The Price of a Loss (3)

1.

The twins were in deep sorrow.

Startled by Siwoo's abnormal condition, they rushed to Amelia.

In a corner of their hearts, they hoped that Amelia, the capable Associate Professor, would be able to do something about it.

Little did they know that even Amelia had given up.

She could only respond to the tearful twins with a weak voice.

'We can't treat him any further. It's the limit of what we can do.'

She told them that he couldn't recover any further.

That the final result of the treatment was that Siwoo became a puppet devoid of any emotions, whose only purpose was for magic.

The twins, who had been full of happiness when they arrived, trudge back to their carriage in a disheartened state.

Upon hearing the news of Siwoo's awakening, they rushed here, expecting to see him in good health, but instead they were met with this cruel reality.

"…Sob… Sis…"

"Don't cry, Odette."

As soon as Odette entered the carriage, she slumped down in her seat.

Despite trying to hold back her tears, they came out of her beautiful purple eyes anyway.

Odile wasn't in any better state.

She also tried to hold back while clenching her fists, but her eyes had turned bright red.

"But, it's all my fault… If only I had listened to the Exile's words back then…"

"No! Why would this be your fault?!"

"B-But, if I had quickly kneeled and begged to spare Mr. Assistant's life back then, maybe things would have gone on differently!"

Odette started blaming herself.

Seeing the weight of her self-blame, Odile's heart turned heavy.

After all, the reason why Siwoo confronted the Exile wasn't solely to protect Odette, he was also protecting her.

"What do we do… What do we do about Mr. Assistant…? Huaaah…!"

"Odette, get up."

Despite what she was feeling, Odile firmly held onto Odette's wrist, all while trying to hold back her own tears.

Odette stood up, staggering like a drunkard. She embraced her sister while sobbing, as if seeking comfort from her.

Despite that, Odile firmly held onto Odette's wrist, all while trying to hold back her tears.

"Let's go back and… Try talking to him again? Or, why don't we tell him about what we had prepared for him? Maybe he'll come back to his senses! And he'll tell us that he…likes…it…"

Despite all the effort Odette had put into her makeup, it had turned into a mess due to her tears. But, she continued to cry, ignoring everything.

"Stop crying!"

"Why? Why shouldn't I cry? This is…too heartbreaking…"

While she prided herself on being more mature than her younger sister, even Odile's shoulders began to tremble as she reprimanded Odette.

"Because, when you cry… I feel like crying too…"

Odile might be more mature out of the two, but her tender heart wasn't so much different than her younger sister.

In the end, she started sobbing uncontrollably before giving Odette a tight hug and crying her heart out.

2.

Latifundium, the place responsible for supplying most of Gehenna's magical crop.

After it was reduced to ruins by a stray Homunculus a while back, a dozen witches managed to restore it to its previous state in just a month.

Throughout the recovery period, they tirelessly provided the place with mana water, illuminating the darkness that was caused by the branches and leaves of the towering trees.

However there was a place that even this light couldn't illuminate. A pit entangled by tree roots and large rocks.

In that hidden, secluded space where no footsteps or gaze could reach, one could sense a presence lurking.

There were translucent membranes filled with visible blood vessels and muscles stretched above them.

Due to the sticky mucus dripping from it, mud stuck onto it, making it look like a gigantic sleeping bag made of flesh.

The translucent membrane suddenly was burst open, releasing sticky amniotic fluid from within.

A sticky looking arm, covered in oozing moisture groped its way out through the torn membrane.

It was a pale and slender arm.

Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, it struggled for a moment before finally breaking through the membrane.

"U-Ugh… Bleh…"

The person, a woman, who barely managed to get out, wriggled for a while before collapsing on the ground while vomiting a large amount of sticky liquid from her mouth.

It was the same kind of liquid that covered her body.

"Damn it…"

Disheveled black hair fell from her shoulders.

Between her eyelids that were smeared with mucus, a sinister gleam shone from her bloodshot red irises.

Her naked skin was white without any blemishes, the curves on her body were of the perfect, golden ratio and her limbs were long and seductive.

The woman, Ea Sadalmelik, the Witch of Aquarius, shuddered at the dreadful sensation of the amniotic fluid clinging to her entire body.

"Damn it…!"

She glanced around with venomous eyes. Realizing there was no one there, she casted a spell, purification magic, which cleaned her body off the amniotic fluid.

However, even after using that spell, the foul smell clung to her hair hadn't disappeared.

At the same time, she felt a piercing headache.

It wasn't caused by an internal problem within her body.

Rather, it was caused by her fear. She could remember it vividly as if it was yesterday. The moment where flowers started blooming on her body and turned her into their nourishment. That was the thing that came to her mind as soon as she regained her senses.

-Drip!

Blood gushed from her tightly clenched lower lip.

The sensation of her own body becoming fertilizer, the arrogant gaze of Baroness Marigold as she looked down on her, the overwhelming difference in power that left no room for her to resist and the pitiful state where she had to beg for her life in her final moments.

As her body regenerated, the memories and traumas of her past that had been tightly coiled within her, dragged her into a swamp of bitter humiliation.

"Someday, I'll make you pay… A thousand times over… You damned bitch… I swear, I'll kill you…"

Ea pushed away her fear that kept on coming back like a trauma by recalling the detestable image of Amelia in her mind.

Still, she had survived.

Because she survived, she could always wait for the next opportunity.

Ea was the kind of witch who'd willingly follow in her impulses.

However, that didn't mean she was reckless and foolish.

If that had been the case, she'd be long dead now, due to her status as a public enemy.

Ever since she started hunting for witches in Gehenna, she had prepared two safety measures.

One of them was an emergency escape route, a backdoor.

That was the artifact she had just extricated her body from, the 'Cocoon of Rebirth.'

It was an item that allowed its owner to be reborn once, in exchange for absorbing a part of the owner's brand.

To be more precise, it took on the engraved marks on their brand. Taking them away ultimately resulted in the decrease of the owner's ranks in the hierarchy.

"How many are left?"

Ea traced the brand engraved on her lower abdomen.

The space that had been filled previously was now empty and hollow.

With each empty space she managed to find, her anger and hatred grew stronger.

In total, there were only fifteen strokes left on her brand.

She lost six ranks in total. That meant, she was at the level that she could barely maintain her autonomous defense.

-Thunk!

Ea kicked the cradle where she had been crouching in for a hundred days.

It rolled and tumbled, spewing amniotic fluid from inside, making a sound that was similar to a wet rag being thrown away.

"Shit, shit…! This piece of shit…!"

While it was good that she managed to survive with her life, losing six entire ranks was an immense price to pay.

She had no idea how long she'd have to spend to recover them in the future.

With this, she couldn't even dream of enacting her revenge.

Ea wiped away the blood that had been flowing from her lips with the back of her hand with a violent movement.

Some of the blood trickled down onto her white chest, creating an extremely seductive scene.

Still, amidst the boiling hatred inside her, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

First, to confirm whether the second countermeasure she had prepared was still intact.

A ribbon sprouted from her back. It had already familiarized itself with its surroundings.

Fortunately for her, her main weapon, the 'Maiden's Loom', was working fine.

The 'Water Bottle' also seemed to be unscathed.

She used the ribbon to lift a large rock into the air.

Ea was a hunter who had hunted down many witches and Homunculi, it wasn't a surprise that she possessed many kinds of artifacts.

Among them was something called the 'Barrier Separator,' an artifact that could tear apart even Gehenna's barrier to create a pathway she could use to enter and exit the place.

"…"

In the gap created by the lifted rock, there was a rift the size of a palm.

It was held open like a dissected abdominal wall during surgery.

Around it was a concealment barrier in the form of a small water bottle that she had previously installed.

It was the same barrier she used during the raid on the Marigold Mansion, the barrier that would prevent any phenomenon inside it from being revealed to the outside world.

The assumption of her getting inside Gehenna by using the Homunculus as a key was part of her deception.

If she didn't make them think that way, they'd ceaselessly look for the gap in the barrier, sealing off all the escape routes she could use.

And if that were to happen, Ea would turn into a rat trapped inside a venomous pit.

"Done."

Normally, a hunter wouldn't bother with smaller dens once they've seen the large dens.

Being a hunter herself, Ea was well aware of this fact.

That was part of the reason why this small escape route she had prepared remained undiscovered.

She was lucky that she could still escape from Gehenna.

But that didn't make her relaxed at all.

The world outside was teemed with all sorts of Homunculi and dangerous witches. With her rank being reduced to 15th, it would be hard for her to survive there.

Not to mention that she didn't exactly have the best reputation among other witches.

Once they had realized that she had lost her power, all the witches who were holding a grudge on her, would definitely chase after her to capture her.

Duchess Tiphereth, a big name who roamed the modern world to capture her, wasn't her only problem.

There were also wretched beings that she previously ignored and deemed as insignificant. Those beings now had the capabilities to threaten her life.

However, she didn't fall into despair.

After all, she could just steal more witches' wombs and hunt more Homunculi.

She could always reverse this misfortune as long as she persevered.

Like, she could always wait until Marigold finally took up an apprentice witch.

When she was busy giving her guidance to that apprentice, weakening her own power, she could approach her again and strike.

-Wooong!

Ea stretched out her hand and activated the Barrier Separator inside the water bottle.

It trembled a little before it began to expand the space around it.

Since she kept the rift's size as small as possible, it would take thirty minutes before it could expand to the size where she could afford to pass through.

Ea glanced over her exposed naked body and clicked her tongue.

Once she returned to the modern world, she had to figure out what to do about her clothes.

At that moment…

-Rustle.

She detected an unexpected sign of presence.

Startled, she turned around.

While it was still lunchtime, the time when the Latifundium was practically empty, this place was pretty much isolated from the rest of the Latifundium.

That was why she chose this place to install the Barrier Separator to begin with.

"Who's there?!"

Without replying, a man emerged, breaking the deafening silence by stepping on a branch.

He was wearing loose-fitting clothes, something that a patient would wear.

His face was familiar and there was no way that she'd ever forget it.

This man was the same man whose eyeball was gouged out and whose brain was pierced through by her.

She was perfectly sure that she had finished him off properly, but apparently, he managed to survive that.

That meant, compared to herself, who lost everything, Marigold didn't lose anything.

Even when she was feeling vexed because of this situation, Ea still didn't let her guard down.

She deployed ten ribbons in total.

This was her limit in her current state.

"Oh my, it's been a while. Are you lost?"

While she tried to sound casual on the surface, in reality, she was completely on guard.

There was no way that he had come all the way here by himself.

It wouldn't be surprising if Baroness Marigold, or any other witches were to expose themselves after confirming that Ea was an easy prey to them.

"…"

However, even after a minute had passed, the man didn't give her any response.

There was no sign of anyone showing up either.

"What's going on?"

Not long after, she realized that something was off with Siwoo.

Other than his eyepatch, the result of her piercing through his left eye, he didn't seem to exude any kind of vitality. It was like he had just been resurrected from the dead.

Moreover, even though she, his enemy, was in his presence, he didn't even take a glance at her.

Instead, he was observing the rift created by the Barrier Separator.

It was as if he couldn't fully perceive Ea's existence.

She didn't know the reason why he did this or what his intentions were…

Nevertheless, her body was trembling in excitement.

'If I rip this guy apart and scatter his flesh around here, I'd be able to get back at Marigold, no?'

"This is great."

Ea let out a smirk.

The ribbons behind her unfolded with a rustling sound.

"Just when I felt like I was going insane from anger, you came here."

Ea stared at Siwoo.

At that moment, Siwoo returned her stare. 

It was only now that he seemed to recognize her existence.

He twisted his lips.

A fierce expression appeared in his previously emotionless face.

Ea knew of the hatred in his face.

"Bloom."