Reborn as a witch in another world [slice of life, isekai] (ch. 94)
Blurb:
What does it take to turn your life around? Death, of course!
I died in this lame ass world of ours and woke up in a completely new one. I had a new name, a new face and a new body. This was my second chance to live a better life than the previous one.
But goddamn it, why did I have to be a witch? Now I don't just have to be on the run from the Inquisition that wants to burn me and my friends. But I also have to earn a living?
Follow Elsa Grimly as she:
- Makes new friends and tries to save them and herself from getting burned
- Finds redemption from the deeds of her previous life
- Tries to get along with a cat who (like most cats) believes she runs the world
- Deals with other slice of life shenanigans.
--
Chapter 94. Interlude: Ninth Hour
Two hours ago.
Pearl detracted her claws and drew a large circle on the ground in the dark room.
“Good girl!” Lily said, clapping her hands. “Now draw a star within the circle, Pearl. Just draw a triangle and then draw a triangle upside down on top of it.”
The direwolf followed the instructions of her master. And soon a pentacle was carved on the floor. Lily didn't have her ritual knife with her. But the entire purpose of a ritual knife was to carve ritual patterns while allowing the witch to steadily pour malice into the pattern that was being drawn.
The blade wasn't special because it was a knife. It was just handy, sharp and a good conductor of malice. Pearl's claws served the same purpose as long as Lily kept infusing the direwolf's body with her malice so the pattern could work when it was complete.
After the enhancement pentacle had been completed, Lily led the three familiars into the three circles connected to the main pattern. “Now stand there like good little kids,” she said with a smile. Then she used the nail of her thumb to pierce her own palm. A few drops of blood appeared. The girl winced. She wasn't used to this.
She dripped her blood onto the pattern. She had never tried the enhancement ritual like this before. Mostly your hexonomicon had to be involved in the process. And your witchcraft equipment, whether it was something you forged or your cards or your dolls.
But as long as your ritual followed the axiom of relevance, it wouldn't fail.
“I'm not trying to enhance an item. I'm trying to enhance my familiars directly,” she said to herself. “If I can use my excess malice to force an evolution in their bodies directly, it should work.” She looked at her familiars. “Right?”
The animals just looked at her, confused.
“It should!” Lily said stubbornly. “I'm not breaking the axiom of relevance. This is an enhancement ritual. You are all connected to me. The same way my hexonomicon is connected to me. If I can add spells using this ritual, I can also force an evolution in you. Also, the axiom of relevance will only break if I try to do something that my wrath can't do. I'm trying to enhance the element or wrath within you all. It will work. I know it will!”
And then she started pouring her wrath into the ritual.
--
Ninth Hour.
Lily stood at the door with a calm smile on her face. “I think I'm ready for a rematch now.”
Smokewell watched the girl curiously. Gregory looked at her with an impressed glint in his eyes. But it was faint enough to be missed by anyone who wasn't paying attention. “I hope you've learned something while you were in the box,” he said.
“Maybe you'll be able to tell if you fight me,” Lily said.
Gregory gave a single nod and turned to summon his armor. The plates and pads and helm clicked and wrapped around him. Finally his axe flew towards him which he caught deftly with his hand.
The two stepped out into the forest. Smokewell followed them eagerly. As they stood in a clearing under the stars, a gust of wind made Lily's skirt flutter gently. “One thing before we begin,” she said. “When I beat you in this duel, you'll have to join our guild.”
Only Gregory’s eyes were visible through his helm. “First you'll have to beat me,” he said.
--
Madam sat on the porch of the cottage as Lily squared off against the old knight in the moonlight. But the girl didn't let her mentor's attention affect her. She didn't let her smile falter and kept looking ahead with confidence.
“Look at you, standing there with your self-assured smile, as if you know you are going to win,” Gregory said.
He was trying to rile her up so he could get her to fumble later. Or maybe he was trying to see how she would react now if he tried his same tactics from the previous duel. “I may not win but I'm not going to let you beat me either,” Lily said calmly.
“I don't think you learnt anything while you were in the box,” Gregory said, moving sideways. “In war, you either live or you die. There is never a true stalemate. One side always ends up making the bigger compromise than the other one.”
“This isn't a war, old man,” Lily said, circling in the opposite direction. “And there is no real compromise here. I'll win and make you join our guild. You'll learn to live with your fellow human beings instead of being a forest hermit.”
Gregory stopped. “You–”
Lily didn't give him a chance to finish and dove towards him. Gregory raised his axe to swing at the girl. He only had his axe on him, Lily let that thought sit at the back of her mind while she moved. Then she planted her feet firmly and came to a sudden halt. The old knight paused, almost confused.
That's when Lily said, “Opal.”
Gregory twitched ever so slightly, anticipating the weird flying lizard. That's when Lily moved again. She was in front of the knight in a blink and driving her fist into his torso the next moment. He gasped at the blow. She restrained a smile and dove sideways, making distance between them.
Gregory recovered in a moment and was moving with her right away. That's when Lily said, “Opal.”
The knight glared at her mid-leap as he raised his axe to strike. “The same trick won't work tw–”
But he was cut short when Lily's calmly smiling visage was blocked by a fierce black shadow leaping in Gregory's way. She had actually summoned Opal this time.
He didn't hesitate to bring his axe down on the creature. But the windcleaver disappeared before the blow could connect. And Gregory's axe only met thin air.
Lily was still in her previous spot. Still smiling. She struck his helm off his head with a kick that was neither too hard, nor too slow. And right after that she swiped her hand at the cowl that covered his face.
Gregory dodged the strike only barely. But he had felt Lily's hand. It didn't feel like a hand at all. It felt something similar to…a claw.
His doubt was confirmed when he felt a sensation on his face. Something that was both hot and cold. Blood.
Gregory smiled under his cowl. “It seems that I was wrong,” he said. “You do seem to have learnt something while you wer–”
He was cut short once again when he felt a severe blow in his back that threw him toward Lily's direction. It had been that white direwolf that struck him. When did the girl summon that creature?
Now wasn't the time to wonder however. The girl was going to cave his face in. While she kept smiling like that. He gripped his axe tighter to throw it at the girl before they could collide.
But the girl leapt out of his way before he could react. And something wound itself around his waist like a snake. He knew what it was. That big frog's tongue. It had been waiting in hiding for this exact moment.
Somehow, the girl had managed to drag him through the traps she had laid before the duel began. He wasn't expecting to fall for the tricks of someone who was still relatively wet behind the ears. But pride can sometimes blind even the years of experience.
The frog didn’t run off with him or throw him hundreds of meters away like the previous duel. Instead it hoisted him in the air like a flag. Lily leapt at the man, moving as fast as bats in the night. She was going for the kill. He knew it.
He had seen that fierceness so many times before in so many other battles. But the blow never came. Even when Lily was within striking distance.
He summoned his helm. Lily spun in the air, kicking away the piece of armor once again and swiping at Gregory's face for a second time. Her knife-like slashes were shredding through his cowl and cutting his skin repeatedly.
But none of those cuts hurt. Lily didn't try to overwhelm him with another rapid strike. Even the frog let him go.
The girl had disappeared in the shadows of the trees. It took him a moment to realize what she was playing at. His vision felt blurry. Poison. The girl was using poison!
When did she lace her nails with it?
Gregory braced for another attack. But nothing happened. She didn’t jump from the shadows. She was stalling him, waiting for the poison to affect him. Clever girl. He had to find a way to gain an upperhand before the poison acted up.
“Alright, I’ll join your guild,” he said, dropping his weapons and raising his hands.
Lily appeared out of the shadows. “Really?”
“You idiot!” Gregory snapped and flung his helm at the girl. She dodged it but the knight had already summoned his axe back into his hand and was swinging at her.
The girl danced around, dodging every blow deftly, nimbly. Gregory was both frustrated and impressed. “A warrior with such talent, yet the instincts of a child. I don't know if I want to laugh or I want to cry.” He slashed at her with his axe again.
The girl was still dodging around, her skirt fluttering with her every move. “I'm a witch, not a warrior.” She drove her fist at him. Gregory blocked with the flat of his axe.
The metal reverberated with the impact of her punch. “You have the soul of a warrior. Which you don't want to accept.”
“My malice is not my soul, old man,” Lily said.
“There it is. Your denial again,” he said. “You are afraid of your own potential. Yet you are sad that your peers are ahead of you.”
Lily paused, frowning. She remembered Miss Elsa with her ability to summon abyssal servants, to make them do her bidding. She also remembered the witches in Noblegate, they used music to obliterate that monster in a minute. Gregory was right. Madam was right, too. She had let herself go.
She heard the distant whistle of a blade slicing through the air. It was the sword that had flown out of the cottage. Gregory had led her towards it through their little dance. She blocked with her palm that was reinforced with wrath. The sound was that of metal striking metal.
“My malice is not as good as theirs,” she said, her face still lost in solemn thought.
“Malice is never going to be good. It is called ‘malice’ for a reason,” Gregory said. “It is only as good as the one who develops it. If you don't master it, eventually it is going to make you sick and kill you.”
Lily dashed towards the man and landed a swift kick into his chest, knocking him backwards. His movements were getting clumsy. It was time to end this duel. “Convenio,” she said.
All her familiars materialized together. Opal seized the man's weapons out of his grip with her talons. She took off from the ground, holding the sword and axe, taking them out of his summoning range. While Pearl slammed the man down on his back and pressed a paw on his chest to keep him down. Gregory tried launching his knives at them. But the blades just plinked off of their bodies. “You didn't think I would fall for the same trick twice, did you?” Lily said as she stepped up to the fallen knight, Aqua hopping next to her. “The poison spreads faster the more you move. Releasing it through your face meant it would reach your brain much quicker. Which means you are losing your coordination. You probably can't hear me very well either.”
Gregory's eyes were struggling to remain open, his face was turning blue. His lips felt heavy to him as he tried to speak. All he could manage was, “Subterfuge…”
And the last thing he heard before he passed out was Lily's voice. She said, “I thought you said honor was just a word.”
--
Lily walked into the kitchen with a wooden tray in hand. Smokewell was on the dining table. They had put Gregory in the same bed that she had woken up in. The irony wasn't lost on her.
“I gave him the antidote,” the girl said with a rare nervous look. “I wouldn't have used the poison if I didn't know I could cure him later.”
“Good thinking,” Smokewell said with a single nod. “Now, care to explain what exactly was it that you did in the box? You have certainly changed since you came back. What happened down there?”
“Oh that?” Lily chuckled nervously. “I performed an enhancement ritual.” She explained the improvised method she had used to perform it and how she had put the excess malice to good use.
“That can't be it.” Smokewell cocked her head. “You weren't just stronger when you were fighting Gregory. You were faster. And you had claws. Claws that oozed poison. Where did that come from?”
Lily's mouth formed a surprised “O” before she began talking. “Yes, even I didn't expect that but now that I think back on it, I see that it makes sense,” she said. “I used the enhancement ritual on my familiars directly, not the cards. That made them stronger. They don't dissipate from solid strikes now when they are hit. But here's where things got interesting. The enhancement ritual acted upon me too and I could use the excess malice to manifest the powers of my familiars in me!” Her eyes twinkled with excitement. “Now I can manifest Opal's speed, Pearl's strength and Aqua's poisons. The manifestations are still rather blunt but they can be sharpened with more practice on controlling my malice.”
“So you are starting to see the true potential of your malice then,” another voice spoke up. It was Gregory.
“You got out of bed awfully quick,” Smokewell said with a hint of mockery.
“You think an Apprentice is going to put me out of commission for long?” he said.
“Or maybe she isn't an Apprentice anymore,” Smokewell said.
Lily paused. “Wait, you mean…”
“I saw a change in you, yes,” she said. “Draw up the Crowning Ritual. I want to see if I'm right.”
Lily was visibly buzzing with excitement. She drew the pentacle of the Crowning Ritual on the floor and stood at its center with her hexonomicon in hand. As she charged the ritual with her malice. The crown appeared on her head.
Smokewell blinked. “It is…it is actually turning bronze. But half of it is still steel**.**”
Lily gasped. “That means I'm closer to Miss Elsa's echelon!”
Several moments passed. No one said anything. Smokewell felt pride swell within her but she didn't let it show. Instead she said. “No need to flatter yourself anymore. That nimrod is just as dumb as you anyway,” she said, barely managing to hold her proud smile.
Lily mostly ignored the cat's words and turned to Gregory. “You just woke up,” she said smugly. “You know why? Because I defeated you. You know what that means? It means–”
“I'm coming with you,” Gregory said. His voice was surprisingly sincere, Lily had to pause and blink at him, wondering if she had heard him right. He kept talking. “I don't care about the stupid wager we had. I want to see you when your malice truly unbinds. I want to see if you can truly survive it.”
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Posted Jan 28, 2026, 8:44 AM UTC