Chapter 215: Wicked Potion
The Devil Church moved out of Luandon. They used their remaining funds to build a rather tame looking monastery in the middle of nowhere.
The construction required a lof of pounds. Luckily, money wasn't a problem for Maria. She had accumulated more than enough wealth through her long years of existence.
The witches had collected all kinds of materials for Carter, so that he could make his Witch Potions and Totems.
Witch Potions operated in a different manner compared to Apothecary Potions. It had magical power within them. So a Witch needed to give them their powers or else it would just he a weird mixture of conflicting ingredients.
Apothecary Potions, however, could be recreated given enough time and experience from the brewer.
The Monastery was slowly getting into shape. The builders had made a small shack first, the first iteration of the dorms for the witches to stay in.
Carter had his own room, obviously. In his 'lair', Carter was stirring the large black metal pot on the huge firepit.
"A handful of Silver Dell Leaf..." Carter threw some ingredients inside the pot. "Some Brown Coat Nuts. The tongue of a frog..."
Once everything was ready, he stirred the pot again. His green aura reached out from his hands and went inside the metal pot, making it glow like some sort of mystical acidic liquid.
[Synchronization +5.0%]
Witch Potion had the same increase in Synchronization as Apothecary Potion. Five percent each. A very respectable amount.
Carter took out a ladle of potion and poured it onto a bowl.
Maria was standing beside her, watching carefully how she made the potions. The Crone hated Ursula at first. He hated her less now and had more respect for her.
After all, she was the hundreds of years old Forest Crone. She couldn't understand why Satan favored Ursula more than her. Now she knew why.
Ursula might only be an Awaken Witch. But she had mastered the basic crafts of a witch more than anyone else. Even more than Maria.
"Here. Try this. This should quicken the process of assimilation."
Carter gave the bowl to Maria.
The Crone observed it with hesitation but she still took it anyway.
"Wait. Remove the spell that Satan put on you. We won't know how effective it is if we can't see its change."
Maria was even more hesitated now. Since the day she was rid of her ugliness, she didn't want anyone to see her true form.
But Satan was correct. His power only hid her true appearance. Not fixed it. She needed Ursula's help.
Shadow dripped down from Maria and revealed her true form. The ugly hunchback Forst Crone.
"You sure this will work?" Maria said.
"If you have drunk the Wicked Potion, then yes. It will work. But gets ready for some real excruciating pain. After all, your body is being modified after all."
Maria nodded. "I did."
The Wicked Spiritualization Potion did allow Maria to control her power more. But it was slow. Her body would require at least a couple of years to fully match with her witch power and removed the negative effects completely.
Maria didn't want to wait. And so did Carter. He wanted his beautiful Gothic witches as soon as possible.
Maria chugged the bowl down and immediately, the Crone fell to the ground. Wicked Magic flooded out from her body. That sickly green color of bad omens. It wrapped around her, breaking her bones and tearing her skins.
She screamed in pain.
The other witches covered their mouth in horror. It was an unimaginable transformation. Maria was literally being broken down pieces by pieces and rebuilt from the ground up.
Her spine straightened, for real this time, not just an illusion. Her skin smoothened and her hair grew back.
Maria was covered in her own blood. Her entire body was one blood red color.
But it worked. Maria stood up anew. Her firm body now felt more alive than ever. Satan really didn't lie. He could fix her.
Carter nodded. "Good. The potion shortened the years of assimilation process into minutes. The trade-off is pain."
The other witches were horrorfied. But they wouldn't back down. They were also corrupted because of Wicked Magic and became ugly monstrous version of a witch.
They were afraid of the pain, sure. But they wanted beauty more than anything. They wouldn't hesitate to trade a world of pain in a few minutes for years of beauty.
But two of the witches had other ideas. Two of them were vampires planted in the Crone Coven to watch Maria in secrets. They didn't need Wicked Potion because Dracula's blood had already saved them.
At first, they could pretend like it was some sort of illusion spell they put on. But they would be discovered if they took that potions.
Maria breathed heavily. She wrote Runic Language into the air. It was very similar to how Invoker used their power at first.
'I wonder if Invoker has any connections to the witches of this world.'
The Invokers in Hexilia had since long abandoned this method of power because Carter taught them Transcension and Primal Spiritualization instead. But before that, they were also using words in the air to conjure their power.
The green letters glowed in the air and disappeared. Water appeared out of nowhere and washed over Maria, getting rid of the blood on her body.
Maria's new body was exposed completely. Silky smooth skin and a straight back. She sniffed her own palm and felt the feeling of overwhelming youth.
"I am... indebted to you, Your Holiness." Maria had finally submitted and accepted that Ursula was the High Pope of the Devil Church.
"Alright, everyone! Come up and drink the potion. You can all be beautiful now." Carter clapped his hands.
All were joyful, except two. Those two witches stepped back on instinct.
"Heh." Maria smirked and turned around. "I knew there were something wrong with the two of you."
'Well. I figured their covers would be blown either way. I also don't need them here anymore. They can return to Dracula.'Carter thought to himself.
But outside, he squinted his eyes. "Kill them."
The other witches lunged at the two spies.