Walpurgis Night is celebrated once a year.
In this world, all the witches gather to bid farewell to autumn, but at the same time, they bring demons with them to "cleanse" the world.
And it is on that night that all the sect leaders have to work together to stop them.
Originally, Anser was not involved in this—until the end of Walpurgis Night, where he would only go to rescue Liam.
Something that won't happen this time; history is already too altered for it to happen anyway.
Anser, Liam and I went to the meeting point where all the sects would plan their next move.
It was almost noon, so we had to hurry.
We arrived at a skyscraper.
It was the government office, one that sect leaders also used to keep them informed of their movements and prevent a few 'crimes'.
Although, it could be said that the 'government' it is led by The Third Round Sect, that is, by Joakim Hans. Given their influence, a quarter of his people works in the government belong to his sect.
The three of us entered, and then the receptionist guided us to the elevator.
We had to go up to the eleventh floor, and of course Liam didn't want to take the stairs no matter how much Anser insisted.
Because?
He woke up a little...in a bad mood.
Especially towards Liam.
"Mr. Detective! Ji Noo and I are ready to escort you!"
And with a disdainful look, he glanced at Liam as he served breakfast on a plate. He didn't say a single word, as usual, however, Liam didn't get any dessert for breakfast.
Maybe he's jealous?
Well...I don't know...since he was ignoring me he seemed to be mad at Liam too, however now he's going soft on me, but harder on Liam!
"Detective..." Liam timidly tugged on Anser's jacket. "Can I stay outside to guard the door?"
Anser looked at her slowly, too slowly that it faded into a terrifyingly penetrating gaze... "Why would you do it? The Rosicrucians always take care of that."
His tone was colder than it should have been, causing Liam to hide behind me.
"Why is Anser in a bad mood, Ji Noo...? Did you do something to him this morning? I saw you two hugging so much..." She whispered in my ear, as quietly as she could, afraid that Anser would hear her.
Well, maybe I do know what's going on.
In the original story, Anser didn't want Liam to get involved in his hunts, or in dangerous areas since she was very weak.
But now, Liam is able to at least face one demon on her own.
Why fear?
"He has the 'overprotective mother' syndrome," I muttered. Perhaps that also explains why he wanted to sneak out the window to avoid breakfast since morning...or maybe he also did it because he didn't want to cook for us today. "It'll just be for today, I guess."
Or at least, I hope so.
If the Rosicrucians, the Third Rounders, and the Ace Sect handle this as usual, neither Liam nor I would be in any danger.
After all, the three witches would rather fight each other than take this night seriously.
We soon reached the eleventh floor.
We followed Anser through the long hallways until we came to a door with a sign that read: "Board Room."
Anser opened the door, entering first, followed by Liam, and lastly me; Inside was a long table with five chairs; two on each side, and one at the main corner of the table.
On the left, Joakim Hans, leader of the Third Round Sect, stands with Layla J. Everest, leader of The Wisdom and Redemption Sect. On the right side was Sherly, leader of the Ace Sect, next to her was an empty spot; which belonged to Anser. And finally, in the center chair; Randy Bornman, leader of the Rosicrucian Sect.
It was to be expected.
The five great sects.
They would be the pawns.
"Ji Noo! Anser! And little one are here!" Sherly said, waving with one hand, while holding an unlit cigarette with the other. We all know here that Sherly must be in crisis for not being able to smoke. Poor man.
Layla smiled in our direction, while Joakim Hans just looked to the side. And Randy...just smiled a little wider than he already did.
"Take a seat, Mr. Detective." Randy pointed out, cutting through what little noise there was.
Anser sat down in the chair, leaving his sheathed sword on the table, as Joakim Hans did with his sword.
Liam and I stood behind him, just like the vice sect leaders did; Behind Randy was Mandeleine, behind Sherly...oh! Frederick! What a surprise.
"Hi Frederick..." Liam murmured, waving with her hand.
Behind Joakim Hans is a well-dressed woman in a suit with a hat on her chest; Karmen. And in Layla's case...her vice sect leader was a blue parrot: Renato, which was standing on her shoulder.
It could be said that besides Layla...Anser was also short of vice sect leaders.
But that didn't matter now.
Although, perhaps I should take advantage of this meeting to ask Randy about the vision I had that time; I suspect he might know something about it, after all, he's practically a god...right?
"As you know, today is Walpurgis Night," Randy started talking, and then Mandeleine put three photos on the desk; they were the three witches. "We know who the leaders will be this time; The Witch of Wisdom; Buher; The Witch of Love; Elise; and The Witch of the Heart: Gene…"
Eh?
There's something strange...
The witch of the heart, is that supposed to be Hanna, who is that witch Gene?
"But after last year's incident, where Elise was devoured in the middle of a ritual by Gene..."
Wait. Devoured?
"Our main objective will be to make Gene also try to devour Buher, already distracted, attack both of them."
Everyone in the room looked at each other, as if they were analyzing the proposal.
But no one seemed surprised. Why was it only me?
I bent down to murmur to Liam; "This didn't happen in the main story, did it Liam?"
Liam turned to look at me, then nodded.
"No, I was also surprised when I heard about it a week ago from Frederick…" She said, then pointed to the photo of the witch Gene; light blue hair and black eyes. "He told me that Gene had previously devoured Hanna, her witch teacher, and that after she inherited her title of witch, she had declared that she would eat all the witches until she became the most powerful witch of all."
That statement is a bit childish, but...
"Shit…"
Something I said in an interview was that if a witch devoured another, she inherited her power, but not only that...she also inherited her level of sanity.
And considering they're witches, who revel in human suffering especially on Walpurgis Night...
If that witch Gene were to devour all the witches, she would not only be the most powerful witch of all; she would become completely insane and dangerous.
And yet, why don't they seem so concerned?
"Ji Noo, you have experience with witches, right?" Randy's voice brought me out of my thoughts.
It's true...Elmetron's Sect Leader was an apprentice witch, and even had a good relationship with them; especially with the Witch of Love.
Yet nowhere in the Elmetron story—
Oh.
I get your point now...
"Ji Noo?" Anser looked at me, somewhat...worried.
"Yes, I know about them."
If history is so altered that no one knows anything about the original history, what does it matter to break character now?
"What do you propose?" Randy said, opening his eyes…
I swallowed.
This time, I couldn't be wrong.
He is looking at me.
I must obey what he said.
***
The moon shining between the purple sky.
The dark night is long gone, replaced by a purple sky.
However, on the ground, the shadows of witches on broomsticks quickly passed by. They were all headed in the same direction: to the oracle at the top of the mountain.
And of course, Frederick and I were hiding in a bush.
Unfortunately, this whole thing about pairs working as a team on this mission was a complete disaster for me.
Layla and Liam are in charge of the potions and traps, Sherly and Mandeleine are in charge of preparing to attack, Anser and Randy are in charge of placing seals around the area, and finally Joakim and Karmen are in charge of informing us of the witches' movements.
But the fact that I got Frederick and Renato to work together...
Will this even work?
"Take this," Frederick put a shotgun in my hand. "If you can't make it work...be a human shield to protect Renato."
"How chivalrous, protecting girls' belongings instead of your own human companion…"
"You're not human, so shut up."
"You are the one who should keep quiet…" I muttered, then reloaded the shotgun and crawled to his side, watching all the witches shed blood around the mountain. "I hope Anser and Randy are done..."
Frederick spat to one side, then built a sniper with mana, camouflaging himself in the bush and using it to aim at the spot where he knew the two witches would be.
"Let your boyfriend breathe…my God."
Boyfriend? Ha! This guy wants me to shoot him, huh?
"He's not my boyfriend..." I snorted.
Definitely, if I see him with a man from now on I will tell him the same thing. I would do it with Sherly, but if I mention it right now, I'm sure Frederick will blow my brains out without hesitation.
They both come from the same place, are in the same sect, and are almost equal in power, so why does he still hate him so much?
It's simple.
He hates that Sherly is a loser with women.
Poor man.
"I'll tell Ciro that you're denying your love affair."
"Bastard, I already told you that he and I have nothing..."
Today Frederick is apparently in a good mood.
This is the first time he has teased me more than twice.
However, our friendly conversation soon ended when the blood the witches had spilled earlier began to catch fire, resembling a large bonfire.
Soon, from our Identifier a slight beep alerted us to a message from Joakim Hans; «Walpurgis Night has already begun. H15.»
Apparently Joakim and Karmen were at least 20 kilometers away from us. So I guess we should get serious now.
And soon, a witch with light blue hair appeared among the fire; she was...the cannibal witch.
Gene.
All the witches bowed before her, while she simply...
"You," she pointed to a white-haired witch, she looked too young to be a witch. "This is the first time I've seen you..."
The white-haired witch blinked anxiously, then stood up and timidly played with her fingers.
"W-Well...my teacher sent me to Walpurgis Night, it's my first time, so I'm very nervous..."
Then Gene walked towards her through the nervous crowd, she walked on air, until she soon arrived in front of her.
The white-haired girl looked excited; like a fan seeing her idol for the first time, unaware that Gene was about to eat her.
"This will be your last night," She Assured. And soon, she smiled, friendly. "Congratulations."
And then, the white-haired girl's confused face turned to terror.
"W-What?"
Gene grabbed the witch's hair with both hands, then Gene's beautiful face deformed into a beast with sharp fangs, resembling a wolf. And with his big snout, she devoured the girl's face.
I closed my eyes, the scene was too...bloody to watch, I could only feel Frederick grimace in disgust.
However, now was the time to keep our guard up at all times. If we were careless, we would be next.
After all, our role in this mission was to be the main defense; we would cover Sherly and Mandeleine, well, especially Mandeleine, being our only exorcist, the role to protect him at all costs was on our shoulders. And on Renato's feathers.
"I thought the rumor was a lie, Genesis…" A woman's soft voice made me open my eyes and peek through a gap in the bush; it was the witch of wisdom, Buher. Brown hair and curls, with a pair of dark eyes just like Gene's. However, witches have no shine or color in their eyes. "But apparently, you've gone...wild."
Gene turned to look at her, her beautiful face back, then smiled, and walked back towards her. "Wild?" she burst out laughing.
As we stood before her, the moonlight seemed to shine a little brighter.
"Not yet, Buher."
Both witches looked at each other in silence, then Gene stood by her side and took Buher's hand.
"Now, my dear witches...we want to kick off this year's Walpurgis Night!" Soon, she took out a magic wand from her dress. "And as always, we ask you for a sacrifice tonight!"
Wow, a sacrifice...that meant it was almost our turn.
Amidst the witches' bustle as they decided on the sacrifice, Buher soon turned to look at Gene.
"The sacrifice is already decided, Genesis."
Gene smiled excitedly, then flicked her wand slightly.
"Really? Who is it?"
And soon, Buher stood in front of her, holding both of her hands in his, and looking at her. "You."
Gene's face remained the same, then turned serious...
And almost immediately, Buher's hands began to fill with thorns, thorns that soon began to fill Gene's entire body, making her bleed, and soon...
POF!
Gene's body fell into the middle of the oracle. And soon all the witches began to laugh.
"Congratulations on being the first cannibal witch, Genesis…" Buher smiled, then picked up Gene's wand, and pointed it at her. "Now we'll do the same as you, and you'll feed us tonight."
Renato's whistle was the signal that drew the attention of all the witches to a tree, where Sherly was.
"Sorry for the interruption, ladies," He put his cigar in his mouth and then pointed a gun at Buher's head. "It's time for you to go have tea somewhere else."
And he shot.
The witch's head was covered in blood, and then the other witches began to cast spells on Sherly.
"Cover the right, I cover the left." Frederick ordered, who was already shooting at the witches who were starting to go after Sherly on their broomsticks.
I noticed some witches running away, without giving them time, I immediately shot them, getting up from the bush.
They didn't have to leave the area.
First...
Mandeleine had to weaken them.
"Damn brat…come out of your hiding place, we're already shooting," Sherly said, walking while dodging fireballs, explosive potions, poisons...all with an innate tranquility. "I'm the one taking the hits."
Soon, behind a tree appeared Mandeleine, with a bitter face. His blond hair and brown skin highlighted by his white clothes. "I told you not to smoke, you're polluting my air…"
Oh, and also, Mandeleine was a neat freak.
Something completely opposite with the messy Sherly.
If Mandeleine agreed to work with Sherly, it was because Sherly's shield protects him even from dirt.
With Mandeleine gone, the hunt could now begin.
Mandeleine took off her white gloves, then raised his hands to the sky, a small blue flame appeared, which soon began to spread towards all the witches, burning them.
At the same time, activating the seals that Anser and Randy had previously placed, forming a bubble around the mountain.
"Bu…Buher..." A gasp made me turn to the middle of the oracle, where Gene was slowly regenerating, while crawling towards Buher's body...
Shit, that was bad, if Gene were to devour her...she would regain all her strength, and beyond that.
Clearing the area for Sherly and Mandeleine, I pushed past Frederick and ran over to where Gene and Buher were.
And, when Gene was about to grab Buher, Buher's body exploded, with a strong wave of energy being violently expelled that made me fall on my back and roll backwards.
"What the f—?!" Frederick was forced to stop shooting after noticing the explosion, and soon fell to the ground after I hit his legs with all my body.
Sherly and Mandeleine stood in front of us, Renato taking cover behind Sherly.
The wave was so strong that it even made Sherly's cigarette fly away.
"I guess she has another transformation." Mandeleine commented.
"Definitely," Sherly said, taking out another cigarette, lighting it and putting it in his mouth. "Still, let's stick to the plan."
The bodies of the dead witches flew through the forest, while the fleeing witches fell face down on the ground and making them collide with Layla and Liam's traps.
Soon, Buher rose from the oracle, with an indifferent face.
"So this time, you decided to be direct, huh?" Then the woman snapped her fingers.
The earth began to shake, for Sherly to take me and Frederick, protecting us with his shield, and prevent a long stone dragon from devouring us, this one destroying itself as soon as it had contact with the shield.
"It's too much mana for just one witch..." Mandeleine muttered, still staring at Buher as she recovered from the bullet wound Sherly inflicted on her. "I guess we underestimated Buher."
Then Sherly snorted, and left us standing on the ground.
"Let's get this over with quickly."
Wow, this will be the start of something big...with the two strongest opposite poles.