At this moment.
The mysterious, ink-black fire flared brilliantly in the mid-air before the precinct.
Shrieks!
Wails!
In fact, the evil spirits of the witches burned by this group of witch hunters over the course of so many years materialized as black mist within this sphere of dark fire, letting out sharp, piercing laughter amidst the wailing.
They were indulging in absolute vengeance.
Utilizing this black witch-fire, they consumed the witch hunters who had once sent them to their graves.
Among them, Jim Rhodes received particular attention.
The mysterious black fire erupted directly from beneath Jim Rhodes' feet. Within these flames, his soul was forcefully dragged out by countless furious spirits of the fallen witches.
Shrieks and wails were entirely futile.
In fact, amidst the crowd of furious witch spirits, Jim Rhodes even caught sight of his former mother and younger sister—they, too, had been burned at the stake by his own hands.
"Thank you!"
"Thank you."
"Thank you for avenging us!"
Countless evil spirits laughed heartily as they consumed the witch hunters who had once utilized fire to send them to their graves.
Subsequently, they manifested their former human appearances, offering expressions of gratitude toward Carrie, who hovered in mid-air as her five dark magical spheres rotated at high speeds.
By the entrance of the precinct, the dozens of patrol officers witnessed this scene, thoroughly dumbstruck.
Staring at the crowd of witch spirits offering her gratitude, a slight smile broke across Carrie's icy face. Then, her gaze fell onto Cop, who similarly carried a face full of utter disbelief.
"How is it?"
"..."
Cop snapped back to reality, looking toward Carrie.
Carrie pointed her finger toward the collection of witch spirits who had been briefly summoned back from Hell using magic and blood feuds as a fuse.
"These witches were all once burned and sent to Hell by this group of men. Today, the ones conducting the judgment are these poor witches themselves. Do you believe they possess the authority to judge this group of people?"
Cop opened his mouth, at a loss for words.
In his decades of service, this was the very first time he had been confronted with such a question: Does a deceased victim possess the authority to enact a judgment upon the perpetrator?
The answer was definitively yes.
But... that was built upon the premise that the deceased possessed no means to execute vengeance.
Right now?
Cop felt as though his entire world view was falling apart.
On the rooftop across from the precinct.
Locke watched Carrie, who had completed what could be considered a thoroughly stunning debut appearance. The corners of his mouth arched upward as he looked at Cordelia beside him, who similarly carried a face full of profound shock.
"Cordelia, how is it?"
It took a long while for Cordelia to finally pull herself back to reality. By her ears, the wretched wails of Jim Rhodes and the others were still continuing, though they were already thoroughly exhausted, their voices sounding like ruptured bronze drums.
"Her magical power is by no means inferior to a Supreme Witch."
"Therefore!" Cordelia spoke as much, turning around to look at Locke with a hint of confusion.
"Why do you insist that I must become the Supreme Witch? She is entirely capable of assuming the mantle of the Supreme."
Locke shook his head, fixing his gaze on Carrie, his face filled with absolute pride.
"No, she is not the Supreme Witch."
"What?"
"She is my Dark Sovereign."
"..."
Locke let out a soft chuckle, looking toward Cordelia. "I share a certain bond with the witches. Although within that particular story, I profoundly dislike Professor X, it remains undeniable that Professor X focuses on teaching and nurturing the future generation. You do the same. Therefore, you need to become the Supreme Witch to safeguard the future Salem coven. However, I do not require you to act as Professor X."
Cordelia seemed to realize something, looking toward Carrie as her performance drew to a close. "Therefore... you brought me over to meet our Magneto?"
The moment she, acting as Professor X, adopted a policy of appeasement in the future...
Then... this Magneto would emerge?
Locke naturally understood the subtext within Cordelia's words, yet he hadn't actually considered it to that extreme extent. However, with a swift turn of his thoughts, Locke smiled smoothly.
"You could look at it that way. Cordelia, mercy displayed without a demonstration of absolute muscle is merely weakness, whereas mercy extended after demonstrating absolute muscle is true mercy."
With those words, Locke watched Carrie over there, who had already completed her judgment and soared straight into the sky precisely as countless media vehicles rushed over to film the scene. He smiled slightly, looking back at Cordelia.
"I highly anticipate the future of the witches, Cordelia."
The moment his words fell.
Under Cordelia's watchful gaze, Locke silently transformed into the Kindred Cain. Turning around like a true monarch of the night, he seamlessly dissolved into the darkness that was currently receding to hand the stage over to the light.
Instantly, Locke vanished.
Cordelia stared at the space where Locke had vanished. Then, looking down at the citizens from all directions below who only dared to open their windows and step outside now that the wretched shrieks had finally ceased, she remained silent for a moment before turning to depart as well.
At the entrance of the New Orleans Police Department.
By the time countless media outlets swarmed the location, the magnificent theater had already concluded its final act. Only the dozen-odd dumbstruck patrol officers and the countless mounds of skeletal remains reduced to pure ash by the entrance narrated the exact nature of the event that had transpired here.
Media vehicles arrived in an absolute torrent. Following that, reporters emerged like a horde of zombies breaking out of a cage; some had literally rushed over carrying microphones while still clad in their pajamas.
Cop and the others rapidly snapped back to reality. Casting a glance at the approaching horde of zombie media personnel, Cop frowned intensely and turned to head straight back inside the precinct.
"What do we do now?"
"What do you mean, what do we do?"
"How do we handle this crowd of reporters?"
"Handle them my ass. Anyone who dares force their way inside, lock them up directly."
Son of a bitch! They couldn't deal with a powerful witch, but could they seriously not handle a few dozen reporters?
*Bang!*
Upon returning to his office, Cop directly located a bottle of cheap whiskey. Uncorking it, he poured a glass and knocked back the full glass of whiskey in consecutive gulps.
Following him inside, Detective Kaynor was once again left dumbstruck.
The next second, Detective Kaynor rushed forward, seizing the liquor bottle just as Cop was preparing to pour a second glass, wrestling it away directly.
"This matter has absolutely nothing to do with us; they brought this entirely upon themselves!"
New Orleans was inherently the capital of witches.
Right now, a genuine witch manifesting itself was no grand catastrophe. As a local, it was difficult for Kaynor to accept aliens, but accepting witches was an incredibly seamless matter.
Particularly since within her own family lineage, a legend existed regarding her grandmother once being a witch as well.
Witnessing a genuine witch today—and such an incredibly powerful witch stepping forward to back the vulnerable witch community, enacting vengeance with thunderous momentum—Kaynor felt it was a fundamentally positive development.
Yes. A good thing.
But...
Hearing Kaynor's words, Cop blanked slightly. Subsequently, a helpless, bitter smile broke across his face. "Do you genuinely believe that I am experiencing self-reproach over the deaths of these men?"
Detective Kaynor blanked. "Then you..."
Cop let out a heavy sigh. Just as he was preparing to speak, a loud bang echoed as the office door was violently burst open once more.
A patrol officer ran inside frantically. "Boss, over at Lake Pontchartrain..."
Cop and Kaynor raised their heads simultaneously.
Half an hour later!
Since it was just past six o'clock, traffic wasn't particularly dense. Consequently, a journey that would typically require an hour was cleared as they tore down the road at a frantic speed of a hundred and twenty miles per hour, arriving directly at Lake Pontchartrain.
Laid bare before their eyes!
The lake water of Lake Pontchartrain had completely ceased to exist, exposing the entire lakebed to the open air.
Laid bare before their eyes!
Across the exposed lakebed, dense, infinite, and seemingly stretching across the entirety of Lake Pontchartrain, a vast expanse of stark white skeletons was instantly exposed to the light.
Upon those skeletons, the distinct marks of blade gashes, axe cleaves, and fire incineration were clearly visible!
"This..."
Detective Kaynor opened her mouth wide, staring at this profoundly terrifying, authentic reality of Lake Pontchartrain. With her excellent vision, she even spotted the remains of a witch that hadn't completely decomposed, estimating her age to be roughly seventeen years old.
"Heavens!"
"Oh my god!"
"Jesus!"
The media personnel who had trailed the police cruisers like a pack of ravenous beasts turned past a corner that had not yet been cordoned off by the officers.
The moment countless female reporters caught sight of the dense sea of skeletal remains across Lake Pontchartrain below, they completely failed to restrain themselves, covering their mouths as they let out various frantic exclamations.
The visual impact delivered by the exposed skeletal lakebed of Lake Pontchartrain was simply far too monumental.
Cop took a series of deep breaths, turning his gaze toward a patrol officer responsible for managing the salvage operation on-site.
"What exactly happened here?"
"It was a witch." The officer hurriedly began to narrate the sequence of events in a frantic manner.
Just a moment ago. To be entirely precise, within less than five minutes after Carrie concluded her performance by the entrance of the precinct, Carrie—bearing infinite magical energy along with her five dark spheres—had descended directly from the sky, slamming straight into Lake Pontchartrain.
The immense commotion instantly startled the few patrol officers stationed here on watch, who were waiting for dawn to break so the divers could resume their salvage operations.
The officers who were still sound asleep in their dreams were violently jolted awake by this sudden, missile-like impact.
By the time the officers scrambled to their feet and directed their gaze toward Lake Pontchartrain, they caught sight of Carrie hovering over the water's surface.
Her arms were extended, and five dark spheres rotated dynamically around her form. Devoid of a single drop of moisture on her person, she had slowly emerged from within Lake Pontchartrain, lifting herself into mid-air. The men couldn't resist swallowing their saliva in sheer terror.
Immediately following that, Lake Pontchartrain seemed to boil. Across the water's surface, an infinite shroud of black mist billowed forth as if a massive cauldron were emitting steam. The water levels receded at a speed completely visible to the naked eye.
In less than three minutes, the water of the massive Lake Pontchartrain vanished completely without a trace.
The lakebed, completely covered in skeletal remains, was laid bare in such a direct, striking fashion.
And then... that valiant witch cast a few expressionless glances toward them before taking to the sky once more, flying away.
"Right!" Speaking up to this point, an officer seemed to recall a detail, looking toward Cop as he spoke, "That witch left a statement right before she departed."
Cop frowned. "What statement?"
"She said..."
"Said what exactly?"
"..." After all, the spectacle just now had been far too shocking. If he possessed that level of precise memory retrieval, he wouldn't have been reassigned to watch over a reservoir out here.
A brief moment later, the officer who had been racking his brains experienced a sudden spark of realization.
"Right! She said!"
"When the grievances of the witches are thoroughly cleansed, Lake Pontchartrain shall return!"
"..."
Cop walked silently over to the edge of the dried-up Lake Pontchartrain. Lowering his head to stare down at the stark white skeletons below, he let out another profound sigh.
Standing beside him, Detective Kaynor watched Cop as he walked over, recalling the scene inside his office just now. "Was this exactly what you were worrying about earlier in the office?"
"No!" Cop raised his head, staring at the sky which had now fully brightened. "The one I am worried about is a certain someone who is scheduled to arrive today!"
Detective Kaynor: "..."
***
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