PHASE 72 - BURN THE WITCH!

“Tiara?” I muttered as I scanned the room.

The room is so clean and empty. Not even the trace of her sleeping mat is here. It’s as if I was sleeping alone in this lonely room in the first place.

I looked at my watch, and it’s a quarter past three in the morning. The sudden surge of adrenaline makes my drowsiness fade away. I need to find Tiara! Where is she?

“Tiara!”

I interrupted the silence of the night. But there’s no answer at all. I stood up from my sleeping mat, but then, my head started to feel an excruciating pain.

Whenever I blink, I see an endless sea of static. My ears can hear some radio buzzing too. It can’t be!

“No no no no… Why is it always like this!?” I cried. “It’s too early for my !”

The image of a silver-haired, red-eyed Tiara entered my mind. The bloody scenery of the shrine, the smell of the burnt corpse, and the evil voice of the witch… I can even feel some kind of painful itch around my neck as if it is being squeezed by cold razor claws!

“Darn it!” I screamed as I materialized my Weapon Gem into a katana!

Swoosh! I made a circling hack to make sure that there’s no invisible force playing at me. I only hit nothing but wind. It seems that all those painful sensations are just in my imagination.

“Tiara!!!”

I called her name over and over as I ran around the hallway. I looked around every room, every hall, and every corridor but nobody’s there. It also seems that the mysterious shrine maiden is not here in this very place! What the heck is happening!?

I went outside the shrine and ran around it, to make sure that I have thoroughly checked on this place. But there’s no sign of any soul in here.

As I gaze around the town on a tall cliff located at the back of the shrine, I saw bright lights in the main street of the town. From here, it looks like it was a parade of some sort. There are flames lined up and there were torches lit at the center of the main square.

I wish I’m wrong about this…

“!!!”

Golden electricity surged upon my body as I sprinted forward, leaving nothing but dust on the trails. With this spell, I can run as fast as a formula one car! I will reach that parade in no time!

<>

As I thought, there is a grim cult activity down here! There are about a hundred ladies wearing black wedding gowns holding a candle. I traced where they were going, and it led me to a surprising commotion.

In front of the main town hall, is a hill of combustible materials such as twigs, branches, and hays. On top of it is a wooden cross. And there’s someone in it. It was an unconscious woman tightly restrained my steel chains!

“Tiara!!!” I shouted. But my loud voice won’t wake her up. Instead, the townspeople turned their attention to me! These are not your regular people! They all have hollow eyes and it was oozing with black blood!

I can feel a strong presence of an Eidolon nearby!

“Don’t bother the Gate Guardian! We should burn the witch now!” One of the townspeople announced!

“Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!”

All of the townspeople shouted in unison as they raised their torches. Then they all threw it to the pile of hay, and now the flames are spreading!

“Haaaaa!”

I jumped to the center of the hill of combustible materials, and made a full-circle slash with all my strength! My sword produced a strong gust of wind that put out all of the flames. A thin breeze of smoke covered the whole area like a fog.

“Tiara, wake up…” I caressed her soft white cheek. Slowly, her eyes opened.

“R-Rikkun…” She said in a weak voice. It seems that her strength has been drained for some reason. And she appears to be half asleep.

But what bothers me most is that some strands of her hair have turned white. Her left eye was even converted to match a Cursed Guardian; red iris with black triangle sigil on the center. I know that if this goes on, she will become the real Brightmore Witch!

I scanned the surroundings for an escape route, but I realized that clearing a way through those corrupted people would be more viable.

Those townspeople are glaring at me with their dark hollow eyes. Suddenly, all of them started to give off a ridiculous amount of black goo that flooded the whole place!

I felt a strong pulse. There was a wide shockwave from the skies that evaporated the houses and even the people. The town faded completely, and now, I’m inside a different reality.

<>

White. All white. As if I am in nothingness, in Mu. There’s no red moon, so I’m certain we’re not on Yami. It seems that this is a dimension that is different from our plain of existence.

There are only two of us in this place. Me, and the unconscious Tiara who is still chained in a wooden cross.

I was wrong. There’s three of us.

Away from me is a shrine maiden with red eyes and triangle sigil in it. It was Shirayuki Hikari, the shrine keeper of the Brightmore Town. And from the looks of it, she’s a Cursed Guardian.

“What do you want from Tiara!?” I angrily shouted.

The evil shrine maiden tilted her head as if she has no spinal cord at all. What makes it more sinister is that she’s giving of a devilish smile at me.

“You know, the Witch of Time is always destined to die horribly. It is the payment for their sins to mankind.”

“Tiara didn’t do anything wrong!” I cried.

“You don’t know her at all, do you?” The devilish shrine maiden laughed. “A lot of innocent people ceased to exist just to satisfy the witch’s selfish wishes. That is their sin.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” I shouted as I pointed my katana to the Cursed Guardian. “But if you wanted to kill Tiara, you have to go through me first!”

“Hehehehe… Haahahaha!!!” The cursed shrine maiden’s laugh echoed in this nothingness. “You have no power here! This is my own universe, different from the Earth Realm or Yami!”

“!” I shouted. But even with the proper shout and posture, the spell was not cast. I tried looking at my enemy with my , but I couldn’t see her future movements!

“As I told you, all spells and abilities are nullified in this place. You’re just a normal person in my domain, Alaric Eisenhower. And I am… a god.”

I don’t care if I’m fighting a god-like creature! I still have my Weapon Gem active! With my katana, I charged with bravery!

“Haaaaaaa!” I made a war cry!

When I was about a meter away, I made three consecutive slashes and three thrust combos! But nothing seems to be of effect! It’s like I’m just hitting a hologram or an illusion!

“Gosh, why are you so dumb!?” The cursed Shirayuki scratched her head.

And then all of a sudden, her arms were converted into silver white claws and stabbed through my heart!

Blood gushed out from my mouth and my nose. As the Cursed Guardian drew my heart away from me, I fell to the ground. It was an unbearable pain to have my chest torn to shreds...

The cursed shrine maiden stepped on my stomach and presented me my still-beating bloody heart.

For some reason, I’m still conscious... breathing... and… alive.

“Look at this. I told you that I am a god in this place, right? You should be dead by now, but I decided to keep you alive. I’m omnipotent, you know?”

She licked my beating heart with that long tongue of hers. It felt ticklish even though that vital organ is no longer attached to my body. I wanted to stand up, but an invisible force is keeping me from moving at all.

“D-Damn you!” I angrily muttered. I hate that this is the only thing I can do for this moment!

“So this is the taste of the heart Tiara truly loves. It’s quite delicious.”

Shirayuki laughed like the devil. Then she pushed her face closer to me and plugged my heart back. In just a matter of seconds, my torn body healed on its own as if time has been reversed.

But still, my muscles couldn’t move. I want to break free, but there’s no way I’ll be able to defeat an omnipotent being! Not in this dimension.

“Stop struggling, ‘Rikkun’. I won’t hurt you again. Just behave yourself and let’s have a look at your precious friend’s despair.”

Her silver claw slowly covered my eyes as I went into a deep sleep.