Harvest Festival IV

Luke waited. When the murderous intent was at its peak he knew it was time to act. He quickly took a step to the left. This time he managed to dodge successfully without taking damage.

But that was not all. He took the opportunity and grabbed the hag's wrist. He pulled her towards him, and at last, he could see the woman's horrible face. Her skin was greenish like Frankenstein's skin. She had a big nose and horrible warts all over her face.

'Fucking hag take this!' thought Luke throwing a psychic punch in the hag's face.

The hag barely had time to react as the blow impacted against her with great force. Her neck turned into a strange position.

Her face instead of looking forward was looking back. Luke was not finished yet. In a fury at the hag for tearing his expensive clothes, he channeled his psychic energy. He reached out with both hands and summoned telekinetic waves, pushing the hag as hard as possible.

The telekinetic waves hit the hag with overwhelming impact. With a scream of pain, the hag was sent flying backward like a cannonball. She crashed into a tree again, but this time with greater force than before.

Sending the hag several meters backward the cloud of smoke dissipated in a matter of seconds as her caster was no longer there.

"Luke here!" said Xavier, who waited anxiously, watching the smoke cloud. Luckily, Luke seemed to be okay. He threw a long knife he was holding in his hand in Luke's direction.

'Don't throw something so dangerous like that,' thought Luke, controlling the long knife in the air and floating it towards him.

He watched the knife curiously. Xavier's drawing skill was very good. As it was only a drawing made with black pencil it was strange, but he could tell it was sharp like a real one.

Without wasting any more time, he approached the hag with a knife in hand and a deep frown on his face. He knew the hag had an incredible recovery. She should possess an enhanced green aura or who knows what.

She was lying leaning against the tree. Her neck was bent. With her hands, she adjusted it. Not a pleasant scene to witness.

'Let's see if you survive this,' thought Luke, approaching the hag with an angry look on his face.

Luke, controlling the knife with his telekinesis directed it at high speed towards the hag's neck, who could not react in time, as she was recovering.

She was decapitated. Her head fell into the hollow between her legs, and green blood began to flow from her neck as if from a fountain.

"That should do it, shouldn't it?" asked Luke, but he noticed that the hag's eyes kept moving, showing that they harbored life.

The hag's hands tried to grab her decapitated head to put it back in place, but before she did that Luke pushed the head away with telekinesis.

"We'd better amputate all her limbs..." suggested Xavier with some displeasure as he saw the hag start to crawl around looking for her head.

"Yeah..." said Luke with a grimace. He took control of the knife again and began to cut off the hag's limbs. After a few minutes. The process was over. He cut off both arms and both legs of the hag.

A grotesque scene. The most horrible thing of all was that the damned hag was still alive. Her severed limbs wanted to crawl back to her torso as best they could.

"Keep them away for a while," Xavier said, taking out his notebook and pencil again. Before long he was drawing ropes.

Luke with his telekinesis tied all the limbs and the hag's head to a tree so they couldn't get back to her torso.

Luke was reminded by this scene of when in One Piece, Luffy defeats Buggy the clown, tying his limbs so they don't go back to his torso. Only this was much bloodier. Since there was no devil fruit the hag did have blood and bones.

"Should we burn her?" asked Xavier, looking at the gruesome scene with a raised eyebrow. As an outcast, he didn't get much of a mental shock from this scene. Just some disgust as did Luke.

"Outcasts burning a hag?" asked Luke, escaping a slight chuckle.

Usually, the burning of hags is done by normies. Not by outcasts.

Xavier also thought it was funny how ridiculous that sounded and started laughing along with Luke. A bizarre occurrence through and through. They were this close to dying tonight, but now they were laughing as they had the hag's limbless torso lying on the grass in front of them.

"Luke? Xavier?"

Both boys turned and looked at Sabrina and Enid, who were looking at them strangely. The girls approached. When Enid could see the hag's torso and limbs she screamed in horror. She wasn't good at the gory stuff despite being a werewolf.

"What have you done?" asked Enid, expecting the worst. They were laughing like maniacs, and there was a dismembered corpse. Her boyfriend was holding a large knife dripping with blood. She never thought these two would hate normies so much to go to these extremes.

As for Sabrina she also wore an expression of surprise, but not horror. It seemed that the bloody scene didn't make much of an impact on her.

"Take it easy, Enid. Take a good look. She's a hag, and she's still alive. Somehow," Luke said, trying to calm his girlfriend.

Enid moved closer and took a closer look. She could see that the hag's head was still wide-eyed and glaring hatefully at everyone. Her limbs wanted to break free from the ropes.

"A hag..." said Enid, putting her hand to her mouth in surprise.

"Are you okay!?" asked Enid, approaching Luke and looking at him with great concern. She could see his wounds.

"Just some scratches from that hag," said Luke, trying to reassure Enid.

Before Enid could continue to worry about Luke one more person appeared on the scene.

"Disobeying my orders again, Luke. I don't know why I'm surprised."

Everyone turned their heads towards the new person and saw a beautiful young woman with red hair and blue eyes. It was Natasha.

"It's what teenagers do, isn't it?" said Luke.

"You've been doing it since you were born," replied Natasha, coming closer and looking at the hag's torso.

'Who is she?' thought Enid in alarm. She seemed to have known Luke for a long time. In her head, she started to create many crazy stories and looked cautiously at Natasha.

Natasha was a full-fledged beauty and looked to be in her mid-twenties. Any man would drool just to see her. Enid's reaction was normal. Xavier became nervous as he watched Natasha so close to them.

"She's my legal guardian," Luke told Enid. He knew how jealous Enid could become, so it was best to explain this as soon as possible.

Luke while fighting the hag decided to send a telepathic message to Natasha to head here. The redhead had been looking for any trace of the Spellmans since they arrived in Jericho, so it seemed logical to tell her about this. Despite the lecture, she would give him later.

As she was doing her nightly patrol in search of traces of her enemies, it didn't take long for Natasha to arrive.

"How do we kill her? Since when did the hag have so much vitality?" asked Luke. What he learned from the hag wasn't much. Someone like Natasha would know more and could explain things better to him.

"Each one has different abilities. After all, when they were sane they had a specific type of aura. This hag should have a green aura. She must have enhanced her powers through dark rituals and ended up losing her sanity," replied Natasha, making conjectures.

"But all the hags share the same weak point," added Natasha, pulling out a hunting knife from one of her pockets and approaching the hag's torso.

'Does she carry that knife with her all the time?' thought Xavier.

"They have their black heart in their stomach. You must always aim there. It's small, you must be precise," said Natasha, bending down and plunging the knife into her stomach.

The hag's head which was tied to a log started screeching like never before in pain. A few seconds later her eyes became lifeless. Her limbs became still. They were no longer moving.

"You three," Natasha said, getting up as she wiped the blood off the knife with a handkerchief.

"Principal Larissa is waiting for them. You must return to Nevermore. It's already late. The other students are already back," she added, looking at Xavier, Enid, and Sabrina.

"What? What about Luke?" asked Enid, reluctant to part from her injured boyfriend.

"His wounds need to be tended to. He'll go later," said Natasha, leaving no more room for discussion.

Enid kissed Luke goodbye with a quick kiss and returned with the other two to the festival which was already closing.

"I'm sure the hag wanted to kill me. She was calling my name, and her target was me before Xavier," Luke said once he found himself alone with Natasha.

"Yes. There's no doubt it was those bastards. There were no hag sightings in Jericho before," nodded Natasha with a frown.

"How do they control a hag?" asked Luke doubtfully.

"The minds of the hag are corrupted and demented, but they can be controlled, though this is no easy feat. They are savage beings who act on impulse. Controlling them is very dangerous, as they may end up attacking you," Natasha replied with a thoughtful look.

"Through the blue aura?" asked Luke. Edgar told him that an advanced ability of the blue aura was mind control. The ability to control the thoughts and actions of others. Similar to Harry Potter's Imperius curse.

"No. For that mind control you need the victim's mind to be in condition. A hag's mind is corrupted and almost impossible to control with that method," Natasha replied.

"Then how?"

"Red Aura," replied Natasha as she began to inspect the dismembered body of the hag for anything useful.

Red Aura is emotional manipulation. Luke had forgotten about this aura as it didn't seem like a big deal. On second thought it would be easier to manipulate a hag through emotions, rather than her corrupted and insane brain.

Natasha found nothing useful on the hag's body or her clothing. She then made a quick inspection of the circulating area but found nothing either.

"Are we going to leave the body here?" asked Luke. It wouldn't be good if the police found it and he ended up being prosecuted for killing a deformed being. They could report him for phobia of the horrible creatures. With the times they were in he wouldn't be surprised.

"In a few hours, every limb of the hag will be gone. There will be no trace of her left. What kept that rotting body alive was her black heart," Natasha said.

Luke nodded. In class, they hadn't taught him much about the hag. They should have given more information. They arrived back at the festival which had almost no people left. Just the stall keepers closing up.

They went to Jericho General Hospital where they treated Luke's wounds, which were only minor cuts and a few bruises. Natasha then called for a cab to Nevermore. This time, she accompanied Luke.

"Aren't you going to lecture me?" asked Luke looking at Natasha.

"No. Why would I do something useless? You have done well to defeat that hag. It is no easy feat. Next time be more careful when you go into a forest in the middle of the night," said Natasha.

"Oh...good," said Luke, a little surprised to be saved from the lecture.

"Tell Edgar about this. He'll be able to answer your doubts about the hag," said Natasha, and Luke nodded.

He arrived at Nevermore. He said goodbye to Natasha, and the cab drove back to Jericho. It was already late, and he had been delayed further by being treated at the hospital. When he got to his room Xavier was already sleeping.

He was snoring like never before. He looked exhausted both from his failed date with Bianca and from being on the verge of death. Luke was tired too, but before he went to sleep, he was supposed to talk with his great-great-grandfather.

---------------------------------------------------

You can read 15 chapters in advance on my patreon.

Link: https://www.p@treon.com/Nathe07