novelraw Chapter 66: Slave master of witches.
Chapter 66: Slave master of witches.
The silence that followed the snap was heavy, suffocating, and wet.
Echidna’s head rolled on the ground, blood splatting everywhere.
It tumbled across the cracked pavement, the expression on her face frozen in a mask of confusion and undying adoration.
Her body, severed clean at the neck, slumped forward a second later, spraying a fountain of dark blood onto the debris-littered ground.
Kelvin was the first to break the silence.
"What the hell!?" he screamed, taking a stumbling step back, his hands flying to the swords strapped to the side of his waist. "You just... you just killed her! She was on our side! She just said she loved him!"
Ash also had a look of suspicion on his face; whatever it may be, he wanted to know Rapheal’s reason for suddenly killing like that.
He stood perfectly still, his gaze shifting from the headless corpse of the woman who had just pledged her eternal loyalty to him to the woman standing beside him with a smoking hand.
Raphael looked bored.
She dusted off her fingers as if she had just swatted a particularly annoying mosquito, her posture radiating a terrifying elegance that felt completely out of place on a battlefield.
"Why did you kill her?" Ash asked.
His voice was low. It wasn’t filled with grief, but it was edged with a dangerous curiosity.
He needed assets. He needed power. Echidna was a verified combatant who had decimated a battalion of mages.
Raphael turned to him. The smirk was gone, replaced by a look of regal submission.
Slowly, gracefully, she grabbed the edges of her dress and curtsied deep, bowing her head low.
"My apologies, Master Ash. But there is a hierarchy to these things. A mixed-blood stray does not get to speak of ’love’ to the King in the presence of his Queen. It was... distasteful."
She straightened up, brushing a stray lock of pink hair behind her ear.
"Besides, she was getting too comfortable. Familiarity breeds contempt, and I will not have a servant forgetting her station."
"You killed her because she was annoying you?" Ash asked, his brow twitching slightly.
Not to mention, why was she suddenly so keen on calling her a slave? The contract hadn’t even been set yet.
"I killed her because I can," Raphael corrected softly. "And because now, I finally can stay."
She took a step closer to him. The air around her shimmered. The translucent, ghostly quality that usually clung to her form was gone. She looked solid, like a real person.
"Your growth, Master Ash. Shattering the Divine Blessing... the amount of mana you released... it was delicious. It has stabilized my connection to this plane. I no longer need to hide in the shadows or conserve my energy. I can maintain this form indefinitel, as long as my master of course permists it."
She smiled, a predator looking at her prize.
"Your Queen has returned."
Ash stared at her. He felt the shift in her energy. The expression on her face was not something he had seen on her since he had been visiting her in her hidden world.
If anything, it looked creepily similar to Echidna.
Ding!
A blue screen materialized directly in front of Ash’s face, interrupting the moment.
[System Alert]
[Potential Asset Lost]
[Subject: Echidna (Witch of Sloth) has been terminated.]
[Correction Required.]
[The Subject ’Echidna’ is marked as a Designated Slave within the System Parameters.]
[Current Party Capacity: Sufficient.]
[Order your Subordinate ’Raphael’ to initiate Resurrection protocols.]
Ash sighed. Of course. The System wasn’t going to let a valuable piece go to waste just because Raphael had a jealousy streak.
"Bring her back," Ash commanded.
Raphael froze. Her smile twitched. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Bring her back. The System marked her. I need her." Ash’s eyes narrowed. "Unless you’re telling me the great Devil King can’t fix a little beheading?"
Raphael’s jaw tightened. For a split second, the killing intent flaring off her was directed at Ash. It was heavy enough to crush a normal man’s lungs.
But Ash didn’t flinch. He held her gaze, his own demonic energy stirring in response.
Raphael let out a long, agitated huff. "Fine. If the King wishes for his pet rat to scurry around a bit longer, I shall oblige."
She turned to the headless corpse. She raised one hand, her fingers curled into a claw.
" Reversal. "
The world seemed to glitch.
The blood on the pavement turned into black mist and flew back into the neck. The head stopped rolling, lifted into the air, and snapped back onto the shoulders with a wet, sickening crunch.
Muscles knit together. Skin sealed.
Echidna gasped, her eyes flying open.
She scrambled backward, clutching her throat, her chest heaving as she gulped down air. Her eyes darted frantically around until they landed on Raphael.
Pure, unadulterated terror flashed across Echidna’s face, quickly followed by a look of venomous, burning hatred.
"You..." Echidna hissed, her voice raspy.
"Careful, mutt," Raphael warned, her voice ice-cold. "I only glued you back together because he asked. Give me a reason to rip you apart again. I dare you."
Echidna grit her teeth. She looked at Ash. The hatred vanished, replaced instantly by that same dog-like devotion. She crawled forward on her knees, stopping at his feet.
"Master Ash, this evil woman killed me. Please save me from this demonic woman." she cried at his feet.
Making Rapheal frown even more as she was fighing the urge to end Echinda there and then.
"She isn;t going to kill you," Ash said. "Stay alive this time."
Before anyone could say another word, a soft groan came from the ground behind Ash.
Aisha stirred in his arms, her eyelids fluttering open. The silver sword form had taken a toll on her, but she seemed to have recovered enough to wake.
"Master Ash...?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
"I’m here," he said, his tone softening instantly.
"How touching," Raphael interrupted, though her tone was clipped. "However, this location is filthy. It smells of dead hero and burnt tress. Hardly a fitting place for a coronation."
She clapped her hands.
"We are moving."
"Moving where?" Kelvin asked, still looking between the resurrected demon and the woman who killed her. " Wait, how is Echinda alive? The hell is happening right now?!"
"The luggage comes with us," Raphael dismissed.
She slammed her palm onto the ground.
[Dimensional Shift Activated: The Witches’ Table]
Darkness erupted from the ground. Shadows coiled up like snakes, wrapping around Ash, Aisha, Kelvin, Echidna, and the unconscious body of Dorian floating out of the crater.
The destroyed city vanished.
When Ash opened his eyes again, he wasn’t standing on rubble.
He was standing on polished black marble.
The air was cool and smelled of lavender and old books. Above them, there was no sky, only a swirling void of purple and black nebulas.
Floating candles, thousands of them, hovered in the air, casting a dim, romantic light over the space.
They were in a massive, gothic hall.
The walls were made of obsidian, carved with intricate reliefs of demons warring against angels.
In the center of the room sat a table.
It was long, made of a dark wood that seemed to absorb the light.
At the head of the table was a throne-like chair, empty and waiting.
Down the sides of the table, there were seven high-backed chairs.
And they were occupied.
Ash blinked, adjusting to the dim light.
Raphael was no longer standing beside him. She had materialized in the chair to the immediate right of the head throne. She sat with her legs crossed, a goblet of red wine already in her hand, looking every bit the Queen she claimed to be.
Echidna, still looking a bit pale from her temporary death, was forced by some invisible force into the chair on the far left. She looked uncomfortable, shrinking into the seat.
But there were others. Five others.
Women of varying shapes and auras, all sitting in silence, their eyes fixed on Ash.
"Welcome home, Harbinger," Raphael announced, her voice echoing through the hall.
Ash felt a chill run down his spine. He looked at the women.
One was a small girl, barely looking older than twelve, hugging a massive teddy bear that had realistic human teeth. (Greed).
Another was a voluptuous woman with skin the color of red clay, dressed in barely enough silk to cover her modesty, fanning herself with a look of intense hunger. (Lust).
There was a woman entirely covered in plate armor, her helmet sitting on the table, revealing a scarred face and eyes that burned with suppressed rage. (Wrath).
Next was a pale, thin woman who was currently chewing on the wooden armrest of her chair, drool dripping onto her lap. (Gluttony).
And finally, a woman with green skin and eyes that darted around frantically, looking at the other witches with pure spite. (Envy).
They all stared at him.
Then, as if rehearsed, they stood up.
"We have waited," the armored woman (Wrath) said, her voice like grinding stones. "For eons."
"Is that him? He looks... delicious," the woman in silk (Lust) purred, licking her lips.
"He smells like Him," the little girl (Greed) whispered, clutching her bear tighter. "Its really him, no way."
Ash kept his face impassive, though his mind was racing. Harbinger. The term from Echidna’s memories. They thought he was the reincarnation—or perhaps the vessel—of the Devil King’s lover.
If he denied it, they might kill him. Or worse, lose interest.
If he played along... he had an army.
Ash walked forward. His footsteps echoed on the marble floor. He didn’t look at the witches. He walked straight to the empty throne at the head of the table.
He sat down.
He rested his chin on his hand, looking down the length of the table at the seven deadly monsters assembled before him.
"Sit," Ash commanded.