Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1428 "Fall"

The enormous shadowy hand inside the main gate of the massive palace had a single finger the size of a human, and the entire hand, including the arm, filled the space between the doors, making it hard to imagine just how huge the owner of the giant hand was.

Perhaps this palace was built for him, and this arm was only meant to push open the gate that was tens of meters high, so that his whole body could walk out and into the outer space illuminated by the twilight.
The moment Franka saw that giant hand reaching out towards Christina and Dorothy, that thought popped into her head.

The best course of action now is to leave immediately. Even without superhuman strength, the weight and strength of a creature of this size are enough to kill any extraordinary being below the high sequence. Moreover, in this world, size often signifies extraordinary ability. This is not an enemy that a "pain" witch like her can handle, and the same goes for "witch" Jenna.

Within the Church of the End Times, the correct course of action in the current situation is, of course, to immediately leave the danger zone and then find a nearby church of the true God to seek help from the local extraordinary forces. If there are no helpers nearby, one can pray to the Goddess, explaining the threat one faces. The Goddess of Calamity is quite concerned about such extraordinary events and may send nearby saints or even angels to deal with them.

Moreover, Franka wasn't worried about not being able to escape from here. There were cliffs all around her, and as long as she climbed over the railing and jumped down, the assassin's "lightness" would allow her to land unharmed and leave the area of ​​the "Giant's Court" directly. The same would be true for Jenna.

The only problem is that this is tantamount to abandoning the two girls who are being targeted by the giant shadow hand, and their fate is predictable.

The other option, of course, is to first rescue the two girls who are standing at the palace gate and have not yet actually entered, and then escape from here using the same method.

As witches, Franka and Jenna possess remarkable escape skills. Their agile movements and considerable spiritual abilities allow them to evade most ordinary attacks, while their magic mirrors and wands can withstand fatal damage. Even if their opponents are of a higher rank, as long as they are not instantly controlled and "killed," they have a chance to escape.

Franka, who has served as an extraordinary armed force in the Church of the End for many years and has multiple secret identities, also carries two effective sealing artifacts with her. Although they are only ranked as "2" level within the Church at best, they are still sufficient to deal with ordinary enemies.

But if the giant shadow hand is an enemy beyond my ability to deal with, or even a saint or an angel, then none of us will be able to escape... Her gaze was fixed on the arm that was slowly reaching for Christina and Dorothy. She knew that taking Jenna and running away immediately was the safest option. There was no need to risk her life for two girls she had just met and had no relation to.

Thoughts raced through her mind. Franka glanced at Jenna beside her and suddenly noticed that the latter was also staring intently at the door that was ajar, her expression shifting uncertainly.

Oh right, she's also an "assassin," and she can see threats in the darkness... Franka's heart skipped a beat, and just as she realized this, Jenna had already rushed forward.

This is the Janna I know, the one who would save strangers in a dance hall... She finally calmed her wavering heart and followed the other person as they rushed towards the two girls.

Of course, she didn't forget to throw a small dressing mirror, smeared with her own blood and with which she had a special connection, toward the cliff edge, so that she might have a chance of survival in the worst-case scenario.

Then, she quickly overtook Janna, who was two ranks below her, and came to the two girls who turned around at the sound of footsteps. Their expressions were blank and a little shocked. She was about to grab them one in each arm and turn around to escape from the vicinity of the palace's main gate.

But as soon as she approached the crack in the center of the double doors, at the boundary between the twilight light and the almost complete darkness of the shadows, Franka felt as if she had plunged into the icy river. Her whole body stiffened and she could not move. Her heart seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand, beating wildly and desperately.

In an instant, her forehead was covered in a dense layer of cold sweat, and her outstretched hands, reaching towards the two girls, froze in place like a sculpture.

The giant hand that slowly emerged from the shadows seemed to notice this uninvited guest and reached out towards her.

If she gets caught, she'll definitely die... This was the only thought in Franka's mind. Her stiff body finally regained control. Forget about saving the two girls, she went to block Jenna who was standing to the side.

"Run away..."

Before her scream could even escape her throat, darkness enveloped her.

Franka then realized that, perhaps due to some distortion of distance and position, or perhaps because the darkness behind the door obscured reality, she had unknowingly entered the interior of the double doors that seemed to have been built for giants, and entered the shadows. The unchanging twilight of the Giants' Court was just a few steps away from her, but it had been swallowed up by the deep darkness and disappeared.

Standing with her were Jenna, who also rushed over, and Christina and Dorothy, who were already standing by the door.

A dull, rumbling sound echoed around, and the door, which might have taken dozens of people to push open, was sealed shut, completely isolating the area from the outside world. The magic mirror that Franka had thrown outside beforehand and her occult connection were thus severed.

"What, what's going on?"

It was only then that Dorothy's panicked voice rang in Franka's ears, confirming that the other person was just an underage girl, not a very mature adult.

"Stay close to me carefully, don't get separated, there might be danger here."

She lowered her voice and gave instructions, her dark vision scanning the surroundings. She found that they were in a huge hall with a ceiling that seemed to stretch endlessly. Two rows of giant stone pillars, each larger than they could encircle together, stood there, forming a passageway that led to the deepest part of the hall.

There were semi-circular steps leading up to a black iron throne, which was covered in deep shadows, like a vaguely outlined giant.

It's somewhat similar to that giant hand that lured me into the trap and locked us in the palace... Franka subconsciously squinted, trying to discern the details of the shadowy area, but found that even her extraordinary abilities couldn't penetrate that seemingly thin veil of shadow.

"Tch, the 'witch' route isn't that useful either. It's impossible to leave using a mirror substitute in this situation, and I can't see the situation in the shadows... Why did I choose this potion route in the first place? I even made a huge sacrifice for it... Most importantly, why was I chosen to travel through thousands of years to this world, far away from my homeland... Franka cursed inwardly, glancing back at Jenna, who was using her darkvision to hold the two bewildered girls close to her and looking around warily. A sudden feeling of dissatisfaction and jealousy arose in her heart."

I fell into the trap because of her recklessness, while she was only concerned with comforting two strangers who had just met.
Franka's anger surged, and she was about to utter a few sarcastic remarks when her heart suddenly tightened:
Wait, this can't be my real thought!

Cold sweat dripped from her forehead, stopping her from acting further to avoid causing an irreparable rift in their relationship.

But the next second, as if sensing her gaze, Jenna turned her head and looked over. Franka noticed that the other woman's expression was uncertain, and there was a strange emotion in her eyes.

That was the same dissatisfaction and jealousy she had felt earlier.

With a swish, Dorothy, whom Jenna was holding by the arm, bent down and broke free from her embrace. She took a few steps back in the shadows, warily looking in the general direction of the other three, as if she had become suspicious of her companions and was unwilling to approach them.

Only Christina seemed to sense something, turning her head to glance at the location of the iron-black throne, as if she could see in the dark.

"Who is it? Who's secretly watching us?"

She suddenly shouted, her sharp voice echoing through the hall and reverberating among the stone pillars.

The dark emotions and depraved malice that had been quietly growing in Franka's heart vanished instantly. Only then did she realize that those negative emotions were not her own thoughts, but rather were induced by some force.

Hypnotist? Apostle of Desire? Franka immediately thought of two sequences that could cause this situation, but felt that they were subtly different from her own situation.

But there's no need to guess; this "degeneration" must have come from that throne, from that indistinct human-shaped shadow on it!

Without hesitation, she pulled a small glass bottle from her bosom and threw it into the shadows deep in the hall.

The glass bottle fell to the ground, and the mouth of the bottle opened on its own. The dark red flesh and blood inside, which was full of it, crawled out as if it had a life of its own. It then swelled up as if it had been inflated, and within seconds it formed a human-sized volume and began to transform into a real human shape.

As if drawn by it, the gazes of Franka and the others quietly focused on the fleshy human body that was beginning to take human form and had a pitted and uneven surface.

Having also regained her senses and no longer being jealous of Franka's beauty and higher sequence, Jenna also reacted. No longer caring about hiding her extraordinary identity, she summoned cursed black flames that could scorch the spirit, sending the flower-like flames swirling towards the distant shadow, buying time for Franka's next move.

"Great teamwork!" Franka thought to herself, and was about to reach into her bosom when she suddenly noticed that the two girls she hadn't initially considered "fighting power" were also making different moves. Dorothy, with her black hair tied back, took out a small, antique-style silver mirror and quickly stroked its surface three times. Christina, with her pale gold hair and bright purple eyes, carefully took out a golden oil lamp from her handbag.

Sure enough, they also possessed some kind of extraordinary power. Some had taken a magic potion at a young age and become extraordinary, while others carried magical items. No wonder they were able to enter this area with us even when it seemed to be isolated from ordinary people... Franka did not blame them for concealing the truth. Instead, she felt a sense of relief at the addition of extra combat power.

She quickly pulled two palm-sized cards from her inner shirt pocket, which she had hidden close to her body. They were two tarot cards: one depicted a man and a woman facing each other, each holding a golden cup, known as the "Two of Cups"; the other depicted a chariot pulled by two lions, one black and one white, with a king standing on the chariot.

"Chariot" brand!

These playing cards, invented by Emperor Roselle, were mostly used for divination, but for Franka, they had a different, special meaning:

It is the code name of a secret organization called "Tarot Club". "Two of Cups" is Franka herself, and "Chariot" is her direct superior, an angel!
This is different from a formal religious institution like the "Endless Church," and also different from a secret gathering organized by transmigrators like the Curly-haired Baboon Research Society. Instead, it is a powerful organization established by multiple angels, with subordinates spread across various churches and countries.

When Franka's teacher in the church, who was also a saint and an archbishop, Ms. Severia, revealed everything to her and introduced her to the Tarot Society, she thought it was just a trap set by the church to catch an insider.

Especially when she learned that Severia was also just a "small card".

It is important to know that there are 56 minor cards in the Tarot deck, and almost every minor card has its own subordinates, numbering in the hundreds. Yet a saint who can serve as an archbishop in the orthodox church and patronize a church is just one of the minor cards, not a major card that can actually sit at the table and participate in formal gatherings.

These questions were only answered after Franka met the "Chariot" lady:

All twenty-two "signs" in the Tarot Club are angels.

……

Collecting her thoughts, Franka placed the Two of Cups, representing herself, and the Chariot, the object of her prayer, together, with the chariot and king depicted face up, and quickly recited in Hermes:
"The chariot descends amidst flames!"

The seemingly ordinary tarot card remained unchanged, but Franka knew that the Chariot Lady must have received her message, and that it wouldn't be long before an angel descended upon any part of the world.

As long as she held on... She looked at the sealed object she had thrown far away, which was formed from the flesh and blood of a dead "Rose Bishop". Once it crawled out of the sealed bottle, it would quickly grow into a human form and would have a certain degree of self-awareness, attacking any creature that approached it.

The "Rose Bishop" had now regained his complete body and was looking in Franka's direction. His bloodied face was full of anger, and blood tears were gushing from his two blood-filled eye sockets.

He, who possessed a certain degree of self-awareness, "fell"!

"Damn it, what's with that dark figure? Whoever it looks at gets pregnant, no, who's 'fallen'?" Franka cursed under her breath, pulling out a dagger that gleamed with silver light and had faint flame patterns inside, ready to send this Rose Bishop back to his eternal slumber.

Just then, a bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket fell from the towering hall, striking precisely the head of the twisted, writhing, fleshy humanoid figure. With a loud bang, thick black smoke billowed out, and the Rose Bishop collapsed to the ground. The hall was filled with a burnt smell.

This lightning seems familiar... Following her spiritual guidance, Franka turned her head and saw that the surface of the silver mirror Dorothy was holding was shimmering with a misty light, and fine electric currents were flashing in the mirror.

Ah, Arrodes?

Franka was stunned. She never expected that the silver mirror in Dorothy's hand could directly communicate with the hidden being whose divination results were the most accurate, and could even allow the other party to skip the question-and-answer stage, impose punishment, and kill a resurrected Sequence 6 "Rose Bishop".

Wait a minute, could that silver mirror be Arodes himself, or a powerful sealing artifact?

The moment this thought crossed her mind, the silver mirror in Dorothy's hand trembled and tilted itself in her direction. A flash of electricity illuminated Franka's surprised face, and amidst the shimmering water, a line of cursive Intis script quickly appeared:
"During the 'pleasure' phase, did you ever consider using Lumian Lee as a target for digesting the potion?"

Holy crap, even this mirror has "fallen"!

Franka felt like her head was about to explode. She quickly glanced at Jenna and answered without thinking:

"no!"

With a snap, a thick bolt of lightning struck her from above, turning her into a smoking, rapidly withering, and breaking wooden stick.

"Franka!"

Jenna cried out in alarm. She knew that after the word "witch," the other party would have multiple means of self-protection, such as mirror substitutes and wand substitutes. But as she watched the lightning strike, her heart still clenched with worry.

Fortunately, the familiar figure emerged from the shadows not far away. Although a faint heat emanated from his body and his flaxen hair was somewhat disheveled, suggesting that he had been somewhat affected after using a Stand to dodge the attack, he appeared to be unharmed.

But with her cry, Arrodes, who had broken free from Dorothy's embrace and was floating in the air, turned to face her, and more bloody words appeared on its surface:
"Did you already know that your companion Franka Roland was actually a man before she became a witch?"

"..."

Jenna pursed her lips, unsure how to answer, but almost immediately a silver-white lightning bolt appeared above her head, held back but not unleashed, as if threatening.

Realizing that even Franka, at Sequence 5, couldn't dodge the lightning, she certainly wouldn't be able to escape it either, Jenna could only nod and reply:

"Yes."

The lightning overhead dissipated, and with it, the color drained from Franka's face.

She...she already knew...Franka just wanted to find a hole to crawl into, or perhaps she would have been stunned by Arrodes if she hadn't used her wand substitute.

Before the two witches, caught in a panic and despair, could recover, the magic mirror Arodes shifted its angle, now facing Dorothy, who had been holding her. The text appearing on the mirror's surface had changed to Rune script and was no longer so bloody:

Did you know that your parents had an unusual background?

Dorothy's expression changed slightly, and she subconsciously looked at Tina beside her. Tina had been holding the golden "wishing lamp" and hadn't moved for a while, but she couldn't help but glance at the words in the silver mirror before turning to her sister.

Above their heads, another thundercloud was brewing, with lightning seemingly about to strike.

Dorothy pursed her lips, about to answer, when Tina's eyes widened as if she had made up her mind, and she shouted:

"Genius, I agree to use the second wish!"

As soon as she finished speaking, already shrouded in shadow, the tightly closed double doors were flung open from the outside with a loud bang. The heavy doors slammed against the stone walls on both sides with a speed that was almost detached from their hinges, causing the entire hall to tremble. The pillars, which would take five or six people to encircle, shook violently, shaking off countless specks of dust.

A figure, not particularly tall by comparison, stood against the twilight light in front of the door. He slowly lowered his raised right foot, and his long, pale gold hair with reddish tips swayed in the breeze. His purple eyes gleamed in the shadows.

Tina and Dorothy were stunned when they saw that familiar figure.

"Mother?"

(End of this chapter)