The World Is Mine For The Taking

When we stepped into the place, it felt like I had crossed into another dimension.

Everything around me changed — the atmosphere, the air, even the texture of space itself.

My body instinctively stiffened.

It wasn't fear, but awe.

A suffocating yet electrifying pressure wrapped around me, seeping into my skin like mist.

This place was thick with mana… a raw, overwhelming kind of mana. It scraped at the edges of my senses like sandpaper — coarse, uneven, and jagged — but strangely, it didn't feel malevolent. No. It wasn't evil… just immense.

Whoever was emitting this kind of presence… wasn't just strong. They were terrifying. Dangerous. A being operating on a whole different level.

That's when I caught it — a scent. It lingered like smoke, curling through the air and hitting me like a wave.

Perfume?

No. That wasn't it.

It was the smell of a woman.

Pheromones.

My brain stuttered for a moment, distracted. The kind of scent that clings to your memory like a warm breath on your neck.

Then, suddenly—

"AHhh…! Ahhhh! Ahhhhnnnn! Ahhhh!"

A moaning voice echoed through the hall, bouncing off the walls, growing louder as we walked. It came from the room at the far end.

"A-Ah, yesssssssss~! It feels goooddddddddd~ Ahhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnn~!!!"

She was moaning… no, screaming, caught in a wave of pleasure so intense it rattled through the door like a drumbeat of lust.

"H-Hehehe…" Tris gave an awkward chuckle beside me, scratching the back of her head. "I think the person behind that door has… uh, a very adventurous side."

"Adventurous" was one way to put it. Bold, shameless, brazen — perhaps all at once.

But Isiliraiellyn didn't even flinch. Unfazed by the chorus of moans, she kept walking toward the door, completely unaffected by the very loud symphony of a woman losing her mind in ecstasy.

I didn't stop her. Neither did Tris.

We followed, but we halted a few steps back as Isiliraiellyn reached for the handle.

And then — she opened it.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Cummingggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg~!!!"

The moment the door swung open, something wet blasted straight at us.

A splash — huge, uncontrolled, and direct. It smacked Isiliraiellyn right in the face like a wave crashing into a wall. The liquid flew with such force that droplets sprayed even onto me and Tris.

The air was instantly saturated.

A pungent mix of citrus… and raw, sticky sweetness filled my nostrils. The scent hit so hard that my brain momentarily went numb.

Isiliraiellyn just stood there. Frozen. Her face soaked and dripping. Her expression contorted into one of complete and utter disbelief.

"Uwaaaa! What the hell is this?!" she cried, swiping the liquid from her eyes and mouth, clearly disgusted.

A voice from inside shrieked.

"Huh?! W-Wait, who are you?!"

Inside the room stood a woman, clearly startled.

She had messy purple hair that looked like it'd been yanked at for hours. Her skin glistened with sweat, and she was completely, unabashedly naked. In her hand, she gripped a wooden dildo which was still glistening.

So that's what she'd been using to drive herself wild.

"W-Who are you people?! Why are you here?!" she demanded, voice still breathy. "More importantly, how the fuck did you even find this place?!"

She tried to stand but immediately collapsed back onto her knees.

Her thighs clamped together. Her body trembled.

"Ahhh… I'm still… cumminggggggg… cummingggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg~!!!"

The woman's eyes fluttered, and her lips parted in a silent gasp. Her body arched slightly, and then — with a shudder — a warm gush spilled from between her legs onto the wooden floor.

"Waaiiitt~… Ahhh, it's leaking out of me…~ It's leakingggggggggggggggg~"

Tris and I just stood there, speechless, watching her twitch and writhe in the aftermath of her climax.

After what felt like the longest prologue to a meeting ever, the woman was finally up on her feet and fully dressed. The chaotic, lust-drunk mess from earlier was now tamed — at least on the surface.

The dildo she had been using had been shoved into a cabinet, but not without me catching a glimpse of what was inside.

A collection.

The cabinet was full of them — varying in size, shape, and color. She wasn't just a fan. This woman was a full-on sex addict. The room practically screamed it.

Even now, the heavy scent of sex was thick in the air, curling into our lungs like invisible smoke. But interestingly, I only smelled her. No scent of any man or partner. It seemed she'd been doing all of this… alone.

Masturbation. Over and over again in this very room.

Eventually, she let us inside properly, offering us a place to sit.

She was drinking tea now — calmly, even gracefully — as if she hadn't just exploded in orgasm and soaked Isiliraiellyn's face a few minutes ago.

Her movements were slow and refined. She held the teacup like a noble lady, pinky slightly raised.

"So?" she finally said, her voice velvety but tinged with mischief. "What are the three of you young'uns doing in my crib?"

She set the teacup down gently, reached for a pipe, lit it, and took a slow drag. A fragrant, exotic aroma filled the room as she exhaled, the smoke dancing in lazy spirals.

Then her eyes, sharp and playful, landed on me.

"This man and this woman are looking for you," Isiliraiellyn said. "The witch."

"Aha."

A knowing smirk crept across her lips. She didn't deny it. Her reaction said everything.

Looks like Isiliraiellyn had been right all along — this woman was the witch.

"What? Am I so famous now that even cadets from the academy are itching to talk to me?" she said, resting her cheek on her palm. "If you're here to know your future or whatever, kiss my feet goodbye. I stopped that shit years ago. I only did it to scam dumbasses out of their coin."

She chuckled, blowing another puff of smoke. "But if it's advice you want… well. That'll be one gold coin, please."

Yup. No doubt about it.

She matched the description Tris had given earlier — word for word.

Without hesitation, I placed a pouch on the table. A solid, heavy pouch filled with gold.

Both Tris and Isiliraiellyn gasped in unison, their eyes wide with disbelief.

It was like they couldn't process what I'd just done.

"This pouch is filled with it," I said firmly. "So I'm going to ask you something very important."

"Oh~? Young man, you looked like you really wanted this, huh?" she murmured, her lips curling into a lazy smirk as she tilted her head back. A slow, seductive plume of smoke escaped her mouth, swirling in the stale, mana-thick air between us. Her eyes shimmered faintly in the dim light. "Well then… I'll gladly take it."

She reached out, fingers extended toward the pouch with a kind of hungry amusement. But before her hand could even brush against it, I yanked it back to my side in one swift motion.

Her smile faltered.

"…What?"

"I'm not giving this to you," I said calmly, meeting her eyes without flinching. "Not until you give me what I want first."

Her brows twitched, lips parting slightly in disbelief. Then she let out a soft scoff and leaned back, arms folding beneath her modest bust.

"You do know the phrase pay first before service, right?" she said with a casual shrug, though there was a bite of warning in her voice. "I'm that kind of woman. If you don't pay up front, then you sure as fuck aren't getting what you came for."

"That so?" I responded with a small, polite smile, already rising from my seat. "Well, I guess that's too bad, then. Sorry for wasting your time."

"Eh?"

The single syllable slipped out of her like a hiccup.

Her eyes widened, body jerking upright as if she had just been doused with cold water.

"W-Wait! Wait, I was just joking, alright? Sit your ass back down," she stammered, her voice cracking just slightly as desperation edged into her tone. "I-I can wait for the payment… after I give you what you wanted."

So, she could compromise after all. Interesting.

Without a word, I sat back down.

She let out a breath she clearly hadn't realized she was holding.

"For starters," I began, keeping my tone neutral, "who exactly are you?"

She froze mid-inhale, the smoke still curling from the end of her cigarette. Then she blinked—once, twice—then several times rapidly, her mouth slightly ajar like she couldn't quite comprehend what she just heard.

"Wait… you don't know who I am?" she asked, her voice colored with genuine disbelief.

I gave her nothing. Just a blank look.

"You came all the way here… with no idea who you're dealing with?" she repeated, leaning forward as if trying to get a better read on me. Her lips slowly peeled back into a grin. "Fuhahahahahaha! Young'uns from the Academy really are something else these days! Soft as fuckin' silk, I swear! Can't believe you lot wandered in here blind, like clueless little lambs walking straight into a slaughterhouse!"

She laughed harder, throwing her head back with her hand on her stomach. Her laughter echoed through the room.

"Fuckin' idiots," she spat through her amusement.

"I am Dorothea," she finally declared, regaining her composure as she placed a gloved hand proudly on her modest chest. "You might know me by a different name… the Black Witch. Also known as the Leader of the Witches."

Her smile stretched wide, sharp like a blade pressed against the skin.

Ah… that explained it. The off-kilter mana in the air, the oppressive pressure that had been coiling beneath my skin since I arrived.

The infamous Black Witch.

I'd heard of her before.

One of the Nine Fangs of the Underground. A name that alone stirred fear among even the most hardened mercenaries. And out of those Nine, she was said to be the worst kind of nuisance. That's because she's dangerous, volatile, unpredictable.

And a fucking nightmare.

Why?

Because she cursed people like it was second nature.

In short, she was the kind of trouble people paid money to avoid.

A real pain in the ass.