After what seemed like an eternity, Nightingale awoke to find her hands tied behind her to a wooden stake, her waist and feet bound tightly with rope. She struggled, but her body remained pressed against the pole, unable to move.
She tried to use her ability, but the familiar sensation was absent – her connection to magic felt severed. Nightingale lowered her head and saw a transparent, multifaceted stone hanging around her neck.
“You’re awake,” Hakala said, walking up to her. “How does the Petrification Venom feel? Honestly, I had high hopes for you, Nightingale. However, you’ve disappointed me.”
“…” Nightingale took a deep breath. “You actually possess a God's Punishment Lock, Hakala? Do you know what you're doing?” The shackles originally used by the church to suppress witches were now being used by their mentor against one of their own! What angered her even more was the vacant look on the faces of the surrounding crowd, as if they saw nothing wrong with this. Damn it, Nightingale screamed inwardly, don't you realize that you are turning into the very kind of people that witches once hated?!
“It’s just a tool. Occasionally, there are naughty children who won't listen to instruction and need to be punished,” Hakala said nonchalantly. “And you, Nightingale, are the one who needs to be punished. Or…should I call you Veronica? A woman from a noble family who fell into being a witch and still dreams of climbing back up to a high position?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve disappointed me too much. When Wendy rescued you from the clutches of the nobles, I thought you would stand firmly on the side of the Association of Witches. Look at what you've done now. Just as everyone is about to find the Holy Mountain, you want to ruin everything!” Hakala shook her head and scoffed. “Taking the sisters to seek refuge with a prince? Either you’ve been kept for too long and your servility is deeply ingrained, needing to find a master to know how to live, or… you want to sell them all to the nobles in exchange for your former status!”
“Everything I’ve done is for the sake of the sisters in the Association of Witches,” Nightingale said, suppressing her anger. There was no point in cursing at this moment. “I hope they no longer have to suffer the torment of the Awakening Day and can live a life without worrying about food and clothing. I also have no intention of hindering your plan. The sisters should have the freedom to choose their own way of life. Earthshaking changes are happening in Border Town, and the steam engine blueprints I brought are one of them. It can operate on its own and is incredibly powerful. With this machine, water can be lifted directly from the mountain streams, eliminating the need for people to toil for it every day.”
Hakala sneered. “Is this what you’re talking about?” She turned and took a stack of parchment scrolls from a witch behind her, waving them in front of Nightingale. “Although I don’t understand what’s drawn on them, you expect us to believe that a lifeless object pieced together from a bunch of cold iron blocks can move on its own like a living being? Do you take us for three-year-olds!”
She walked to the brazier and threw the scrolls into the burning coals.
“No!” Nightingale cried out in vain, watching the design diagrams turn to ashes in the brazier.
“My patience is exhausted. I’m giving you one last chance,” Hakala said, pulling a red-hot iron awl from the brazier. “If you confess to all the sisters in the Association of Witches that you were bewitched by the nobles, I can spare your life, but you won't escape the whipping. It’s a lesson for trusting the enemy too easily. If you remain stubborn, I’ll have to pierce your heart with this awl and nail your body to the stake as a warning to everyone.” She said, word by word, “Don’t miss my last act of mercy. Tell me your decision.”
Nightingale stared at the iron awl approaching her, even feeling the scorching heat from the tip. If it were the weak self of the past, she would probably have bowed her head and admitted her mistake. But she had said goodbye to the past and was no longer that timid girl. She was Nightingale, a powerful witch, and death could not make her yield.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the final moment. For some reason, the figure of Luo Lan appeared in Nightingale’s mind.
“Stop!” someone shouted. She paused slightly and opened her eyes. She saw Wendy walking out of the crowd and saying to Hakala, “Mentor, look at the white cloth wrapped around your arm. We’ve already experienced so many separations. Do you want to add another one?
”
“What, even you have been deceived by her? Wake up, Wendy, those are all lies!”
“I don’t know,” Wendy shook her head. “I didn’t plan to go to Border Town with her either, but I think she’s right about one thing: the sisters should have the freedom to choose their own way of life.”
She turned around and asked loudly, “Is there anyone who wants to leave with her?”
No one answered in the crowd, and the scene fell into silence.
“So just let her leave alone,” Wendy said. “She hasn’t done anything to harm the Association of Witches. I can’t stand by and watch you kill her.”
Nightingale now fully understood Wendy’s meaning. She couldn’t help but feel a surge of sorrow in her heart. Even Wendy didn’t fully believe her. That's why she remained silent when she needed her help to persuade everyone. But she was still that kind-hearted witch who cared for everyone. Even if she didn't agree with her point of view, she would still lend a helping hand.
After Wendy said these words, there was whispering in the crowd, and then a few more people stood up.
“Yes, since she’s willing to return to the secular world, just let her go.”
“The church and illnesses have already taken too many of our sisters, Mentor. Please reconsider.”
“All of you shut up!” Hakala said in a fit of rage. “Just let her leave like this? What if a second or third Nightingale appears? If she sells our camp’s location to the church, we’ll have nowhere to escape!” Before she finished speaking, she thrust the iron awl out forcefully, but Wendy was one step faster, preemptively conjuring a gust of strong wind that blew Hakala away.
Then she tossed a coin and waved her hand. A rapid flow of air wrapped around the coin and hurtled towards Nightingale. The airflow vanished as it approached Nightingale, but the coin retained its momentum, accurately striking the God's Punishment Stone in front of her neck.
The crystalline, multifaceted stone shattered on impact.
“Traitor!” Hakala screamed as she scrambled to her feet. She extended her left and right hands towards Wendy and Nightingale, respectively. Two serpentine shadows appeared out of thin air, one opening its mouth wide and biting down hard on the back of Wendy’s hand, while the other lunged and missed.
The ropes slid to the ground, still holding the shape of the binding, but Nightingale had vanished.
Thinking of her ability, Hakala broke out in a cold sweat. She mobilized all her magic, and magic snakes shimmering with various colors swarmed out from her chest, forming a wall of snakes, while she herself retreated rapidly—
But Nightingale was faster than her.
With just one step…merely one step out, she had already appeared behind Hakala. Reaching out her hands, the iron awl that should have pierced Nightingale’s heart pierced through Hakala’s body instead.
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