Chapter 60 The Grand Finale (Part 1) The situation suddenly reverses, and the witches begin...
“Father, they are no longer capable of fighting. Even if we let them go, I believe they will not pose any further threat. Perhaps we should spare their lives.”
The cardinal jerked his arm, knocking Field's hand away. He narrowed his eyes and sneered, "What? When did you become so merciful?"
Field lowered his eyes and remained silent.
The cardinal raised an eyebrow, his expression softening slightly, seemingly genuinely inclined to grant Field's request. However, with a mere glance, his eyes flashed with a sharp glint, and an arc-shaped, glowing magic circle shot directly towards Catherine and the others without warning.
"But as your father, I'll teach you a saying: 'To cut the weeds, you must pull them out by the roots!'"
The magic circle flew away at an extremely fast speed, and in Catherine's current state, they had no chance to dodge. Several of the more timid humans had already tightly closed their eyes, tears of fear streaming uncontrollably down their cheeks.
Everyone had already foreseen today's outcome.
Just then, the ground suddenly trembled, and everyone on the field staggered. The magic array instantly vanished into thin air. Before they could regain their footing, a sound suddenly echoed from the sky…
Buzzing—
It started with just one sound.
Buzzing—buzzing—
But soon, the sounds merged into one, then enveloped the entire battlefield, gradually growing louder and louder.
"W-What was that sound?"
Inside the Vatican, the attendants exchanged bewildered glances, an uncontrollable sense of panic spreading through them. They whispered amongst themselves, turning their heads to look around, but they couldn't pinpoint the source of the seemingly omnipresent sound.
"There! There it is!"
A scream came from somewhere, and everyone looked in that direction, only to see a dense swarm of unknown creatures flying towards them.
The vibration we just heard came from them.
The cardinal merely glanced at it lazily—he didn't think anything could threaten his actions.
With the blessing of magical energy, his eyesight was several times better than that of the ordinary servants, and therefore, he was the first to see clearly what those creatures were.
And in that instant... terror appeared in his eyes.
"How did they get out?! It's all over, it's all over..." he muttered blankly.
The group of creatures flew very fast, and in the blink of an eye they were right in front of us. The ordinary humans in front of the Vatican finally saw what they looked like—a group of women with different appearances, but all of them were very beautiful and dangerous.
Leading the group was a mysterious woman with long green hair. She glanced at the bishops in the arena, quite pleased with their trembling state.
She curled her lips into a smile: "Hehehe~ Are you scared? It's time for you to taste what it's like to be human meat."
Of all those present, the cardinal at the head of the group appeared the most terrified. He knew better than anyone how horrible these witches were; he swallowed hard, feeling as if he had been pushed to the edge of a cliff.
However, as the saying goes, one should not pursue a desperate enemy, because when a vicious person is pushed to the extreme, he will often have the idea of taking everyone down with him.
As the cardinal's terror reached its peak, his brow twitched slightly, and the next second, his unfocused pupils suddenly focused. He flicked his lowered right hand, and a semi-transparent silver light appeared beneath his palm. Then, when the horde of witches was close enough, he hurled it out!
What if! What if these witches, having just been released, are complacent and overconfident, knowing their own limitations, and therefore let their guard down? Even the slightest lapse in vigilance, just the slightest...
However, his plan failed.
Suddenly, thousands of vines shot up from the ground in front of them, and the silver light crashed straight into them, only to be completely blocked by the vines.
The green-haired witch chuckled, her gaze shifting to the cardinal: "Hehehe~ It seems you've been waiting impatiently. I'm always understanding, so today, I'll start with you~"
The situation suddenly reversed, and the witches began their revenge.
The ordinary humans all hid in the corners, afraid of becoming innocent bystanders. Tarasco stayed there, holding Catherine.
He watched as blood flowed continuously from Catherine's mouth, his hand protecting her shoulder trembling uncontrollably.
Catherine let out a sigh of relief as the pain throbbed within her. She suspected that the magic circle she had just witnessed might have damaged his internal organs. However, she maintained a calm demeanor and even managed to soothe Tarasco in a relaxed tone.
"I'm fine...and, and we've already won, cheer up."
Benson, panting, sneered coldly, "If you didn't sound so insincere, maybe it would have a little credibility."
Upon hearing this, Catherine gave him a very ungraceful eye roll.
She's trying to comfort her! Why are you undermining her? Ouch... But taking that blow from the Cardinal really hurts.
Just as Catherine felt her strength gradually fading away, and despite the constant calls from those around her, she couldn't resist the drowsiness and wanted to fall asleep, the witch's voice rang in her ears at just the right moment.
"Hehe~ I was only gone for a short while, little girl, how did you get yourself into such a mess?"
Catherine forced a frown and squeezed her eyes open a crack. The witch was standing in front of her, casually twirling her hair with one hand.
The sounds from the other side of the battlefield continued to drift in intermittently. The battle wasn't completely over, but victory was already assured. The witch handed the remaining people over to her kind, letting them vent the anger that had been building up in their hearts for so many years, while she walked towards Catherine in the corner.
Catherine forced a smile, but the pain in her body turned it into a soft hiss: "If you hadn't come soon, I might have died."
"Witches are hard to kill, little girl." The witch chuckled. "If this injury were on a human, it would be certain death. On you, it will at most keep you in bed for a few more months."
Upon hearing this, Catherine paused, then asked with some uncertainty, "So... I'll be in pain for several months?"
Meeting Catherine's pitiful gaze, the witch finally smiled with satisfaction. With a casual wave of her hand, Catherine instantly felt much better.
"Hehe, consider it a little gift for our reunion."
As the conversation continued, the witches' venting of their anger gradually came to an end. Except for a few who hadn't participated in the witch hunt years ago, the rest of the Church members had met a gruesome end.
The witch glanced at the battlefield behind her. The sun was setting, and the golden rays of the setting sun cast a strangely tragic light on the bloody and gruesome scene. The witch knew that the pain from many years ago had finally come to a complete end.
She turned to look at Catherine: "Little girl, would you like to come back to our territory with me?"
"Wh-what?" Catherine was completely unprepared for the witch to say that.
"Hehehe~ Our territory is much better than the cities built by humans. There is no poverty, no suffering, and it is always a warm spring. Beautiful flowers bloom all over the world... Living there, there will only be happiness forever."
The witch twirled around, painting a beautiful, dreamlike world for Catherine.
Catherine frowned; it seemed that in any human town she knew, there was no place like this, a veritable paradise. She asked the question herself, and the witch smiled and bent down.
"Hehehe~ Of course not! How could our territory be on land inhabited by humans?"
"If I go, will I be able to come back?"
"No." The witch didn't hesitate for a second before giving a resolute answer.
Catherine felt the hand on her waist tighten involuntarily the instant the witch uttered those words.
Catherine's lips curled up almost imperceptibly: "The world you described is indeed beautiful, but I still won't go."
The witch's eyes widened; she hadn't expected such a response: "Why?!"
"Now that I'm finally about to get the situation I want, what reason do I have to leave and trap myself in another world? Even if it's paradise, I don't want to."
The witch's expression turned very unpleasant.
The humans huddled together in the corner, trembling with fear at her mood swings—they were all afraid the witch might suddenly become enraged.
In the end, however, the witch suppressed her emotions, simply stomped her foot at Catherine, snorted loudly, and then turned and headed towards the battlefield where the dust had already settled.
After the witch left, Tarasco embraced Catherine from behind, burying his face in her neck. From a distance, it looked as if he had completely absorbed Catherine into his body.
"What's wrong?" Catherine tilted her head slightly, teasing him with a question she already knew the answer to.
Tarasco shook his head, his hair brushing against Catherine's neck, making her feel a little itchy.
He didn't speak, but simply buried his head even deeper.
As the last rays of sunlight sank below the horizon, the war finally came to an end. The witches took to the sky, appearing from afar like beautiful elves. But it was precisely this excessive beauty that inexplicably made people feel a sense of danger.
"Little girl, are you really not coming with me?"
They were about to leave, but the witch chose to give Catherine another chance.
"If you don't come with me now, you might never have another chance!"
But under the witch's expectant gaze, Catherine finally shook her head.
Seeing the witch's wrinkled nose, Catherine couldn't help but smile: "Before you leave, may I ask you one last question?"
"What?" The witch's voice was filled with frustration and irritation because of her unhappiness at being rejected.
"What's your name? We've known each other for so long, and I still don't know your name."
“Clotel…” the witch mumbled, reluctantly saying her name.
As she spoke, she stole glances at Catherine's expression, her eyes filled with the last glimmer of hope.
But when she realized that Catherine had absolutely no intention of leaving with her, she immediately frowned and angrily said, "Hmph! Little girl! I hate you!"
After saying that, she flew away without looking back, joining the group of witches. And until she left, she never looked back at Catherine again.
Benson, standing to the side, raised an eyebrow: "Looks like you've really offended her."
Hearing this, Catherine could only smile helplessly.
After the witches left, only one thing remained—the people of the Papacy had already retreated, and no one could stop Catherine and her group from entering the Papacy.
The sight of three strange beasts leading the way was quite frightening. The survivors of the Holy See were mostly servants who didn't even know magic. Seeing them approaching, they immediately trembled and retreated to the side, trying their best not to block their path.
Some of the more timid ones tripped over one leg while backing up and almost stumbled and fell to the ground.
Upon entering the Vatican, the group immediately dispersed, rushing into various locations to search for the holy medicine that could suppress the plague. Catherine and Lucas were among the first to rush into the display room, which was reserved for bishops; normally, such valuable items would be stored in a safer place like this.
But as soon as they entered the room, they were stunned.
This was the first time anyone had entered the Vatican's exhibition hall, and they were surprised to find that it was much larger than they had imagined. Beneath the arched ceiling, several meters high, were rows upon rows of enormous display cases, reaching from floor to ceiling. Each case was divided into countless evenly spaced compartments, and behind the light-reflecting glass doors, exquisite and rare treasures were displayed.
Lucas couldn't help but gasp: "How long will it take to find it?"
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Author's Note: I thought it would be over today, but there's still a little tail left [panda head emoji]. It should be finished tomorrow~
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