Witches' gambit

As the morning of September 4th rolled around, 4 women emerged from the train station in Tokyo.

"Privet jets sure are handy," Agatha smirked as Mother Salem shot her a glare.

"Agatha, we are merely here to retrieve Simone."

"What about smoothy smooth Kristalo?"

"Expendable."

"Mother, with all due respect, Simone would make a terrible fuss if we leave without Kirstalo," Elenora trembled.

"AND don't forget, we still have to eliminate Zinnia," Agatha chimed.

Mother Salem glared in silence at Agatha for a moment, before storming on ahead. Born Selma Broadstone, Mother Salem had grown up in Salem Massachusetts during the late 1600s. When she became an adult, her brother Brunswick betrayed her leading to her nearly being killed. However, she survived, and began a new line of the Broadstone line and began amassing power in order to control things behind the scenes. Brunswick realized this and quickly began amassing power of his own to do the same, eventually leading to the tow becoming the biggest financial supporters for the Misericordia and Ratiocinato parties, respectively. Now each effectively in control of both major political parties, they reignited their feud with each other, using politicians as pawns simply to try and gain control of America first in order to gain superiority over the other.

Agatha wanted in on this game, but Mother Salem refused to cede the reins of power, thus beginning her conquest to usurp Mother Salem by any means necessary. Elenora was often her unwilling partner in crime, resulting in her more often than not being punished alongside Agatha. This time, her latest plan revolved around Carol.

At first, Mother Salem didn't care about Carol surviving the assassination attempt led by Pewler as she had assumed a new name and persona, and seemed to be willing to cut ties with the Broadstone family. However, Agatha soon learned that Carol's mother and aunts were furious at her survival and managed to use that to her advantage in order to sway Mother Salem into ordering Carol's extermination.

As the group began making their way to the meeting point, Sabrina grumbled as she noticed people giving her odd stares, likely due to her outfit. Since the trip to Japan had been last minute, she had essentially just worn her fluffy pink pajamas and sweats along with a pair of white sneakers. While se could pass the full look off as a pink tracksuit, she still didn't like people staring at her.

"Like mom, like why'd you drag me here?"

"In case we need more bargaining power," Agatha snickered as she cast the mouth binding spell once more on Sabrina.

...

Skaberghast checked his phone and smirked as he noticed the witches arriving. "Hey ladies, so enjoy the decor?"

"If you're referring to what you did to Theresa, than no. Now where's Simone," Mother Salem glared.

"What do you mean? she's been here this whole time," Skaberghast snickered as he pulled a picnic blanket off the ground to reveal a bound, gagged, and bald Simone beneath.

Elenora and Mother Salem immediately drew their wands, while Agatha decided to take Skaberghast's spot on the park bench and ordered Sabrina to retrieve Simone.

"Now hold up, ladies. Where's my good ole "magic" crystal payment?"

"Sorry, but that was a lie. You know you should never trust a beautiful witch like me," Agatha snickered as she too drew her wand.

Yet despite his predicament, Skaberghast didn't seem the least bit concerned. The obvious reason being he could simply activate his DESPER at anytime. Agatha was aware of this and was counting on him using it against Mother Salem. What she didn't expect, was the arrival of someone that made even her break into a cold sweat.

"What the hell is all this?" Okisato glared.

Mother Salem and Elenora didn't so much as shoot a glance his way, not even caring nor feeling any threat from his presence, but Agatha was beginning to go pale as she struggled to maintain a calm persona on the outside.

"What? are you ladies not even going to ask why I called him out?" Skaberghast smirked.

Mother Salem had long since lost her patience and quickly shot killing spells at both Okisato and Skaberghast. However, they had no effect as Caïssa's blessing protected both of them.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Mother Salem fumed.

A rare look of terror shown in Agatha's eye as Skaberghast pulled out his DESPER. "What do you mean? he's Kana Tanabe's boy, A-ga-tha," Skaberghast sneered as an aura of bloodlust suddenly erupted from Okisato.

Agatha began to tremble, but was forced to remain still. She couldn't even cast a spell or let her confident expression change, or it was over for her. Okisato would pursue her to the ends of the earth to kill her so at all costs, she couldn't let him know who she was, but Skaberghast had rendered her powerless.

"Damn you! This is why I hate dealing with you. It's always a risky gamble, but maybe, just maybe, your indolence will favor might plight this time," she thought.

"Which, one is she?" Okisato snarled.

"The one that tried to kill you, that's who," Skaberghast sneered as he activated his DESPER.

Mother Salem's eyes widened as she found herself unable to stop herself from approaching a chessboard that suddenly appeared. "What is the meaning of this!? No spell can bind me!"

Okisato's anger appeared to subside a bit, but still remained apparent as he turned to face Skaberghast as he sat down at the chessboard. "So who is she really?"

Skaberghast chuckled and explained who Mother Salem was, and how she was the one who had orchestrated the attacks on Carol.

Upon hearing that, Okisato began to chuckle. "So that's what's going on. Well, Carol-chan is close with Inoue-senpai and Iori-chan, so I might as well do her a favor and take you out, hag."

"'Hag'!? Boy, just who do you think you are?"" Mother Salem glared.

"Apologies for the late introductions, but he's Kana Tanabe's son, Okisato Tanabe, aka the infamous oni-tiger," Skaberghast grinned.

"Never heard of him, but ogres are said to have been familiars to witches of old. Therefore, I'll have him branded and enslaved for life once this is over."

"Nah, I was thinking loser gets burned to death, or rather incinerated to death by a laser beam shot from a satelite in outer space," Skaberghast snickered.

Mother Salem shot him a glare, before begrudgingly agreeing to the conditions. "Be honored I'm giving thee mercy, boy."

Agatha meanwhile had attempted to make a tactical retreat, but was stopped by Elenora, Sabrina, and a now freed Simone. "You have some serious explaining to do," Elenora glared as she shoved Agatha back down onto the bench.