Chapter 249: Witch Lords
After taking away the prisoners of the prison, he waited a few hours before heading to his next destination. A meeting of the Axe and Cross Organization.
This was an organization that which the main protagonist of the movie, Kaulder, belongs. Inside a secret room, many of the leaders of this organization were having a meeting.
"What do you think of the Witch Council's information? A warlock even more powerful than the Witch Queen."
"I think it's all nonsense. Especially what they said about this Arcare Empire. How could such a thing be real."
"Indeed. This might the fantasy of these witches; a world where magic is more powerful than technology."
Many people agreed with this sentiment. One of the leaders then looked at someone and asked: "Kaulder, what do you think?"
"The council has no purpose to lie about something as grave as this," said Kaulder. "However, there are some issues. I went to the prison and all the prisoners are indeed missing; that part is real and this incident alone will have drastic ramifications."
"Indeed. What issues did you discover?"
"After my investigation, I could not find a trace of magic. So, how did that warlock restrain all the council members before taking away all the prisoners? There was no trace of even a confrontation."
"Could they have used this as an excuse?" asked someone else.
"Are saying that they released the prisoners themselves?"
"Just a thought."
"They have no motives to do so," added Kaulder. "Most of the prisoners have a grudge with the council. If they were released, the first thing that many of them would do is to seek revenge."
Although what Kaulder said made sense, many people still had reservations about the council. This was simply because they did not trust magic and its people in general.
"You know, it's not very nice to label my existence as a joke."
As soon as these words echoed in this meeting room, all eyes fixed on Edward who was listening to them the entire time, All the people in the room were surprised as their magical detection items did not even detect Edward's presence.
Adding to that the fact that he fit the description sent by the witch council, everyone quickly recognized him. However, Edward ignored all the gazes as he focused on Kaulder.
"Do you know anything about the other Witch Lords?" he asked directly. Kaulder frowned after hearing this question. He was a very observant person; one of the many skills he acquired after living for 800 years.
So, he could see that there was no fear in this person's eyes. As the infamous Witch Hunter in the magical community, no witches or warlocks did not fear him or have some awe for his power.
Yet, he did not find anything.
Additionally, he felt a great sense of danger from Edward, even more than when he faced the Witch Queen and killed her.
"It seems that you do not," said Edward. He had already gone into Kaulder's mind and searched for the information he wanted. And not just him, but all the members of this meeting.
Edward then waved his hand and a portal appeared, and from that portal fell a still-beating heart. The moment that heart appeared, all the members of the Axe and Cross stood up as they recognize what it was.
Meanwhile, Kaulder fell dizzy as memories hidden deep in his mind suddenly resurfaced. Then, he realized that the reason he was immortal was that the Witch Queen linked his life to the beating heart.
As long as the heart was alive, he was immortal. At the same time, the Witch Queen can be brought back to life using it. After figuring this out, he did not hesitate to take out a small pistol he had secretly hidden since weapons were not allowed in this meeting.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
To his dismay, the bullets seemed to be stopped in the air by an invisible force. Kaulder has seen magic shields before, but not one that was instant and did not require chants.
Edward removed his gaze from the heart before looking at his attacker. The gun in the latter's hand suddenly flew over, then, Kaulder groaned in pain as he held his head before passing out.
Edward knew that Kaulder was nothing but an ordinary person with long life. And his immortality was similar to Frank's. So, there was no value in studying him. Of course, he still had great use.
With all his years of living honing his mind and will, with all his experience, once he returned to the Empire, he would make a great Battle Arcanist. Whether he decides to become an Auror–which his skills were perfectly suited for–or join the army, he will accomplish great things in the future.
Ignoring all the people in this room, he instantly vanished. There were a few things that truly interest him in this world. One was the potion system which had its uniqueness.
The second was the ancient weather runes that appeared at the beginning of the movie during the plane sequence; he was interested in how they were made and function.
Finally, it was the Witch Lords mentioned in the movies. So far, only the Witch Queen appeared, however, she had a few other brothers and sisters. From the information gathered, Edward knew that magic may have originated from them through bloodline.
So, he was interested in their origins.
After leaving the meeting, he tracked down the owner of the ancient runes and borrowed them from her before returning home; it was still six months before the start of the plot where they ended up in Kaulder's hand. After entering his small house, he saw Chloe who had just gotten out of the shower and was drying her hair with a towel.
"So, how was it?"
"Painful," she replied with some resentment.
"I"m sure it was. Bare with it as it will only last 3 to 5 days."
"I know. By the way, why do you have a beating heart in your hand?"
"It belongs to the Witch Queen. I'm going to resurrect and dissect her," replied Edward calmly. Meanwhile, Chloe's mouth was wide open after hearing this.
To all witches, the queen had always been a symbol of might, power, and terror. And yet, someone just said that they were going to treat her like a lab rat. Immediately afterward, she woke up and realized that the man in front of her was an existence even more terrifying that the Witch Queen.
"Can I watch?"
"If you want, but the process will be bloody and discussing."
After gritting her teeth, she still chose to watch. Edward then proceeded to revive the queen. The process required a sacrifice. However, after analyzing the method that Belial used in the movie, he knew that it only took three things: mana, life force, and a soul.
The mana came from him and he used Alkahestry to take life force from the planet. As for the soul, he summoned a sinful one from the underworld; he made sure that it was a weak one that would not be noticed.
Once the ceremony ended, the Witch Queen and her ugly face appeared in front of Edward and Chloe. However, she did not even have the opportunity to say anything before her consciousness blurred and she passed out.
Finally, Edward had Morgana scan the general anatomy of the witch queen. The presence of the little purple-haired elf surprised Chloe at first, however, she was soon overtaken by her cuteness.
The scan could only get a basic idea of the inside, so the dissection was needed to acquire the detail. So, Edward studied everything: from her skin, muscles, bones, organs, organ systems, blood, brain, neural pathway, cells, and so on.
The entire process took a little over an hour. Based on fast and proficient he was, Chloe wondered how many of those he had done. Meanwhile, Edward was more focused on the findings as they caught his attention.
The Witch Queen and maybe even the other Witch Lords can be considered a different species from humans. Their anatomy was different–especially their stomachs would digest anything and turn it into nutrients for their bodies.
They did not have a magic core as their heart was used to store their mana. However, they also could not increase mana naturally. Instead, they can convert souls into mana.
After learning this, Edward theorized that this was the reason that the Witch Lord liked to kill a large population of humans; it was not because they feared their growth as they claimed but to increase their power.
Unfortunately, this ability of them has a terrible conversation rate. This is the reason that the Witch Queen is so weak despite causing the black death in Europe and absorbing so many souls.
After analyzing the queen's bloodline, he discovered something that seems familiar. It was like an aura, an imprint, or a signature. He reviewed his memories to determine where he had noticed similar things.
His eyes suddenly lit up as he remembered: it was the aura of the Abyss. The blood of the witch queen had a similar imprint or signature as the demon that Hermione once summoned from the Abyss Plane.
'Could there be a connection between the two?' thought Edward.
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