City of Witches Chapter 400

Albireo Gemernai was on a business trip to the Mortal Realm to handle some affairs.

Establishing communication between the Mortal Realm and Gehenna required enormous costs and facilities, but Countess Gemernai willingly bore those expenses.

While she was in the Mortal Realm, she could handle family affairs without needing to travel back and forth, and conversely, while at the family estate, she could contact businesspeople in the Mortal Realm. However, the most important reason was that she could have video calls with her adorable twins.

Through that expensive communication equipment, Albireo received a report from Head Maid Galina and couldn't help but doubt her own ears.

"How much?"

"Siwoo?"

"Why...? Ah, I don't know about this either."

"Alright for now. It'll be troublesome, but please visit the vault bank in person and check one more time. You always work so hard."

She ended the call.

Albireo blinked with a bewildered expression.

Just one hour ago.

A report flew in that a large amount of gold coins had been withdrawn through the credit certificate she had given Siwoo.

It was an amount even the Countess, who wouldn't hesitate to spend hundreds of millions for good wine, couldn't ignore.

"My goodness, what in the world is this?"

Albireo had entrusted Siwoo with a limitless credit certificate.

But who would have thought he'd spend over twice the previously agreed compensation amount in a single day, and as a lump sum at that...

Did he buy a castle in Renomond Town?

Probably not.

Even buying a castle standing on the most prime land in Gehenna wouldn't require spending this much money.

If it were anyone else, she would have immediately suspected some ulterior motive.

But Siwoo's case was a bit different.

Albireo knew a little about what kind of person he was.

At the very least, he wasn't some reckless spendthrift who would splurge wildly just because a huge sum of money came his way.

Considering his usual character and surrounding circumstances, the first inference that came to mind—"Is he going to take the money and run?"—had an extremely low probability.

"This is strange..."

She actually felt suspicious.

Just as suddenly withdrawing a large amount of cash from a bank might raise suspicions of voice phishing.

The fact that he used such a huge amount suddenly without seeking her consent or asking for her opinion...

Albireo immediately reactivated the Remote Scrying Orb.

"Yes, Deneb. There's something I need you to check."

Amelia stood frozen, blankly looking around.

All the places she had hunted and wandered through until now were polar regions and uninhabited areas.

Therefore, seeing a major city in the Mortal Realm was a first for her.

The overwhelming flood of people and the deafening sound of car horns.

Buildings larger than the biggest trees in Gehenna towered over the city, their glass windows flashing intimidatingly.

"......"

Originally, when Amelia went out hunting, she didn't pay attention to anything else.

Because just silently carrying out her given tasks was already difficult enough to feel like her heart might break.

But this place was Korea.

Siwoo's hometown that he so desperately wanted to return to.

Even though she knew it was pointless, she couldn't stop her eyes from wandering.

However, the situation wasn't exactly ideal for getting lost in sentimentality.

The location recorded for Bianca Bellili was Busan, a port city in Korea.

Amelia, who had set out on this journey alone after putting Clara to sleep, realized shortly after arriving that she was in a very difficult situation.

"What is that? Cosplay?"

"Wow... how can someone look like that?"

"Should I ask to take a picture?"

First came the gazes pouring in, then the whispers surrounding her.

Amelia, famous even among witches for her striking appearance, drew attention just by standing there blankly.

Normally she would have immediately suppressed her presence, but overwhelmed by the pouring noise and the vast amount of information she was encountering for the first time in her life—even feeling dizzy—Amelia flicked her finger belatedly.

Immediately, as if Amelia's existence had been erased, people lost interest in her.

But that wasn't the real big problem.

"......"

First of all, there were too many people.

The Death Ledger didn't specify the witch's exact location.

The method Amelia had used until now to find public enemies was to deliberately scatter magic particles to lure the public enemy to come to her first...

But doing such a thing in a place crowded with people like this would cause excessive commotion.

And it was impossible to erase the presence of each individual particle.

Also, luring the enemy as usual and giving them the first strike was no small problem either.

According to the Death Ledger, Bianca Bellili was a witch skilled in long-range sniping.

Not some random weakling, but a powerful public enemy of the 22nd hierarchy.

Starting a fight by giving the initiative to a sniper was something even Amelia couldn't help but find burdensome.

-Thump!

To Amelia's senses, feeling lost about where to even begin.

A massive wave of magical power resonated.

Even though it came from very far away, her magic circuit reacted to the heavy stirring of magical power with a tingling sensation.

Her sky-blue eyes turned toward the distant location.

-Thud!

As if to confirm that what she felt earlier wasn't a mistake, another impact came through.

There was no immediate visible disturbance.

That meant this level of wave had leaked from inside a Hidden Boundary.

This wasn't something that happened often.

Amelia immediately enveloped her body with particles and began searching for the source.

"...Kgh!"

Bianca let out a troubled groan.

Shin Siwoo, tearing through space and bursting forth.

The slash he swung severed one of Icarus's wings.

If it were an ordinary wing, losing balance and crashing wouldn't be surprising, but Icarus's wings were a Ceremonial Artifact.

Even if the speed decreased somewhat, there was no hindrance to the evasive maneuvers that ignored inertia.

Thus began a natural aerial battle.

Bianca poured out all kinds of Artifacts to shake off his tenacious pursuit.

"Fire!"

Flower-shaped explosive Artifacts scattered everywhere, butterfly-shaped Artifacts that slowly tracked enemies to restrict their movement, flare-type Artifacts scattered to shake off closely pursuing enemies, laser beam-shooting Artifacts, and so on.

Dozens of types alone.

The number of projectiles themselves was already beyond counting.

-Swish-swish-swish!

Shin Siwoo, having become a persistent pursuer, never let Bianca escape.

Whenever she managed to create some distance by deploying her Divine Threads and using every means possible,

Siwoo's body would disappear into the void with a bluish light, then approach by piercing through the void somewhere else.

Not linear movement, but spatial teleportation jumping between points.

Running by folding space without the help of a 'Gate'—already an astonishing situation—and he was wielding such high-level innate magic while holding the Red Branch, which was saturated with a Distortion Field.

But that wasn't all that was cornering Bianca.

-Fzzzt-crackle-crackle!Chasing Bianca through flight and Spatial Leaps, engaging in aerial combat with hundreds of Ribbons, and recklessly pouring out magic power in a near-wasteful manner—it was only natural that his magic power would soon run dry.

"Bloom."

Yet, each time he felt on the verge of exhaustion, this—a golden explosion of magic power.

His nearly depleted magic power surged back to full.

In contrast, Bianca was gradually consuming her magic power.

Even Bianca, confident in a war of attrition, began to feel a creeping unease.

"Grr...!"

If there was one weakness to Arc Heart's bow, it was the interval upon Launch.

For the first time, Bianca felt that limitation.

Because it was a flaw she never even needed to consider under normal circumstances.

If an enemy clung annoyingly close, she could blow them away with the Arrow of Divinity.

If an enemy's long-range attacks interfered, she could create a gap of tens to thousands of kilometers with Icarus's Wings and then snipe them with the Eye of Ideality.

The opening created while drawing the bow was covered by Vitège's Shield.

Individually flawed, but together, the five divine artifacts formed an impeccable whole.

That was why Bianca had never suffered defeat in over a hundred years.

However.

Now, that weakness felt glaringly apparent.

The Ledger of the Masquerade and the Banner of the Arena, which prevented him from leaving the battlefield until the battle's end.

Bianca had designed the arrangement to ensure he couldn't flee midway and to prevent this battle from being detected by others.

The radius of the battlefield created by the Banner of the Arena was just over 3km, where its concealment performance was maximized.

It was far too narrow for Bianca's greatest advantage—one-sided bombardment from a distance.

Never having anticipated such intense close-quarters combat, the very devices she had meticulously prepared were now turning against her, tightening around Bianca's neck.

Of course, Bianca's ability was the harmonization and personalization of Artifacts.

Given a little time, she could break free from these constraints.

The problem here was Shin Siwoo's presence, pecking away at Bianca without allowing even a moment's opening.

Siwoo, having caught up to Bianca once more.

A crimson spiral traced an arc, pounding the shield with fierce intensity.

-Boom! Crash! Kwaaang!

Vitège's Shield, which reduced any physical energy to zero.

Each time that shield was struck by the Red Branch, it let out a piercing scream.

Proof that its defensive performance was gradually deteriorating under the concentrated Distortion Field.

Watching the shield's fragments gradually crumble, Bianca felt the time for a decision had come.

If the situation remained deadlocked like this, there was a risk of being gradually drained of magic power and defeated.

Of course, if his clearly overexerted body completely shut down before that, it would be Bianca's victory for having endured.

Defeat.

Defeat.

Rolling the unfamiliar word in her mouth for the first time in her life, Bianca let out a bitter laugh.

"Haaah!"

Bianca gathered all the magic power she could muster.

Dragging out a tedious battle of attrition, seeing whose reserves were greater, did not suit her temperament.

If she was to make the final move in this gamble, it was all-in.

Bianca swung the Arrow of Divinity with force.

Siwoo was immediately flung to the edge of the barrier.

Simultaneously, hundreds of millions of tiny cubes filled the 3km radius of the sky.

Even for Bianca, controlling so many Artifacts at once was impossible.

But these, shimmering with a beautiful light like fragments of stars drifting in zero gravity, were the 'Mimic's Dice.'

As decoys that only replicated the appearance of Artifacts to deceive the enemy, their magic power consumption was low.

Under normal circumstances, their sole function was to induce the opponent's overreaction and gain an advantage in a war of attrition, but this time, their purpose was slightly different.

From observation, his Spatial Leaps consistently occurred in places devoid of any objects.

In a space filled with drifting obstacles, leaving no room to set foot, that cheat-like Blink would be restricted.

No matter how quickly he reached this point, drawing Arc Heart's bow would be faster.

-Griiind!

The bow was drawn once more.

However, its form differed from before.

Seventy-two split Vitège Shields lined up in a cylindrical formation, creating a battery.

A concept Bianca conceived after seeing Shin Siwoo form a ring tunnel to deflect arrows.

By directing Vitège Shield's powerful defensive performance inward, the dispersion of force was minimized.

The arrows of the night sky, which should have spread in all directions, were compressed by the shield's defensive power, focusing even more intensely on a single point.

What resulted was a strike far more powerful than any fired before.

"So, you intend to come at me like that?"

Siwoo's response, landing on the distant sea.

Had Bianca's intention been conveyed to him?

He did not arrange the Ribbons defensively.

-Rooooar!

Instead, he unfurled the Ribbons like a blooming flower.

The only difference was that the mere dozen strands of Ribbons had multiplied to several dozen.

Using everything from the seafloor to the scattered cranes and shipwrecks around as bows, the Ribbons were drawn back with a terrifying roar.

A reenactment of the earlier clash.

The final strike prepared by the two finally.

Met in midair.

Author's Note (Afterword)

If Bianca had been in a situation where she could freely create distance, mindless Siwoo would have lost.