Chapter 4

"Tell me. I am all ears."

The witch stares at him, finding it almost impossible to believe how such a creature even exists, showing such cruelty in the act of kindness.

Gathering her courage, she opens her mouth, carrying every word with care as she remains completely at this being's whim.

The Witch can feel her breath tighten.

"I came across a slaughter, something I couldn't walk away from," she says, forcing her vocal cords to remain steady.

"So it was that thing behind the slaughter. Of course it was. What else would drag a stubborn witch out of her way?"

Fenrin's voice was pure mockery, dragging the pride of the entire witch race through the dirt.

'Yes, and there I met him.' Her breath is getting steady as she continues.

He is barely an adult. Even in the human race, he is no more than a child.

I should have nothing to do with him, but he was resilient.

When I first laid my eyes on that thing, it was barely a living being. None of his limbs remained yet, yet that torn hand still holds the sword.

A hole in his stomach was pierced enough to let all his internals slide out.

Taking a deep breath, she looks to the front, ready to continue further.

But her voice doesn’t come out as she looks at the delight in the void of nature.

"What a shame not to witness a scene like that," Fenrin sneers, the raw delight evident on his face as he relishes what that being suffered.

If it was that bad, you should have granted that poor being rest.

Why don't you do it? Like his pain?

“His emotion is leaking out of a being who takes pleasure and is forced to take other pleasure in their misery.

I must not permit it to proceed in that manner

I am sorry to disappoint your grace. This emotion is something I can't allow to take place. She replied, suppressing her disgust.

The witch's hand tightened around the infant's body, holding it close to her chest. The warmth of life pulsed through her as she described that of lingering death.

She continues while hiding her own filth.

The land was soaked in blood, the rot of it thick in the air, covered in the bodies of those who were once alive. Her words grew heavier than before... she spoke further.

No living soul remained; the land was cursed with the calamity, leaving none to be alive.

In that fleeting necropolis.

He was one of those dead beings who should have left long ago, but he persisted.

But even persistence has its limit; her voice dropped in a rasped whisper.

He was dying in front of me. Blood was pooling under his shattered ribs. The dry blood has already buried his voice.

A throat torn open, devoid of voice, yet his eyes fill with a desperate plea to survive.

Her head moved up as she looked in Fenrin's eyes, letting all the words flow out as she looked back at the little life in her hand

"I offered him mercy first," her voice dampens slightly as the reality of her words sinks in. "'I shall grant you a swift death. 'Those were the words of my first mercy." 

Hmm... Fenrin spoke.

"So you tried to grant him mercy?

A witch offering mercy?

"Did he refuse?” The voice was dark and mockingly sane in nature. 

Even while knowing the answer, Fenrin can't stop asking.

Her thoughts wander as she remembers what has transpired.

"I shall grant you a swift death."

"N... O... I... w...a...nt... to... live!"

Fenrin sighed, breaking her thoughts as it pulled her back to reality

"I think we've wasted enough time, so answer me clearly." Fenrin's patience was running thin. 

"So, you used the essence to give that boy a chance to live." The question lingered in the air, waiting for her to answer.

"There was no power to harness if I wanted to save …" She tried to reply.

But

Before her voice can even make its presence known, Fenrin’s voice devours it whole, leaving only a solemn darkness hanging in the air.

Don’t make excuses, “Arghet”; your race is not the one that shows mercy except to your kind itself. Show your greed, not make excuses. Fenrin's voice and words are harsh, but it lacks any malice.

Arghet hearing her own name. She clenched her hand.

You used the essence to give that boy a chance to live—with a lifespan almost matching your own?

Yes. Arghet tried to answer, but for Fenrin, the answer was already decided.

Fenrin continues while Arghet can only look at him helplessly.

No, what you want is a servant knowing full well it could give birth to a calamity monster instead.

You are still holding on; it doesn't, you "harborber of the night." 

Fenrin's voice grows darker before settling into silence. 

Arghet started leaking the malice, unable to control herself 

But

All her malice vanished like it was never there to begin with as slow death crept around her.

Fenrin is glaring at her.

Arghet wanted to apologize; she wants to live.

"I can't die, not now, not ever." Her desire to live is overfilled, but there is no fear of death.

She regretted her decision to get her hand in a taboo, but she regretted getting caught more. In

a deadlock situation where she neither abandons the child nor hides it.

A birth of witch, which she had never expected, and with it, fear of being caught.

I think you have amused me enough. Shall we end your pitiful struggle? Fenrin looked at Arghet as he closed in to end her.

"Do you think I don't know you are using that child as a shield? Crafty, aren't you?" His words trail off, leaving an oppressive weight that makes her feel her end drawing near. 

But her end does not come. 

"I do like your craftiness; you amused me enough. Like you said, you see the will of life in that boy, right? It looks the same in your eyes."

If it was not a calamity of my kin, I would have never come to know; you came knowing if this child even has a single speck of that essence, I will find it sooner or later.

Alas,

It would make a great source of entertainment to find the rat, but the rat came before me to confess before I even got a chance to play with it.

"Yes…?" Arghet was startled as the distance between her and Fenrin was less than the distance of a single hand.

Calamity is it? Fenrin's voice lingers in the air.

His eyes changed and reverted back before she could even register it...

"A long silence stretched before Fenrin finally spoke, his gaze still fixed on the infant. "This child….