Chapter 56: Divine Acquisition; Endless Web

“Hey Wretched Witch, save them if you can.”

A voice blared out within the two twisting blurs. It was impossible to keep track of them, but no sooner than the voice saying that, did Lusha move Grodd out of the way. A blinding light flashed through where he would have been, leaving nothing but the earth carved to nothingness.

Lusha sighed a sigh of relief, he was just in time. Grodd looked over to her and gave her a nod of gratitude. Then, he was gone. All that was remaining was just his arm that Lusha had been holding onto when she grabbed. Remaining behind in the original spot he had been was his other arm. As if he had been hit while he was being grabbed.

Such an occurrence was impossible! He was just before her. He even nodded in thanks. This– this ability was absurd. It went beyond even himself. Something here isn’t right about this. About any of this.

She quickly realized what she must do. A void opened up within her hand and immediately she grabbed Rinn to toss within the void. As soon as she disappeared within the darkness of the void, world, the void ceased to exist. Instead, the demon awaited her on the other side, holding onto her limp frame. “Nice toss.”

A smile appeared on his face observing the shock that Lusha had adorned. “How would you like me to kill her, dear Lusha?”

“Lay a hand on her…. And your death will be 10– no a thousandfold more agonizing.” She now grew desperate. That threat was surely not going to work. Not when this creature was gaining the upper hand on her. The urgency of everything enraged her. More and more she began to strain.

“Go ahead. Use it. Otherwise I’ll simply.- “ Rinn’s body went limp and a sharp noise hollowed out into the air.

That was it. This was no longer the time or place to be. She looked back at the others with tears in her eyes. For they were going to perish. She did not have any attachment to them. Though she would have preferred they had lived, she did not care anymore. The reason why she could not use her ability was because surely, Rinn and the others would die.

Before she could activate the ability. Zari pleaded for her to wait. “Wait!!” He choked behind his suffocating cough. The demonoid glared at the young child who had intervened in his process. He had been waiting for this. He threw the young Rinn at the ground before Zari, letting her body bounce against the ground. “Child… you dare oppose me? I did not instruct you to act.”

Zari bit his lip. Right now, was probably the only chance he would ever get to defeat this demonoid. Right now, Lusha was his greatest chance at salvation. Yet, there was a heavy hesitancy boiling within him. If this went all wrong, he would never be able to see his older brother again.

No… looking at that body that now stood before him, it was probably…impossible that his brother could ever come back. He swallowed his fear and yelled. “They’re not dead!” He wasn’t so certain of this fact, but he recalled the night he had spent amongst the adventurers of team Exalt.

During that time, he recalled the events vividly, hearing the strangest thing he had ever heard to date.

“Hey, Sir Gagan! How did you- how did you um…. How did you defeat the demon in Godon?!”

Gagan, who was drinking his drink and just laughing out loud at a joke that Aman had told him just moments before, stopped laughing. His cheeks flushed with alcohol. In contrast, Aman had only drank just one cup and was already out of it. However, when that question was posed, everything changed. Their demeanor, their facial expressions and the tone of their voice.

Fearing he was going to break his glass, he put his cup down and put a hand to his mouth as if to hold back an outburst. “That thing…-that thing… should not have existed.”

He could tell from his shaking hands that the recollection of events had riled him up more and more. “I-it’s okay. You don’t have to speak of it.”

“No… I’ll be headed to Central Integra tomorrow to give my report of the events. It’s important I learn to acclimate myself with how to do it.”

“That’s my Gagan!” Aman smiled and put her hand out in a flexing pose to show how strong he was.

He lightly picked his glass back up and chugged the rest of it as fast as he could. “That demon… I don’t quite understand it myself. But…. there was five of him.”

He paused to think about how to explain it. “You mean….like you could see him through your eyes?”

“No no…it was thanks to my ability that I could realize there was five of him. No- not even just five of him- there was five of everyone. When I connected to his eyes I could already tell there was something different.”

“I was looking at situations that didn’t happen. I had thought I was going crazy or it was an illusion.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know…” He put a hand up to his head. “At that time, I had thought that they were illusions. But… so did all the others of me. Then… in one of those worlds, Aman had died. In that world, I had tried to save that Aman, but just after she was saved, she was replaced by one that he had just killed in the other world.”

“I thought these were illusions too… until I had seen it come to fruition in my world.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Aman had died.”

“That world that the other one was replaced with was my world. I watched myself dread and fall into anguish in both worlds as I would have.”

Aman nodded. “In short, this Gagan is not the same as my Gagan.”

“Then…are you saying-”

“There are multiple worlds.Yes. This will be the hardest part of the report I’d have to give.”

That’s right. If we were clearly seeing people that survived their attacks no longer have evaded them… then they’re not the people we originally saw. Then that would mean…. That would mean…”

“They’re both still alive! Lusha! He can switch between worlds-”

The demon attempted to silence the child, but Lusha had intercepted him this time long before he had even reached Zari. A slap had collided against the demon’s face sending him lurching several meters out of the way.

He immediately respawned in the same position, at the same speed, headed for Zari. Lusha reached him first and sent them all into the pockets of the void. Instantly all three of them disappeared. It appeared there was not a single thing he could do about that series of events. For they had already departed.

Now, it was just the two of them. There was no need to hold back this time this creature was going to see the full wrath she had for him. He was going to cough up everyone he had transmigrated.

The aura she had released before now grew even more dense. The ground began to sink under the pressure of it all. It was no secret what this meant. Everyone within near proximity was going to die. She had already made sure the others were safe. This forest was devoid of animals. What this meant, was that the village would surely crumble apart before her might. Everyone there that still remained alive was going to succumb to her energy. She silently muttered an apology to them. For they were not her enemies, yet she was going to kill them anyways.

This was much different than what she had done in the city of Carthage. In this case, no one here was declared her enemy. The demon stood completely perplexed about everything. His hands trembled. Not out of fear, but out of effort to remain in place. Trees began to slowly peel away, bark by bark.

“You wanted to witness my divine acquisition right? Here it is….”

Divine acquisition, that’s what it was called. It was different than the divine impartations. In this case, there were only four people in the world who had a divine acquisition. It’s because they gained the ability by peering at the truth of this world. They had witnessed Ignis Pneuma and tore this piece of ability forcefully from it’s core.

Lusha tore off the top of her tattered robe. Only her bandages remained. Symbols began to appear all over her body. Not inscriptions, but seals. These seals were necessary to hold in all of her power.Yes. There was once a time when these witches wandered the earth, and everything around them died. Thus, it was necessary to retain the rest of their ability inwards.

A bright flash of light had begun to emanate from Lusha. What occurred next could not be explained so easily. You see…. When she had activated the ability, she was driven to tears. This was the Witch of Despair after-all.

A long time ago, she had sought to gain the ability to feel. And during that time, that’s when she gained despair.

And since then, wherever she went, she had always caused despair for others. It was never why she had wanted to learn how to feel. She was always someone who wanted to learn how to feel so she could learn to love. To return the love of her own mother was where it all started.

But undoubtedly, whatever was standing before this demon of them right now, was the Wretched Witch of Despair. Everyone in the village could feel her despair right at this moment. They too cried tears. The demon who stood in front of her could not stop his tears from falling.

[Divine Acquisition; Endless Web]