Reborn as a witch in another world [slice of life, isekai] (ch. 99)

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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: 

1. Makes new friends and tries to save them and herself from getting burned
2. Finds redemption from the deeds of her previous life
3. Tries to get along with a cat who (like most cats) believes she runs the world
4. Deals with other slice of life shenanigans.

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Chapter 99. The lady in red

It was the same woman I'd seen in the visions of Oswald's past. The lady in red smiled at me, knowing that I'd recognized her. “How did you find me?” I said warily. There was no point in trying to fool her. She had tracked me down with almost no trace. And now there she stood, smiling like an old friend while I was wearing an enchanted mask.

“Cut yourself some slack, dearie,” she said, “You aren't that forgettable. Especially with that mark on your hand.”

I glared at the woman. But in my mind, I felt slightly reassured she hadn't mentioned my name. This was the kind of person that would do anything to get an upper hand over the one they were facing. Saying my name would've been the ultimate way to intimidate me, yet she hadn't. It could only be because she didn't know that yet.

The mark of the Liberation Ritual was the only way they knew me from. It really sucked that I couldn't hear her abyss (probably because she was strong enough to conceal her inner monologues from being eavesdropped on.)

But then again, it was no surprise. This woman wasn't a normal person. For starters, her halo was completely red. Escalyne hadn't come down to strike her down yet. I remembered the curious case of Oswald Gooding, whose halo had been completely clean despite committing so many sins because he had been feeding those sins to the proto god he was bound to.

This woman didn't even bother to hide her sins.

“Because I'm not afraid, dear,” she said. “The forces that control the mortals, don't control me.”

It was as if she had read my mind.

“No, I didn't read your mind,” she said with a giggle. “You have been resting your pretty eyes on my halo for too long. You are like an open book, dear. But if you are so curious, you can just ask me about myself like a proper lady. I am Dolores Merryweather–”

“And let me guess, you are here to kill me?” I said.

Merryweather giggled again, this time she used a handkerchief to cover her mouth. “It's so unladylike of you to interrupt others. And also to assume such harsh things. I'm not going to kill you, dear. Not yet.” Then her blood red lips curled into a smile. “You hold the key to the door, after all.”

Wait, how did she–

No, it didn't matter. The fact that she was going to keep me alive instead of killing me scared me a lot more. The only worry at hand was to get the fuck out of here. So I did what seemed like the best idea at the moment. I pulled out my gun.

The woman just laughed. “Didn't your experience with Oswald teach you anything? Guns won't help against us.”

I treated her with a smile of my own. “Bad manners to assume, lady Merryweather,” I said and shot the wall behind her.

The special bullet made the surface explode, leaving behind a large gaping hole. That caught her by surprise. That was all I needed. I charged at her and drove my shoulder into her stomach, driving her backwards and diving out of the opening I'd created in the wall.

We fell down the three storey building. She wasn't bothered one bit. Instead she looked amused. “You really expect me to protect you?” she said. “Just because I said I won't kill you, doesn't mean I'll cushion your fall.”

“That's what I thought,” I said, getting amused as well. I pressed the muzzle of my gun into her stomach and pulled the trigger.

The force propelled her forward and away from me. I braced my reticule against my chest and shut my eyes and yelled at the top of my lungs, “Protect your master!”

The fall never hit me. Instead I found myself in an embrace that was both cold and warm and comforting. The extra abyss that I'd brought with myself held me in his arms like I weighed barely anything. His feet hovered over a few inches over the ground. He eased me back on my own feet and bowed his head in subservience. I sighed but I didn't have much time to waste. I started running, without waiting to see what had happened to Merryweather. I could only hear her giggles of amusement. She had been right, the rules that applied to other mortals didn't apply to her. I'd thrown her down a three storey building and shot her in the guts, and she was still laughing.

I kept running down the narrow street. My abyss flew after me. I could've asked him to fly me where I wanted to go but I didn't want to rely on an abyss too much. Last time I did that I had caught the malice fever. So I relied on my own two feet and kept running.

I dared a glance over my shoulder but Merryweather was nowhere to be seen. Because she was flying in the air, her red umbrella was open and her dress fluttered gracefully as she hopped from building to building. And she was laughing. Did this woman ever stop laughing?

I grunted and ran faster. I didn't care where I was going. I just had to find an open space. I didn't know what Merryweather was capable of other than flying with her umbrella like Marry Poppins. But if her powers were anything similar to Oswald's or the sin-breeds in Godfrey's domain, then the closed spaces were going to be the death of me.

I kept running while Merryweather laughed and glided across the sky with her umbrella. “You are going to exhaust yourself if you keep running like that,” she called out. “Let me give you a spot to rest.”

The door to the house on my left flew open and four men lunged out at once. I gasped and jumped out of the way. My abyssal servant passed through their bodies and within seconds, they collapsed, bleeding from their mouths.

I landed clumsily on my feet after my jump and ended up tumbling down the small road and crashing into a bunch of trash cans.

Merryweather hovered down and balanced her feet upon a clothesline between two close buildings as if she weighed as much as a feather. “You didn't hurt yourself, did you?” she asked with condescension. “Or are you feeling like going for another run?”

I glared at her, rose to my feet and brushed the dirt off my dress. "I'm not going to give you the key," I said. "You can go shove it."

"You will give me the key, dearie," Merryweather said. "And you'll do it with your own hands. I know it will take some effort to get you there. But unlike you, I'm not lacking any helping hands." She smiled and smoothed out her skirt. The big dark eye on the fabric blinked. Yes, it actually blinked.

And right after that, doors swung open. One by one. There was a sound of feet shuffling against the poorly maintained road. Soon I found myself surrounded by people on both sides.

Merryweather laughed again. The sound of it ominous in the silent street filled with eyes that were raking over me hungrily. "You really thought I would come to detain Oswald's killer by myself?" she said. "And if you are wondering how I managed this, well you see, I didn't. I merely gave the people what they want. Food, money, booze, cigarettes, sex, drugs, everything. Anything that makes them want to wake up another day, even if it is for the sake of getting another fix of their poison. And now here they are. All my loyal pets."

I had to shut my eyes and ears. I couldn’t stand to look at their desperate faces, their hungry eyes, nor did I want to hear their abyss. The sounds of anguish and wanting. It sounded too much like what my own abyss would've sounded like.

"Does it disturb you to be surrounded by them?" Merryweather said. "If yes, then taking the key from you would be easier than I expected."

"Shut up!" I snapped. "I already told you, you won't be getting any keys from me."

"That's too bad." Merryweather grinned and the eye on her dress blinked once again.

All the people rushed at me from both sides. My servant rushed at them too, killing the closest ones in its own rapid and sneaky ways. I whipped out my gun and shot the wall behind me, blowing it up and rushing into the building. I was ambushed by another crowd that came in from the opposite side. They stormed at me like a tidal wave of human bodies.

My servant held me in a protective embrace and flew towards the nearest window. Someone jumped four feet high into the air to tackle us to the ground. They succeeded. I fell into the sea of raging bodies. Before my servant could come for me I was dogpiled upon by two dozen people. They pinned me down to the ground. I felt hands grabbing at my clothes, my limbs, my hair, moving over my prone form, searching for whatever flesh they could find.

I was furious. These bastards. They should've let me escape. Now they left me no choice. I managed to free my hand in the chaos and fished into my reticule. I pulled out the curse channeling doll. I slapped it down on the floor and uttered the spell, “Arca.” The torso of the doll was activated.

The entire room groaned, as if it had been stitched together and was being torn apart. The floor opened like a gaping mouth, swallowing all my assailants in one greedy bite. I heard their screams. And then I heard nothing. I lay on all fours, panting, staring at the floor that looked completely untouched after it had devoured everyone.

Then there was a sound of heels clicking on the ground. "Such a splendid display of destruction," Merryweather said behind me. "What are you doing acting like you are one of the good people? You should join us. You'll fit right in."

I felt bile rising up my throat. I hated doing this. Each one of them deserved exactly what they got. But I still hated the fact that I had been pushed this far. I didn't stand up, didn't look back.

"Cat got your tongue?" Merryweather said in her sickly sweet tone.

I felt scalding hot tears welling up in my eyes. I brought my left palm up to my mouth, biting down on it until it bled. I dripped my blood onto the floor. "You...bitch..." I mumbled as I drew a pentacle of the liberation ritual on the floor. "Look what you made me do..."