Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

”Seraphina, come back to the room with me.”

Upon detecting the anomaly, Loren’s weariness vanished completely. It was clear there were more important matters at hand now.

”Understood, Master.”

Seraphina, as always, obeyed Loren’s command unconditionally, immediately following his steps.

”Why does the Master Mentor go off to be alone with her as soon as he gets back...”

Naclis stared blankly at Loren’s retreating back until they entered the room and closed the door.

”Prepare for battle. This time, you may need to go all out.”

Mirrorheart’s tone was deadly serious, forcing Naclis to suppress the chaotic thoughts swirling in her mind.

”Really?”

Anna was visibly excited. She already had the Scythe of Harvest ready, poised for combat at any moment, her eyes gleaming with exhilaration. Clearly, the previous slaughter of the Happiness Believers hadn’t fully satisfied her.”So, what’s the enemy this time?”

Laila checked her gun. Strictly speaking, she seemed to be the weakest among the Witches. Her Arcane Ability was fine for bullying weaker opponents, but in high-level battles, it wasn’t of much practical use, serving more in a supportive, functional capacity.

She sensed the gravity of the situation. They had faced many dangers before, but Loren always chose to shoulder them alone.

”Can I finally be of help to the Master Mentor?”

Luna was the most excited. Although she had the highest stats among the Witches, she genuinely felt she lacked presence.

Movila didn’t reply, but the number of crows gathering around the house steadily increased.

Seeing the atmosphere so tense, Scarlett grew even more timid. Though her body trembled uncontrollably, she still clenched her fists.

...

”Seraphina.”

Back in the room, Loren sat on a chair, deep in thought.

”Master, what are your orders?”

After entering, Seraphina knelt before Loren as if nothing were amiss.

Loren believed his bond with Seraphina wasn’t particularly deep, yet her trust in him had reached an almost fanatical level, to the point that in her most desperate moments, she called out for Loren.

Seraphina’s face was as beautiful as ever, but the more Loren looked, the more something felt off. Finally, he asked a few questions:

”Do you remember why I chose you to be my maid?”

”It was because Mirrorheart thought I was pretty. She was the one who chose me at the time.”

”Where is your hometown? If there’s a chance, we could go visit.”

”I told you before, in the Kingdom of Uridia.”

The first question others might have guessed, but Seraphina had only told Loren the answer to the second. Still, there were clues. Loren decided to continue his inquiry.

Loren was now conducting an experiment with an answer already in mind. All his tests were merely to prove his hypothesis correct.

”Do you remember how I verified whether you were Pseudohumans when they attacked?”

Only those in Loren’s household knew about this. Verifying the identity of the Seraphina before him would be very useful.

”I remember. You wanted to check our blood at the time, but for some reason, I was terrified...”

This answer also checked out. Loren considered a possibility. When asking these questions, Loren already had an answer in his heart.

He knew some Anomalies could make a person’s subconscious manifest. It wasn’t impossible for the God of Confusion to possess such an ability.

So, Loren decided to ask something he himself didn’t know.

”Do you remember any other stories that vampire sister from your hometown told you?”

”Hmm... She mentioned something very interesting. The highest rank among Vampires is the Prince, and all Vampire Princes are female.”

Hearing this information, Loren was stunned for a moment. This was something he hadn’t realized. He had met quite a few Vampire Princes, and they were indeed all female. Until now, Loren truly hadn’t made that connection.

He had thought this was a question whose truth he couldn’t verify himself, but now he could actually confirm what Seraphina said was true.

Was he just being overly suspicious?

Even Loren began to feel uncertain. He couldn’t find any concrete evidence of Seraphina being off. The only anomaly was that vague, almost mystical feeling. Even Movila hadn’t detected anything unusual about Seraphina.

”Alright, you can go back. Let me rest alone for a while...”

Loren lay on the bed, his arm resting on his forehead, his mind still racing.

If it were some stranger, Loren might very well have cut them down based on a feeling alone. But it was Seraphina who was potentially anomalous. Loren was deeply afraid of mistakenly killing this loyal little maid.

That was just how Loren was. He never mistreated those who loved him.

”God of Truth, Reason, and Eternity... The Perpetual Observer...”

Lying on the bed, Loren repeated the name of The Perpetual Observer over and over. Its name alone was enough to shatter the God of Dreams’ illusions, and Loren, possessing the True Sight Eye, feared no mirage.

Everything seemed so normal. So normal it felt abnormal.

”Let’s continue researching the authority of The Perpetual Observer...”

As the sole cheat code he gained after transmigrating, Loren intended to study it further. At the very least, he could leverage The Perpetual Observer’s status.

Status. This was also why Angels and humans were not on the same level of existence. Those with insufficient status couldn’t even affect an Angel, not even players.

Back then, Loren had gritted his teeth and relied on infinite respawns to fight an Angel to the death. In the end, the Angel just got tired of killing him and ignored him. It only lost some time.

There were many ways to obtain status. The simplest was to borrow from an Outer God. For instance, Cassian was very willing to lend out its power.

Another simple method was to obtain the Tarot cards. Originally, Loren didn’t understand why the Tarot cards could elevate status. Now he knew it was because of the Observer.

However, there were exceptions to everything. The Witches’ Arcane Ability could ignore status. Not only against Angels, but the Witches’ Arcane Ability even worked against the Orthodox Gods.

After all, another name for Arcane Ability was ”Syllables of Rebellion.”

”Forget it. If I can’t figure it out on my own, I’ll go ask Mirrorheart and Seraphina again...”

After pondering for a long time without results, Loren simply went to find Seraphina and Mirrorheart again.

The three gathered in Loren’s room. Loren didn’t plan to let the others know about The Perpetual Observer. After all, even now, Loren wasn’t clear whether The Perpetual Observer was good or evil. At most, their interests aligned. It was best not to let others know its name.

After all, the gods of this world loved nothing more than polluting others with their names.

”Seraphina, try to recall. Do you know anything else about The Perpetual Observer? This is very important.”

”The Per... Perpet... Obs...”

While uttering this name, Seraphina seemed to glitch. Her body began to twitch unnaturally, even appearing disjointed, as if some illegal term had been inserted into game code, causing the visuals to crash.

In the end, she never managed to fully articulate the four words: ”The Perpetual Observer.”