Omega POV
As she exhaled a cold, mist-like breath, the beautiful sunlight shined upon the snow as a fantasy.
The dazzling light made her eyes squint slightly. Her hand was on the side of a standing tree's trunk, and she felt the rough bark on her palm. This was not an illusion, but the reality, a real touch.
She holds her palm tightly, closed her eyes towards the bright light, and lets the cold air fill her lungs and breathes it out again calmly.
"Sure enough, for hundreds of years without a physical body, I really am not used to any of this." The girl said as she looked at the road ahead.
The cold wind blew through her pink hair, and the girl with a tone that didn't match her appearance mumbled.
The girl has a lovely appearance, the blue pupils boarded a deep sense of rationality, a cute face that can not cover the noble and elegant charm. With just a single glimpse of it, you can perceive the extraordinary temperament of the girl.
Her young, immature limbs were covered by the girl's white hoodie. Thankfully, her contractor was kind enough to remember to give her some gear before setting out. The leather shoes certainly help, but to counter against the cold was another question.
Despite wanting to scream her emotions out, she wasn't able to do so because of the weather. The forest in this area was completely covered in snow. The girl is walking in that snow, and her body is losing body temperature quickly. She begins to shake violently.
It has to be said that the girl's travel attire is a complete failure because of the lack of consideration.
"After so much work, ugh...! If you'll be frozen to death, it'll be hilarious..."
The shivering girl had a fascinating voice in her head.
Of course, the voice is completely different from the sound of the girl.
"It doesn't seem to be a pleasant imagination. Even under my current circumstances, I still have the magic that can burn off this generation. You might want to stay silent Sekhmet." Omega snapped back, slightly annoyed at the Witch of Sloth.
"Hey, it's not usual for you to sneak out during the night, what are you trying to find? Of course, is this worth it for you DonaDona?" Daphne, Witch of Gluttony, commented from her coffin as she chuckled.
"Well, Y/N said this would help us in general, so..."
"No, Daphne-chan stay silent. Echidna-chan isn't malicious. Maybe just a little bit, right? You see, you're resurrection already makes you lose..." The timid voice of Carmilla came through.
The sweet irony and clumsy excuses continued. These two voices are neither the girl nor the lazy woman they first heard, rather, two entirely different entities.
Different voices followed one after another in the mind of the girl. However, each voices is intertwined with the intimacy and is somewhat related to the girl.
In contrast, the adolescent girls— no, they're the 『Witches』 who have transferred their soul into the girl's mind.
White hair and black pupils, that Witch known for her beauty and her position now has lost her original appearance. Now, the Witch's soul is within the girl's body, it's resurrection in an incredible and unbelievable way. Not even her contractor, despite having so much knowledge on this world, knows how it functions completely.
In spite of the countless efforts she has made for this resurrection, despite the intricacies of the situation, she has been struggling. However, considering Echidna's wisdom and manipulativeness, she eventually overcomes the difficulties and achieved her goals.
"I have lived in the state of a spirit for 400 years and I've not even noticed the outside environment at all... beautiful..." Omega said as she breathed out.
"The blame is on you for being intoxicated. Dona, you're so childish... you aren't reliable at all..." Sekhmet said as she chuckled from the back, and Omega sighed.
"I wouldn't prefer to be recognized as a child by you but really, I'm really speechless..."
In any case, soon after she regained her consciousness and completed her resurrection, she would soon be frozen to death. Y/N really should've given her a torch or something...
Although she prepared for it, she couldn't care much right now, and Echidna started playing with her fingers.
The stiff and cold fingertips made a slight noise, and Echidna's surroundings continued to ignite crimson. Echidna manifested a fireball, which was smaller than the palm of her hand, swayed while shaking, and the coldness of the frozen forest was successfully driven away. No one could possibly imagine that such a small fireball could have such a great power. Truly amazing. Echidna breathes out and realizes that there is no need to worry about the danger of freezing.
"The difference from my Gate is somewhat concerning. There seems to be no problem in using Magic though. Ahh..." Omega muttered as a chuckle came from a child behind her.
"The next time you use fire magic, and if you'll burn the forest down, I'll laugh." Typhon said as she gave Echidna a smile, to which the Witch of Greed did not appreciate too much.
"When this is over, the irony inside me will become really unstoppable. I have worked hard to make plans and strategies, and I've no choice but to play with my intrigues to bring you out. Now I must regret it."
The voice that she heard was the fifth person. Echidna sighed. The hand of the girl unconsciously stretched out to the bare neck from the top of the kerchief, where the only thing that emphasized her existence was jewelry inlaid with the blue pyroxene.
「—」
Grabbing the hard pyroxene necklace, Echidna was temporarily lost in her mind. From the appearance, it is clear at a glance that the piece of jewelry is a hidden treasure with unique power. It is a high-purity magic crystal block that has more than common sense. The endless magic volume is used up, and overwhelming power is stored inside.
Even if it is a magical storage capacity that is used by a thousand magical masters, it is hard to believe that only one piece of magical crystal can be used to complete it. But in fact, anyone can imagine that the capacity is completely used up.
No one would possibly believe that this Pyroxene Necklace could possibly store the souls of the remaining five witches. Well, maybe except her contractor, of course. He even insisted to cast some kind of protection spell on the necklace so it won't be broken in any attacks, which he did after some arguing.
It is the most troublesome to ensure this magic crystal and the container of my own spirit. After four hundred years of being a mere soul, it took ten years for the plan to gradually take shape—the moment when the goal was finally achieved.
"Echidna ! I said Echidna! Are you even listening !?" A blonde girl said as she yelled at her comrade, deeply insulted that she was being ignored.
"—I'm listening. Don't always be in my ear Minerva...No, it's hard to say whether you're in my ears or not. Don't you always yell in my senses. My head will hurt. Anyways..."
"Hey! It's not like you're our master ! You, show me next! I'm next!"
"Next...?" Daphne said, confused at what was happening.
Suddenly, the red flames engulfed the forest and the fire spread along the neighbouring trees.
Looking roughly, it can be roughly guessed that the fireball fired by Echidna had ignited the trees and eventually ignited the forest fire.
"This is so wrong. Y/N would surely disapprove this...sigh..." Omega said as she looked at the flaming trees in distress.
"What a good life, haaaa.." Sekhmet sighed from the back once again.
"What is this? It's not necessary to be overwhelmed by this level of difficulty and obstacles. Although the fire is indeed unexpected..." Omega said to herself, a bit lost at the current situation.
Right when she stopped talking, Echidna turned her palms towards the burning trees and closed her eyes.
"It's still burning..."
"Like I said, Daphne thinks... this thing is not the dream world that Dona Dona made, but I just can't interfere with the two things."
"It wouldn't be right..." Omega muttered.
"Big, big miscalculations...right?" Carmilla supplied.
"Dona, you set the fire ? Dona, are you one of the bad guys? Do you want to compete with Typhon?"
"There is no time for discussion! Now ! Faster ! Go and extinguish the fire! I'm serious!" Minerva yelled with urgency.
"Of course. Now's the time...Uh..."
Echidna suddenly felt a dizzy sensation when she was trying to activate a fire extinguish spell. The technique that had not yet been casted was also unsustainable and had drifted away from its composition
The technique that has not yet been written is also unsustainable and has collapsed from its composition.
What happened ? When the Witches were in a mess, Echidna quickly understood the circumstances.
"To manifest water during the usage of magic... It appears that this body is somewhat incapable of doing so..."
In other words—
"The fire will kill us." Omega said, but not before her contractor's voice cut in.
Chid-chan! What's happening on your end? Why do I even feel smoke in the tea party? The voice of Y/N L/N, Warlock of Deceit, entered the conversation.
"Then immediately, give me a go—!" Minerva said as she cut Y/N off, pumping her fist in the air as Y/N regarded the situation, completely perplexed.
As the fire grew bigger and bigger, even the escape route seemed to diminish. Even before that time, even if she had not used this body yet, even if she had not done a little physical work for four hundred years, Echidna could only breathlessly fled to the outside of the forest.
"YOU SET A FOREST ON FIRE?" Y/N yelled as he panicked.
"The cruelty of the outside world is a bit different from my imagination..." Omega muttered, struggling to get outside of the fire.
Her body feels very heavy, and the cold air that collided with her skin would damage her soon.
Although she was being tortured by her own body, she thought that it was a feeling she hadn't felt for hundreds of years, it was exhaustion —
"No, it has to be possible..."
"Chid-chan! Use that cloth I gave you and dip it in water! After that, cover your nose with it and crawl on the ground to escape! Why do you never search for the important stuff in my memories, like seriously, stop going to the ecchi stuff because they're interesting and look at the survival guides, please?"
"Okay, okay, I'm doing that right now..."
Listening to her contractor's words, Omega slowly crawled out of the burning forest. Fortunately, thanks to the desperate attempt to escape, Echidna successfully avoided the fate of being burned to death.
Despite the fierce flames that burned the forest, as long as Echidna consumes a little magic to manipulate the wind direction, she can induce the direction of the spread of fire. This is the most critical factor in ensuring the escape route.
"Unusual heavy snowfall and a burning forest...Isn't that enough? It's quite a lot for a girl with a piece of cloth, is it—"
"Take it easy. We saw the same thing...Don't move!" A voice rang out from behind Omega, and the seven people (present in the situation) turned to look at the voice.
"Hmmm...?"
Suddenly, Echidna was surrounded by multiple people, all men.
This, fascinating feeling the girl expressed, wasn't right.
Those people were all wearing the male costume. The group looks like a group that is emitting a dangerous atmosphere. There were eighteen in total. It was even maybe funny that the young girl was surrounded by these man.
"Hey, Chid-chan, are those... who I think they are?" Y/N said as he recognized their outfit from the descriptions he once read.
"Yes." Omega then faced the group. "I guess your purpose is the Oousagi...In other words, you're the『Corpse Scavengers』, aren't you ?"
"What?"
"N..？What do you mean?"
Echidna is silently puzzling in her mind, the men are as straitened as seeing something creepy.
Four hundred years ago,『Corpse Scavengers』had a reputation of some renown— the occupation, in short, involved finding places which had been attacked by Demon Beasts, and plundering all the treasures left untouched during the chaos.
Although their presence would be less prevalent than it had been during Daphne's lifetime, in this era, Demon Beasts still roamed. Of particular note was the Oousagi; while their rampage left no traces whatsoever of anything organic, anything else would be left untouched, leaving a perfect hunting ground for『Corpse Scavengers』.
"In case that there is a Witch to eat the rest, someone would easily be disguised as a Witch these days. It can be said that that's a clever way. For you, rotten food is the vocation." Omega remarked as she waved a hand at the men, who were surprised by her statement.
"Rotten food...？What the fuck are you talking about!?..."
Shaking his head, the man standing at the front took a hatchet and walked towards Echidna. There was a strong sense of killing in the eyes and a glimmer of fear for the little girl.
"I'm not completely sure about your business. But our life is on our side and it's already not easy, plus this fire...and now I find you here."
"Shut up, stop talking! Where are the other Elves ?"
"Ha! They really are stupid like you said, Chid-chan, to think that they still believe elves roams this area..."
"Despite this girl being really strange, it looks like she isn't that bad."
A dazed smile appeared on her face, and the girl slapped her ears softly. These movements implied the physical characteristics of Echidna.
Minerva was silent as she watched the situation in silence. Y/N stood by her side, intrigued by their meaning as well. In a while, Y/N understood.
"—Oh?" Omega said, suddenly interested.
For a moment, the man was lost for words at the sensation of goosebumps prickling up on his skin. The other men seemed to be feeling that as well; all of them were astir, talking about what was going on right now.
The only person who knew what was going on was Echidna. She touched the Pyroxene necklace on her chest and tried to calm down the Witch of Wrath's outburst along with her contractor consoling her on the inside.
"Hey! Whether you're a kid or a youngster, don't think about using tricks on us..."
"That reaction makes sense. Our reactions aren't that different from each other. You basically want to catch me to earn some money, right? However, I just want to travel like this. So I want to propose a mutual solution..."
"Solution !？Don't you realize in what position you are to propose something ?!"
"Just listen to it. There is a way that we all will be safe and have a smooth life after this."
Echidna tilted her head and smiled while asking the man. The man sighed out of exhaustion. Immediately after revealing his expression that he could not believe that he had made such a response, he immediately said,
"Keep going and talk..."
"Alright, good, really good. My proposal is really simple. Stand in front me for thirty seconds. If you succeed in standing in front me for thirty seconds, I'll walk with you silently. Interesting?"
"Ha! What do you think this is ? Just your way of thinking, do you actually think we will be afraid of..."
"—From now on, thirty seconds. Go on."
As the conditions had been agreed to, that next instant, Echidna made a physical appearance right behind the Omega. With long white hair, and black eyes, she gazed upon the men.
「—」
The men stand frozen in front of Echidna with the expression of not knowing what just happened
The men stand frozen in front of Echidna with the expression of not knowing what just happened. In their eyes, they saw a girl who was about ten years old until suddenly a girl with white hair appeared.
Then before this question was answered, the men had fallen because of the successive changes.
"Oh... Oh..." One of the scavengers were shocked as they stepped back and watched in horror, disbelief on his face.
The man with the hatchet squatted on the floor. His eyes that were going back and forth in the void have lost their focus, and a large amount of white foam has emerged from the corner of his mouth.
Such things happened to not just him, but all men around Echidna began to become like him.
The eighteen people who weren't able to reach the proposal's goal were all unbearable affected by Echidna's wickedness and madness.
Grabbing at the neck, turning up his white eyes, spitting at the mouth, falling to the ground, blocking his throat with his tongue, cutting his head with a knife, and burying his head in the snow, the men went mad in a variety of ways.
"—Time is up!"
After thirty seconds of counting, Echidna patrolled around. The only thing is left are corpses, blood and vomit. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any Sages here, who could endure these thirty seconds of hell, and successfully obtain the qualifications to make the six witches their own.
"Ah... this is what you meant by people puking when they saw you. Shame. The amount of miasma you emit completely diverts their attention from you beautiful appearance."
"Well, thank you, Y/N. I guess this is a very regrettable scene. We could have talked a bit more. Well, let's continue to travel as I wanted. Also, allow me to borrow your clothes. They won't be used anyway." Omega spoke to the now dead group, and approached them.
Saying that, Echidna stripped the fallen men away and wore relatively well-fitting clothes and shoes.
"Can't hold on for a long time...? But now it's only a matter of getting used to it..."
Looking back at the fallen men, Echidna's eyes reflected the dark-haired teenager.
How could it be unusual for a teenager who was surrounded by enraged witches to remain in a state of calmness? Echidna is afraid that she herself is completely unaware of it.
"After getting used to things, I've to go to the city as soon as possible. I still look forward to have a cup of tea after a few hundred years, it be a bit different..."
Echidna turned around again and stepped forward towards the goal-less journey again.
Just at the moment they were about to leave, Echidna had a sudden gratitude for the men who gave their clothes and shoes.
"What I've done is quite disrespectful—I will always remember you all as benefactors in my mind..." Omega spoke with that tiny hint of sarcasm.
Inadvertently speaking, there is no hint of bullying, but mere facts.
Echidna won't forget their "kindness". Those who acted as 『Corpse Scavengers』 and who encountered『Witches』here won't forget this scene until their souls disappear.
Y/N, who watched the whole scenario happen, sighed as he shook his head in disappointment. It was unknown what it meant, since even Omega might not fully understand the boy's actions fully.
"Oh, now I remember again what to do... You noisy guys, let's move."
As the Witches within her brain responded to her voice, they started a leisurely journey towards their goals.
—The sky was bright as the sunshine was a blessing for the Witches who had not seen it for centuries.
Short Side Story: The Clones' Watchful Eyes
Y/N POV
Around 10 hours after the slaughter of the Corpse Scavengers...
I rode on Fulgenta towards the south of Lugnica, with the weather slightly getting warmer by the minute. Elsa was holding Meili as she slept, but the mabeast still trudged on as if it was being commanded. To be honest, that really is some awesome skill...
Now that I think about it, it was time that Subaru gets knighted, right? His ceremony should begin the night after I left, so that's about now. We had travelled for around 16 hours before Omega had her 'incident', but we're fine in general.
Since it was time, I guess the Ryuzu clones are going have to go to the party as well, right? Time to begin my next plan.
"Nect." I said as I activated the combined spell of Yin and Yang magic, and my senses connected with Ryuzu Bilma's, who went with Roswaal to the Miload mansion, where Subaru will be knighted.
"Oh! Y/N-bo, you're here!" Ryuzu Bilma said extremely quietly, and she distanced herself from the crowd to get a better conversation with me, the current Apostle of Greed. "Is the spell functioning well on your side?"
"It's going quite well, thanks, Bilma." I said to the clone, who smiled a little. I'm not exactly sure if it was because I was the Apostle of Greed or something else, but the Ryuzu clones always react to me with kind and warming speech patterns. Not that I'm complaining, but I'm just curious to why that is.
"Y/N-bo, is there something urgent that needs to be discussed? Considering that this is the first time you used it with us."
"Well, sort of. By the way, how many clones are there right now?"
"Arma and Delma are with me, along with the one Su-bo named Pico. Epsira and Garma are both here as well, with the rest guarding the Sanctuary."
"I see." I said as I touched my black obsidian pendant, and connected with Echidna, who was continuing her trek towards the destination.
"Chid-chan, you there?"
The pendant gave a slight glow, and my contractor's voice came through. "Yes, Y/N? Is something the matter?"
"I want to show you something interesting that I'm working on. You up for it?"
"Sure... let me settle down first."
After a while, Echidna agreed as I hopped into the New Castle of Dreams, where she waited for me. This plane was created only due to our contract and link, and it was different than the one in the Graveyard.
"Ready? El Nect."
As I connected my sense with Ryuzu Bilma, I added Echidna's consciousness into the chain as well as both of us started to see the image of what Ryuzu Bilma was seeing.
"Fascinating. To use Nect in this manner, although not entirely practical with other people, is truly a breakthrough for magic." Echidna said as she congradulated my success on this particular feat.
"Oh, by the way, here's something else." I said as I begin switching the senses of who we're sharing with, starting with Arma to Delma, Pico, and the other two as well. This shocked Echidna as she took some notes as I talked about the spell's construction and evaluation.
"By the way, Y/N, you had another purpose for showing me this, did you not?" Echidna asked, and I nodded.
"Yup. The reason of that might make you a bit uncomfortable, but I've located a suspect for you to beware of." I said as I switched the clone back to Bilma, and talked to her. "Bilma, can you please find the blue-haired man with a monocle on his face? I think his name is Clind, by the way."
"Okay, Y/N-bo, I'll go find him now." Bilma said as she ran for a while, but eventually found our target as she set her eyes towards him, and both Echidna and I felt a strange force as soon as he came into sight.
"Chid-chan... what was that?" I asked, suddenly scared by the energy that man emitted, and that energy was something only Chid-chan and myself can detect.
"I don't know, but I do have a theory for it. He has something within him that seems very similar to the Authority of Melancholy. I trust you know by now who Hector is?"
"He's the Warlock of Melancholy, right? He was also the reason you built the Sanctuary... because he was hunting you down for some reasons. Do you think he's still alive?"
"I don't think so. But that man has something very similar to his powers, does he not? Your memories told me that as the other world also suspects he possesses Hector's witch factor, do they not?"
"Well, I guess so." I said as I turned my eyes back onto Clind, and exited the Nect link as we returned to the New Castle of Dreams. "Speaking of the other world (my world), it's not your first time hearing about it, is it?"
"Oh-ya? What makes you think about that, Y/N?"
"You know various phrases from the other world, ones that were not even in Subaru's and my native language. Although English is popular, I didn't know that you could just know. From my knowledge, there has only been 4 other Outerworlders like me in history. The only ones alive right now are Subaru, Aldebaran, and myself. The only other two that existed were Flugel the Sage and Hoshin of the Wilderness, who founded Kararagi..."
"Wait." I suddenly looked at Echidna as I realized something. "You helped found Kararagi, did you not? No way... did you actually know Hoshin, by any chance?"
"Your speculation is not wrong, Y/N. However, the specific details of my relationship with him will be disclosed at a later time. I have to get on with my journey now."
"Okay, then. Good luck, don't die on me!" I said as I left, and continued my path while Echidna continued hers.
Echidna POV
As my contractor jumped out of the tea party once more, I looked at his shadow as he left.
You really are a fascinating boy, Y/N L/N. To think that your deduction skills and IQ could compare with my own, the 'so-called' smartest character from your world...
Maybe that's why I long for you... maybe I should go to seek help for Carmilla, really...
The tingling feeling I have in my heart. I think I have an idea of what it is now.
Is this, perhaps, what they call-
The Witch's words were not heard, but the meaning already sank into the world.
She began her journey once again with the other five, but with her contractor still hanging to her mind this time.
Bio Format, New:
Instead of our long as hell character bio per chapter, we're going to have only the new spells / authorities / moves / equipment / allies added in this section, and I hope you guys would like this better!
New Magic:
Reinigen (forgot to add this): A Yang magic spell that cleans off any residue from an object, removing any dirty spots and completely restoring it before the damage from chemical reactions sank in. However, if something is burned, it would just be less dirty, as this spell cannot revert the damage of burning or corrosion from acids.
Nect - A high level magic that enables people to share senses within the effect area by connecting their gates. If it is too weak the thoughts won't get through, yet if it's too strong people won't know where the line between them and other people begin.
El Nect- A high level Yin and Yang magic spell that connects another user to the chain of shared senses, which allows them to wiretap onto a situation that is already being used on by Nect, or can invite someone via gate connecting or soul bonding.