Release that Witch

After dinner, the witches gathered in Lucia White’s room.

Touched by their encouragement and comfort, she could feel her tear-filled eyes. She inhaled deeply with her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry.

”No crying. It’s embarrassing enough to cry out loud in front of Nightingale, not to mention in front of my little sister. I must set a good example for her,” Lucia chided herself.

She had only heard about a witch organization situated here before she boarded the boat towards the town. She was not hoping to live a good life here but simply to find a cure for her sister’s demonic plague and a shelter.

What they found was not only a comfortable life, but a group of people with so much in common that they soon became like family. She felt at home again for the first time since her parents’ death in the pirate attack.

”Is my sister really in danger?” Bell asked while resting in Lucia’s arms, ”How painful is a magic power bite?”

”Unbearable pain, it feels just like thousands of knives stabbing you from the inside of your body.” Nightingale grinned. ”Only a few witches can survive this. There are probably only one or two out of ten witches who can survive their Day of Adulthood.”

The little girl shivered.

”You don’t scare her.” Wendy stared at Nightingale. ”That was all the way back to the time of Witch Cooperation Association.”

”All you need to do now is to keep on practicing every day and release all your magic power before the Day of Awakening, then you’ll be fine,” Scroll said, smiling. ”I heard that even Anna was asleep when she was growing into her adulthood.”

”And her first High Awakening appeared at the same time,” Agatha yawned. ”It’d definitely cause a stir if it happened 400 years ago back in Taquila, as there’s never any witch who could come to enlightenment in their sleep.”

”Are you alright?” His Highness looked at her and asked, ”Even though work’s important, you should not push yourself too hard.”

”The Battle of Divine Will is approaching. If I’m not busy with it now...” Agatha said with her hands covering her mouth, ”it would not be an issue to sleep forever if we fail this time.”

”We won’t fail for sure this time.” Prince Roland assured.

”I decided to do a little bit more as I was feeling optimistic about your invention.” Ice Witch rolled her eyes at him, ”Otherwise, do you really think that I like to stay in the lab every day?” With these words, she turned around and muttered to herself softly, ”I wouldn’t be able to do anything to you even if you don’t fulfill your promise...”

”Well, you shouldn’t discuss such a heavy story at this time.” Wendy interrupted and said, ”Oh yeah, didn’t Miss Agatha mention before that each of the witches shall be granted a wish on the Day of Awakening? It’s Lucia’s turn this time; what would you like to wish for?”

”Uh... me?” Lucia was shocked to find that she was the center of attention in the knot of witches.

”Get the ice cream bread in exchange, sister!” Bell said with her eyes sparkling, ”10 of them will do, and we’ll have a half each!”

”This one... all you can think of is food,” she thought and gave her sister a good knock on her forehead. Then she looked towards Roland. ”May I keep this wish for now?”

”If you wish.” He could not help but smile and say, ”However it would not increase even if you keep it.”

”Only one will do,” Lucia answered with gratitude. She had nothing more to ask for herself as long as she could live in this town. All she could hope for was for Bell to live a happy life. Her younger sister was not a witch, so she would have to leave her and build her own family with someone someday. This wish might be able to help her if there were any changes by then.

It was then that Lucia felt her empty body tremble suddenly and the magic power was regenerated as if it was appearing in the void and pouring into her body continuously.

”It’s started.” Nightingale reminded.

Even though the sisters told her not to worry, she grasped the blanket tightly, as a chill washed over her palms and the soles of her feet. This she ascribed to an overwhelming sensation of tension.

”Relax,” Wendy said, reaching for her hands. ”The magic power is part of our body.”

”Should we talk about something else to distract her?” Lucia heard someone, perhaps Lily, ask.

”What should we talk about?” Mystery Moon asked.

”What about the result of the second test?” Lily’s voice seemed to come from far away. ”Normally once the topic’s brought up, she immediately changes the subject and diverts attention, like what about Mystery Moon’s results...”

”Don’t say!”

”Look, it works.”

Lucia wanted to laugh but she realized that the expression on her face was very stiff and it was scorching hot inside her body. At the same time, there was an undefinable sense of contraction and increasingly more magic power as if she was sucking everything around her into her body.

Will every witch experience this feeling in her Day of Adulthood?

”What was Lucia’s result?” She could only hear Mystery Moon intermittently.

”Her average was 86,” Prince Roland replied.

”Wh... what?”

”That’s very high!”

”You see, she didn’t even try to stop us.”

”You’ve failed, so it’s time for punishment!”

”Go away!”

”Hold on... Stop fighting, Lucia doesn’t seem to look right.”

She could hear the conversation between Mystery Moon, Lily and finally Nightingale’s voice, but she realized the voices of the witches had become distant to her. Lucia was clenching her teeth and she held her head up to look at the sisters around her. She was shocked to see the completely changed scene. Everyone’s appearance became hazy and pixilated like a composition of innumerable squares—some big, some small and each of them had a different color.

She wanted to scream in terror but all she could hear was the hissing sound in her breath.

The contraction in her body was getting stronger and it started to cause a vague but growing sense of pain. Lucia could only hold her breath and see people around her starting to get busy.

It was exactly like Nightingale said, the pain in the Day of Adulthood was far beyond the pain of the awakening. The more persistent she was, the stronger the pain became; it felt as if she was being cut into pieces.

Suddenly, a strange magic power probed her body. Lucia could clearly feel the magic power did not belong to herself. It was just like a tube ridden in the magic whirlpool.

She could not bear it any longer, subconsciously yielding to the overwhelming power and allowing the current to carry her. As if she had finally found her savior, Lucia kept injecting the magic power into it to suppress the pain in her body.

The strange contraction eased after a period of time. The magic power no longer twirled around but it felt substantial and solid; it was a completely different experience.

She blinked and was relieved to find that her vision had fully returned.

Looking at a fearful Bell, Lucia patted her head and reassured her in a hoarse voice, ”It’s alright now.”

This was when she realized that she was soaked in sweat. She could feel the chill on her back when the cold wind blew.

”Wait, how could there be any wind in a room with the heater on?”

When she turned her head, she was shocked to see the huge gaps in the wall facing the garden and the two missing windows that allowed the cold air to swarm in. She could see the dark night and the tiny little lights of the small town through the gap. Standing in front of the wall was Anna, looking at her with concern. The Sigil of God’s Will in her hand glimmered.

”Her ability has crystallized,” Nightingale said.