Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

Chapter 137: Friendship is Magic

"You wanted magic? It's right here."

Loren and the others now stood in a grand hall. At the center of the hall was a statue of the Dawn Princess, wearing a gentle smile and holding a stone tablet in her hands.

"Congratulations on passing my trial. Your friendship is strong. Please cherish this hard-won bond, and accept the magic that will make you invincible under the heavens."

Suddenly, a voice emanated from the statue of the Dawn Princess. The voice was gentle, and its soft tone felt vaguely familiar to Loren.

Mara's one remaining hand trembled. She had already planned her future.

Once she obtained the magic, she would immediately go out and capture Loren's children, then use them to threaten him.

Then, they would first capture an island not governed by any god to serve as a base. After that, she would have Loren help her exterminate the merfolk race, preferably subjugating their military forces in the process. Using this, she would unify all pirates and become the Pirate King.

Finally, she would lead all pirates to attack the Church of the God of Vows and Wind, force Loren to reveal the Wind Messengers' weaknesses, and utterly destroy the Church...

No... that wasn't enough... She wanted to kill all humans... every single human except her father...

The moment her hand grasped the stone tablet, Mara felt as if she had seized her future.With a heart pounding with excitement, she looked at the tablet. On it was only a single, short sentence:

"Friendship is magic."

"What... what does this mean?"

A simple sentence, yet in Mara's eyes at this moment, it seemed more profound than some super-tier spells. She refused to believe this was human writing;

perhaps it was a script uniquely created by some Outer God.

In an instant, Mara considered many possibilities, but the one she absolutely refused to accept was that this was just an ordinary sentence.

"Let me see."

Hearing Loren's voice, Mara felt as if she had grabbed her last lifeline. Trembling, she handed the stone tablet to Loren.

Loren was the renowned Master Mentor;

he knew everything. He would definitely understand these twisted, insane characters and tell her the true magic.

"I understand."

Loren's words made Mara's eyes light up. She waited with anticipation bordering on piety for his next words, like a fanatic awaiting a divine oracle.

"If everyone under heaven is your friend, then wouldn't you have no enemies?"

As he spoke, Loren even clapped his hands once, looking as if he had just had a sudden realization.

Mara's expression instantly froze, but a final shred of desperate hope remained in her heart:

"I don't understand what you mean..."

Perhaps she already knew, but was simply unwilling to accept reality. The Loren before her suddenly smiled with an innocent, childlike expression, like the male lead in a children's play.

"It's a simple principle. Whichever enemy you want to defeat, just go make friends with them. Then, you're no longer enemies.

"Using this method, you can solve any enemy. Truly a powerful magic."

Loren actually continued explaining for Mara. Watching her expression rapidly shift, Loren's smile grew even brighter.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

For a very long time, Mara had dreamed of finding this legendary treasure. At first, she only wanted to use it to gain the merfolk's recognition. But after discovering her mother's death, her goal became exterminating the merfolk.

For this secret treasure, Mara had expended immense effort. One could even say her entire life had been building towards this moment.

Whether it was going to sea or forming a pirate crew, it was all to search for the Dawn Princess's great secret treasure.

And now she had found it. Under Loren's guidance, she had found it with shocking ease, making everything feel unreal.

"This can't be... it can't be real...

"This is a nightmare... yes... this is a nightmare..."

Mara let out a deranged laugh. She began tearing at her already sparse hair, ripping it out along with patches of scalp.

The searing pain undeniably told her this was no nightmare.

She knew the disparity. The highest peak she could ever reach was being a pirate. And the reason pirates were pirates was precisely because they could never defeat the Churches on land.

Their faiths were not tolerated by the Churches, forcing them to drift upon the seas.

If given a choice, who would willingly stay forever in the maddening Endless Ocean?

Mara's only chance to oppose the Church was the great secret treasure, and the Outer Gods. But the power of the Outer Gods wasn't easily obtained either, especially power sufficient to rival the Church.

That was nearly impossible. Otherwise, Outer God believers wouldn't be forced into hiding by the Orthodox God Churches.

So now, Mara's one and only chance had shattered.

"Impossible! I must not have found the real treasure!"

Like a madwoman, Mara began hacking at the Dawn Princess's statue with her dagger. Her dagger wasn't ordinary either, but a dagger was ultimately not a pickaxe. By the time she had destroyed the statue, the dagger had already shattered.

Her hand was worn raw, bone visible beneath, yet Mara acted as if she felt no pain. She knelt amidst the statue's fragments, gazing around the empty secret chamber.

"The exit is here. The mechanisms are all gone. Let's get out first, then talk."

Loren pocketed the stone tablet and pointed towards the path they came from. He knew the Strength card was inside the tablet.

Seeing Loren, Mara seemed to see a new hope. She immediately stepped forward and grabbed Loren by the collar.

"Master Mentor, you must tell me how to destroy the Church."

"How would I know that..."

Loren actually did know, but that didn't mean he would tell Mara. Moreover, he felt Mara had lost any remaining value.

"You must tell me! Otherwise, I'll kill your children!"

The moment these words left her mouth, Mara sensed Loren's aura undergo a heaven-and-earth transformation.

If the original Loren was a warm little sun, the current Loren was a blazing inferno capable of incinerating everything.

"You're the first to dare threaten me like this. I was originally planning to let you die quickly, considering your tragic background is somewhat pitiable."

Fear. That was Mara's only thought now. She hadn't even felt this way when facing the deep-sea leviathan.

Requiem left its sheath. Mara suddenly felt something hammer the back of her skull. Her very soul trembled, her body shivering instinctively. It was in this moment that Mara released her grip on Loren's collar.

"I'm usually very reasonable. Even if I kill you, I'll make it clean and swift. But the prerequisite is not to touch my bottom line. They are my bottom line."

Mara had just raised her dagger when Requiem severed her hand.

Mara only felt a cold sensation at her wrist, then her entire hand vanished. Simultaneously, an overwhelming wave of despair surged within her heart.

"Oh, right. Let me tell you a secret. Your parents had no love. Your father raped your mother. After giving birth to you, it was your mother who cut off part of your body.

"It was because she gave birth to you that your mother died in despair. And your father? You already killed him. Not long ago."