WITCH OF THE END

The sky was still painted with a faint crimson color with red flashes of light occasionally striking down at the highest points around the base. The air felt toxic and the atmosphere itself was nerve-wracking with all the giant alloy exoskeletons, arachnids, and ascenders marching towards the towering crimson figure ahead. The structure stretched up to the skyline, casting its massive and eerie shadow over the small capital army command was stationed in.

…The blood tower—as Luna called it—now looked much more menacing than it had been when she was recovering in the hospital complex. The black ether here was so dense that she could almost taste it in the air. Every mundane human in this area needed to wear a nanoskin uniform. Which provided all of them with a thin invisible layer of energy that shielded them from corruption.

"Welcome to Hell," Darkness announced as they all stepped out of the armored vehicle.

Luna took a second to marvel at the sight before her. The command base was completely busy with multiple ascenders wielding mystical weapons and arachnid machines moving up and down with some carrying supplies and others pointing their weapons at the large gateway at the tower’s entrance. The spatial rift resembled a large circle of crimson energy that refracted the light around it to make it resemble water waves.

Her gaze lingered on the large gateway for a while before she suddenly felt a strange pull come from it. As if reacting to the pull, Luna quickly averted her eyes away from the structure and faced her small unit, which was waiting for her to say something.

She was still not sure how exactly she got a unit in the first place. But yeah. She was a captain now. "I'll go meet with General Astrid, the rest of you can go do whatever you want."

Mira shook her head and sighed at Luna's statement.

Gail smacked his forehead and looked down, disappointed.

While Darkness stared at her with a deadpan look.

'What?'

Luna raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Mira cleared her voice. "You're really bad at this, aren't you captain?"

"Bad at what? “Luna frowned.

"Leading a team, damn it." Darkness interjected.

Luna shook her head and shrugged. "Well, I am seventeen. Do you expect a seventeen-year-old human to give a group of ascenders and powerful fighters orders?"

"You're seventeen?" Gail looked at her, genuinely surprised. "I thought you were younger than that."

Luna was shocked. Did she look younger than seventeen?

'No...it can't be. I'm turning eighteen this year. Is my body betraying me?' Luna held back from checking herself.

Sigh. She pushed away her toxic thoughts. Staying young and beautiful is a good thing. If she looked at it from a positive perspective, Gail was complimenting her.

"You will pay with your life, golden boy." She smiled at the handsome ascender, her voice nailing down her threat.

After that, she quietly heaved out another sigh and turned her back to her unit before following the ascender General Astrid had sent to guide her to her office.

Gail was left frozen. His face was pale as if he had just seen a ghost. "What have I done?" he whispered to himself.

At the same time, Darkness and Mira were laughing their hearts out at what had just happened. Who would've thought the captain was so sensitive when it came to her age?

***

"Come in."

A deep reserved voice sounded from the other side of the steel alloy door after the ascender Luna was following pressed a small button on the side.

Luna wore a complicated look as she watched them automatically open. 'This is an office? Might as well call it a prison if it looks like this.'

When they completely opened, another voice followed. "Prison cell you say? That's quite a mind you've got there. I'm sorry it doesn't look like the garbage you called a room, my dear."

General Astrid stood alone behind a thick metal table with a pair of shades hanging over her eyes. Her black hair curly hair fell over her to the middle of her back like seaweed. Her skin almost looked grey under the strange lighting of this room.

Like Mao Feng, Astrid was a sorcerer. But unlike the flashy abilities the other sorcerers usually displayed, her ability was a passive but deadly one. Her aura was [Authority]. Which was considered and recognized as one of the most powerful Auras in existence. The Aura granted Astrid the ability to control the minds of whoever met her fierce gaze. She could also read the thoughts of anyone or any monster so long as it has one. There was also a third ability that she never disclosed to even the monks because of how powerful and dangerous it was.

When she was younger, Luna usually heard of the stories that revolved around Astrid when she opened her second Soul Gate. She was not as strong at the time but she took down cursed creatures and infected she had no business fighting against as someone whose strength stopped at the Second Gate. Later on, the people of the World gave her the name The Moon Siren. This was shortly after she joined the moon settlement and became one of its protectors. She was a Summoner at the time.

Luna was glad the woman looked livelier than she did when they last met. At least on the surface, she did. Her uniform was clean and her pale skin was brimming with life.

She first waited for the guide to leave before talking casually to her aunt. "Ah, so you read my mind. I thought there was a policy for that."

Astrid scoffed. "There are no policies in this soon-to-be wasteland. You of all people should know that." She then removed the shades, revealing a pair of beautiful vermilion eyes staring directly at Luna.

"I'm here to talk about…"

"The tower?" Astrid interrupted, seriously. "Of course, that's why you're here. I thought I was the one who invited you."

Luna was finding it hard to stay calm under her aunt's gaze. The fact that she had already peered into her mind without permission was enough to annoy her. This was the type of relationship she shared with her aunt. Many could've called this tough love because there were times when Astrid showed genuine care.

But those times were so rare to a point where Luna barely remembered any.

Astrid raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "I was going to thank you for keeping everyone on that train safe. Where you almost died, by the way. I heard you spent two whole weeks recovering, which affected the entire plan and whatnot. Bravo…should I maybe clap for the heiress?"

Luna clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. Luckily, she managed to keep her emotions and thoughts in check. "Please jump to the point."

Seeing that Luna was still calm, despite her disrespectful tone. Astrid felt a bit disappointed. Maybe Luna wasn't as immature as she thought. " Sigh. I guess you have something driving you towards your mother's goal. Let me fill you in on what's happening…"

Her face turned stern and serious as if she had just swapped personalities. The annoying version was gone, replaced by a calm and devoid version of herself. "The diviners have discovered that the tower isn't a real tower. As it turns out, the piece from the divine realm is actually a gateway to another dimension if that makes any sense. They've called this phenomenon a 'Dungeon emergence'. "

'No way.' Luna's eyes sparkled when she quickly recognized the word "Dungeon". It was a popular word in fictional stories where the main story was connected to adventuring. But that's impossible....

"Is this some joke to you? Because it’s not funny at all," she said with annoyance.

"Do you hear anyone laughing? The Crimson Tower is a dungeon." Astrid crossed her arms. "And that's only part of the bad news I'm about to deliver. You might want to sit down for what you're about to hear."