Lord of Mysteries:The Good Witch

Chapter 19: The Death of madam Sharon

Angel's heart, which had nearly leapt out of her throat, finally settled back in her chest when she saw that Daly Simone had not been splattered with blood, but had instead activated her spiritualism in time to restrain madam Sharon.

Leonard, who had been maintaining a charging posture, also broke free from the thread restraints and stumbled forward, nearly falling over.

"It hasn't been twenty seconds yet, has it?" Angel asked Daly Simone. By her mental calculation, only about half the time had passed.

madam Sharon had voluntarily taken a bullet, using her mirror substitute! to move next to Daly Simone. She had assumed Daly Simone was still in the process of spiritualism and would be defenseless. To her surprise, Daly Simone had activated her spiritualism effect early, making madam Sharon's self-entrapment look foolish.

"Heh, I tricked her. Ten seconds was enough," Daly Simone said with a faint smile on her face, which had grown pale after two consecutive uses of spiritualism, despite her eyeshadow and blush.

"Let's finish her off quickly. Although the black fire doesn't work on this spirit, I'm afraid she might have other tricks up her sleeve," Angel said as she continued to act, swiftly loading the last five "Storm Convergence" bullets into the chamber and stepping towards the immobilized madam Sharon.

"Crash——"

The first sound they heard was not Angel's gunshot, but the shattering of mirrors. Leonard had grabbed a chair and was smashing all the remaining decorative mirrors in the reception room.

Once all the mirrors in the room had been broken into pieces no larger than a palm, Angel raised her gun and pressed the muzzle against madam Sharon's forehead.

madam Sharon's expression, a mix of anger and terror, suddenly became calm. Her light red lips turned black, and the brown of her eyes spread to the surrounding whites, resembling a calm lake surface.

Black flames erupted from madam Sharon's body, enveloping her from head to toe. Then, white frost appeared within the black flames, rapidly spreading into ice, covering the flames like an ice coffin surrounding her body.

Invisible threads appeared in the air, layer upon layer wrapping around the ice block, forming a cocoon-like object. The temperature in the room suddenly dropped, as if winter had arrived in an instant.

All this happened in the blink of an eye. Angel, thinking madam Sharon had launched another attack, stepped back in fright, shielding Daly Simone. Leonard also rushed over with a chair, and the group surrounded the "cocoon."

However, the "cocoon" made no further moves and stood silently in place.

Leonard first frowned in confusion, then his expression changed dramatically as if remembering something. He quickly said, "She's trying to break Daly Simone's curse. We need to kill her quickly."

Angel immediately raised her gun and fired. A "Storm Convergence" bullet hit the "cocoon," easily tearing through the threads on the outer layer but was stopped by the solid ice. The bullet left only a shallow blue mark on the ice surface after creating a dent and shattering.

This was the characteristic of "Storm Convergence" - if they continued to attack the same spot, the damage from subsequent bullets would increase.

"Wait, don't waste bullets," Leonard stopped Angel from continuing her attack and turned to Daly Simone.

"Miss Daly Simone, please find its weak point."

Daly Simone nodded. Her green eyes quickly turned grayish-white, as if covered by a layer of mist, and then became transparent.

After looking at the "cocoon" with these special eyes for just a second, Daly Simone pointed to a spot about waist-high on Angel: "At this height, shoot straight. Her head is right behind it."

By now, the threads outside the "cocoon" were showing signs of loosening. In a few seconds, madam Sharon might break the curse and escape.

Crouching slightly and lowering her gun, Angel aimed at the spot Daly Simone had indicated and pulled the trigger again.

"Bang!" The first "Storm Convergence" left a blue bullet mark on the ice surface.

"Bang! Bang!" The next two bullets accurately hit the same spot. The stacking damage took effect, creating a small gap in the solid ice surface, revealing madam Sharon's fair forehead beneath her brown hair.

Goodbye, Sharon Hoey. Go keep Cole company down there... Angel silently bid farewell to madam Sharon in her heart as she pulled the trigger, firing the last "Storm Convergence."

As if exploding from within, the "cocoon" of ice and threads burst open. Black flames surged out from inside the cocoon, dispersing and disappearing.

madam Sharon knelt at the spot where the "cocoon" had been. Her beautiful face overlapped with the image in Angel's memory. The large-caliber bullet entered her forehead and exited through the back of her head, spraying a fan-shaped trail of blood. With only half a head remaining, her body fell backward from the impact, lying limp on the ground.

If the last bullet hadn't finished off madam Sharon, they would have faced an even more difficult battle...

Angel sighed in relief, only then noticing that her right hand holding the gun was trembling slightly. Even her body, enhanced by potions, was overwhelmed by the continuous firing of the powerful "Storm Convergence."

Behind her, Daly Simone, disregarding her appearance, sat directly on the ground. After consecutive uses of spiritualism, her face was deathly pale, her eyes lifeless, seeming as if she might faint at any moment.

Seeing this, Angel and Leonard quickly helped the biggest "hero" of this battle to the only intact sofa in the room.

"I'm fine, just depleted too much spirituality. I'll be okay after some rest," Daly Simone said.

Although Daly Simone said this, her pale face, which even blush couldn't hide, and her lips that had lost color as if from blood loss, still worried Angel. She simply left the sofa, making room for Daly Simone to lie down and rest properly.

Leonard, seemingly more accustomed to such situations, took off his coat and covered Daly Simone, who had fallen into a deep sleep as soon as her head touched the sofa. He walked back to the battlefield, picked up the revolver, and returned to madam Sharon's curvaceous but now head-split corpse.

"We were too lucky," he said after a moment of silence.

Angel was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood his meaning.

"Indeed, we were too lucky," she also sighed.

A Sequence 6 Beyonder, in a surprise attack, not only failed to kill anyone present but was even killed in retaliation through the cooperation of the group. Ultimately, it came down to madam Sharon's lack of preparation.

If madam Sharon had been fully prepared, brought a firearm, and decisively opened fire after the thread entanglement took effect, none of those present had a near-invincible defense ability like the mirror substitute!. If controlled by threads and unable to dodge, madam Sharon could have killed whoever she wanted.

Perhaps it was overconfidence, or a hasty decision, or maybe to continue maintaining her public image after secretly killing Angel. madam Sharon had come to the Nighthawks' base carrying only a dagger, attempting to control everyone with invisible threads, then kill her target stealthily while invisible and escape.

Unfortunately, although the combined strength of those present was not as great as hers, the combination of various extraordinary abilities formed a synergy. They not only quickly broke the thread's restraint on everyone but also launched a counterattack against her.

Angel's suppression of invisibility, Leonard's lullaby and combat support, and most importantly, Daly Simone's "spiritualism" ability, which controlled madam Sharon twice, ultimately gave everyone the opportunity to kill her.

Looking at the sleeping Daly Simone Simone, Angel guessed that she might have power close to Sequence 6. Otherwise, even with the cooperation of others, it would have been difficult to control or curse a Sequence 6 madam Sharon by commanding invisible spirits.

"It's a pity Miss Daly Simone's spirituality is depleted and she can't perform spiritualism on the deceased madam Sharon. Otherwise, we might have been able to know why she attacked this place," Leonard said with a frown as he crouched next to madam Sharon's corpse. Wearing gloves, he was checking madam Sharon's clothing pockets. Apart from the dagger that no longer burned with black flames and a palm-sized small mirror smeared with an unknown dark red liquid, he didn't find anything meaningful.

"Spiritualism? It works on the dead too?" Angel asked curiously.

"Of course. For Spirit Mediums, the dead are more useful than the living. Didn't you just witness the effect of spirits?" Leonard picked up the dagger and left the blood-soaked corner of the room, returning to the sofa.

"As a Sequence 7 'Spirit Medium,' as long as the time of death doesn't exceed one hour and the spirit hasn't been destroyed by extraordinary power, Miss Daly Simone can obtain quite complete information. But in her current state, she definitely won't risk continuing to perform spiritualism. It could lead to loss of control."

So "Spirit Medium" really is Daly Simone's potion name, and it's Sequence 7. No wonder she could restrain the Sequence 6 madam Sharon for a short time... Angel thought silently, also noting the key phrase "loss of control" in her mind.

Wait, if "Spirit Mediums" can communicate with the dead, then killing madam Sharon didn't actually achieve the effect of silencing her?

Angel broke out in a cold sweat as she realized this. She looked at Daly Simone lying on the sofa, feeling somewhat relieved. The only person here who could perform spiritualism had depleted her spirituality and apparently wouldn't be able to do so for a while. And according to Leonard, the best time window for spiritualism was within an hour. As long as Daly Simone didn't recover enough to perform spiritualism during this time, she should be safe.

But if that's the case, why didn't Dunn Smith consider bringing Daly Simone along when planning the operation? Wouldn't this characteristic of a "Spirit Medium" be extremely useful in the process of capturing a desperate criminal like madam Sharon?

Angel raised this question. Leonard's previously tense expression relaxed, even showing a hint of a gossipy smile.

"You don't know about the relationship between the captain and Miss Daly Simone, do you?"

How could I possibly know...

Angel was stunned for a moment, then shook her head.

Leonard carefully glanced at the sleeping Daly Simone, making sure she hadn't woken up, before continuing in a low voice:

"Actually, the captain has always liked Miss Daly Simone. He pretends not to care, but when he lectures us, he always uses her as an example, mentioning 'Daly Simone this, Daly Simone that' every other sentence. In my opinion, Miss Daly Simone actually has some feelings for the captain too. Her station is in Enmat Port, and she needs to apply to the Cathedral every time she leaves, but she often comes to Tingen City. Of course, there are always various reasons, like assisting in investigations, escorting sealed artifacts, and so on, but they can't escape my observation... Back to your question, actually, performing spiritualism on cults like the 'Witch Cult' carries great risks..."

The noisy sounds from downstairs interrupted Leonard's gossip. He nervously shrank his neck, but after careful listening, he realized it wasn't Dunn and the others, but several police officers questioning passersby.

"It should be the nearby residents who heard the gunshots and reported to the police station. I recognize one of the police officers downstairs; he's a patrol officer for this district," Leonard concluded after observing from the window for a while.

He put his gun back in his shoulder holster and walked towards the reception room door. After a moment's thought, he returned to madam Sharon's corpse, pulled the fallen tablecloth over, and covered her gruesome head along with her entire upper body.

"I'll go downstairs to deal with the police. We can't let them come up for now. madam Sharon is a celebrity in Tingen City, so it's better to wait for the captain to communicate with the higher-ups before announcing her death," he explained to Angel.

Angel nodded. As Tingen City's most famous socialite, madam Sharon had close relationships with many political figures. If they learned that she was not only a Beyonder but also a member of the Witch Cult, these people probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

The noisy sounds from downstairs suddenly disappeared, as if the earlier sounds had been just an illusion for the two upstairs. Angel and Leonard exchanged glances, and Leonard returned from the door once again to look out the window.