Chapter 26: The Seduction and Birth of a Witch

The words of Celeste and the miserable state of Viola before her eyes were like the last snapping string, making it so Lily could no longer suppress the rage within her body.

She could not understand.

She, her sister, and her mother were all ordinary people living peaceful lives.

They had clearly done nothing wrong, so why were they encountering such terrible and unjust abuse?

They just wanted to live — just wanted to live.

And as the culprits behind all of this, not only could they get away with it, but they could also continue to persecute ordinary people like them while living lives of luxury and dissipation…

‘They deserve to die… Damn it!’

The pain brought about by her anger seemed to exceed its limit at this moment.

Lily’s hands, which were clutching her head, dropped weakly.

The last flickering light of struggle in her eyes was completely swallowed, replaced by a pure, abyssal black.

Darkness began to spread wildly from beneath her feet toward her surroundings.

In just an instant, this low-slung bungalow was completely submerged by shadows.

The colors of the floor, walls, and even furniture were stripped away, leaving only flowing black spots.

Seeing this, the corners of Celeste’s mouth curled up as she spoke with the seduction of a devil:

“For irredeemable evil, what do the common laws of this world tell us to do?”

“…Kill.”

With a low murmur, Lily’s figure merged into the darkness and vanished.

On the other side, Skinny Monkey in the living room was the first to notice something was wrong.

The moment the darkness enveloped the area, he screamed and tried to flee, but the shadow beneath his feet suddenly came to life, transforming into pitch-black tentacles that coiled around his ankles.

He looked down in horror and found that the parts wrapped by the tentacles were eerily disappearing.

It was not destruction, but rather like erased handwriting.

Flesh, bone, and blood silently turned into black dust, merging into the spreading shadow spots around him.

“No! No! Help — “

The plea for mercy came to an abrupt halt.

From his ankles to his knees, his waist and abdomen, his chest…

He was like a painting being slowly wiped away from the bottom up, experiencing the annihilation of his own existence while being perfectly conscious.

Finally, only a head filled with terror fell to the ground, dying a ridiculous death.

After killing Skinny Monkey, Lily, whose aura had grown slightly stronger, appeared behind Scar.

“Mon-monster!”

Scar was scared out of his wits.

He no longer cared about torturing Viola and instead stabbed his dagger directly at Lily.

Lily did not choose to dodge.

She reached out her right hand and death-gripped Scar’s hand, allowing the dagger to pierce through her palm.

She looked at him.

There was no emotion in those black eyes, only absolute indifference.

However, in Scar’s eyes, she looked like an extreme, frenzied madman, terrifying to the limit.

Scar let go of the dagger and tried to run, but he could not break free from Lily’s right hand.

Finally, with a slight exertion of force, Lily snapped his arm.

“Ah — !”

Scar let out a scream of agony, but because this place was enveloped in darkness, the sound did not travel far at all.

Afterward, Lily walked to his side and grabbed his head.

Then…

*Thud!*

Just as Scar had tortured Viola, she slammed Scar’s head heavily against the corner of the wooden cabinet. Once, twice, three times…

No matter how Scar begged for mercy, Lily did not stop her movements.

It was not until blood covered the corner of the wooden cabinet and Scar had stopped breathing that she threw the corpse onto the ground and looked down at him.

Her gaze remained indifferent.

There was no thrill of revenge, only the coldness of a killer.

The entire process took less than 1 minute.

Silence returned to the house, leaving only blood and corpses on the floor.

The darkness quietly receded, and Lily staggered.

The indifference in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by immense confusion and exhaustion.

She stared blankly at her hands and then at the two corpses on the ground.

‘I… I killed someone…?’

She trembled, the previous abnormality quickly swallowed by a chilling afterfear.

Just as Lily was about to be consumed by guilt, a pair of cool hands gently pressed down on her trembling shoulders from behind.

Celeste had arrived behind her at some unknown time.

Her voice was steady, carrying a strange power of reassurance and affinity that caused Lily’s panicked heart to calm down involuntarily.

“No, you did not kill anyone.”

She guided Lily to look at the semiconscious Viola lying in a pool of blood.

“You merely cleared away two piles of filth that were hurting your sister. Just like wiping dust off a table or sweeping away trash on the floor. Look, isn’t the world… much cleaner?”

“Furthermore, they deserved to die, didn’t they? Before they hurt your sister, how many people had already died at their hands? What you have done is nothing more than seeking justice for them.”

“Do not forget, this is your Witch’s Heart.”

Witch.

That was right.

When Scar and the other man came looking for Viola, Celeste had noticed something unusual inside the sister’s body.

There, she clearly sensed a special and familiar power surging.

There was no mistake; Viola’s younger sister was an unawakened Witch.

Thus, under her guidance, Lily successfully awakened.

Although a newly awakened Witch only had the strength of a 1-star Iron rank, using the trickery of a Witch’s abilities to deal with two thugs who weren’t even Iron Rank was a simple task.

It was just that Lily’s special ability as a Witch…

Celeste’s eyes narrowed, feeling quite interested.

Lily’s gaze gradually focused on her sister, and her panic was replaced by worry.

At that moment, Viola let out a groan of pain and slowly woke up.

The first things she saw were the blood and the two corpses on the floor, as well as… a girl in a black dress radiating a dangerous aura and her younger sister, who looked a bit different, supporting her.

“Li-Lily? Why are you out? And, this person is…?”

Viola struggled to stand up, but her body was weak.

Celeste looked at Viola.

Although her words were still cold, they were more mysterious.

“I merely saw a fellow being and wanted to lend a hand. I have cured your sister’s illness.”

After standing up and carefully observing the scene in the room, Viola seemed to guess something.

She looked at Lily, who was avoiding her gaze but no longer seemed frail, and whispered:

“Lily… just now…”

“To protect you, she accepted Power and became a Witch.”

Celeste walked to Scar’s corpse and used the toe of her shoe to lightly push it aside, revealing the coin purse that had been stolen from Viola.

“Look, the trash has been cleared, and your things have been returned.”

She bent down to pick up the coin purse and tossed it to Viola, while her tone shifted:

“However, trash does not only appear once. If two people come today, five might come tomorrow. And Lily, you should know what the identity of a Witch represents, shouldn’t you?”

Lily bit her lip and nodded.

Even though she had been bedridden for years, she knew the common knowledge regarding Witches.

To survive, she had to hide her identity as a Witch.

Seeing this, Celeste took a Magic Crystal and a Notebook from her bosom and tossed them to Lily.

“This crystal can be used to contact me, and the Notebook records some basic ways to use Magic Power. You should understand what I mean.”

Viola warily pulled her sister back behind her, even though she was trembling with fear herself.

“What… do you want?”

“What I want is very simple, but not right now. When the time comes, I will tell Lily. Rest assured, it won’t be very troublesome — just running some errands. After all, I appreciate you two and wouldn’t want to see you taking risks.”

Celeste tapped her lip with her index finger.

Although her voice was sweet, she still gave off the vibe of a little devil.

Just before leaving, she seemed to suddenly remember something and said:

“Oh, right! These two died here. With the capabilities of the Inquisition, I’m afraid they will be at your door very soon. I don’t want to clash with the Inquisition either, so how you escape this disaster is up to you.”

After she finished speaking, a fragrant breeze blew, and she vanished on the spot.

It was only then that Viola could finally catch her breath.

Following that, as she regained her rationality, she truly realized how serious it was that her sister had killed two people.

If they confessed their guilt to the Inquisition, Lily would likely be sentenced to death.

Lily’s face was pale as she clutched Viola’s skirt, refusing to let go.

“Sister…”

Viola gripped Lily’s hands in return and promised through gritted teeth:

“Don’t worry. No matter what, I will protect you.”

At worst, she would take the blame for her.

Just as she made her decision, the *clack, clack, clack* of high heels sounded from outside.

Floating in along with the sound was the scent of a noble girl — a mixture of cedar and old books.