City of Witches Chapter 397

Bianca, who had never once fought with the intention of capture, learned a new lesson.

The lesson was that capturing a pest without killing it was extremely difficult.

Siwoo, who had suddenly amplified his magic power exponentially to raise the tempo.

His speed was already incomparable to before.

With mere light leaps, he crossed the speed of sound as if it were trivial, showcasing superhuman velocity.

If Bianca had tried to track it with her naked eye, at best she would have observed only a blurry afterimage.

However, the 'Observation Eye of Ideation' was no mere Ceremonial Artifact for shooting assistance.

The Observation Eye enhanced by Bianca was the ultimate observation device that grasped the opponent's information and predicted their movements with near-perfect accuracy.

No matter how much he increased his speed and charged, the shield of Vitège, synchronized with the Observation Eye, effortlessly intercepted his attacks.

Even if he twisted the Ribbon to probe here and there and struck multiple places simultaneously, it was meaningless.

The shield of Vitège, capable of splitting into up to 72 fragments for defense, was absolute defense itself, never once breached.

And if the sight of him swinging his spear while drenched in sweat and blood became frustrating, she could simply swing the Divine Thread to create distance again.

Thus, from Bianca's perspective, it was a tedious war of attrition that made her yawn.

He was clearly overexerting his body.

No matter how versatile magic power was as an energy, containing that much magic power entirely within a Spirit Body was dangerous.

Moreover, if he was drawing thrust akin to a fighter jet into human muscles and bones, the consequences were obvious without much thought.

"Reckless."

Even if he had lost a friend and his sanity, she hadn't expected him to be this devoid of reason.

Bianca once again stomped her shoe on the floor.

Simultaneously, dozens more white paper airplanes rose and immediately pursued Siwoo.

The projectiles flying at Siwoo since earlier were not mere paper airplanes.

They were Artifacts created to track and annihilate enemies, further modified by Bianca.

The guided projectiles, persistently changing direction as they pursued, cornered Siwoo.

-Bang! Kwaang! Kwaaang!

But he was not an opponent to be taken lightly.

Watching Siwoo shoot down dozens of paper airplanes with fierce and spectacular spear strikes, Bianca inwardly admired him.

Though it was hard to call it a typical Witch's tactic, his skill was the real deal.

For a Witch who had existed for less than ten years, he was indeed strong enough to beat a weakened Ea.

Adopting the heretical method of Close Combat, any Witch without a proper countermeasure would easily concede defeat.

Can you believe it?

That a mere man dared to challenge the pinnacle of achievements built over centuries in such a short time.

A burning desire for possession made her body tremble.

-Kwagagagang!

"Hoo…."

"...Aha."

Bianca suddenly realized.

The reason why he, who had charged as if to die at first, suddenly stopped making reckless assaults.

Rage is volatile.

Humans are weak.

Even rage that makes one ready to die tends to vanish futilely before the reality of powerlessness.

At first, Siwoo had charged in with eyes turned upside down upon hearing of his friend's death.

But after the first exchange, he must have gauged the situation.

He must have felt more keenly than anyone that he couldn't win.

However, he had already signed the 'Ball Roster' when boarding this ship.

Since he agreed to the Contract with his own hand, escape became impossible, and Bianca made sure he knew that.

Then, why would an opponent who realized the overwhelming difference in strength and had even escape blocked be stalling for time?

"Just asking out of curiosity. Are you waiting for someone to come save you?"

"......"

Seeing Siwoo remain silent, Bianca became certain.

From the moment the notification came that he had checked the crystal sphere's message until he revealed himself, there was quite a long time.

Unless he was a fool, he must have prepared a contingency plan for when things went wrong.

For instance, it would have been possible to leave a note like, 'Please come to ~ in about 30 minutes.'

Even excluding Duke Tiferet, who would be wandering Hong Kong looking for Ea, there were many Witches friendly to him around.

"Foolish, did you think I wouldn't have considered that?"

But Bianca had naturally anticipated that far.

Thus, from the moment she deployed the Hidden Boundary, she used one Artifact.

'The Arena's Banner.'

Once a battle begins inside, it permits no one's intrusion until the fight ends.

Not only that, it also makes observation of the Hidden Boundary impossible.

For a public enemy, deploying a Hidden Boundary with concealment properties is basic.

"It's a futile waste of time. No one will come to help you by breaking through this barrier."

"......"

A brief lull due to conversation.

Bianca stopped the Launch of the Artifact that was forming an infinite barrage, and Siwoo panted in place.

Blood could be seen dripping from the tip of his Gauntlet.

As expected, the reckless movements had begun tearing his fragile skin first.

"How about surrendering now? I do regret what happened to your friend... But is it necessary to risk your life over a human?"

It was an incredibly brazen thing to say for the very person who killed that friend.

Yet, in Bianca's optimistic proposal, there wasn't even a hint of awareness of that fact.

Just as Bianca is a Witch, Shin Siwoo is also a Witch.

On the other hand, the friend who died was merely a human.

Risking one's life for a trivial friendship was, no matter how much one pondered it, nothing but foolish bravado.

Because preserving one's life, even by bending one's pride, was the most reasonable course.

"......"

The prolonged silence.

Bianca watched Siwoo with a tiny bit of expectation.

Observing a human who upheld noble beliefs compromise and fall was a delightful thing.

Just imagining taming that man, currently playing the role of a righteous hero, into a slave of desire and raising him like a pet made her lower body tingle with ecstasy.

"Takasho was a good guy."

"Haa…."

"He wasn't someone who should have died so meaninglessly."

Bianca let out a deep sigh at the foolish answer that betrayed her expectations.

"Humans die meaninglessly by nature. How long will you cling to such mawkish sentimentality? You're a Witch too, aren't you? You should think rationally."

This wasn't sarcasm or provocation.

It was sincere advice born of pure intent.

For a Witch, nothing holds more value than Magic.Ambition, inquisitiveness, and desire—everything else is merely an accessory emotion. The morality and ethics championed by humanity are nothing more than a fragile social consensus created by the weak who fear having their possessions taken away.

If one has transcended humanity, one must also cast off those shackles.

"No. You're wrong."

Witches are clearly different from humans.

They are fanatics who do not age, live eternally, and are obsessed with something called Magic.

But there is an Apprentice Witch who is distressed at the thought of losing her mother.

There is also a former-generation Witch who worries about her daughter being left alone.

There was a Witch who blindly trusted Siwoo like an ordinary lover.

There was a Witch who suffered after losing her disciple, and there were the Twins who approached him kindly, unbound by prejudice against male slaves.

"You're just a monster."

"...How stubborn."

Bianca was not greatly disheartened.

That must be the extent of his vessel.

He is a man who will eventually submit after having his limbs broken and being endlessly subjected to ecstatic pleasure.

There is no reason to regret failing to tame him with mere words.

Siwoo checked his physical condition.

Physical enhancement beyond the critical point his Spirit Body could endure.

His entire body's muscles protested with pain as if being wrung like a rag, and his joints felt as though they would melt like drive components unable to bear the engine's strain.

Nevertheless, he gripped the spear as if clutching a harpoon.

Twisting his body and adding rotational force, he threw the Red Branch with all his Combat Power. It flew like a comet, leaving a long, lingering red tail in the air.

The act of throwing his most powerful weapon.

Moreover, displaying such behavior before Bianca, who could make Artifacts her own, could only be interpreted as a desperate, last-ditch struggle.

-Kiiing!

The Red Branch, flying at the speed of a ray of light, came to an abrupt halt before Vitège's shield.

It stopped horizontally, like an arrow embedded in a target.

"Is this the end now?"

Bianca snorted contemptuously as she looked at Siwoo, the fight ending absurdly easily.

And then she noticed it.

A conviction that had not diminished in the slightest, even after witnessing the overwhelming gap in power.

"No."

The Red Branch, reacting to external impact, emitted an intense Distortion Field.

And until now, throughout the battle, the Impact Force from numerous collisions had accumulated layer upon layer within the Ribbon enveloping the Red Branch.

The reason Siwoo hadn't charged at Bianca and had maintained a purely defensive stance wasn't because he realized a charge would be meaningless.

It was because controlling the Distortion Field, which threatened to rampage at any moment, consumed an enormous amount of magic power, Mental Energy, and Computation power.

A cursed Ceremonial Artifact that had devoured 1,200 humans and bloomed.

Siwoo could control only a quarter of this Artifact's functions.

Arbitrarily utilizing the Distortion Field like the Enemy Knight was impossible, and he couldn't even attempt to use the barrier.

However.

What if he deliberately induced a rampage on top of the accumulated impact?

"This is just the beginning."

-Uuuuuuung!

The Ribbon that had been enveloping the Red Branch and controlling the 'distortion' raging within it was stripped away.

Simultaneously, the Distortion Field and the red barrier, which had been barely suppressed, began to be released en masse toward their prey.

"T-this...!"

To use a familiar analogy, it was like tightly sealing a shaken cola bottle, adding Mentos, and then throwing it at the opponent.

Bianca's face showed bewilderment for the first time as the Red Branch indiscriminately unleashed Distortion Fields and barriers, regardless of friend or foe.

By itself, it couldn't overcome Vitège's shield.

But the Distortion Field, inherently antagonistic to Artifacts, induced an effect similar to an EMP blast on electronic devices.

Watching the Artifact malfunction, degrade, and become unresponsive, Bianca began to retreat for the first time.

Siwoo didn't wait.

Seeing Bianca flustered, he gripped his newly forged sword and, trusting in the Clover, stepped into the storm of swirling barriers and Distortion Fields.

A resistance that felt as if his body would be torn apart.

The high-concentration Distortion Field was like indiscriminately emitted radiation to the Spirit Body.

A nauseating field of vision as if exposed to a massive amount of radioactivity.

Amidst a melting sense of balance and a burning, searing heat, he saw two Clovers shatter almost instantly.

Periwinkle's Clover was also a type of Artifact.

It was not entirely immune to the interference of the Distortion Field.

"A futile effort!"

Bianca tried to distance herself from the storm of the Distortion Field while attempting to draw out a new Artifact.

But even the observational eye of her ideology was temporarily paralyzed.

She had never imagined that man would dare to cross the shortest path, risking death, so her response was slow.

-Bwoong!

Siwoo's Slash, mustering every last ounce of his strength, surged fiercely toward Bianca.

Author's Note (Afterword)

Exhaustion...