Chapter Six:

Over the course of a few hours, the two Phantom Thieves and their soon-to-be apprentice made their way across the rooftops of London. Making their way towards a particular building in the district of Whitechapel. More specifically an abandoned apartment complex where they would get some sleep, near the entrance to a mysterious building that seemed to somehow pop up all over the world. The bar known as The Gates of Hell, run by the owner of equal mystery who occasionally provided Bayonetta and Rosa with information and useful items, for a price. Rodin.

Despite the fact that the apartments inside the building appeared to have been abandoned years ago, a surprisingly large amount of still decent furniture, including beds, sofas and armchairs, were still inside the apartments of the building. The two Phantom Thieves decided to let Hallii use a bed, who was asleep in less than a second after she laid down on it, while the fully fledged Umbra Witches took a couch and armchair (deciding which one got which furniture with a game of rock-paper-scissors with Bayonetta ending up sleeping on a couch while Rosa got the armchair). While it definitely wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, something that became very apparent when all three of the occupants in the apartment building's joints popped when they finally got up, it was better than sleeping out on the street.

Something that Hallii couldn't help but find interesting (and somewhat funny) was the sight of Rosa pulling various items out from somewhere before apparently putting it back due to not being what she was looking for, most of them being items that looked like somewhat oversized pocket watches of varying styles. Being curious about what Rosa was doing, Hallii proceeded to ask Bayonetta what the Phantom Thief Witch's mom was doing.

"If I had to make a guess *yawn*. Excuse me. I think she's searching for an unbound Umbran Watch amongst the ones we've collected over the years. The problem *yawn* is that we've collected a lot of them over the years." Answered Bayonetta while rubbing sleep out of her eyes, yawning tiredly on occasion.

"Why?"

"Why is Mamon trying to find an unbound Umbran Watch or why are we collecting them?"

"Yes."

"*snort of amusement* clever girl. Mamon is trying to find an unbound Watch so that you can take your first step towards becoming an Umbra Witch. And as for why we're collecting them along with other Umbran Artifacts… keeping the world safe as quite a lot of them are dangerous in both the right and wrong hands. A big problem is that they have a tendency to end up in the hands of both private collectors and in museums throughout the world. Prompting us to steal them."

"Cool. So how does one become an Umbra Witch exactly and what are the benefits?"

"Well, you get access to very potent magical powers and nigh-complete immortality by forging a Contract with an Infernal, a demon. Usually at the price of selling your soul to said Infernal, having to fight and kill Angels on a regular basis in order to maintain the Contract and inheriting a few quirks from your Contractor."

"Such as?"

"I inherited a dislike for small spaces and a fascination with shiny objects from my Contractor, Stolas, the Wandering Thunderstorm. It can get quite distracting at times."

"What did your mom get from her Contractor?"

"A fascination with the ocean and a somewhat dulled sense of humor. And I'm not kidding about the last one. Though considering that her Contractor is Sitri, the Seaborne Naval Fortress, an absolutely massive warship with more than enough firepower to spare, it makes sense I suppose."

"Doesn't sound too bad."

"The fact you can say that with a straight face worries me to a certain degree, la fille." Deadpanned Bayonetta as Rosa finally found an unbound Umbran Watch.