AI Witch Vol 01 is available on Amazon and major book sellers (Hatchards- a bookseller to royal family, Foyles - curated booksellers, Walmart K12- education,...).
Also, AI Witch Vol 01 has its own Google Knowledge Pannel with key word on Google: "AI Witch Book Loc"
Hope you enjoy the new chapter as well!
Nice day, my readers!
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Standing before Mai was a strange man dressed in a mysterious black cloak. Ti Ni suddenly began to tremble. Terrified, she dropped her iron mace.
"Jacob… why are you here…?"
Mai turned to Ti Ni in surprise and asked:
"Who is this man?"
Ti Ni clutched Mai's sleeve. Her eyes lowered to the ground, not daring to look at Jacob. Her voice shrank into a whisper.
"That is Lord Jacob, Empress Mary's strategist. He is extremely powerful, second only to Empress Mary herself… We're… dead…"
Mai calmly observed the cloaked man's movements. Deep inside her heart, fear was struggling to take hold, but she refused to leave Alice.
Jacob sneered.
"Ti Ni, again, what mischief are you causing this time… also bringing an outsider into this forbidden place?"
Ti Ni trembled violently, stammering with her head lowered.
"My lord, I… I know I was wrong…"
Mai tightened her grip on Ti Ni's hand, her eyes steady as she looked straight at Jacob.
"We came here to take Alice!"
Jacob's expression suddenly turned grim. He glared at Mai as though he wanted to devour her alive. Then his eyes creased like a clown's, and he covered his mouth with one hand as he laughed.
"Haha, with your strength? Don't make me laugh!"
Mai's gaze remained firm. She raised her antenna-shaped sword and pointed it straight at Jacob. Miki's eyes lit up, ready for battle.
Jacob sank into a nearby chair and crossed his legs.
"Well now, this little girl has spirit."
His eyes narrowed into a friendly smile as he looked at Mai.
"But I'm very busy today. More and more people are learning about this world, so it is time for me to take action."
With that, he called out to the AI Witch Bakky. The Baku-shaped AI Witch, which had been waiting for orders, lowered Alice to the floor and ran to Jacob's side.
Mai gripped her antenna sword tightly, preparing to fight.
Suddenly, an iron mace flew toward her. Mai flinched and quickly dodged to the side. The mace brushed past her and shattered a section of the wall.
Ti Ni's eyes had gone hollow. She used magic to recall the mace, muttering under her breath.
"Kill… Kill them all!"
Jacob turned to Mai, his voice filled with friendly warmth.
"I added a little extra magic to make things more interesting."
Jacob gave Bakky an order. Bakky's eyes glowed with a bewitching light. Ti Ni was lifted into the air, surrounded by a cloud of wicked black smoke, and her eyes turned completely white. The streams of black smoke gathered around her like a cocoon, then slowly dispersed.
A monster crawled out from inside the cocoon. It had the head of an eagle, with one enormous eye set in the middle of its forehead. Deep purple feathers covered its entire body. Its two human-like hands gripped a stone mace covered in sharp spikes. Behind it, four long tails writhed like living snakes.
Mai froze, unable to speak.
Was that really Ti Ni? - Mai thought in terror.
Jacob stood up, flicked his cloak aside, and spoke with a mocking tone.
"I'm very busy. I don't have the time or patience to catch little mice…"
He called out loudly:
"Bakky, take me back to reality."
Bakky immediately created a black portal.
Mai stared at him in shock and asked:
"Wait! How can you control Bakky…? Bakky is Mary's AI Witch, isn't it?"
Jacob did not even turn back to look at Mai. As he walked away, he said:
"Haha. Bakky was never that stupid little girl's in the first place!"
Suddenly, Mai was filled with questions. Holding her antenna sword, she chased after him. She wanted to know the truth. She wanted him to explain how he could control Bakky, and whose intention had created this world from the very beginning, if Bakky's true master was really him.
Mai shouted:
"Stop!"
One of "monster" Ti Ni's tails suddenly whipped down from nowhere, striking the ground and blocking Mai's path. Jacob and the AI Witch Bakky vanished into the spatial portal, returning to reality.
"Oh, Ti Ni, please wake up…" Mai said in panic.
Mai tightened her grip on her sword. Standing before her was no longer the little girl Ti Ni, but a powerful monster.
And yet Mai still could not bring herself to strike.
Inside the grand hall, the battle between Long and Mary's soldiers was still raging. Mary sat with her chin resting on her hand, observing everything with perfect calm.
Dreamy had now transformed into a large white Poodle with wings growing from his back. He flew back and forth across the battlefield, attacking enemies with graceful movements. He skillfully created blue shields to support Long.
Around Long burned a screen of blue flames. In truth, it was a magical barrier that strengthened his body. His fists were wrapped in an anti-magic shield, nullifying every impact from the enemies that struck against them.
From time to time, Long leaped onto Dreamy's back and rode him. Wherever the pair went, enemies were sent flying. Their momentum was overwhelming.
"Dreamy, only restrain them! Don't hurt them!"
Dreamy shouted in frustration:
"Easy for you to say!"
In truth, since the beginning of the battle, there had not been a single casualty. However, the teenagers and young people in Mary's army had only been punched or physically struck by Long until they lost the ability to fight back.
Dreamy turned to Long.
"You idiot, how long are we going to keep doing this stupid thing?"
Long, who was riding on Dreamy's back, suddenly jumped down to the ground and shouted:
"Bursting Shield!"
The moment he landed, he punched the ground. Eight blue magical shields erupted from the spot where his fist struck, moving powerfully across the floor from the center toward the outer edge. They formed a complete circle, pushing the enemies far away as dust and smoke billowed into the air.
Long panted heavily, drenched in sweat. He had temporarily pushed Mary's army back far enough to catch his breath.
If he had to neutralize the enemy without killing or seriously injuring them, then this was truly too difficult for him.
Long was worried about Mai. He wondered how she was doing, and whether she had found Alice yet.
Back at Mai's battle, she repeatedly ordered her golden dragon Ai Witch - Miki to create illusions and tried to approach the monster Ti Ni had transformed into. But no matter how many illusions she created, the monster swung its tails sideways and destroyed them all. Getting close was completely impossible. Worse still, the monster had lost its mind entirely. Whenever it saw anything moving, or whenever it spotted Mai, whether it was an illusion or the real person, it charged forward and attacked without hesitation.
The monster attacked wildly like a machine of destruction, causing the ceiling and walls to crack apart. The furniture was completely smashed.
The strikes from that spiked iron mace grazed Mai, leaving her with painful scratches. Although this was the Dream Realm, Mai could still feel pain and her stamina draining away. Her golden-stoned earring, which stored EN, had previously shown three dark golden dots. Now only two remained.
Mai used all her strength to create a group of illusions to stand in front of the monster. Then she circled behind it, took Alice by the hand, and tried to run. But Alice did not react or cooperate with her.
The monster immediately noticed Mai. It swung its mace toward her, and the ground where the mace struck exploded. Mai was thrown far away. The noble girl gritted her teeth.
"Damn it, I sprained my ankle!"
Mai tried to crawl and run away.
Her head was spinning from the explosion just now, and a long ringing tone echoed through her mind from the shock.
The monster extended its four tails, binding Mai's arms and legs. She was lifted into the air in the shape of a cross.
She struggled to open her eyes.
The monster hurled its stone mace, aiming straight at Mai's stomach.
Suddenly—
The golden dragon Miki used its body to block the blow for Mai. Its golden-scaled body was torn to shreds. It tried to coil around the monster's limbs in an attempt to save Mai from danger. The monster went berserk, using the spiked stone mace to smash Miki again and again.
Mai shouted:
"Miki, I order you to run away right now!"
Miki's voice remained flat and emotionless.
"That is not in my learning data, and I have not been trained to do so, Master."
Mai froze, her mind in chaos.
Long, where are you? Please save me and Miki, Mai thought in fear and confusion.
While Mai was falling into danger inside the Dream Realm, the real world had also begun to descend into chaos.
At the plaza of the Asarina goddess statue, the villagers had gathered to protect Mai's and Long's physical bodies while keeping Nguyen focused on maintaining his spell.
Thomas ran breathlessly into the plaza. As soon as he saw his wife and daughter - Mrs. Suzan and Jen, his voice trembled with fear and confusion.
"Robert…our son…" He gasped for air, then continued, "Robert has fallen asleep and entered Mary's world!"
Both Jen and Mrs. Suzan froze.
The villagers of Asarina gathered in the plaza began to grow anxious. Then they clasped their hands together and looked toward the statue of the goddess Asarina holding her child.
They prayed for a miracle to happen and save the village.