"Stygian Flames, come down." The command was less a shout and more a chilling whisper that tore through the very fabric of the air.
Her gaze flicked upwards, not to the blood cocoon, but to the turbulent, overcast sky.
She slipped one hand into her pocket, her free hand raising up towards the clouds.
The gray smoke that had curled from her fingertips now billowed violently around her, rising like a dark, noxious pillar. Blue sparks, miniature lightning, ignited and danced wildly in the swirling vapor, converging not on her palms, but far above, within the churning cloud layer.
High above, the clouds began to coalesce, not into rain, but into a monstrous, pitch-black construct. It formed with terrifying speed, a colossal, arcing mechanism of pure, consuming shadow, edged with an internal abyss-blue glow. It was a giant flame catapult.
The air around it was compressed by its immense mass and unnatural composition. The temperature dropped, and the distant creature below broke out of the prison, it let out a soundless shriek of pure, instinctual dread.
Sarah's vision blurred, blood ran down her cheek, the veins in her eyes started to pop. "Shit."
Her eyes started to unnaturally bulge out of the sockets of her head, the bones in her body tingled, her voice came out shaking.
"This body can't handle it."
She dropped down to one knee as the skies cleared instantly, the clouds regained their pure white color, as the sky rained down ash. Dark crimson erupted out of her nose and out of every single orifice in her body.
Her breathing became heavier, each breath she took felt like a stinging sensation in her lungs, her brain was completely fried. Her nervous system started to fail on her, her eyes twitched. "Fuck, this hurts." She slumped further, barely conscious, a broken doll amidst the rubble.
The monstrous creature let out a triumphant, earth-shaking roar. Its many eyes, scattered across its mountainous form, immediately took the chance. It surged forward, a tidal wave of grotesque flesh and bone, ready to utterly consume her.
But before the creature could take another step, a single, clear note, like a struck tuning fork, reverberated through the air. The roar of the creature died in its throat. The creature froze from the sheer mana that wafted through the air.
A small girl with long flowing brown hair perched on top of her glowing broadsword, her eyes weren't happy in the slightest, they held a deep seething annoyance, flickering from the large creature below her. She wore had black sailor uniform with a golden insignia on it, showing off her title.
"He told me that there would be a chocolate fountain here, I can't believe he actually lied to me just to make me do some stupid little task of his."
Sarah's eyes widened at the sight of her, not in fear but in excitement. A smile hung on her face from one side to the other, but the sheer aura stopped her from even moving.
[She must be the strongest human I've ever seen, Sophia Miller was it? It's to the point that she could even rival me in my prime!]
Her eyes narrowed, analyzing her soul.
[Merlin? I can't believe he managed to reincarnate, he's even stronger than before]
Sophia sighed, her broadsword slowly descending. She hopped off, landing with a soft thud beside the frozen creature, it was like a puppy at the sight of her, she walked past it, staring at the ruins of what once was the Mirlo estate.
"Hmm, I'm definitely getting him back for this." She slapped the creature's back, asking it to follow her with her hands. "Come on dog, I have something I need you to do."
The creature looked at her with an expression on its face, the first time it had ever shown anything human.
It was appalled.
"What are you waiting for?"
The creature clenched its fist, its teeth gritted.
"Oh… I see how it is." Her eyes narrowed. "You don't want to listen to me."
The petite girl waved her hand.
From behind her, out of thin air, a beam of pure, condensed light, impossibly fast and radiating an unbearable, blinding intensity, shot forth. It wasn't a blast, not a force. It was focused annihilation.
The beam struck the creature at what seemed to be its apex, its highest point. There was no explosion, no lingering fire. The enormous, grotesque mass of flesh, blood, and eyes were just gone.
It didn't burn, it didn't tear, it peeled away into shimmering motes of light, dissolving into nothingness from the point of impact outwards. In less than a heartbeat, the entire towering monstrosity was gone, leaving behind only the faintest scent of clean, sterile air where corruption had just been. The ground it had occupied was now a large crater with a single golden spear in the center of it.
–
An hour passed, the estate soon erupted into a cacophony of sirens and shouted commands. Police cruisers, their lights strobing an urgent red and blue, swarmed the ruined grounds. Hex Academy's specialized cleanup crews, identifiable by their crisp black and silver uniforms, fanned out, their mana-dampening fields already beginning to stabilize the chaotic energy lingering in the air.
A small crowd surrounded Sophia asking for her autograph, but her gaze landed elsewhere, on a figure stirring amidst a pile of overturned furniture near where the kitchen once stood.
It was Hoshimi, slowly pushing himself up, his head throbbing, his violet eyes blinking against the sudden brightness and activity. His shirt was torn where the creature had stabbed him, though the wound beneath was a faint, still-fresh scar. He spotted Sophia, a flash of annoyance momentarily eclipsing the lingering confusion in his gaze.
[She must still be mad about me lying to her. I doubt anyone else would've been able to take that thing down anyways
Just then, a sleek black government vehicle, the insignia of the Witch's Department emblazoned on its side, screeched to a halt at the edge of the newly formed crater. The door swung open, and Reina Albert, her long ginger ponytail swaying with the decisive cut of her walk, stepped out. A cigarette dangled precariously from her lips, her eyes sweeping the scene with an almost bored appraisal. She wore a
"I guess trouble really does follow him."
She bypassed the frantic police, ignored the concerned glances of the cleanup crew, and strode directly towards the wreckage where Hoshimi and Sophia were.
"Well, well, well," Reina drawled, blowing a perfect smoke ring that dissipated into the ash-filled air. Her eyes, sharper than usual, locked onto Hoshimi. "Wasn't that a long couple of weeks?"
Hoshimi, rubbing his temples, sighed. "Reina."
"Excusee me," Reina yelled out loud, ignoring his tone and pinching his cheek with surprising force. "Remember our deal Hoshimi, remember what I had to do for you."
Hoshimi clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. "Big Sis Reina."
"Awww." Reina smiled, hugging him from behind. "How adorable of you."
"You can get off me now."
"Come on, just a little while." Reina whispered in his ear, her warm breath pressing against his cheek, her hand slowly caressing his cheek, her other hand running down his chest. "I haven't seen my baby in a while after all."
"Get off." Hoshimi elbowed her stomach, throwing her to the ground with a thud.
Sophia merely arched an eyebrow walking past the crowd of people surrounding her, a faint, wry smirk playing on her lips. "Auntie Reina, we're in public."
"Oh I almost forgot, I've got a reputation to uphold after all."
Hoshimi murmured underneath his breath. "What reputation?" He rolled his eyes.
"You know Hoshimi? You should be more like your big sister." Reina said, a warm smile on her face.
"Big sister my ass, she's only staying still because of her fans around her. I don't even want to be related to an immature, annoying brat like her."
"How dare you!" Sophia stormed over towards him, her finger digging into his chest. "me , myself and I are the best! I'm not immature in the slightest! I'm very smart in fact!"
Hoshimi's eyes flickered over to the crowd behind her. "Whatever you say."
Reina glanced at Sarah, confined in a steel coffin to stop her from escaping getting treated. She then turned back to Hoshimi, her demeanor shifting, subtly but noticeably. The teasing lilt in her voice evaporated, replaced by the crisp, authoritative tone of a high-ranking official.
"Hoshimi," she began, stubbing out her cigarette on a convenient piece of charred rubble. "Your assignment as bodyguard to the Mirlo family is officially concluded."
Hoshimi's violet eyes, which had been narrowed in annoyance, widened almost imperceptibly. "Concluded?"
"Yes, concluded," Reina confirmed, her gaze sweeping over the pulverized kitchen and the perfectly carved crater. "Hoshimi, have you confirmed that the killer of the Patriarch was truly Adrian?"
"It was Elias Mirlo, I have a voice message as proof and as for the culprit that released the children, it was him as well." Hoshimi pulled out a single pen from his pocket, and a small speaker was taped to its side.
"Well done." Reina smiled as she clapped her hands. She gestured vaguely at the lingering mana trails and the scattered remnants of the creature, "I will have to do my due diligence and file the official report. And by the way, we found out that the Patriarch wasn't really dead after all, the dead body was that of a man with no blood relations to his deceased daughter, Domino Mirlo."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Do you have a clue on the identity of the Patriarch? The person who could've made those children in the basement?"
"The butler."
"Kira Aamon said the same thing in fact. So I guess her alibi is supported after all." She took out a notepad, scribbling down something. "To be honest I've been on that guy's ass for quite a while, I always thought that there was something wrong with him."
"So," Reina continued, her golden eyes piercing Hoshimi's, "you're free. No more bodyguard duties, no more babysitting. Unless," a mischievous glint returned to her eyes, "you particularly enjoyed playing house with a certain perpetually stressed witch?"
Hoshimi ran a hand through his hair, a faint, weary smile touching his lips. "I think I've had enough 'house' for a while." His gaze drifted towards the shattered remains of what was once a home, then settled on the distant library, a flicker of deeper concern in his eyes.
"There are other detectives on the job anyways, they'll handle whatever is here….. Big sis Reina, I have another favor to ask of you, not as my mother but as the vice principal of Hex Academy, this one is my payment for figuring out the case with Elias."
"What do you want?"
"I want you to exclude Audrey from Hex Academy, I don't want her to get used."
"Fine."
"Wait really?" Hoshimi raised an eyebrow. "Why're you agreeing so easily?"
"We were already prepared to exclude her, and she's rich. The patriarch already wanted her away from the academy anyways."
"Then I have another favor."
"Nope." She pressed a finger to his lips. "You've already used your favor."
"Fine."
"Good," Reina nodded, a hint of genuine approval in her voice. "Because I have a new assignment for you." She leaned in close, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, just loud enough for Sophia to hear, who subtly shifted her weight, feigning disinterest. "One of our fortune tellers predicted that a string of murders will occur in the near future, I want you to investigate it once the first ones happen."
[A murder huh? I guess these fortune tellers can't predict every detail that will happen] "Sure, but what about the next couple of missions that the school will send us on?"
"There are some rogue witches that the government wants you to hunt down."
"You're making it sound like they're prey."
"That's because the government considers them uncontained animals."