275. Against the Antagonist
Ravenna felt a sudden, sharp intake of breath from Marie beside her. But it wasn't the sight of the Witch that froze them, it was the sound of a voice.
“Anna?”
Ravenna whirled her head toward a second Broadleaf Arrowhead door that stood a dozen yards to their left. Standing before it were two figures, battered and blood-streaked, but unmistakably familiar.
“Kenric?” Ravenna’s voice was a whisper of shock.
The Vice Captain of the Kim Knights, John, stood beside him, his rifle raised but trembling under the sheer pressure of the mana in the room. Kenric didn't seem to hear her; his eyes were locked on the woman on the throne, his face a mask of agony and hope.
The Witch of the West didn't move at first. She continued to stroke the petals of the Broadleaf Arrowhead in her hand, her white-blonde hair spilling over the stone steps like a river of milk. Then, slowly, she lifted her head.
Her simple purple eyes glowed slightly with violet light.
“How busy my sanctuary has become,” the Witch said, her voice a layered harmony that seemed to vibrate out of the golden chains themselves. She stood up, her black lace gown trailing behind her.
The air in the Chamber of the Chain-Heart was already at a breaking point when the reality of the dungeon began to tear again. The hummed a low, terrifying chord as the Broadleaf Arrowhead doors scattered around the perimeter began to glow in synchronized pulses.
BAM.
One of the door made of knotted, bloodless limbs shattered outward to the right of the throne. Captain Hughes stumbled through, his face etched with pain as he leaned heavily on a Kim Pattern Rifle like a crutch. Behind him, Aurora stepped onto the purple grass, her eyes wide with a mixture of horror and fury.
"Hughes! Aurora!?" Ravenna called out, her voice cutting through the hum.
"Your Highness..." Hughes gasped, his knuckles white as he gripped his weapon. He looked up at the stone heart, then at the woman on the throne. "What... what kind of hell have we fallen into?"
Before they could even gather their bearings, a thunderous crash echoed from the opposite side of the chamber. A door of shimmering mana similar to theirs, and Prince Landon, His left leg dragged, the limp a stark reminder of the injury. accompanied by King Finel and a vanguard of soldiers of the Vassal States, burst into the valley. They were covered in the dust of the dungeon on the capital’s outskirts, their swords drawn and eyes wild with the sudden transition from a battlefield to a subterranean paradise.
"Ravenna?" Prince Landon shouted, his tactical mind trying to process the impossible gathering. "We were in the dungeon just now... then one step into the door... and now..."
"Prince Landon, stay back!" Eugene’s voice boomed from a newly glowing door near the base of the Great Heart. He and Seraphina stepped through, their weapons glowing with a fierce light. They bore the scent of scorched sand and centipede ichor, their faces hardened by the trials of the desert floor. Eugene’s gaze immediately locked onto the Witch. "She is the source. The frequency... it’s identical to the Pope's collapse. That’s the Witch of the West!"
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A sudden, sharp scream pierced the air as a door high on a cliffside wall flared with blue light. Princess Serena fell from the opening, tumbling down the gentle slope of the mountain before crashing into the purple grass near Kenric. She was shivering uncontrollably, her royal robes frosted with ice, her skin a deathly shade of pale.
"Cold..." she whimpered, her teeth chattering as she looked up at Sundravan cave’s warmth. "It was... so cold..."
Kenric reached out, helping the frozen princess to her feet. "It’s over, Your Highness Serena. You're out of the dungeon but..."
The Witch of the West watched the convergence with a detached, almost bored fascination. She stood atop her blackened throne, the white-blonde hair drifting around her like the silk of a predatory spider. Her simple purple eyes, devoid of the roses Kenric had feared but filled with a far more terrifying, cold intelligence, glowed with a soft violet light.
"The whole play," the Witch whispered, her voice a layered harmony that vibrated in everyone’s marrow, bypassing their ears and speaking directly to their consciousness. She raised a pale finger, pointing first toward the trembling Marie. "The Saintess."
Her finger moved to the warrior with the golden blade, Eugene. "The Hero."
Finally, her gaze settled on Ravenna, and a dreadful, knowing smirk curved her lips. "And the Otherworlder."
Ravenna felt a jolt of ice shoot through her spine. The term Otherworlder, struck her with more force than the physical pressure of the room. Her secret, the truth of her origin as Joy Cha Kim, was stripped bare in a single sentence. She looked at Landon and Eugene, seeing the flicker of confusion in everyone’s eyes even through their pain, but she had no time to explain.
“It is quite the gathering we have made, don’t you think?” The Witch smiled, and the gesture sent a wave of deadly, concentrated pressure across the room. It was like a physical weight, an invisible hand that forced their gazes down, slamming their bodies onto their knees against the purple grass.
“Though you have all likely guessed by now who I am,” she continued, snapping her fingers.
THUMP-THUMP.
The enormous, organic heart suspended by the golden chains beat faster, a wet, thunderous sound that echoed against the mountain walls. Ravenna, Serena, Landon, Kenric, Eugene and every single one present felt as if their internal organs were being turned upside down. The aura was designed to destabilize the very essence of human life.
“Let me officially introduce myself,” the Witch said, her voice echoing into their bones. “I am Anna Jade, the disciple of the All-Mighty Ancient, the one truth of this universe, the Absolute One! I am the leader of his Truth’s Army, the Cult of Absolution. Known to all as the Witch of the West.”
Serena, already weakened by the frost of her previous floor, coughed up a spray of crimson blood, her body unable to withstand the discordant mana.
“Tonight, I declare the beginning of our Conquest of Light, the light that shields this world from its true form!” Anna took a single step forward, and the air cracked. The sheer aura of her movement stunned every being in the room with an unfathomable, primal fear. “Let the disease of consciousness be purged! Let it return to how it was intended!”
“A... Anna... come to your senses...” Kenric gasped through gritted teeth. His joints popped and groaned as he fought the crushing gravity of her presence, trying to stand. Vice Captain John reached out, his hand trembling as he tried to pin Kenric down for his own safety. Kenric felt as if his bones were being twisted under a hundred hammers, but his eyes never left his sister's face.
“No! Kenric, stay down!” Ravenna shouted, her voice strained as she forced her head up to look at the throne. Her mind was screaming a warning. “ She can’t leave the radius of that throne without destabilizing the Heart! Do not approach her!”