"So where is Enver right now if you're here?" Anser asked.
"He must be hiding at the Rosicrucian base; he said he would provide support to weaken Randy Bornman." Yanshan answered. "So they've already won the battle."
Liam looked at Gene, and then he looked at Yanshan. "Won?"
Yanshan nodded. "Enver, unlike July 14 or Ji Noo—"
"Jeon." Anser immediately corrected himself, on the verge of drawing his sword again at the lack of respect.
"…" Yanshan looked at him; he was a ghost, although he was alive now, but… "…Jeon," He sighed. "Enver was born half-demon; if Enver fully unleashes his demonic power, he is capable of destroying all of Anarxie."
"But that will cost him his sanity, won't it?" Gene added, crossing her arms. "So, of course we won't let Enver use his full power."
Yanshan nodded. "I can use sealing magic, which means I can seal that cognitive part of his brain so he doesn't go crazy…but Randy Bornman has many exorcists under his command, and I can't approach Enver as a human, only as a ghost."
Frederick, who had remained silent throughout the conversation, was analyzing Yanshan's words.
Now that he is human like them, and considering that Enver's demonic poison could even kill him in less than two seconds, it is a great disadvantage on his part.
"What if Randy isn't human? Could Enver's poison still kill him, even using his full demonic power?" Frederick commented.
Everyone looked at him, and Anser frowned. "What are you trying to say? That Randy is a demon too?"
"No, that wouldn't be very 'Randy' of him," Then he looked at Mayu, who was in Anser's coat. "Demons are attracted to pure energy. Have you ever wondered why Randy can control demons? Or why Randy has unlimited pure energy?"
"Even so, what about all those demons that have attacked us in the past?" Liam intervened. "Randy couldn't control them."
"Since I joined this sect, no demon has attacked us; in fact, no sect has ever been attacked by demons. We hunt them, and the only occasion that a demon who attacked us first was Raum and the other weak demons, and Jeon was the one who took care of him."
Frederick was suddenly right.
If this world was about demons killing humans...why did the demons attack certain areas and not all of them?
They attacked Aria and Delta when neither had much pure energy left, and Delta had been born from the rotting bodies of demons, whereas no demon had ever tried to attack Anarxie before, which is the cradle of pure energy for the whole world.
"…" Liam swallowed hard. "You mean...Randy planned that too?"
Frederick nodded. "And I have no doubt that he also had something to do with it when Anser, Jeon, and I were in the Third World. The three of us were hardly in any danger, so why were Joakim's people exterminated? No demon actually tried to kill the three of us, only our companions."
"Randy had asked Joakim for more of his people to accompany us…" Anser suddenly said. "Perhaps he planned to leave the sect with more people in the world, leaving them with nothing?"
Frederick nodded.
"Perhaps that guy already knew how this story would end." July 14 commented, looking at Yanshan. "Had you already foreseen this?"
Yanshan thought for a moment. And suddenly, the words from that last vision that Amina had came back to him.
「My brother will come, and he will save this story.」
"No. I doubt Randy knows the real ending."
Everyone looked at Yanshan, surprised.
Furthermore, this time... perhaps thanks to Renato's barrier, Gene and Frederick can clearly hear what they are saying without those 'blurs' from before.
"Story…" Gene murmured. "If this is truly a story, if our destiny is written, then there cannot be a 'real ending' for what is already written."
"Miss Witch Genesis," Yanshan spoke. "When an author writes a story, they first make a draft, and from that draft, before arriving at the final version, many things are changed. Imagine that the author of this story wrote that we all lived happily, but when it came to the final version, the ending was changed to that we all died. The true ending will be the last one that was written. And the first ending, you could say, is the ending Randy believes is the true one."
Liam hit her head, finally understanding why Randy insisted so much on an ending. "So Randy already knew the ending of the draft, and wanted the real ending of the story?"
Yanshan nodded.
"We don't even know either of the endings...so it's best to avoid both endings at all costs." Frederick said, and the others nodded, all except Anser. "Anser?"
"…"
"Boss?" July 14 said. "Don't scare us…"
"Mr. Detective?" Liam said, turning to look at him.
And although Gene said nothing, he too looked at him; suddenly, his gaze became fixed on to the wall.
"…" Yanshan looked at him, and then, in a swift movement, disappeared into thin air.
"W-What?" July 14 looked all around, and then looked back at Anser. "Boss! What's going on, boss?!"
Anser drew his sword, and then turned to look at Gene and Liam. "They are approaching at full speed…"
They all looked at each other.
"Who?"
But as soon as Gene said that, the door to his base exploded.
The entire base was filled with smoke; it was difficult to see what was happening...
"Gene! Anser?! Where are you all guys!" Liam shouted, while coughing. Suddenly, a hairy head lifted Liam up, placing her on Mayu's back. "Mayu!"
Mayu picked up Liam and Frederick who were on the ground, then crashed into a wall and ran away to the training field which was about five kilometers away from the base.
"Gene! Frederick!" Liam said, about to use one of her regeneration potions, Frederick's hand stopped her.
"Don't waste them, it's just smoke." Once they arrived at the training field, Frederick got off, leaving both girls on Mayu's back. "Our plan starts now. You guys go after Mayu and Renato. We'll take care of Randy's people, understood?"
They both nodded, and as Mayu continued to grow, he led them both away from the training field.
Frederick looked down at his base, which was beginning to collapse. Before it did, a fireball fell beside Frederick; July 14.
"And Anser?" Frederick asked.
"He said he would take care of those who were approaching, and that we in this area should take care of them…"
Frederick nodded, his mana arm conjuring a pistol, but upon better understanding July 14's words... "Is he an idiot?! His geographical orientation is a shit!"
July 14 blinked, and then frowned. "Never doubt the boss, he used Mayu's potion when they had just destroyed the door."
"Good reflexes and good orientation are two different things…"
"Don't be such a spoilsport and fight!"
"How can I fight when I don't see a single fucking enemy?!"
And as soon as he said those words, men in white hoods perched in the trees around him. The symbol of the roses on their chests said it all; they were the Rosicrucians.
"Hah...you summoned them in time, Frederick." He said July 14, engulfing his hand in flames.
"You'd better keep up with me and not leave my side."
"Aww, so romantic…"
But soon, the floor shook.
A hand touched July 14's ankle, making him jump into Frederick's arms. "AAAH! SOMETHING TOUCHED MY ANKLE!"
Frederick looked at him with a 'are you serious?' expression, then looked at the ground; sure enough, there was a hand, and soon, more hands appeared all over the training field; the meat was already rotten, they were no longer human, but rather walking skeletons. Even from their now destroyed base, more were coming out.
"Is this the apocalypse?" He said July 14, while hugging Frederick.
Frederick released him, letting him fall to the ground, and then analyzed all the approaching skeletons. They all wore the same clothes as the Rosicrucians, so it was easy to deduce that they were very old members.
Very, very, old.
"What the hell? As far as I know, Randy had his sect no more than thirty years ago...and there are over a hundred skeletons here…" Frederick said, and then looked at July 14.
"But that guy reincarnates; he probably buried all his people here in the past…" July 14 said, as he got up from the ground. "Apparently...this fight will be more difficult than we thought."
_
As soon as the barrier was lifted, Joakim stood on the balcony outside the base of Wisdom and Redemption Sect. "Leadership Skill: The Courage of a Thousand Men!" He raised his sword, Scalybur, to the sky, and with a flash, all his people in the forest let out a determined cry, and began to fell all the trees in their path, managing to take with them some Rosicrucians.
"Boss!" Karmen climbed down through the window of the base, and I land next to Joakim. "A message from Mr. Renato."
Joakim took the Identifier.
["Joakim! There's a rose on the mountain at point A1, right at the top! Destroy it!"]
Renato's voice sounded rushed, nervous...scared.
"…A1…" Then he looked at Karmen. "Let's go to point A1. Kyle! Make sure everyone attacks points A5 and B3, surrounds Randy, and above all, don't let the Rosicrucian members interfere in the fight."
"Yes sir!"
But just as he was about to jump off the balcony, the floor shook.
"Boss!" Karmen was about to grab Joakim by his cape, but Joakim stopped her with a hand. "Boss…"
"This is not a good sign, we need to hurry." But from the ground, arms began to emerge; they were almost bones, with a little rotten flesh, but the robes of the Rosicrucians were still noticeable on their clothing. "…That…idiot…"
"BOSS!" Karmen's voice made him turn to look at her, and she pointed to a distant mountain; point A1 that Renato mentioned. "LOOK!"
"…!"
A bright light was beginning to rise up the mountain.
"Karmen! Stop him! We must destroy the rose!"
"Yes boss!" Karmen jumped off the balcony, lashed out in the air and turned into a burst of light, speeding off to chase after that light.
Joakim sheathed his sword behind his back, and then, he raised his hand in the air. "Let me fucking pass!" The air seemed to compress, and then Joakim ran through the air, in the direction where Karmen had gone.
"What the fuck are you planning, Randy Bornman?!"
_
When the ground shook, Mayu kept running.
Until a burst of light pierced his stomach. "Hiyaaa!" Mayu screamed, falling to the ground and knocking Liam and Gene down.
"Mayu!" Immediately, Liam gave him a regeneration potion to drink, the wound beginning to heal. "What was that?"
Gene stood in front of Mayu, then cast a spell; a shield activated around the three of them, just as strong as Sherly's, which was able to block another light attack. "Magic of the Rosicrucians, they have found us."
"W-What?!" Liam said, getting up from the ground, until she came face to face with a skeleton. "AAAH!" She threw a potion at it, causing the skeleton to explode. "What the hell is that?!"
"...Corpses."
Liam looked at Gene, surprised. "Like zombies?"
"What's a zombie?"
"Those things are zombies, Gene!" Then Liam crossed her arms, annoyed. "I've always hated zombies..."
Gene looked around, and upon seeing a skeleton, raised his hand to attack it, but just as he was about to do so, the skeleton spat out a burst of sound waves.
"…!" Gene immediately changed his spell to strengthen the barrier. But the waves seemed to grow even stronger with Renato's barrier, making it difficult to defend Liam and Mayu. "Fuck, fuck…"
"Gene…!" Liam, worried, knew the shield wouldn't hold for long, so she looked at Mayu, who was starting to get up. "Mayu…go back to Anser, we...can't protect you."
Liam placed her bag around Mayu's neck, where she carried regeneration and mana regeneration potions. Then Mayu ran off at full speed, and once she was gone, the shield broke.
"Ahh!" Both Gene and Liam were thrown forward by the sound waves.
Perhaps Liam broke a few bones when he crashed into a tree and broke it with his body, so he quickly drank a regeneration potion.
"Liam…" Gene got up from the ground, then used regeneration magic to help heal Liam. "Apparently, Renato's barrier also increases the power of the Rosicrucians…having been allies, they also benefit from the barrier."
"Give me my weapons."
Liam's voice surprised Gene. "What?"
"I'm going to kick their asses."
Gene swallowed hard, then created a shotgun for Liam. Liam reloaded it, and then pointed it at the skeleton of sound waves. "Don't worry about me, and do that spell now while you can, I've got your back."
"Liam…" Then Liam fired, making the skeleton's head explode and knocking it to the ground. "Thank you…" Then Gene closed his eyes and held aloft the grimoire he had brought earlier; the grimoire of Vulpecula, the only grimoire that contained the spell only the witch of the heart could cast. "Heart Magic: Heartbeat of the Soul."
The grimoire vanished in a celestial glow, and Gene's body also began to glow; it was a spell that ended the enemy's soul with a single touch. The only downside was that it took an hour to recharge and could only be used once, which consumed all of the wielder's mana; however, with Renato's barrier, Gene could do it.
More skeletons began to gather, one that was about to attack Gene, Liam shot it, as well as the living Rosicrucians who began to surround them.
"This is getting bad..." Liam took a potion out of his bag and poured the contents into the shotgun shells. "Switch." And now the shotgun turned into two pistols.
In this way, Liam began firing from both sides at everyone who approached, thanks to the expansion potion; it made it so that when he shot a target, he damaged those next to it.
A temporary solution, at least for the next fifty minutes.
***
"It's nice that everyone has teamed up to stop me, what a déjà vu…" Randy's voice was sweet, even though after casting his reincarnation spell, he knew that victory was already assured. "And thanks to your barrier, my people will be able to live longer! Isn't that great?"
Renato gritted his teeth, of course, that's why Randy had waited all that time to be able to reincarnate his members.
"Although, I must say, I told you a lie, Lord Eternal."
"A lie? You've been lying your whole life, Randy."
Randy laughed, but after finding his point of pure energy, he smiled, and lunged at Renato. "You're right!"
Renato stopped him in time, placing an index finger on Randy's outstretched palm. "I'll send you back where you belong, Randy!" But just as he was about to cast his spell, his body suddenly froze, and he felt time stop. "…What?"
"The power of a demon is fascinating, Renato." Randy's voice made him look into his eyes; that...wasn't Randy anymore. Those orange eyes said otherwise. "I was able to block your clairvoyance, I won, Renato. I will always win." And with a smile, his hand began to glow.
"…Who are you?"
Renato spoke, awaiting the response of the demon that lived inside Randy, but little did he know that it wasn't that demon speaking, that the true villain here was Randy, not Agares.
"Randy Bornman." He giggled. "Pure Energy: Birth of a Rose."
And upon detecting Renato's pure energy, the rose absorbed Renato in a second, ending him immediately—no, rather, ending his existence in this world immediately.
They had barely fought for less than ten minutes, and Randy finished him off.
"RENATO!" The voice of a boy, a boy Randy knew very well, made him turn around; it was Ji Noo, observing everything from the ground.
"…" Randy made the rose vanish into thin air, and then slowly descended from the sky. "Useless writer! I thought you ran away with Anser... I'm so surprised to see you still here…" He chatted in a normal tone, as if it were just any other day. "I must say, sending Renato to finish me off was very clever, but I already knew all his attacks, and blocking even something as powerful as his clairvoyance was easy, you know?" And standing before him, he raised his hand, that glow appearing again. "This time, I'll take you with me."
A blue light flashed across the sky, then landed in front of Ji Noo, and the sound of a sword cutting filled the air.
Slash!
Randy immediately took a step back and looked at his hand; he had a cut on his palm, blood trickling from it.
"…"
Looking ahead, he met the heterochromatic gaze of...Anser Ciro.
"Anser?" Ji Noo murmured, making Anser turn around. No, this was not his Anser. "…"
Anser would not have raised his sword against Ji Noo, and his Anser would have had a gentle look, not the murderous look of this Anser.
But then, a green flash fell in Randy's direction. Randy managed to dodge it, but it cut his cheek.
No, rather, he did it.
"…Elmetron." The Anser that fell from the sky said.
Ji Noo blinked, surprised, Elmetron?
That Anser looked just like his Anser, but Elmetron, although he wore the same clothes as Ji Noo, was dressed completely in black, unlike Ji Noo who had a white sweater.
"Mr. Detective…" Elmetron stood in front of Randy.
And when they both mentioned each other, from the sky they could see two red hands opening a kind of portal in the distance, and suddenly the pressure increased.
Ji Noo looked at Randy, who looked...just as confused as Ji Noo.
"He followed us." Anser said.
"…'He'?" Ji Noo dared to ask.
Elmetron looked at Ji Noo, then smiled. "■■■■."
Both Randy and Ji Noo looked surprised.
A blur.
"You look like me, demon," Elmetron smiled, walking towards Ji Noo, but then he stopped and looked at Randy. "Bornman...why do you have that face? Did you see a ghost?"
Of course, Elmetron was the main antagonist of this story, and his enemy besides Anser...was Randy.
And Randy realized that perhaps it wasn't a good idea for Elmetron to have seen him.
"I thought I'd already taken care of all the Randys...it seems I was missing this one." Anser said, walking towards Randy.
"You're crazy, you idiot, we have to deal with ■■■■ first." Elmetron insisted. "Although...he can wait...I'm dying to kill Randy again!"
Who were this version of Elmetron and Anser, really? Were they enemies, yet did they work together?
And Ji Noo could only think that at least now...this...could be considered external help, right?
***
The birds fled their positions; it was only a matter of time before everyone noticed that the barrier had disappeared.
Joakim tried to talk to Renato, but he didn't respond.
July 14 and Frederick, who were dealing with the Rosicrucians, merely exchanged a suspicious glance.
But in the case of Gene and Liam…
"A-Ack!" Gene fell to the ground; the sudden loss of infinite mana forced her to stop her spell before she died. "W-What…?" She looked up at the sky, and when she saw that the barrier had disappeared, she swallowed hard. She couldn't sense Renato's presence either.
"Gene!" Liam went towards her, firing with one hand, and handed Gene a mana regeneration potion. "The barrier has just disappeared; these guys have become weak, however…"
"I won't be able to use my spell."
"…Yeah." Liam kept shooting, until one of the members fired a beam of light, making Liam's right arm disappear. "…Ah?!"
"Liam!" Gene tossed the empty potion bottle aside, but when she was about to use her regeneration magic...a steel hand from the floor imprisoned Gene. "What?!"
Liam drank one more potion; her arm didn't return, but at least she was able to stand up, and then she noticed that she—her cousin whom she had killed a few months ago—had come back to life.
"Oh, how fucking fascinating…" Then she shot the wrist of the steel hand, causing it to release Gene, and then Liam looked at Gene. "How's your mana? Do you think you can use that spell to kill Randy?"
Gene denied. "I have the same amount as always, it's not enough, and it would take at least four hours to charge…"
Liam snorted; seeing her cousin emerge from among the Rosicrucians, she knew the battle was more serious than she had thought. "That woman is my cousin, she's very troublesome, so I'll take care of her. Try to use another final spell to end this."
"But you're hurt, Liam!"
"Then break your limit! Even if it kills you, I'll save you! But if you can't save me, then we're not a team!" She said, and then walked towards her cousin. "Bitch, you'd better die soon…" She reloaded her pistol and began shooting at the woman, but she shielded her bullets with giant steel hands.
At the same time, Liam was shooting at the other members of the Rosicrucian sect who were trying to harm her again. She couldn't use melee combat, not when more and more enemies were arriving.
Gene looked at her for a few seconds, then fell to her knees. "…Heart Magic: Distant Heartbeats…"
The ground rumbled, and Gene's body was illuminated this time with a white glow. And then, a thin line began to form in the sky.
"Wait a little while, Liam...I'll help you soon..." That spell would help them finish off strong units faster, but to avoid wasting her entire mana, she used it sparingly, drinking the portions of mana regeneration that Liam gave her.
Meanwhile, Liam was fighting her cousin, shooting at approaching enemies and the hands that tried to restrain her.
"Fuck…" Soon, another of the Rosicrucians threw a burst of light at Liam, this time taking off part of her hip. "Ack!" She quickly drank a potion to endure the pain. But even so, she couldn't move as fast as before, some attacks hitting her more often than before.
"Liam Yoon Hee, this time, I'll be the one to kill you…" The woman's voice made Liam snort.
"Kept dreaming." And she shot her in the head, but to Liam's surprise, the bullet didn't explode. "…What?"
The bullet had become encased in steel, falling to the ground.
"Try again."
The woman's mocking tone made Liam keep shooting at her; it didn't matter which side she shot from, in the end the bullet didn't do its magic of exploding.
The woman started laughing, mocking Liam, and then managed to catch her.
"Liam!" Gene screamed, but as she was about to move, one of the Rosicrucians rushed towards her, and Liam shot at that man, but without realizing it, another one fired a burst of light at Liam, making her hand with the weapon disappear. "NOO!"
Liam screamed in pain; this time, she couldn't reach a potion and drink it.
"So pathetic, you should always have been like that...what was the point of rebelling if you were going to end up like this, huh?" And then, she crushed Liam with her steely hand.
Gene had just cast a regeneration spell on Liam, so powerful that it drained half of the mana Gene had stored, and which would surely heal Liam when it reached her.
But the explosion caused by the crushing of Liam's potions stopped the spell, and instead, everything around her exploded.
Gene was thrown from the plane, as were the other members of the Rosicrucian Sect. Some died instantly, while others, like Gene, suffered only burns or scrapes.
Gene fell onto a log, ignoring the branches that had pierced her body, and ran towards where Liam had been trapped; although the spell stopped, a part of it did reach Liam, leaving a disfigured and severely burned Liam on the ground, but before she died, Gene used another regeneration spell.
The mana was leaving Gene's body with speed, while she desperately tried to rescue Liam.
But a spear pierced Gene's chest, breaking the spell, and sending Gene flying through a tree. "Agh!" She managed to remove the spear, and then she turned around.
"W-Wait…" Gene stood up, throwing the spear aside, but the sound of something breaking made her freeze. "…"
The spear owner, another member of the Rosicrucians stepped on Liam's head, crushing it with a single stomp.
"…"
What could she say?
'I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Liam'?
«She is dead.»
It was already too late.
Liam always trusted Gene's witch abilities, but Gene never trusted herself, and right now…
Because of that mistrust, Liam died.
Even if the spells were bad, or weak, if she had helped Liam more actively, Liam would not have died, or at least Gene would have been able to save her in time.
"Liam…" In the end, did she never truly belong to that family? Was her cowardice greater than she was? Yes. And yet, she had to do something to pay for the damages.
Just like Liam told her, they weren't a team if Gene didn't help her back. Liam helped her all that time, from her arrival until now.
More hands emerged from the ground, bringing forth more fallen members of the Rosicrucian sect.
Randy was most likely the one who killed them and buried them there, although no one can know for sure, and really? Gene didn't care about that now.
They all rushed towards Gene, now that she was alone, and with little mana, they had a chance.
Gene saw the last potion she had left in her hand, drank it, and then a sword similar to Astral formed out of thin air. "Imitation Magic: Moonlight!" She slashed with her sword, clearing away those in front of her, and then used the sword to kill and stop attacks.
Her plan was already ruined. She knew she couldn't hold out much longer if she only used imitation magic.
She walked over the men's heads, and when she found some open ground, she stabbed one of them with her sword, and went over there.
"Heart Magic: The Spring Sky!" She raised her hands to the ground, and the ground rumbled.
That spell drained almost all of her mana, and just as she was about to be attacked, something similar to a portal opened in the sky; something dark could be seen amidst the crimson sky.
Then bullets started raining down, killing everyone who was approaching Gene.
Gene looked up at the sky; the Spring Sky spell was bringing enemies into his world. But as long as Gene had mana, she could prevent them from attacking her.
Soon people emerged from the portal; all of them were armed warriors, dressed in black, spreading through the forest to search for and kill anyone who began to flee.
"L-Liam…" She knew she should have used that spell before, but... "I'm sorry..." She was afraid of ruining the plan.
Slowly, she began to close the portal as she saw that the allies were already finishing them all off.
But something happened.
"A-Agh!" She fell to his knees on the ground, a blue light came out of the portal, flashing across the sky like a shooting star. "W-What is…?" But it didn't stop there, and another green light lit up the sky, following the blue light at full speed.
And for some reason, she had a bad feeling when she stopped seeing the two lights.
She hurried to close the gate, but suddenly, a hand grabbed the two corners of the gate, preventing it from closing.
"Agh!" She tried to use more mana to close the portal, but those hands only opened it wider, until a red eye peered out from the hole, its pupil sharpening as it looked around. "What's that?!"
Gene had to hurry and close it.