Chapter 18 The Witch Queen's Return

As Shota’s desperate whisper faded, the unbreakable blue barrier shattered.

In that same instant, a whisper echoed from the depths of his mind.

"Ah-ha, Shota-chan, that would be bad for me. Change."

The black rose on his hand burst. A brilliant, raging pink flame. A tornado of Tier-3 fire engulfed Shota, whipping into a blinding column that hid him from view before exploding outwards in expanding ring of smoke and heat.

One of the Shadows, annoyed, swiped a clawed hand, blowing the thick, pink smoke away.

The figure standing where Shota had been was not a boy.

It was a tall woman, her back to them. A long, black hair flowed down her back.

“Ara, ma… this boy has so little mana, I was summoned naked. I'm sorry, Shota-chan. I know this will hurt you, but I need to use my battle dress. Sorry.”

She half-turned her head, a glimpse of her pretty face, as living, pink flame erupted from her skin, swirling around her body. The flames wove themselves into fabric, solidifying in an instant into a dress of Black Flame she was known for. The silver, magic-circle-etched gloves and a big witch hat formed over her.

She turned fully to face the ancient shadows. She smiled, a gentle, motherly expression.

“My, my, such naughty children. I have observed everything from the boy, I have seen what you did. You’ve been bad little shadows. I think you deserve punishment.”

The Pink Shadow was the first to speak.

  "Who the hell is that?! Where did the boy go?! What just happened?!"

The Green Shadow took a step forward, its shadowy mass focusing into sharper, more weapon-like claws.

"It does not matter. We have no time for mysteries. Kill her. Kill the rest. Then we go."

Before any of the Shadows could even move, the Witch Queen vanished. There was no blur of motion, no displacement of air. She was simply there, and then she was not.

She reappeared directly in front of the Green Shadow, so close her black flame dress almost brushed against it. Her eyes were gently closed, a serene, almost sleepy smile on her face as she tilted her head.

"There. One down."

The Green Shadow had no time to react. It didn't feel the impact. It only felt a sudden, profound emptiness. Her knee, burning with silent pink fire, had already blown a perfectly clean hole through its torso, vaporizing its core into nothingness. The massive shadow dissolved into dissipating smoke before its body even realized it was dead.

The remaining Shadows gasped, their forms flickering with shock.

Before the Red Shadow could form the thought, "Who the hell is this woman?!", her flaming fist was already splitting its head in two. Her fingers closed within its essence, and with a gentle squeeze, its core crumbled to dust.

"Ah-ha, now I feel like a bully. You just had to be a bad boy, huh."

The remaining two—Pink and Blue—turned and fled. The Pink Shadow shot into the sky, while the Blue Shadow condensed into a sphere of darkness, teleporting away.

"No! No! NO! How can this be?! That flame! That dress! That strength! How is she alive?!"

It did not get far. The Witch Queen appeared high above it, already in a spinning descent. A single, graceful axe kick, trailing pink fire, fell like a guillotine. It split the Pink Shadow clean in half down the middle, severing its core.

"I don't feel bad punishing this one, it was so mean."

Her image flickered once more. She was now standing before the fading spatial scar of the Blue Shadow's attempted teleport. She softly jammed her bare hands into the void itself, her fingers gripping the fabric of reality. Then, she forcibly ripped the void open.

"IMPOSSIBLE! I'M IN A VOID! This is a teleportation magic! I am in a separate dimension! To tear it apart is like... like tearing apart a black hole with your bare hands!"

She reached into the rift, grabbed the Shadow by its neck, and hauled it back into the world. She ripped it in two, stomping the crystal with her heel.

 "Oh, don't be silly, little shadow. You're exaggerating it." 

She looked down at her hands, her black flame dress was shrinking, becoming smaller. 

"Oh my, I'm running low on mana already? It wasn't even ten seconds. Oh well, at least I took care of these bullies."

She turned her attention to the fallen students and instructor. A gentle, vibrant green magic circle formed on the ground beneath them. Bleeding stopped. Wounds began to close.

But the healing was interrupted by a familiar, earth-shaking roar that she knew all too well. The SS-tier Leviathan.

She covered her mouth with a glove, letting out a small, melodic laugh.

 "Ara ma, even the little pup is here. What a busy day. I can sense Kenji-boy is having a hard time with little Pochi. I think I need to remind the little pup that I am still around. I spared his life ten years ago, and look at this, he is back."

A thoughtful frown touched her lips.

 "I wonder who gave him the news I was out of town. It's not like Kaiju who live on the bottom of the sea have a radio or TV to see the news of my demise. Someone is pulling some strings."

In an instant, she was high in the air. One arm extended, aiming at the Kaiju ten kilometers away.

"Ah-ha. But really, Shota-chan, you need to work on your mana. This will hurt you a lot. I will have to use every drop you have."

A single, nail-sized bolt of absolute Black Flame ignited on her fingertip. It shot forward, moving faster than sound.

A massive explosion followed, huge chunk of the Leviathan's side simply ceased to exist. The behemoth was knocked onto its side by the force of the impact. The damage was catastrophic, but it was the familiar, soul-searing signature of the magic that truly struck the beast. A primal, ancient fear returned to its eyes—the memory of the one who had shown mercy and the terrifying thought that it would not be shown again made him retreat.

 Leviathan burst from the rubble of the coastline and dove back into the depths of the sea, abandoning its minions.

High in the air, she looked down at the massive, smoking crater in the Leviathan's side as it fled in terror. A small, satisfied smile graced her lips. 

"That's a good boy! Now go home Pochi. Tokyo is not your playground." 

Then she glanced down at herself. Her battle dress was barely there. The black flames had receded, leaving behind only the faint bit of magic covering her, little more than a fading, flame bikini.

"Oh dear. It seems my time is up. Ah... what a shame. I got to stretch my legs for the first time in 10 years and only for 20 seconds. Shota-chan, you need to work on that mana~!"

With one, last, fond look at the city she had died to protect, she blinked out of existence.

She reappeared in a flicker of dying light next to the team. Then, with a sound like shattering glass and a sigh of the wind, her spectral form burst apart. It dissolved into a beautiful, swirling cloud of pink and black sparkling glitter that drifted gently on the air.

And from the center of that glittering cloud, Shota fell to the ground, unconscious and naked, his own clothes having been incinerated in the crucible of her summoning. The black rose on his hand was now dormant once more. 

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Deep within a secure, magically shielded facility in Tokyo's government district, a man in a long black raincoat and wide hat phased through the first set of reinforced blast doors. The enchanted metal melted and dripped to the floor like warm wax, sizzling as he passed.

He paused in the corridor, a faint frown touching his hidden lips.

"Where are those shadows? They should have reached the second facility by now. What are they still doing near the hide out?"

He reached out with his senses, and his frown deepened. One by one, their malevolent signatures were winking out of existence. Not just being defeated but being erased with shocking speed.

"How... inconvenient. Someone is killing my pawns. And with such trivial ease. Not only that, but I can also feel the Leviathan's retreat. Kenji and his little club couldn't have managed that so quickly. Something unexpected has occurred."

He resumed his leisurely walk. 

"What happened, I wonder? A hidden asset of the Association? Oh well, it can't be helped. No matter. I did not expect much from them anyway. They were merely a distraction."

He approached the final set of blast doors, this one inscribed with glowing runes.

"It seems I will have to do this the hard way. One artifact at a time. My, my. And here I had hoped my plan would proceed smoothly."

He placed a single gloved hand on the center of the door. The runes lit up with a brilliant, red light before dimming and cracking apart. The door dissolved into molten slag.