Hansel, Witch of Light

"Covering your body with your own blood. Talk about a freak show!"

As soon as I said those words, I halted my attack and changed the swords into thin threads. Following that, I took a puff and created Puffy.

Quickly afterward, I spread the thread around him, planning to stop him. However, he charged through the threads. My arms jolted forward as the thread was being pushed.

I almost lost my cool as I realized he wasn't harmed in any way. I thought of another method as I kept holding on, when my mind stopped. This happened because I felt an ominous danger.

I shifted my attention to him and saw the black liquid attach itself to my threads. It slowly spread.

My body instinctively cuts those threads, and when I come back to my senses, he has already escaped. I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

"Puffy!"

Swoosh!

Puffy passed my shoulders and chased him at an incredible speed. In an instant, it caught up and released a barrage of slashes.

He dodged a few but got hit a few. However, the cut wasn't that deep and only managed to reveal his skin, before closing instantaneously.

Seeing this, I ordered Puffy to back down as It wouldn't be able to injure him.

Not only that, he might find a way to control Puffy, and most important of all, his actions bewildered me. Why didn't he fight me ? His power was clearly more advantageous than mine. One could even say his power counter mine, yet he's retreating and defending, making me think I got an advantage.

If I'm an idiot, I might think I could win because he kept retreating and ended up chasing him to his trap. Fortunately, I realized it ahead of time.

Perhaps he realized that I've stopped attacking and used the chance to increase his pace. He slowly get further and further before disappearing over the horizon

I watched him running away. It was too bad I couldn't extract information from him or fail to achieve my objective, but at least I'm still alive and didn't become his puppet.

Now then, with him not my concern for the moment, I need to focus on my legs.

I looked below on the missing body parts and let out a mouthful of exhausted sigh. I averted my eyes to Puffy and observed him from top to bottom. This phantom also has no legs. I felt not alone all of a sudden and patted its back a few times before dismissing him. It turned into a cloud of smoke before dispersing slowly.

As for me, I went to a clinic that could heal missing limbs. Such a clinic exists but is hard to find and also costly. Thankfully, I knew someone.

I went to the clinic and let them regrow my limbs. It was such a surreal experience seeing your limbs regenerate. Well, it wasn't my first time seeing my missing limbs being regenerated at a visible rate, but I couldn't help but be mesmerized.

After that, I paid the required sum. The owner was kind enough to give me a discount and I left the place with gratitude.

Now then, I should go and meet Hansel. She's in an infamous group. This group consisted of outlaws, war criminals and twisted people.

They hide quite perfectly and each time Synth wanted to remove them, they managed to get away and right now, their existence is unknown, even to Synth and me.

Well, it doesn't matter anyway as I want to meet one of its members, not their base.

I created a hoverboard after taking a puff and flew to Aegis. It took me some time to reach there. Once I arrived, I went to a public library.

The library was small and worn out. The building appeared unassuming, lost between the buildings sandwich-ing it. A faded wooden sign, barely readable. The windows were small, and layered in thick dust, giving a tiny and blur glimpse of the interior.

The dense wild plants around it were tall and its root invaded the cement pavement, leading to cracks.

I opened the door. When my hand pushed it open, I felt no dust. It appeared it was only the outer area that was neglected.

As soon as I got in, I was welcomed by a warm atmosphere.

The interior has retro style with hanging lights that produce warm light.

A scent of pine entered my nose. Perhaps they just mopped the library.

The small library has four rows of shelves and a small reading area. Next to that was a drink counter with a bartender behind it, ready to serve your drinks.

Yes, this library has a mini pub, and I saw four people sitting while reading a book. I took a seat in the reading area and observed those that sat in the pub. They're of different backgrounds, their minds seemed to focus on the world of the book, unaware of each other's existence. Once in a while, I hear a flip of a page in the quiet library. It created a certain atmosphere I couldn't put into words. If there is one, it would be comforting.

Well, put that aside for a moment and focused on my objective, I observed the people sitting in the pub before turning my eyes on one girl.

The girl has silver hair in a wolf cut and blue oceanic eyes. She has long legs and slim stature. She cast out elegance in the way she's sitting.

Each time she flipped her page, it would drawn anyone. Except the other three around her, not sure why.

Her beauty could make her a top model rather easily, and coupling that with her tall, slim stature, she'd rose in popularity within seconds.

Maybe she noticed my gaze that she glanced at me from the corner of her eyes. I didn't look away and kept staring at her, couldn't care less if she thinks I'm a creep.

I'm not sure what's inside her mind, but she returned her eyes to the book as though she didn't see anything. That kind of hurts, honestly.