Seeing the Holy Tribunal retreat, Pestis finally let out a sigh of relief. She had truly feared that her opponent would go all out and blow themselves up just to take her with them. That was why, during the battle, she hadn't pressed them too hard—leaving them with a chance to retreat rather than pushing them into total despair.
Although they had failed to save the wolf beastman, she had at least taken down two Saint-rank Judges, which meant even the Witch of Desire wouldn't blame her for the loss.
Beside her, however, the Witch of Tempests wore a far more conflicted expression. She hadn't known the Wolf Fang chief well, but his ancestors had once fought alongside her. To see the descendant of her old comrades die so miserably before her eyes—it left her deeply unsettled.
Still, there was nothing she could do. Her power simply wasn't enough. Forget about facing the Hand of Judgement—even his Saint-rank subordinates could hold her off. Had she been stronger, the Wolf Fang chief might not have died at all.
"Alright," Pestis said, shaking her head.
"The enemy's gone. Our mission's done."
"Got it. I'll see to his body… he was, after all, one of my juniors."
Gale (the Tempest Witch) moved toward the Wolf Fang chief's corpse. But just as she approached, a faint, sinister ripple of soul energy flickered from the body.
As one of the Fallen lineage, Gale didn't notice anything. But Pestis, of the Death lineage, instantly sensed that something was wrong.
In a blur, she appeared before the corpse, pressing her fingertip to the chief's forehead.
With a wet splurt, blood and brain matter burst outward. Wrapped in Pestis's spiritual power, a thumb-sized worm was ripped out and suspended in midair between her fingers.
Yet the moment it was pulled free, an eerie soul flame ignited from its body.
"...A Soul-Eating Worm of a Dragon Lich? And it's burning with Soulfire, a mid-tier death spell?"
Pestis frowned deeply. She knew this couldn't be simple.
Closing her eyes, she extended her senses through the soul residue—then shook her head with a sigh.
"The connection's been severed. I can't trace it back. Whoever did this… their understanding of souls surpasses mine."
"Something happened?" Gale asked, her tone uneasy as she watched Pestis's grim face.
"I'm not entirely sure," Pestis replied, frowning even harder.
"This Soul-Eating Worm isn't high grade, yet it managed to control a peak sixth-rank powerhouse. That's abnormal. Combined with the earlier soul fluctuation I sensed… I can only think of one explanation—someone used Necrotic Possession on the worm."
"Necrotic Possession?" Gale repeated, her brows knitting.
"That's only a mid-tier death spell, right? But isn't it supposed to have really strict conditions for the undead host?"
"In theory, yes," Pestis said, shaking her head slowly. She looked down at the worm, now reduced to ashes by its own soulfire, and continued, uncertainly:
"But there are always exceptions. Among the Seven Kings, the Witch of Souls could theoretically achieve something like this—but even she couldn't have done this perfectly. She wouldn't be able to hide the worm's aura so flawlessly. This one, though... was completely undetectable. If not for that fleeting soul fluctuation, I wouldn't have even noticed it existed."
She paused, her gaze turning complicated as she looked at Gale.
"To conceal a Soul-Eating Worm this perfectly... the level of mastery over souls is terrifying. There's only one person I can think of capable of that—"
Her voice dropped to a low murmur. "—the Witch of Death. If I'm right, the convoy escorting the captured witches… must have fallen to her hand."
"Impossible!" Gale blurted in shock. But then her face paled, and without another word, she shot into the sky toward the direction the convoy had gone.
Seeing this, Pestis grabbed the Beast Witch beside her and followed close behind.
They flew for what felt like hours, scouring the land—but never found the escort team.
"No need to look further," Pestis finally said, landing on a grassy plain after several sweeps. She closed her eyes, feeling the faint trace of death aura lingering in the air.
"There was a manifestation of a death-type soul domain here. The battle ended swiftly—cleanly. It seems the Witch of Death has already ascended to Saint Rank."
"Are you sure?" Gale asked, unwilling to accept it.
Pestis gave her a cold look and said nothing.
"…Alright, I get it," Gale said at last, her voice heavy. "A Saint-rank Witch of Death could shake the balance of the entire continent. We need to report this immediately."
Pestis nodded in agreement. The three witches turned and took flight toward Aira's Royal Court.
Yet before they had gone far, a massive crater appeared in the landscape ahead.
"This is… a death-element self-destruction spell?" Pestis muttered.
"Looks like Echo of the End."
A chill crept up her spine. Something felt very wrong.
"Gale," she said sharply, "the archbishop said they went to support you after hearing about an attack from the Tribunal. Did you know anything about that?"
"An attack? We were never attacked!" Gale replied, bewildered.
Before she could say more, Pestis seized her arm and pulled her into the air again, flying at full speed. The Beast Witch blinked, dazed, then followed after them.
Moments later, the three arrived above Aira's Royal Court.
Without hesitation, Pestis unleashed her spiritual sense, sweeping over the entire capital. After a long silence, she frowned.
"…No one's under control? Did I overthink it?" she murmured to herself. Then she turned to Gale.
"The debriefing's yours. There's likely a mole within the church—you'd better investigate. If there's nothing else, I'll be taking my leave."
With that, she took the Beast Witch by the hand and descended.
As a witch of another nation, the internal affairs of Aira's court weren't her concern. She'd already done her part by giving a warning—anything beyond that was none of her business.