Make Them Suffer

A symphony of crackling and explosions echoed in the Public Garden as Mariz and Noah continued fighting. As the woman was quick to evade and deflect the blows and fireballs of the hounds, Noah was trying his best not to touch any of the puddles on the ground or get in range of a lamppost.

It's just that the beautiful scenery was being burned and destroyed all around them. Noah now understood what he was supposed to prevent, but he was actually participating in it. He had no choice but to fight since Mariz was a top-tier witch… one that seemed to be on a calamity-grade as Laquisha once said.

Noah didn't know if he was indeed in the same grade, but he didn't want to think that there were many levels in a witch's strength. They were just measured by the number of realities they could affect, right?

Like the one they fought before, he could only cause trouble to two or three people max. Nadin and this woman had a bigger scope of affecting the realities of a multitude.

For Noah, he shouldn't be in their grade per se. He could only swipe and kill three people, unlike the other two witches he fought. That was what was making him not understand their grading. He was considered to be in their grade, but his affliction was too low.

Could it be that the others were really overestimating him?

From the light show, none of the two witches noticed the three flares that seemed to be shot in their direction. As Mariz used her steel body to beat up the hounds, she was giving less and less attention to her surroundings.

Why wouldn't she when all of these dogs were like bullets? One miscalculation, and she might lose a limb.

"Huh?" Noah was the first one to notice the flares. However, since the three sources of light were crashing down at them, they didn't seem to be flares anymore.

His eyes widened as three missiles were less than ten meters from them. He recalled the hounds and retreated as fast as he could. Mariz also realized that the missiles were already too near to evade. She decided to whip electricity from a nearby lamppost to destroy them.

However, a certain shield coated the missiles that very instant. The best Mariz had done was change the direction of one of them.

Boom! As soon as the missiles hit the ground, three blast waves rippled around the area. Mariz and Noah got caught in it while the hounds were able to shift into their formlessness to not get affected. The blast rattled the bodies of the two witches and made them crash to the ground.

"Shit… saint tech?!" Mariz was familiar with the energy that embraced her. She then started conducting electricity to break free from the petrification.

"Luca?" Noah was more familiar with the source of that saint magic. It felt like the same one from Luca's compass, one that he shattered to freeze the witches in a certain area around him.

Loud engine revved as the black motorbike arrived. Luca was pushed off, but he recovered his balance and aimed his hand cannon at Mariz. He was about to speak when he felt like someone else was in the area. The hunter quickly summoned and shattered the compass, making use of its freeze to find his enemy.

A shade familiar was actually dashing to cripple him. As soon as the freeze came, its claw was just a meter away from Luca. The hunter rolled out of the way and fired his cannon at the petrified shade.

"Argh!" It screamed and retreated at a slower pace. What shocked Luca was that its constitution was so strong that a point-blank shot from his hand cannon was not enough to kill it.

"A hunter trying to help a witch with hellhounds…" A voice echoed in the darkness as Luca aimed at Mariz again. "Belphegor doesn't seem to be holding back either."

"Dammit, Vendetta. If you have the time to launch an attack at him, why did you even let him fire in the first place?!" Mariz glared at the hunter, but her words were not for him.

"Be careful, she could manipulate electricity," Noah murmured as he tried to fight passing out one more time.

Luca then took a few glances at his surrounding, wary of another stealth attack. He took out a small box from his pocket. "Codename Mariz, you are under arrest for a hundred counts of murder and terrorism."

The woman only smiled, her body suddenly flashing in bright light as the electricity she charged helped her break free from the petrification of the missiles earlier. Luca cussed as he retreated, but she dashed to strike down the hunter.

"L—" Noah's eyes widened as if he was witnessing a rather familiar scene. He couldn't piece the vague vision clearly, but he felt like he was reliving a death scene that he had seen somewhere… one that he had forgotten.

Tock! A click of the clock resounded in his ears. The entire scene seemed to stop, but he could see the slight movement Mariz was making as she extended her hand like a metal pole piercing Luca with its all.

It was then followed by a sinister voice. "Oh? You're not dead…?"

"Who…?"

"If you could wield this power, then you should at least do your job and shed blood. Don't waste my magic lying down and not doing anything.

"Make them suffer."

Noah then felt like his body had suddenly become lighter. He stopped feeling the effects of the missile. He then dashed and swiped down to stop Mariz from killing Luca.

It's just that the time came back to normal before he could even hit Mariz. His hand only grazed Mariz's arm as she went. The only good thing was that she collided against Noah again, her arm missing Luca altogether.

However, the last time they were body-to-body, Noah almost died.

Unlike what Noah thought would happen, Mariz quickly retreated as she gained control of her body. She jumped again and again to make sure she was more than a hundred meters away. Next to her appeared three more witches who had the Shadow Hands on their shoulders.

"What in the world was that?" Mariz murmured as her eyes quivered in fear.

"Let's retreat for now." Vendetta reached out to hold onto her arm and dragged her backward into the portal back to the Pandemonium.

Luca didn't know how Noah was able to stop her as well, but his condition was more important. He then pulled on Noah's arm to make him lie on his back. "Noah! Noah!"

However, Noah had already passed out the moment he felt Mariz's weight was off of him.

Shortly, agents of the elite squad arrived and gasped at the scale of damage they caused. Theresa then noticed Luca and Noah were at the distance, the witch knocked out again for the second time.

…

"Hello, are you awake? Can you hear me?

"It seems you're already up. It's fascinating how you were able to do so. You were never fit for magic before Caliga came to you. To think that you activated it in the nick of time…

"Ah, well, what am I saying? Who gave you that power after all? Oh, no, what I mean is… who gave you access to that power was a very powerful one. I shouldn't really be shocked that she managed to leave some for you.

"Ah, yes, she left you a door, and you broke right through it. You didn't open it properly so there would be problems.

"Worry not. I locked that door for you once. I will do the same again. If you managed to activate this for the second time, then I'll let you have it. Just be careful…

"He doesn't take his enemies lightly. If you use his own magic against him, your material body will only suffer.

"It's time to go back to sleep…"

Even if he said so, Noah was awakened by his voice. The man's eyes opened to see the dark room, but that voice was still resounding in his head. It wasn't the same voice as the one who talked to him when the time slowed down for mostly five seconds.

However, it gave him chills like he was talking to someone with so much dreadful power.

He stirred in his bed and then turned to his side. His eyes then landed on the child who seemed to have cried herself to sleep. Was she awakened by his arrival, or was she waiting for him to come home?

Noah wanted to move his arms, but his limbs failed to respond. He only sighed and closed his eyes. He should try to rest first before moving again.

What he didn't know was that Caliga and the eleven others were seated at the side… and someone was sitting in the space next to him. The man in a white suit had no visible chair whatsoever, but he was very comfortable with his legs spread and his back leaned, reclining on what could have been a throne chair. His fingers started playing with the hair on his collar.

"Who would have known this is possible?" The man only hummed before extending his other hand to pet Caliga. "Everyone's favorite? Hehe, I can't even deny that.

"There's a whole bigger world out there, Monty. However, I can't let you play yet. Kill Nadin Jaeger, and then we'll talk."