City ​​of Witches 485

Chapter 485 – #102_Charity Event (3)

#484

1.
Location Points.
These were the forward bases for the homunculi and public enemy subjugation efforts initiated by Duke Tiferet in the mortal realm.

Initially, there were fewer than ten branches worldwide, but after lengthy discussions with ministers from various countries, they were established in numerous locations, expanding their influence.

This was due to the alignment of interests between witches and influential figures in the political and business sectors around the world.

First, consider the perspective of the powerful in the mortal realm.

The atrocities of homunculi and public enemies were like disasters that could not be addressed even with advanced science and technology.
The role of Location Points in preventing the calamities caused by homunculi and the misdeeds of public enemies was akin to that of an all-purpose problem-solving agency.

Therefore, politicians from various countries granted enormous benefits and extra-legal privileges to establish and maintain Location Points.

For witches (mainly exiles), the existence of Location Points was also welcome.

Unlike Gehenna, the mortal realm had no clear laws to protect witches.
This meant that they were always at risk of attacks from public enemies or exiles who had turned rogue.

Even if witches were superhuman beings, they needed an organization to share information and guarantee their safety.

Thus, while the initial purpose of Location Points was to serve as forward bases for subjugation, they had evolved into complex facilities that provided information sharing, safe havens, and research labs.

They were, in a sense, mini-Gehennas.

As such, they were granted the tacit authority of being neutral zones in the mortal realm, and they were able to establish branches in major cities across Eastern Europe, the African continent, and South America, where public enemies were concentrated.

In other words, an attack on a Location Point was as shocking as an attack on an embassy.

“……”

Branch Manager Sua frowned as she read the report she had received by fax.
It contained only a very concise message.

[Numerous unidentified public enemies. Invasion of the Dar es Salaam branch. Branch Manager Abdest and 8 others dead. Deciding to withdraw. No support needed.]

The Dar es Salaam branch in Tanzania had been invaded, suffered significant damage, and withdrawn.
Just a few days earlier, the Addis Ababa branch in Ethiopia had been invaded and destroyed, meaning that the two largest branches in East Africa had fallen.

“Is Duke Keter… really not moving…?”

Keter had been the linchpin of the witch society.

The public enemies, who had been quiet until rumors spread that she could no longer move, had recently begun to show their true colors.
Various incidents around the world supported the truth of the rumors.

The public enemies had first launched organized attacks on the Location Points, which had been a thorn in their side.

The ratio of public enemies to the total number of witches was less than 5%.
However, they were a collection of madness and obsession, willing to use any means necessary for magic.

They were the elite of evil who had survived the collapse of the Qliphoth, which had been made up of some of the most vicious exiles and public enemies, and the sword dance of Duke Tiferet, who had returned as a vengeful spirit.
Even those of the same rank were incomparable to the combat power of ordinary witches.

And they had joined forces and acted in unison.

As a result, in just under two weeks, a total of 12 branches, including those in Mexico City, Cairo, Lima, Santiago, and St. Petersburg, had been annihilated.

The South American branches, which had somehow managed to continue operating despite the active public enemy activity, had also been completely destroyed, effectively turning the South American continent into a lawless zone.

The public enemy’s businesses, which were spread throughout the world’s underground economy, were also expanding aggressively and causing conflicts.

This chaos had caused the exiles to become cautious, and the disasters presumed to be caused by homunculi had also increased explosively, in proportion to the reduced subjugation efforts.

In short, it was a time of chaos.

Similar to the period when absolute rulers died and small kingdoms sprang up like mushrooms after rain, the public enemies, who had been hiding due to Keter’s suppression, were now showing the aftereffects of their rebellion.

The biggest problem was that the witches inside Gehenna and the exiles outside were not showing a proper response.

While many developed countries provided Gehenna and Location Points with billions of dollars in aid each year, the underdeveloped Third World and South America, which was a hotbed of public enemies, had not received any particular benefits.

In other words, since they were not a finger that would hurt if bitten, they were watching with their hands behind their backs, thinking, “Let them have what they want.”
Few were willing to confront the hungry fighting dogs who had begun to taste blood in order to protect their small tables.

It was a truly complacent thought.

The branch managers of the Location Points, who were aware of the seriousness of the situation, were running around, led by Eloa, trying to subjugate the public enemies, but they were still outnumbered.

“How ironic…”

It was now clear how much benefit the witches had been enjoying without giving anything in return.
Not only were the public enemies active, but there were also signs that the ‘old witches’ were moving.

Would they be able to respond properly when the public enemies, who were now content with devouring the outskirts, gained momentum and attacked the main branches?
Branch Manager Sua already felt her worries growing.

2.
Bianca Bellili, her former lover and partner in a love-hate relationship.
She was dead.
The True Ancestor Witch, Clef Asmodeus, accepted the cruel reality.

The Alcoriza Familia, having lost its master, its 10,000-strong organization, and its boss, had completely collapsed.
If Clef had paid a little more attention to the mergers and acquisitions, she could have easily absorbed her remaining capital.
However, Clef did not do so.

“I will have my revenge…”

What she wanted was revenge, only revenge.
To make the vermin who had taken the life of her beloved lover pay the price.

According to rumors circulating in the world, Bianca had fought a male witch for the last time.
Some even said that she had died at the hands of a man named Shin Siwoo.
However, at least among the public enemies, no one believed the rumors to be true.

“There’s no way Bianca would have died to such a weakling.”

Who was the Witch of Desire?
A 22nd-level witch, an undefeated marksman who had never been defeated in her long life.
To say that she had lost in a one-on-one fight against a mere man was nothing more than a bad joke.

‘There’s an untold story,’ Clef concluded, and she went around Bianca’s workshops.
The places that were already known to the public had been looted by other witches.

However, securing escape routes and safe houses in case of emergency was a skill that public enemies had to possess.
Clef knew the locations of Bianca’s secret workshops quite well.

After three days of searching, Clef was able to find some plausible information.

The place where they had once shared passionate love had become a bitter blade that tore at her heart, and in the drawer of the workshop where she seemed to have last stayed, there was a collection of materials that Bianca had been investigating.

It was true that Bianca had been targeting a male witch.

Shin Siwoo.
The only male witch in history who had caused a stir in the mortal realm.
A former slave from Gehenna.
Estimated to be around the 19th level.
Currently residing in Gehenna and has been certified by Sua Agasa, Eloa Tiferet, and Count Geminai.
Friendly witches include Count Yesod, Cybele Periwinkle, and Sharon Evergreen.

Along with fragmented information about him, there was a detailed log of her plans to lure him out of Gehenna.

A preliminary check of his power through the homunculi’s rampage.
An operation to separate him from the dangerous Duke Tiferet.

After that, the records abruptly stopped, as if something had gone wrong.

It was good information.
She was able to get a grasp of the circumstances of the incident.

There was no chance that Bianca had been defeated by a mere male witch.
Then, it must have been Duke Tiferet who had defeated her, not falling for Bianca’s bait.

“Ah…”

Clef felt a sense of despair, along with anger at the culprit.

No matter who the opponent was,
she was confident that she would seek revenge, even if it meant risking her life and selling all her assets.

However, Duke Tiferet was an exception.

Clef vividly remembered Duke Tiferet, who had beaten three great witch-level public enemies to a pulp 40 years ago.
Clef herself was called a True Ancestor Witch and stood at the end of the 21st level, but she knew that she had no chance against that mad vengeful spirit.

“The target of my revenge doesn’t have to be her.”

Clef’s red eyes scanned the documents again.
According to the materials Bianca had investigated, Shin Siwoo and Duke Tiferet were very close.

It was written that he was her disciple and possibly her lover.
What would happen if the duke, who had been wandering the mortal realm after losing her beloved disciple, lost another beloved man?

The fact that she could share even a little of this pain would also be a great revenge.

“Then…”

But here was the problem.
Shin Siwoo seemed to only stay in Gehenna.
Clef’s self-nature magic was far from stealthy.

It would not be difficult to infiltrate Gehenna and meet him, but it was obvious that she would be quickly stopped when she tried to kill him.
The fact that Bianca, who was much more cautious and thorough than Clef, had gone to the trouble of luring him out of Gehenna was proof of that.

Two witches who had some acquaintance with Bianca had promised to help Clef.
They would help her with her revenge in exchange for a small token of sincerity.

However, Clef did not trust them.
The ‘Witch of the Path’ and the ‘Witch of the Sword’ were no different from vultures circling around to peck at her liver.

If she showed even the slightest gap, they would stab her in the back.

What Clef thought of was the ‘Witch of the Deep Sea, Shalit Nukelavi,’ who had made a pact with her predecessor.
She was one of the old witches who was known to have been purged by Duke Keter.

However, she was alive and well, having built her own kingdom deep in the sea.
It was thanks to Clef’s predecessor, Asmodeus, who had risked his life to fake Shalit’s death about 300 years ago.

Whether Keter had not noticed, or whether she had turned a blind eye to Shalit’s choice to live in isolation from the world, was unknown.

One thing was clear: the Witch of the Deep Sea was still alive.
And she had made a pact with Clef’s predecessor in the name of Nukelavi.

A pact to ‘repay one life with one life.’
Clef immediately turned her steps towards the Arctic Ocean.