Why did you do it?” she said with a look of disdain.
Ashes licked the raindrop at the corner of her mouth and said, “I never thought she would be so desperate and risk her life to win. Besides, she does have technical fighting skills. Of course, I could have captured her alive, but I worried that something might go wrong at the essential moment. So I had to do it quickly.”
“You…” Andrea was speechless.
The Extraordinary sighed. “If you had shown the Glassbead earlier, maybe they wouldn’t have risked their lives in the end. But you chose to hold the flintlock, how could they know what it was?”
“Stop arguing. Lady Tilly is still waiting for your report.” Shadow reminded them helplessly. “Besides, you can’t stand in the rain and argue. What if you get typhoid?”
The two looked at each other for a moment, and then exchanged a despised look to end this argument, walking side by side to the palace.
…
After giving her report, Andrea noticed that Tilly did not look well. After solving this great trouble, Tilly did not look happy or relieved. On the contrary, she seemed a little glum.
Ashes took her hands in hers and asked, “What’s the matter. Are you sick?”
Tilly shook her head. “When I first saw Roland’s letter, I didn’t believe what was in it,” she said with a sentimental tone, “We witches have finally found our own home. Why did they want to repeat the tragedy of the past years? Isn’t it better to live in this place and be satisfied?”
“You’ve done a great job.” Ashes comforted her, saying, “Not all the combat witches will unconditionally accept Heidi’s way of doing things, especially when our living standards have improved. Some of them have already supported us, even members of the Bloodfang Association are no exception.”
“She’s right,” said Andrea. Although she did not like Ashes, Andrea did not want to upset Tilly. “The fact that Nightfall didn’t obey Heidi and fight to the death is proof. Given time, all the people will gather together firmly, just like the Witch Union.”
“I hope so.” Tilly took a deep breath. “Since Heidi did this, I can’t indulge her anymore. But according to Iffy’s view, most of the witches in the Bloodfang Association knew nothing about it, so later I’ll ask Camilla to call
them here. If they’re willing to stay here and wait for results, we won’t treat them as enemies.”
The two nodded. Sleeping Island had finally become boisterous, so no one wished these people to leave.
“When the storm is over, we’ll bring Heidi to the Western Region,” she continued.
“To fight against the church?” Ashes was excited.
“Yes,” Closing her eyes, Tilly said in a low voice, “To fight against the Judgement Army, God’s Punishment Army, Pure Witches and the Battle of Divine Will. Just as Roland said in his letters, witches will embrace real liberation if we can completely crush down the church. I would help him even if he wasn’t my brother, for it helps me too.” She paused for a while. “Care to join me?”
“Of course,” Ashes answered without hesitation, “I’ll always be with you.”
Andrea nodded, but oddly enough, the smell of ice cream bread appeared in her mind.