The air seemed to freeze in that instant.
Astreia simply stared coldly at the two embracing figures, her wet hair still dripping water, beads sliding down her delicate collarbones and disappearing into the shadows of her bathrobe.
Laxana’s sobbing hitched, and she jerked her head up.
“Annoying.”
When she saw Astreia, her entire body went rigid as if struck by lightning.
“Yu!”
A strange choked sob tore itself from her throat.
The next second, Laxana scrambled frantically to hide behind Wendy, poking only half her head out, staring at Astreia with terror and guilt.
“I-I’m sorry, Astreia! Everything before was my fault! I won’t dare do it again! Please don’t hang me up again, and don’t torment me anymore!”
She begged incoherently, her body trembling like a leaf.
Wendy, with Laxana clutching his clothes and using him as a shield, found himself a bit tense as well.
But in his heart, a huge question rose.
Something wasn’t right.
Just now, to “purify” Astreia, he’d pulled out all the stops. The intensity had been even greater than when he purified Laxana.
But why… Laxana had completely returned to normal, while Astreia still seemed to maintain her witch state?
Could it be because Laxana’s first Descent meant her Witch Power wasn’t deeply rooted, making her easier to “purify”?
Before Wendy could figure it out, Astreia had already strode over to the bed on those dazzling, enchanting long legs.
“Now you know to beg for mercy?”
She looked down at Laxana hiding behind Wendy, a suffocatingly oppressive smile curving at the corner of her lips.
“Where’s that person who mocked this King, pulled out my Soul, and turned it into a Toy?”
“I… I was just…”
Laxana was too terrified to even lift her head and meet Astreia’s eyes, speaking incoherently, tears welling up again.
Suddenly, as if remembering something more important than the sky collapsing, she jerked her head up and shrieked:
“Wait! My notebook! Did you guys see my notebook?”
Her face had gone pale with panic, temporarily overriding even her fear of Astreia.
Wendy frowned.
“You mean that black leather notebook you’ve been carrying everywhere for the past few days?”
“Yes! That one!”
“Back when you went through Witchification and fought Astreia, during your Self-Destruction… that notebook should have been blown up along with everything else.”
Wendy recalled the scene, then sharply noticed something off.
“You’re this anxious about that thing now. Don’t tell me…?”
“Mhm!”
Laxana nodded forcefully, as if remembering something terrifying. The head she’d just raised dropped back down, her voice as thin as a mosquito’s buzz.
“That Handwritten Notebook… was something Librarian ‘Xi Ya’ specially left for me before she left the Academy.”
“Even though I found out later she was from the Demon Race, I should have handed that notebook to Mother or Dean Aurelia immediately… but… but that notebook contained so many Forbidden knowledge and powerful Magic I’d never seen before, and I was momentarily bewitched… and I just…”
Her voice grew softer and softer, filled with regret and lingering fear.
“Also, it’s strange. Every time I carried that Handwritten Notebook on me, my mind would become hazy, like there was a layer of fog. And there was a voice, always whispering Beguilement in my ear, saying… as long as I defeated Astreia, I could completely have you…”
As she finished, she stole a glance at Wendy.
“By the time I realized something was wrong and wanted to fight back, wanted to throw that notebook away… it was already too late. My body… completely stopped listening to me…”
At those words, Wendy and Astreia exchanged a look without thinking.
Both saw a shadow of gravity in each other’s eyes.
Sunset Fortress!
That White-robed Female Priest!
The exact same pattern, the same script… How eerily similar!
With that thought, Wendy didn’t hesitate. He laid out the whole story of encountering the mysterious White-robed Female Priest at Sunset Fortress, and how she had step by step induced Astreia’s Descent into a Witch.
When Laxana heard that the Female Priest had also used the banner of “for your own good,” exploiting Astreia’s Pride and competitive nature to ultimately push her into Demonization, her mouth hung wider and wider open.
“You mean… someone is maliciously incubating Witches?”
Laxana, having heard the whole story, felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. She was completely dumbstruck.
Wendy nodded heavily, his tone absolutely certain.
“Before, I only suspected it. But now, I’m a hundred percent sure.”
“The other side must be Demons in disguise! They specifically target top-tier powerhouses like you and Astreia—those with immense strength but clear Psychological Weaknesses—then prescribe the right poison, gradually inducing and transforming you into Witches, using you to threaten the entire Continent!”
“This… this is too terrifying!”
Laxana patted her heaving chest in lingering fear, her face pale.
She couldn’t even bear to imagine what would have happened if Wendy hadn’t turned the tide at the last moment—if she’d completely Fallen into a mindless Lich Witch, never able to recover…
What would have become of her Mother, Dean Aurelia, and the entire Central Academy…
Just as she was secretly rejoicing and letting out a long sigh of relief.
A slightly cool palm suddenly clamped onto the back of her head.
!!!
Laxana’s whole body went stiff.
“Little Shanna.”
Astreia’s stunningly beautiful face instantly magnified before her eyes. In those purple Magic Eyes burned undisguised fury and amusement.
“You didn’t think blaming the Demon Race would make this go away, did you?”
Before the words even faded, Astreia’s wrist twisted with force, yanking Laxana out from behind Wendy and forcing her to face her directly.
Their eyes met.
Those pupils blazing with fiery wrath nearly scared the soul right out of Laxana.
“I made a special exception, because we grew up together, to allow you to share Wendy with me.”
“And how did you repay me?”
“Hm?”
Astreia’s nasal tone rose slightly, her oppressive aura maxing out.
“Envy? Stabbing me in the back behind the scenes? Even going so far as to turn into some inhuman, ghost-like thing just to defeat me?”
“And in the end, pulling out this King’s Soul and making it into that shameful ‘Toy,’ wanting to toy with me?”
With every sentence Astreia spoke, her grip on Laxana’s head tightened a notch.
Laxana’s tears streamed from the pain, but she didn’t even have the strength to struggle.
“Even if you were Beguiled by Demons, even if you had no control over yourself…”
Astreia’s face was almost pressed against hers, her hot breath spraying onto Laxana’s cool skin.
“You still shouldn’t have done it, right?”
“Hm?!”