Séraphine felt pretty cool at that moment. However, she soon had to lean on the hallway wall because the room began to spin, and a terrible headache hit her.
Her body was covered in sweat, and she felt like throwing up. She resisted the urge, though, because she didn't want to ruin her expensive dress or give others the impression that she was sick.
"I used so many spells in a row. Now, washing future stains out of these dresses will be tedious..." Séraphine was uncomfortable at this point because these discomforts were a consequence of her previous actions.
Her previous display of casting spells easily did not come without consequence. At least she had experience with this situation. With trembling hands, she pulled a jar out of her hat.
Inside the jar were small, red spheres. She put one in her mouth. Soon, she felt a warm sensation rise from her abdomen and spread through her body. However, it was different from the embracing feeling of the ether.
The symptoms did not disappear; they were impossible to avoid because they were a direct consequence of using magic. However, the pill made her feel slightly more comfortable, preventing her from showing more reactions on the outside because she had an appearance to maintain.
Under the light of the sphere created by her spell, she leaned her back gently against the wall. Her somewhat agitated breathing calmed down as the warm sensation in her body disappeared, leaving only a distant memory.
"By Mother Light, if that bribe isn't good enough, I'll sell the news to those reporters," Séraphine muttered, trying to clear her dulled mind due to mental exhaustion.
After ensuring that she could walk without staggering, she approached the Spirit Servant's body, wrinkling her nose at the foul odor of the creature's spiritual energy dissipating in the atmosphere.
"What a horrible smell of shit and decay..." Séraphine tried her best to ignore the smell, but she could never get used to how horrible the corrupted spiritual energy smelled. It was simply incompatible with the earthly plane.
Perhaps due to the side effects of using so much magic, the nausea she had been trying to contain worsened, and she reflexively closed her mouth and covered her lips with one hand.
'Luckily, I'm alone. How embarrassing,' thought Séraphine, embarrassed but happy to be alone.
After relaxing again, she examined the Spiritual Servant's body more closely and noticed the slow degradation of the corpse into spiritual energy.
A dripping sound, seemingly coming from nowhere, indicated the seepage of spiritual energy into the physical plane. Although this energy remained invisible unless certain methods were used, Séraphine could sense its consequences in the atmosphere.
The air grew thinner. The shadows cast by the sphere of light created by her spell lengthened strangely and twisted, as if they had taken on a life of their own. The worst thing, however, was the coldness brought on by an environment charged with this energy.
Séraphine felt as if she were entering an icy cellar. Even the heat generated by the flow of ether in her body seemed to diminish in this increasingly cold environment, which made her hiss in discomfort.
Among so many unpleasant things, however, Séraphine identified some useful things, such as the beginning of the corruption of this place, which seemed to have started long before the death of the Spiritual Servant. This gave the witch an idea.
"Bingo! Mom will have something to do next. If that rich guy wants to clean this mansion, he'll have to pay me. I don't think he'll trust the charlatan who summoned this thing if he's still alive!" The green eyes of Séraphine sparkled with excitement as she considered the prospect of a new business opportunity.
However, she didn't want to let the corruption get much worse because she didn't want to deal with the potential inconveniences. Despite still feeling the physical discomfort of using magic, she prepared a special spell. Before casting it, she looked at the creature's face.
"A standard Spirit Servant, just badly summoned... What a pity," she said, confirming that this being was exactly what she thought: simply a generic Spirit Servant. It was not special in any way.
"If you were a specific variant, this encounter wouldn't be so simple," Séraphine said, recalling the variants of Spirit Servants she had seen and experienced.
One type is usually summoned to care for children and resembles an old woman. These are referred to as 'Nurturers.' Séraphine was cared for by one of these as a child.
A small smile appeared on Séraphine's face as she reminisced about her childhood. Spiritual energy could be corrupting when free in the earthly world, but spiritual entities were not inherently evil; many were kind.
She still remembered the taste of chocolate and the cinnamon smell of the cakes that the Nurse summoned by her teacher, Lady Osmond, would prepare for her after each training session. Just the memory made her mouth water.
For this reason, Séraphine looked at the corpse of the creature she had killed with apprehension, though the excitement of having found a promising business opportunity was still there, albeit diluted.
"If you had controlled yourself and not devoured those souls, I wouldn't have attacked you. I would have sent you back to your world," Séraphine said with a somewhat sad tone. This time, she looked at the open eyes of the corpse on the ground to explain her actions.
At that moment, however, something bit the corpse's hand, causing a piece of it to disappear. This forced Séraphine to activate her ability, Vision. This time, her eyes did not shine metaphorically; due to the use of her ability, her green eyes emitted a slight glow.
She then saw the culprit, Musu. The little white cat constantly bit the corpse's hand. Instead of dark blood coming out, the flesh simply disappeared as the cat bit it.
"You're too greedy, Musu. Though it saves me energy to send its body to the spirit world," Séraphine complained as she watched the cat wait for her to defeat the Spirit Servant before feasting.
"I saw you having a dramatic moment full of memories and deep dialogue. I'm hungry," the cat said in her childish voice before biting off a piece of the creature's corpse.
"You!" Séraphine growled, pursing her lips as she felt her cheeks heat up. If she were white-skinned, she would surely be as red as a tomato.
The cat simply lifted her head, stopping her eating slightly, and looked at Séraphine with her golden eyes. Having seen something only she could see, Musu sat down and licked one of her front paws.
"Humans are so complicated. If you're hungry, you eat. Why so much nonsense? You killed him because he wanted to kill you. That's how things work. Stop having internal dramas. In a week, you'll forget his face and features.
Why go to so much trouble to speak to a corpse? Do you do the same with all your prey? How can one live like this? Humans are so unnecessarily complicated." Musu's words made Séraphine, who had wanted to keep talking, fall silent.
"I don't know why I'm meditating on the words of a strange cat," Séraphine muttered before shaking her head, putting her hands on her dress, lifting it, and crouching in front of the corpse.
"I read that cats are sociopaths. It seems they are," Séraphine joked. This caused Musu to give her a sidelong glance before biting into the creature's flesh again.
"We're not making life complicated, that's all," the cat said before taking two more bites of the carcass. Feeling full, she walked to Séraphine's side and lay down near the woman's feet, enjoying her warmth.
"Are you sure you want to expel this corpse into the spirit world? You're on a dangerous edge right now. What you need is a good rest and some sunlight," Musu advised Séraphine in a lazy tone from having eaten well. Séraphine simply shook her head.
"You don't understand. I have to prove that I'm competent at this and also create chaos so that they'll hire me to deal with the mild spiritual corruption in this place.
I'm not good at these kinds of rituals, but I can perform the expulsion spell. Then, I'll perform a simple cleansing ritual on this place and collect a big paycheck." Séraphine pointed to the floor where the Spirit Servant's corpse lay, proving her point.
Instead of common construction-zone ground, the area the witch pointed to had a scaly texture, as if it were the outside of a huge reptile. Additionally, through her vision, she could see small waves of red energy spreading to the surroundings and subtly altering the environment.
"Greed is a sin, Séraphine," Musu said seriously, but her childish tone still made the witch smile.
"But money allows you to buy whatever you want, like expensive fish. So, if I make money, maybe I can offer you some." Séraphine's answer seemed to shock Musu a little. Even her tail, which she had been waving absentmindedly, stiffened.
"Lady Osmond says that, too, but never mind. Do your thing. I'll get that expensive fish in the future." Musu dodged Séraphine's mischievous hand, turned away from the witch, and looked at her with her large golden eyes.
Then, her figure distorted and gradually blended in with the surroundings. Several words lingered after her absence.
"It seems Lady Osmond underestimated her influence on you..." That simple sentence made Séraphine feel a chill. She had a vague feeling that she could feel her teacher's purple eyes on her at all times, despite their separation.
She looked around with her active vision, but could find no trace of Musu or her teacher. Only strange creatures curious about her came closer to observe her.
There was a strange golden-haired dog whose mouth was full of black tentacles and an ordinary-looking marten that walked on its two hind legs and held a cigarette. Seeing these creatures was normal for Séraphine, but they always awed her, as if she could never adjust to the strange things she could glimpse with her Vision.
"Yes... That's it." After gently stroking the dog's fur, Séraphine deactivated her Vision when the dog tried to bite her hand.
This soured her mood, so she turned her attention back to the corpse on the ground. This time, her countenance was serious, and she was fully focused. She knew what she was about to do was unnecessary, but her greed and perhaps some hidden personal motivations drove her next actions.
Rather than a ritual, Séraphine performed a complicated series of gestures constituting an expulsion or banishment spell. She controlled the vibration of her soul at different frequencies, bringing forth ether from the depths of her soul.
This blue-toned, warm energy flowed through her body, worsening her symptoms, making her eyes water, and causing nosebleeds. However, she couldn't stop; it was impossible unless she wanted to suffer further damage or die.
"Okay, only four gestures. The first one was..." said Séraphine, who pursed her lips. Hearing her voice served as a mental guide.
The first gesture consisted of placing her right index finger on her glabella. This caused the ether to leave her body and float in front of her. This gesture allowed her to create a fog of energy that enabled her to detect certain things or entities, though she could not identify them.
As she made this gesture, she felt her eyelids become heavier but struggled to keep them open. She also felt an abnormal urge to scratch her face, but resisted as she made the next gesture.
The second gesture was similar to wrapping a person in a sheet; it guided the ether to cover the spiritual corpse's body. The clash between the ether and the spiritual energy seeping from the corpse caused Séraphine to tighten her control, further draining her mental energy.
The blue energy and the invisible spiritual energy reacted as if hot oil were mixed with water: jets of energy splashed out, and Séraphine was careful to avoid them. However, the floor and walls were filled with small holes from the 'droplets' shooting out.
Clicks similar to the crackling of flames came from the energy shock, which caused flashes of purple electricity to run through the Spirit Servant's corpse, causing it to lose much of its integrity.
Under normal conditions, this gesture would cover things with ether. However, due to its reaction with the first gesture, it covered the corpse like a blanket. This caused a spectacular reaction to take place in front of the witch's eyes.
By this time, her head was throbbing with excruciating pain, causing her to groan slightly. Her crouching posture shifted to kneeling on the ground as she felt the corrupted scales clashing against her skin. Luckily, nothing else happened except for the unpleasant sensation.
The third gesture was to bring her palms together in a prayerful position. This caused the ether she controlled to fluctuate, briefly overpowering the spiritual energy and causing the corpse to glow blue.
Séraphine knew the purpose of this gesture: to calm aggrieved souls, commonly known as ghosts. She was accustomed to this gesture because of her line of work, but was cautious when performing it because doing it wrong could result in terrible consequences, including physical and mental harm.
It made you a magnet for spectral entities for a while. Séraphine experienced this firsthand when she had to use the gesture for the first time on one of her first missions. Let's just say the witch didn't like waking up next to a ghost that constantly watched her.
Séraphine fought her body's desire to sleep, a symptom of her mental exhaustion, but stopping was not an option. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to continue. Now, the world seemed to disappear, leaving only the corpse in front of her.
"The fourth gesture..." Séraphine's lips were parched at this point, with a few small drops of blood.
Despite the trembling in her hand, she carefully made the last gesture. She raised her middle finger, which could be considered rude, and touched the chest area injured by her attacks.
Apart from its offensive meaning, this gesture was a spell in magic that induced the heart to beat much faster. It could have been simple, but none of the gestures in this sequence were simple. They could be considered intermediate in level of difficulty.
In this ritual, the fourth gesture may not have been related, but, as it was connected to the heart, it seemed to link the other gestures to the spiritual world. This finally produced the desired effect, but her heart still accelerated, making her feel like she was running out of air.
As Séraphine finished the sequence of four magical gestures, the Spirit Servant's body transitioned from solid to translucent and gradually became blurrier until it disappeared completely.
His disappearance was so simple that it seemed unreal compared to the difficulty of the expulsion spell. However, he left behind the flaky ground with slight tremors, similar to breathing, caused by the remaining corruption on the site. Simply put, his existence was no longer in the real world.
"Four gestures...separately, a different spell, but together... magic is wonderful," Séraphine muttered between gasps, carelessly using a handkerchief to stop the constant flow of blood from her nose. Something different shone in her eyes: the desire to explore.
She may have had mundane hobbies and pastimes as a witch, but she never lost the spirit of exploration that all magic users possess. She learned this strange expulsion ritual from her teacher and felt a shiver of pleasure when she saw it work before her eyes.
Though her thoughts gradually drifted to Lady Osmond, her teacher since she was seven years old, causing her mood to cloud a bit, a smile appeared on her bloodied lips due to her nonstop use of magic.
"So many questions to ask..." This time, Séraphine could not bear the ailments afflicting her. She had no choice but to endure the worst in silence and total darkness because she had extinguished the light she had created.
In the darkness of an unfamiliar, empty place, she could not help but feel a pang of fear. It was not terrifying things beyond the veil of reality or spiritual entities, but rather the deepest fear of every human being:
Loneliness. In this suffocating environment, Séraphine felt lonely. Although she pressed herself against the wall for support while sitting on the floor, this psychological comfort did not help much.
The loneliness was like a snake writhing inside her. Due to her current state, caused by her spells, the discomfort was more physical than mental.
Plunged into this darkness with nothing but her mind and no comforting voice like her teacher's to guide her in completely dark environments, flashes of memory assaulted her. First, she saw the creature she had just killed, which made her feel guilty even though she knew she had done the right thing as a witch.
This emotion compounded as she recalled good times with the Spirit Nurse, fragments of her magical apprenticeship, and how, although she grew up comfortably in a wealthy home, she grew up almost entirely alone.
But most of all, she remembered her teacher, Lady Osmond. She was a middle-aged woman who had taught Séraphine many things, especially how to be a glamorous diva. Thus, Séraphine simply let time pass as she immersed herself in her thoughts. Two hours passed without her noticing.
She came out of her trance when she heard several voices in the distance. It seemed that police officers were trying to climb up to the third floor. She quickly stood up, wiped the dust off her body, and kept her blood-stained handkerchief in her hat.
"I guess I've rested long enough. Magic has so much power, yet I can't hold onto any of it," said Séraphine. She walked toward the voices, which were coming from the collapsed stairs.
Her melancholy and sadness disappeared, her posture straightened, and with a bit of lipstick, she regained her characteristic glamour. It was simply in her nature to be as presentable as possible around others.
After all, Witches are half magic and half beauty.
𑄝𑄝𑄝𑄝𑄝𑄝𑄝
The sun shone over Blume, clearing the city's cold and darkness and bringing a new kind of activity and vitality. Many people got up early to start their daily chores, though some people did not.
Like Séraphine. Even though the sun's rays came through her window and fell on her face, she resisted waking up. In addition to the light, a sound burst into her room:
She heard birds singing, vehicles passing by, and cheerful children walking to school. Séraphine did what anyone could do in this situation: she put her pillow over her head. But she had already lost the desire to sleep.
"Damn day!" she complained, but her voice sounded different from last night's sensual tone; it was hoarse.
She then sneezed several times and blew her nose with a handkerchief on the bedside table. She barely managed to sit up in bed before she started coughing and sniffling, exhibiting several typical symptoms of a cold.
She squinted, barely enduring the room's glare. Her head hurt less than last night, but now her body ached as if she were sick. Roughly speaking, with the symptoms she had, who wouldn't doubt that she was suffering from a cold?
She even felt feverish. However, having been accustomed to the fiery flow of ether coursing through her body since childhood, the fever was almost comforting, despite being another sign of her weakened state.
Her hair was completely disheveled, covering part of her face and resembling a bird's nest. She wasn't a fan of wearing makeup, but her face was pale and her eyes were slightly bloodshot due to her current state.
She looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was 8:23 a.m.; the day had just begun. Wearing only black shorts and a tank top that barely covered her ample bosom, Séraphine walked slowly to her balcony and looked outside.
She lived on the seventh floor of an apartment building in a decent neighborhood in Blume, so her balcony view was quite good, especially of the tall buildings in the distance.
Blume had a different charm by day than by night. There were more people, some of whom looked hurried as they walked the streets—men in suits and hats and women in professional dresses, all on their way to work.
Séraphine also saw noisy children being escorted by a uniformed figure across the street, away from the increasingly popular automobiles.
But at that moment, she felt a strange, foreboding throb, and her pupils contracted uncontrollably as the reality around her began to change—to unveil itself as it was.
Unlike the normal activation of her Vision, these sudden attacks were the core of her ability. For now, it remained a curse that had afflicted her for almost seven years.
The tall buildings she could see from her balcony began to deteriorate. The cloud-covered blue sky turned into a colorful chaos, and the soft white clouds transformed into loathsome tentacles that flailed endlessly.
Bizarre geometric figures covered the streets, full of repetitive and incomprehensible fractals spreading all over the ground. Just a glimpse of such a chaotic sight would make anyone dizzy, including her.
Even her balcony changed; the railing was filled with brown, thorny vines that wiggled like snakes and had several blossoming buds growing from them.
But these blossoms were chunks of bloody flesh that throbbed steadily as they opened their petals of loose skin. She tried to back away, but her clothes turned against her. A drooling, fang-filled mouth emerged from her blouse and tried to bite her head off.
Her shorts had turned into a slimy green creature that threatened to spread to her torso and the rest of her legs. However, she didn't attempt to remove her old clothes when her attention was drawn to something far more important and threatening.
A huge creature, taller than the building she lived in, was walking toward her. Although it had a humanoid form, it was obvious that it was anything but human.
Séraphine slowly backed away, avoiding being harmed by her clothes. She lay down on her bed, which had become a nest of maggots that stung her skin. She endured the sickening sensation accompanying her pain and tucked in a piece of festering skin that had once been her sheet. Only her green eyes, which now glowed, looked outside.
The giant entity stopped in front of her building, and soon, a huge eye appeared outside her former balcony. It was a completely red, inhuman eye. She knew this creature had sensed her and come to take a look at her.
This outburst of her curse was much longer than last night's. This time, she didn't have her hat handy, nor did she have any more of those potions left to suppress it.
At least she didn't hear the annoying, disgusting whispers. The huge entity simply watched her. Séraphine did not dare avert her gaze, not wanting to provoke any kind of change.
After what seemed like hours, the world began to knit itself back together, layer by layer. The weird things recovered and returned to their normal appearance. Even her clothes returned to their original state, and the bites on her body disappeared as if they were a mere illusion.
Séraphine remained silent and covered by her sheet as noise from outside reached her. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table out of the corner of her eye, she saw that only five minutes had passed—almost no time at all.
But her mind was still processing what had happened. This attack had been by far the most dangerous one. While not the most disturbing or terrifying, it instilled the most fear of death in her.
She felt that eye's avid desire as it looked at her—an unparalleled greed for her. For some reason, however, it did not act upon her, unlike her garments, which tried to harm her.
After several minutes, during which her heartbeat returned to normal, Séraphine sat up in bed again. This time, however, she did not approach the balcony. She was still trembling at the thought of her curse being unleashed again and did not want to go through the same thing in such a short period.
To relax, she decided to continue with her morning routine. She bathed, dressed, and prepared a simple breakfast for herself. The newspaper was in her mailbox at the front desk of the building, so she made a brief trip to retrieve it.
As she ate a piece of toast and enjoyed a cup of hot coffee, Séraphine looked with interest at the news published in the paper. As always, her beautiful image appeared on the front page.
[Miss Rohan helps the police again.]
The headline read, "Miss Rohan Helps the Police Again," accompanied by a picture of her at the scene last night. The color photograph showed her in all her splendor.
[New Promise in Town: Officer Duval Is the Warrior We Needed.]
Séraphine squinted as she read this news item several pages later, remembering that Officer Norman—though his actual rank would be police detective—mentioned this last name.
"Looks like the rookie is attracting attention. Although this angle doesn't do her any favors, she has nice legs," Séraphine murmured as she looked at the woman in the photograph.
Although the photo was small, her features were discernible: a slender, blonde woman holding a warhammer that appeared to be quite heavy in her right hand. Despite the poor quality of the photo, Séraphine was interested in the girl's thighs, feeling that they matched her particular taste.
"Hmm, a warrior. Didn't the army find her first?! Looks like Chief Norton hit the jackpot."
Séraphine clicked her tongue before continuing to read the paper. She remembered finding some of the news quite interesting.
These seemingly idle and meaningless actions helped her regulate herself, and she regained her good mood when the clock finally reached 9:00 a.m. By then, she was waiting for something in front of the entrance to her building.
Her current clothes were a far cry from her ostentatious appearance from the night before. She wore black pants and a white shirt that was not quite buttoned up, showing off her ample cleavage.
Some passersby were inevitably attracted to her beauty, but when they saw the witch's hat on her head, they looked away. No one wants to look like a pervert in front of a witch.
Luckily, Séraphine didn't have to wait long because the same car that had brought her to the scene of the crime last night stopped in front of her. Tania appeared in the driver's window and greeted the witch.
"Your dear driver is here, boss!" Tania exclaimed before opening the passenger door, allowing Séraphine to enter the car.
"Yes, let's go to my agency. We have business to do," said the witch before resting her legs on the dashboard as an act of muscle memory.
Séraphine watched the world pass by at an accelerated pace while reminiscing about the seven years she had suffered because of her curse.
Although beneficial because of the vision, these seven years had been filled with terror for her because of an accident that occurred when she was twelve. For some reason, she could not remember anything about the incident, only her teacher's cold purple eyes staring back at her.
Her mind stopped wandering when she came to a storefront on a busy shopping street. Although the neon sign was off, the main sign above the entrance said everything you needed to know:
[Detective Rohan's Agency]
Her Business. Séraphine saw the premises, and a feeling of pride filled her heart. She knew that this place was the fruit of all her hard work thus far.
"Time to get to work," she muttered before getting out of the car. She knew today would be a busy day and that she might witness some interesting things.
That's what her intuition was telling her.