Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

”Noah...”

After leaving the Whispering Woods, Loren rushed all the way to the God of Plague’s territory and found Noah in the usual spot.

Had Noah not moved at all since Loren’s last visit?

”Master Mentor?”

Noah felt a surge of delight upon discovering Loren’s arrival. He quickly injected the syringe in his hand into the experimental subject, and before long, the subject’s body began to fester and rot.

”What are you doing?”

A simple virus had no real meaning, and Loren didn’t think Noah was researching something so pointless.

”This is a special potion I’ve developed that can suppress the blessings of the Orthodox Gods.”

”For example, this person—I just used the potion to suppress the God of Plague’s Blessing, which caused the epidemic inside him to erupt instantly, killing him on the spot.”

”...”Noah suddenly spouting such scientific talk caught Loren off guard. He felt like the tone of everything had shifted.

But then again, the Dawn Society’s legacy included biology, physics, and chemistry, so it was only natural that Noah knew these things.

”It’s just that injection isn’t very efficient right now. I plan to make it inhalable—just breathe in a little, and the blessings of the Orthodox Gods will be suppressed.”

This potion was incredibly potent. The Church members’ combat abilities relied primarily on the blessings of the Orthodox Gods. If they were truly hit by this potion’s effect, their combat power would drop by at least half.

”You’re a genius...”

Loren couldn’t help but praise him. He grew more and more grateful that he had chosen to subdue Noah back then—the help Noah would bring Loren would never be insignificant.

”What are your next plans?”

Noah used Return to Earth to dispose of the corpse just now, then finally turned around properly to speak with Loren:

”The second-generation fertilizer is essentially finished as well. I have two goals next.

”First, I’ve discovered that this world’s power system is highly idealistic. If one loses the will to fight, one’s combat power plummets accordingly.

”So I plan to use this principle to create a potion that can completely strip a person of their supernatural abilities. I’m tentatively calling it the ’Mundane Heart Potion.’”

Loren had some recollection of this thing—it had appeared in the original timeline as well, though it wasn’t used much, and some of it had even been used on the Witches.

The effect Noah described was indeed achievable with this potion. After being injected, one could not use magic or martial skills, and even Witches would be unable to draw upon their Arcane Ability.

Loren just hadn’t expected this potion to be Noah’s invention.

Even if this potion worked on Witches, Loren had no intention of giving it up. As long as it stayed in his control, the Mundane Heart Potion was far more beneficial than harmful.

And it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing that it could affect Witches either. If one day Loren encountered a Witch who had turned dark and couldn’t be reasoned with, he could first use this potion to strip her of her Arcane Ability, then slowly redeem her afterward.

Noah nodded. There were many things Loren didn’t need to spell out—Noah already knew exactly how to handle them himself.

”Then what’s the other thing you want to do?”

Loren remembered Noah saying he had two goals, and the Mundane Heart Potion was only one of them.

”I want to build a weapon called the nuclear bomb.”

”Nuclear bomb?”

Loren only had a vague impression of the Mundane Heart Potion, but nuclear bombs were something he knew all too well.

”You know what it is, of course. Then I won’t waste time explaining.”

Noah smiled. Nothing Loren knew ever surprised him.

”What’s a nuclear bomb?”

The only person present who didn’t know what a nuclear bomb was, was Laila. Loren had to explain it to her first:

”A nuclear bomb is a type of Firearm. You can think of it as a bomb with tremendous power and severe toxicity—capable of easily destroying an entire city.”

”In that case...”

Hearing Loren’s introduction, Laila seemed to realize something too.

”That’s right, it can indeed be paired with your Arcane Ability.”

After answering Laila’s question, Loren began giving instructions to Noah again:

”Noah, you only need to focus on increasing the nuclear bomb’s power. Don’t worry about how to launch it.”

”Got it.”

Noah acknowledged. No one understood better than him how important it was not to have to worry about launching.

He was so excited that he could already feel himself on the verge of creating a true god-slaying weapon.

”About how long until it’s done?”

”Two months or so.”

Noah gave a relatively specific timeframe.

He was a rational man—whatever he said, he meant.

”Good. Then I have one more favor to ask of you: research an antidote for the fertilizer.”

Loren didn’t state his specific purpose, but Noah gladly accepted anyway.

Whatever Loren commanded, he would carry out, even if he didn’t understand it at all.

And Loren didn’t want the antidote purely for Corolla’s sake. If he ever gathered a group of followers himself, he could use those antidotes to keep his believers alive.

Those survivors might even become the spark of humanity. That way, even if Noah’s plan went through, humanity wouldn’t be completely wiped out.

”Got it.”

Noah acknowledged once more, without asking further questions.

With everything delegated, Loren prepared to leave. But before that, he needed to take something with him:

”What about those potions that can suppress the Orthodox Gods’ blessings? Give me some.”

Noah brought out a box filled with those potions.

”Would these work on Angels?”

Loren grabbed a handful of potions and tucked them into his black robe.

His robe had many compartments for Magical Potions, and they were perfect for storing these potions now.

Angels weren’t something just anyone could get close to, so it was only natural that Noah didn’t know how useful the potions would be.

After obtaining the potions, Loren wasted no time and immediately left with Laila.

Noah simply acknowledged, offering no farewell. He had far more important things to do.

...

”Loren, isn’t Noah a bit dangerous now...”

Laila hadn’t known what Noah was doing before—Loren only explained it to her just now, especially the part about Noah planning humanity’s extinction.

”Indeed, in a sense, he’s more dangerous than the Orthodox Gods.”

If a robber points a gun at you, you can still negotiate; but if a madman points a gun at you, you can only pray he doesn’t pull the trigger.

”But I know how to control Noah, and that makes him useful to us.”