The Reborn Witch had a nice 'Tea Time' with the Dragon Queen today -
Chapter 101: Red Tears in the Temple
Chapter 101: Red Tears in the Temple
"Hold her down a bit, Adrei."
"Of course."
Adrei’s palms slid the wiggling Android’s shoulders to lie on the ground, the intruder’s chants still uttering in protest.
The Witch tilted her head, frowning. The Android’s gaze remained steady on hers, as if to incquire the reason for her entrappment.
"No weird twitches on her head... no no sporadic struggles... no no unfocused gazes..."
Demond kneeled and petted the Android’s white hair, the teeth almost threatening to bite her if not for Adrei’s hold.
"And...a little aggression, but not to the point of self-harm." The Witch closed her eyes, her mana tendrils seeping into the Android. "And with one more check..."
She took a deep breath before chanting a <tale> of a truthseeker.
"Frost Lanterns on the river, may I be ordained your wisdom."
Blue fog coiled within the Witch’s touch, the Android’s white silks fluttering as if carrassed by an unknown power.
"I beg not for judgment, but for a finality that ends in contentment."
The fog slipped into the Android’s head, enveloping the Android’s mind not with the force of a prisoner’s chain, but with a defender’s firm hold of reassurance.
"So within the hall’s silence, allow the innocent to celebrate amendments!"
The declaration vibrated through the air, as the fog seeped deeper into the Android, from her neck, to her arm, then her limbs, all the way to her legs and toes.
After examining every spot, the Witch furrowed with confusion, before opening her eyes to meet her husband’s amber stares. "She’s not drowned, but something is impeding her <Core>, like a virus."
"So, she’s being controlled?" Adrei’s fingertip tapped the Android’s head, before the writhing Android limped, her cheeks flushed with warmth, before she passed out under Adrei.
"Probably." The Witch sighed. An Android’s <Core> is like a brain that dictates every action and thought by an Android, and an invaded one could only have one meaning.
"Whatever’s in the temple where Undine was already crashing out with the <Motherbrain>had a really bad humour, huh?"
The couple stood and glared at the shadows from the entrance, the abyss once again staring back with a welcoming malice.
"I have imagined more possibilities than one when an Android was entrapped within an Undine’s temple, but..." The Witch twirled her staff, unbidden frost seeping out from the tip. "Guess life always offers you surprises in one way or another."
"I suppose so." Adrei chuckled, the rhythm a little heavier for her playful self this time. "I do wonder what manner of scheme would require controlling an Android? This may be the first time in centuries I have encountered such a peculiarity."
"Regardless." The Witch’s bare step tapped the ground towards the abyss, frosty trail following. "Let us take a look then."
"Of course." Noticing her wife’s anger, Adrei followed with no more questions.
-----------------------------
The glowy path of ice spread with each step of the Witch, glittering a purity amongst the temple’s darkness.
The Witch weaved a living blue flame that followed the duo, examining the brittle debris that surrounded the path and the unfinished murals on the half-broken walls, sunlight dripping from between the gaps.
"Fitting of an abandoned temple." The Witch examined. Judging by the roughly carved murals, it would seem this temple was constructed not long before the <Flooding> incident in 45 years ago, the fallout between Undine and the <Motherbrain>.
"And the histories recorded in this..." The Dragon sweeped her finger over the drawings. "seems too recent. Perhaps the people who constructed this hastily abandoned this structure to not incur the wrath of Undine?"
"Typical." The Witch stretched her arms, the surrounding walls a nostalgic suffocation from her old adventures she has not experienced in a long time.
"And now it was occupied once again, puppeteering an occupant that this temple should celebrate for." The Dragon’s finger tipped back the loosened hat from the Witch, whose limbs were still cracking in excitement.
"Mhm. And..."
The Witch smirked as her finger pointed forward. The Blue flame danced, the shadow undone, and it revealed a long, narrow path surrounded by two pitfalls.
"If I can guess correctly..." The Witch’s finger pointed right this time, revealing several stone statues of a five-feet tall, one-eyed automaton sitting in a gouged-out, square grid.
"As expected, temple and its trials..." The Witch resisted the urge to groan, not in annoyance, but in pleasure.
"Alright Demond." Adrei squeezed the Witch’s cheek who whined in response. "Focus."
"Who do you think this old man is? Of course I will."
The Witch slapped away the hand, before she weaved an icy bird into the being, flying into the path.
This time, however, the icy bird’s wings fluttered tightly as if holding back against something, before her speed is dampened.
Then, that automaton’s eye glowed red, as it shot a laser through the bird, scorching it into steams.
"Hm, the speed decreased for a second." The Witch cupped her chin. "So the Divinity that would turn my ice into waters still remained, the mechanism of the temple is still working correctly...the one who engineered and maintained all of these could also be the one who controlled the Andriod outside."
After all, the temple is abandoned. The Witch’s narrowed gaze swept the stone Automaton, the rotted edges untainting of the mana within its eye.
"Alright, no time should be wasted. Adrei."
With a nonchalent expression, the Witch covered her ears with both palms. Adrei smirked, before leaning in the peck a kiss on her grumbling wife, before her wings unfurled to set her afloat.
Shrugging a little at the Automaton casually, the Dragon’s wings sliced through the air.
One of the Statue’s eye reddened, its laser lancing through for the dashing intruder.
The Dragon’s arm merely stretched outwards, the scaled skin splicing through till it reached the statue’s head with a grasp, before crushing it with a mere squeeze.
More statues’ eyes reddening, more Dragon’s splintering, and more of the Witch’s ears drumming. Demond’s eyes attempted to follow the flickering visage, before closing with a groan.
She wondered which sound is faster, the sifting booms from Adrei’s flapping wings, or the final hushes from statues crumbling to dusts.
And with one final hush, no more skewering lasers, no more airs threatening to crack. But with only a thudded landing, the Witch felt a sneaky grasp on her cheek.
"Done?" The Witch’s arm loosened as she peeked at her smiling husband, the hand that crushed stones with a crutch now swayed at her blushing cheek.
"Done." The Dragon’s finger swiped at the Witch’s lips, before the Witch squinted her eyes.
With a sigh, however, she leaned in to oblige, before an annoying, clingy Dragon’s lips melded into hers.
A gaping need for warmth seeped into the Witch’s mouth, as she growled when a tongue almost invaded. She leaned back gasping, glaring at the smirky pervert.
"Focus." Demond returned the advice right back to her.
’Mm." The Dragon licked her lips, savoring the taste. "Focus."
The Witch clicked her tongue, the dark blush marring her irritation as she strode past the chortling Dragon.
Her steps, however, stuttered. Her staff quivered for a telltale sign of an unwelcoming as she gazed rightwards, meeting the reddened pieces of the stone eye.
It is not her imagination. The Witch slackend her posture before she waved her hand, a different <Color>, one that is unfocused and aggressive, blighted within her vision.
"Sit still till we come for you." Demond’s steps turned as she marched on, the Dragon cracking her neck in tow.
---------
The rest of the ’trials’ were relatively simple, whether it is a hidden pitball, a rushing chariot with robotic horses, or totally-not-suspicious-looking metal chests right in the middle of the road.
Demond’s limbs dangled and seethed her teeths to hold back a tide of immeasurable disappointment. With the Dragon’s sheer force and the Witch’s expertise in adventuring through ruins, this temple adventure is more of a cakewalk than a thrilling exploration with proper dangers and cautions.
"And most of all..." The Witch’s icy eyes lingered on the wide stone pathways underneath, her leg almost kicking into another limped, smaller one-eyed automaton.
"Sheesh. Most of them are out of mana to operate." The Witch reluctantly took the Dragon’s hand while treaching through the seas of deactivated robots.
"Is it though?" The Dragon frowned as she pointed. "Look, some of the automatons were missing a part. Don’t you think it’s whoever waiting for us that did so deliberately?"
The Witch’s eyes blinked as they observed. A missing arm, leg and even a head...sparks gushing out like bloods from the synthetic body. Yep, they do look dissected forcefully.
"Is this one of Coriel’s secret lair then?" Demond shuddered, imagining of the attrocities that scientist would have in store at this temple.
"I’m afraid not. Coriel would...cherish these samples in a storage more instead of allowing them sprawl all over the ground." The Dragon’s scales hissed smokes as if an infuriating memory surfaced.
"Right, the tidiness of an amoral scientist, how utterly comforting." The Witch’s foot rapped on one of the automaton’s body, no twitching, not a <Drowned>.
Well...she squinted at the simple models that lacked even hairs.
Zero has told her these ’overproduced’ models <Motherbrain> without any <Core> that would have occupied an Android.
These simple-looking automatons lent out to humanity also had gone berserk, but just as her robotic companion did, the Witch could feel less sympathy for them than actual Androids running wild and waiting to be put out of their misery.
Perhaps, they have been lucky they have only encountered 556 in the Coffee shop? The Witch’s hand glazed over an Automaton’s shell, a past trauma tingling her sense of guilt.
The Witch then cuddled to herself, the staff hanging as low as her mood, before the Dragon’s patted her back.
"I know. Adrei. I’m fine."
The Witch’s hand patted back the scaled arm before facing forward.
No time for sentimentality. The faster they go, the faster the mystery is resolved.
And yet, her steps faltered upon a sight within this wide corridor. A gasp almost escaped from the Witch’s lips, as her eyes trembled at the sight of something unimaginable.
The Dragon’s flame surged around herself, her claw digging into her own flesh as she witnessed upon the piles of broken automatons stacked like a mountain at the side, each pile at an uneven height.
The red, broken pieces of the corpses eyes stared into their souls, begging to be released from their entrappment.
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