After an indeterminate period, when the nightingale awoke, it found its hands bound to a wooden stake, with its waist and feet tightly secured by a series of ropes. After attempting to struggle, its body became firmly adhered to the wooden pole, rendering it completely immobile.
She wanted to use her power, but the familiar sensation never came—her connection to Magic Power seemed severed. Nightingale lowered her head and noticed a transparent rhombus-shaped stone hanging around her neck.
"You're awake," Hakara approached her. "How does the petrifying poison feel? Truth be told, Nightingale, I had high hopes for you. Yet you've failed me." "...," Nightingale drew a deep breath. "You actually possess the God's Punishment Lock, Hakara. Do you even know what you're doing?" The very shackles the Church once used to suppress witches were now being wielded by their own mentors against their own kind! What infuriated her most was the blank stares of the onlookers, as if nothing was amiss. Damn it, Nightingale screamed inwardly. Hadn't you realized you were becoming the very kind of person witches despised most?!
"Just a tool, and occasionally there are naughty kids who won't listen to guidance and need punishment," Hakara said nonchalantly. "And you, Nightingale, are the one who deserves it. Or... should I call you Veronica? A woman from Noble's family who became a Witch, still dreaming of climbing the ranks?" "I don't understand what you're talking about." "You've let me down. When Wendy rescued you from Noble's clutches, I thought you'd stand firmly with the Guild. Look at what you've done! Just as we were about to find the Holy Mountain, you tried to ruin this great opportunity!" Hakara shook his head with a sneer. "Take your sisters to join a Prince? Either you've been caged too long, your servility has taken root, and you need a master to survive, or... you're trying to sell them to Noble to regain your former status!" "Everything I've done is for the Guild's sisters," Nightingale suppressed her anger. "I hope they won't suffer the Awakening Day's torment anymore, and that they can live without worrying about food and clothing. I don't intend to stop your plans. Sisters should have the freedom to choose their own paths. Border Town is undergoing earth-shaking changes. The steam engine blueprints I brought are part of it. It can operate autonomously and is incredibly powerful. With this machine, we can draw water directly from mountain streams without people having to make daily trips." "Haqara sneered twice. 'This is what you mean?' She turned around, drew a stack of parchment scrolls from a Witch behind her, and waved them at Nightingale. 'I don't understand what's drawn on them, but can a corpse made of cold iron pieces move like a living being? Do you think we're three-year-olds?' She walked to the brazier and tossed the scrolls into the burning charcoal."
"No!" The nightingale cried in vain, watching helplessly as the design diagram turned to ashes in the fire pit.
"My patience is exhausted. This is your final chance," Harkara drew an iron mace from the brazier, its tip glowing crimson. "If you confess to all the sisters of the Guild of the Common and admit to being bewitched by Noble, I may spare your life—but the lash shall not be spared. This is your lesson in trusting the enemy. If you remain obstinate, I shall pierce your heart with this mace and nail your body to a stake as a warning to all." She spoke each word with deliberate clarity. "Do not miss my last mercy. Speak your decision." Nightingale watched the mace draw closer, even feeling the searing heat from its tip. If she had been the cowardly girl she once was, she would have bowed long ago. But she had left the past behind. She was no longer that timid girl. She was Nightingale, a powerful Witch, and death could not break her.
She closed her eyes, awaiting the final moment. For some reason, Roland's image surfaced in Nightingale's mind.
"Stop!" someone barked. She blinked open her eyes, startled. Wendy emerged from the crowd and said to Harkar: "Master, look at the white cloth wrapped around your arm. We've endured so many farewells—do you really want another?" "What? Even you were deceived by her? Wake up, Wendy, those were all lies!" "I don't know," Wendy shook her head. "I never planned to go to Border Town with her, but there's one thing I agree with her: sisters should have the freedom to choose their own paths." She turned and shouted, "Who wants to leave with her?" No one responded. The room fell silent.
"So just let her go alone," Wendy said. "She didn't do anything to harm the Order. I can't stand watching you kill her." By this point, Nightingale had fully grasped Wendy's meaning. A wave of sorrow washed over her. Even Wendy hadn't fully trusted her. That's why she kept silent when Nightingale needed her help persuading others. Yet she remained the kind-hearted Witch who cared for everyone, offering support even when disagreeing with her own views.
After Wendy made those remarks, murmurs began to circulate in the crowd, and several more people stood up.
"Right, since she's willing to return to the mortal world, let her go." "The Church and the plague have already claimed too many of our sisters, Mentor. Please think twice." "Shut up!" Hara snapped in fury. "If we let her leave like this, what if a second or third Nightingale appears? If she sells our camp's location to the Church, we'll have nowhere to run!" Before she could finish, she thrust the iron mace in her hand. Wendy reacted even faster, summoning a powerful gust of wind that sent Hara flying.
Then she tossed a coin, raised her hand, and a gust of air enveloped it, whistling toward the nightingale. The gust vanished instantly as it approached, but the coin continued its flight due to inertia, striking the God's Stone of Punishment precisely in front of her neck.
The crystal-clear rhombic stone shattered in response.
"Traitor!" Hakkara screamed as she rose from the ground, extending her left and right hands toward Wendy and Nightingale. Two serpent-like shadows materialized from nowhere—one with its mouth wide open, viciously biting into Wendy's hand, while the other missed entirely.
The rope slipped to the ground, still in its original tied-up state, but the nightingale had vanished without a trace.
Hakara broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of the opponent's abilities. She channeled all her Magic Power, and a wall of magic snakes, shimmering with multicolored glows, surged from her chest, forming a serpent barrier as she retreated sharply—yet Nightingale moved faster than she.
With a single step—just one step—she was already behind Hakkara. Reaching out with both hands, the iron mace that was meant to pierce the Nightingale's heart pierced straight through Hakkara's body.