Breaking the Chains

Back to the present.

“Do you have something to say dear Investigator? You have been awfully quiet for some time now!" I asked, as I chuckled at the sight of the Investigator biting on his nails.

“I hate you! I hate all of you witches. You always act so rudely and are never cooperative in investigations and the worst is you always get away with it,” he hissed.

Look at that, he is getting restless. Should I continue?

“Well, if you treat witches badly then of course they wouldn’t cooperate. But tell me, do you know anything about the entities you are searching for?” I continued slowly.

“Why should we tell you? You are the one being interrogated, not me!”

“Oh please, haven’t you already realized that I have nothing to do with all of this!” I sighed.

I mean, yeah it was witches from our household that summoned the entities.

But they neither had the right to do so nor are they alive right now. So searching for someone responsible is not really possible anymore.

Wouldn’t it be better for you to just go and search for them.

Oh I forgot, obviously you wouldn’t.

“Tell me, are you afraid of me?” I said as I leaned closer to the table. My hands hidden underneath of it.

“Anyone would be, you are a witch after all.”

He nervously looked around trying to fix his gaze on my hands, which weren’t in sight.

“Then tell me, do you know the true nature of Entity 6?”

“It lures its victims with words I assume…” his eyes kept on drifting off.

“That’s right!” I said as I stood up. My little finger was still dripping with warm crimson colored blood.

“S-sit down!” he snapped.

I grinned at him, making him visibly flinch.

“I just realized you have one big flaw dear Investigator!”

“A flaw?”

“Yeah, your face!”

“Why my face?”

“Oh dear, your temptation didn’t work and you acted afraid of me!” I laughed out loud.

“W-what do you mean?” he mumbled as he nervously fidgetted with his hands.

“Entity 6 is known to be smart, isn’t that right?”

“I assume so.”

I got up and started to slowly get closer to the Investigator who jolted back a few steps.

“Also he attacks his victims when they are the most vulnerable, when would that be?” I asked, glaring at him from mere inches away.

“I-I don’t know,” he said, trying to get away.

I raised my leg and pinned him to the wall.

“Of course you know, he comes and lets them fall asleep. Then he attacks them in their dream. Entity 6 also known as Nightmare of the Dead.”

“How can you be so sure of that?” he asked nervously.

“Remember how I said your temptation didn’t work?”

“Y-yeah?!” he gulped.

“Mine did! You fell right for my trap. You’re busted! Stop acting and show your true nature Entity 6!” I said as I shattered the shackles around my hands and summoned my crimson scythe.

The Investigator looked frantically at me. Then after a few seconds a chuckle escaped his lips.

He laughed.

“How did you realize that you were in a dream and I thought I already had you!” he smirked, his face slowly turning into a dark matter.

He stopped looking like a human and changed into something like mud.

Disgusting! Do I really have to fight that freak?!

His features completely disappeared and he grew three times his previous size, mud slipping down his, I would assume, mouth.

I feel like throwing up!

I mean I did realize that he trapped me but I never thought he would be this ugly!

Also the scent!

“Couldn’t you use some ethereal oil or something? You smell rotten!” I hissed, holding my nose.

“Who are you calling rotten! You ruined it all, just a little more and you would have died as well, why did you get your senses back!” he roared.

With that the whole investigation room changed its appearance.

Everything around us crumbled to dust, leaving behind only a dark endless long tunnel of void.

The end couldn’t be seen, only the crimson light that stopped flickering was shining high above us, illuminating the darkness slightly.

“So this is your domain? Or should I call it my mind?” I asked, annoyed.

“You are right in both aspects. I never encountered a witch like you who would realize that she was trapped inside her own dream. Tell me, how did you realize it?”

“Don’t wanna, you suck!”

“And you are even insulting me? Aren’t you the least bit afraid?”

Afraid? Me? Who does he think he is, why would I be afraid of trash?

“You sure think you are a great entity, don’t you?” I confronted him.

“Well among those that were summoned that night, I am obviously the strongest. Since I play with your minds. But tell me what are you going to do with that scythe? It’s not like it will be useful,” he shrugged.

“Why shouldn’t it be? Are you criticizing my beloved weapon right now?! Actually I wanted to capture you alive to squeeze some information out of you, but I don’t care anymore!”

But wait, Karin will kill me if I don’t capture him alive, right?

Let’s get the facts straight for a second, if I kill him I won’t have to worry about him going havoc and killing every single person but if I let him live it would be an insult to my scythe.

This is really hard to decide on, I mean they did tell me to use the spell of forcebound so I could trap him in a bottle, but does that reeking trash deserve the bottle?

“Hey! Don’t you want to attack me?!” Entity 6 shouted.

“Shut up you psycho I have to think about something!” I yelled, making him gulp in nervousness.

So what is worse, angering Karin or letting him live?

But trapped in a bottle wouldn’t he still be able to talk? That would be a nuisance! Just imagining it makes me feel nauseous.

Then again there is still the matter of not getting a clue to why they decided to come into this world…

They could have refused to be summoned.

Ah, man that bastard even played with my memories!

But angering Karin…

Let’s let him live for now and just kill him off later.

That sounds good, let’s go with that.

“Why are you smiling like that?” he asked, confused.

“I finally reached the conclusion that I will honor you by trapping you in this bottle!” I cheered enthusiastically as I summoned a little bottle.

It was a white bottle, with a blue fog levitating inside of it.

“A bottle?!” he furrowed, at least whatever part of his mud substance was his brows.

“Yeah, I am so kind as to not kill you instantly! You should be thankful!” I said.

“Attera Aldas Enfernio Alverte,” I chanted as I reached my fingertips for my scythe and let it glow in crimson red.

“Listen, the moment you get scratched you lose! Come at me with all that you got!” I replied.

“Not if I make it disappear!” he laughed hysterically while moving the mud up and down.

“...”

“Nothing changed? What nonsense are you talking about?” I replied, confused.

“B-but that can’t be this is my domain! I am the one in control. You shouldn’t even be able to have your scythe in here!” he roared once more.

“Stupid, it’s my mind though? Of course it wouldn’t work!”

“B-but!”

“That’s enough! Talk less and move more!” I replied now dashing toward him with my scythe attached to my side.

Entity 6 released his mud like substance to cover the ground.

“Levite,” I chanted as I levitated in the air and reached for a strike.

However I got countered with a mud wall, crashing violently onto the ground.

“You freak!” I yelled at him as I started to stand up again.

“Parla Illio,” I continued.

The scythe grew twice its size and illuminated a red fog flying around.

This is quite the exhausting way to fight, but I need something to fight off the mud.

It’s keeping me from attacking him.

“Come little witch!”

Little witch you say?

That hit a nerve.

I started swinging the scythe as violently as I could. Turning the fog around it into a thunderstorm.

Then I ran toward Entity 6 and attacked him, he stopped me once again with his mud.

My fog burned through it and made Entity 6 cry out.

Then I just scratched him with my scythe.

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

Then I waved him goodbye as his body got absorbed into the bottle.

“That was rather easy, although it did take me longer than usual. I even got hit once. Not bad!” I chuckled.

“You can wake me up now Karin!” I yelled.

As the darkness around me disappeared, I found myself opening my eyes back in the room.

Around me, Karin was hovering nervously. The moment she realized that I was awake she jumped into my arms.

“I thought we lost you! Y-you stopped moving and your breath...” she cried out.

“It’s fine Karin, you know I am the strongest witch in Aethera! No way that entity of Nightmares would kill me so easily."

I gently placed my hands on her back and patted her until she calmed down a little.

“S-say were you able to defeat him?” Karin sniffed.

“Yeah, look I brought you a present!” I took out the bottle and handed it over to Karin.

We high-fived in excitement.

“I know I could count on you! There was no way he could beat you! But tell me, what exactly happened? When did you realize that it all was just a dream?”

“Well, he sure was smart creating such a vivid dream but I knew something was off since I would never jump out of the window!” I replied.

“Of course, you hate heights!” Karin gasped.

“That’s right! So at that point I already knew that I was dreaming and then I prepared a trap for him.”

“What did you do?“

“Think about it Karin, what do all of these creatures have in common?”

“They are monsters and cruel?” she wondered, genuinely.

“That’s true, but there is something even more significant, look!”

I showed her my little finger, which had already stopped bleeding.

“Blood!” she yelled.

“Exactly! They are bloodthirsty after all! They cannot resist a sweet temptation like that. You should have seen him, he kept on staring at my finger for the whole fake interrogation. I almost started laughing at his face. He really thought he tricked me!” I chuckled.

“So you played along?” Karin asked.

“Of course, it’s insane how much he tried to manipulate my memories though. That trashy freak.”

“What about his words? Why didn’t you fall for them?”

“Because he wasn’t handsome.”

“That’s your reason?” Karin stared at me in disbelief.

“Yeah, did you forget? I am a fool for handsome faces!” I laughed.

“Right you had that weird obsession.”

“It’s not weird, it’s a lifestyle,” I protested.

“Also if he actually looked the slightest bit hot, I might have given up immediately!”

“Lilica!” Karin yelled as she shook me frantically.

“Hey, since it wasn’t the case, lucky me! I got it already, stop shaking me!”

“Seriously, what are we supposed to do with you!” She said tears were welling up in her eyes. Then she hugged me again.

Guess I was really cutting the edge this time for Karin to cry like that.

“Okay, let’s stop crying and continue our plan. How many of them are left?”

“Take a look at the monitor, we listed them and categorized them since you fell asleep. Nathalie and Milio took care of one entity each which means there are only three left now.”

“Good, so who is next on the list?”

Lilica Alvie, 17 years old.

fullblood witch, part-time killer.

The End.