WITCH OF THE END

Sitting beside her mother, Luna bowed to the rest of the clan, her head almost touching the floor. Although these customs were way past their time, it was important for them to maintain them as a way of preserving their cultures.

The room was filled with real blood relatives and heads of clans that were absorbed into House Feng like her father's, The Yin Clan.

"Thank you all for coming today. I know how busy you all are, especially with what's going on in the world right now." Her mother began. "And I will jump to the point because of that single factor. I have summoned all of you here to discuss the Crimson Tower threat and the countermeasures we shall take in case anything goes wrong. We will be participating in the subjugation of the threat as a House, and I will be overseeing the entire operation as the current head alongside the Government President."

Suddenly shocked expressions appeared on every person's face. Everyone in the room started to clamor.

Why, you ask. Well, it's because Mao Feng hadn't participated in a subjugation since the death of her husband years ago.

"Lady Feng, our house has enough powerful ascenders of level five mastery and above. You don't have to…" one of the attendants cut in. He was in a grey polyester suit with dark hair and grey eyes.

Luna stared at her uncle, Hilde Yin, as he continued his argument. "You don't have to put your life on the line."

"I agree with him, sister." Agreed a large grey-haired man. He wore a pair of rectangular glasses. Underneath, he had striking blue eyes that were fixed on Mao Feng. They carried a familiar coldness. Despite that, his face was kind and warm in comparison.

It was her uncle, Ronan Feng.

Just then, a woman with dark hair and dark sunglasses over her eyes spoke from the corner of the room. "Hilde has a point, lady Feng. You haven't even picked a worthy successor, yet. Your husband might have picked Lunaris but we all know she's not capable of leading us to the future. The least she can do is marry another ascender and birth to a child with her blood type."

Luna faced her aunt with a calm expression. She was burning to say something. But. One thing she learned from gaming was keeping your emotions in control was a good thing.

'If anyone is worthy of marriage here, it is Lena.' Luna eyed her sister. 'The girl was a goddess for gods's sake.'

Mao Feng sighed at the woman's words. "My daughter will marry at her own time, Astrid. Also, it wasn't my late husband who chose Luna as the successor of this house, I made the decision and he supported it. Luna's gifts make her the true foundation of the Feng Clan. Our clan will continue to move forward with her in the chair of leadership. We were already a powerful clan even before the fall…before Zenshi came into the picture. So Astrid, if any of still don't understand, let me rectify this. Lunaris Feng will succeed me should I die or retire, Lenadria Feng will be her second."

As soon as she heard that, Luna's eyes widened from shock. Did her mother just say that she will remain the heir? How could she say that when the most obvious choice was Lena? Why didn't she pick Lena?

It was both a baffling and risky choice to make considering the kind of world they were living in.

Astrid scoffed. "This Clan will collapse if you go through with that decision. Just because she can fight like a true master doesn't make her the worthy choice." She paused for a moment and hissed while the emptiness of her gaze pierced Luna. "What's so special about that…"

"Astrid!" Ronan slammed his fist into the ground, his striking eyes almost glowing. "You have no right to look down on someone of high blood."

"High blood?" Astrid spat. Then laughed.

However, no one reacted to her. No one could complain about Astrid Feng's behavior. No one in this room understood what she felt. Unlike everyone here, the woman lost her son and husband a few years back during the battle on the moon. She was a member of the moon community before that incident and one of the politicians who managed it.

The appearance of a gate on the moon was unexpected because humans assumed gates only appeared here on Earth and that's it. The few ascenders there fought bravely to protect and allow a safe evacuation, Astrid's husband being one of them. Unfortunately, they lost and only ten million humans out of the total population of thirty million made it back to earth. Astrid was the only ascender that made it back to Earth. Since returning, she turned bitter and joined the special forces that hunt and subjugate powerful monsters around the world.

While in silence, Astrid rose from the floor with a somber look on her face. She was pale, almost like a corpse. She removed her shades, revealing her bright red eyes. She had bags of sleep under her eyes, revealing her palpable exhaustion and sleep deficiency. It was clear that she was no longer the mighty Moon Siren who led thousands of ascenders many years ago.

Right now, Astrid was just a husk of her former self. "Being born a Feng is a curse, cousin," she said to Mao Feng while painfully clenching her teeth. "We can never have normal lives, we can't be happy. Ronan is blind due to his Aura, you and I are widows. It is all shit! All of this! I hate it! I hate these gifts! I hate my responsibilities."

Tears started streaming down her cheeks. She tried to clean them with her sleeves but they kept on flowing down like a river.

When her crying slowed down, she sniffed. "I will participate in the subjugation. But after that, I request Snow to grant me the gift of death. I'm tired of living in a world without them."

Mao Feng listened. Her face was stern and beautiful. When she was sure Astrid was done, she nodded, respecting her request.

"If that is your wish, cousin. Sigh. Then it will be granted by the Reaper himself."

Luna exchanged glances with Snow who quickly turned away with a bitter expression on his handsome face. Snow had a very rare Aura known as [Death]. His abilities were godlike compared to the rest of the concepts in the mortal realm. From the little she had learned, Luna knew he was capable of extracting souls from mortals and guiding them to the realm beyond death or consuming them to make himself stronger which he was against as it made him less human in a way.

The scope of his powers was only known to him and was the sole reason why his code name was Reaper.

After a while, the meeting continued. Her mother explained why she needed to be there for the subjugation. The answer was simple: public image. Mundane civilians were starting to think the Feng clan had lost a big part of their strength since the death of Zheng. Mao Feng and Lena, along with the strongest clan members would need to participate and subjugate the threat to show the public that the clan is still as strong as ever.

During the entire meeting, Luna only stayed silent as she listened. She kept her conflicting thoughts to herself to show her respect for the clan. Her mother's reason was very valid—the great houses needed mundane humans as pillars of their survival.

When the meeting closed, everyone apart from Mao Feng and her daughters left the room.

After an awkward moment of silence, after everyone left, Lena finally spoke. "The Crimson Tower is a level five threat. The black ether is just one of our many problems."

She produced a touchscreen tablet and handed it to her mother who started studying the three-dimensional layout of the tower. From what they had learned, the tower was roughly made of three to four floors.

Luna stared at it with a bleak expression. She had developed a bad feeling about this entire "operation". It's not like she didn't trust her mother's abilities. Heck…she was also a sorceress, meaning the chances of winning against a sovereign or scythe were higher than a summoner by a large margin.

Lena explained to their mother. She made sure she kept the information both detailed and short with her words since time was of the essence at the moment.

"The subjugation units will be of one hundred and fifty men from our side each divided into three groups each led by a captain. Captain Snow and I will lead the first team of fifty men, serving directly under General Astrid Feng. The second force will be led by Captain Yun from the Military and a member of House Ares. They will also work under General Astrid. The third group to enter will be yours, you will be taking care of what lies on the last floor."

As Lena continued her briefing, Mao Feng continued reading through the files on the device. Her expression was the same, her concentration unbreakable. She casually scrolled through the plan layout without saying anything until she was on the final page.

She placed the device down and sighed. "The plan is incredible. But you haven't accounted for the corruption leaking out of the tower, and how it affects every soldier. Not every one of the government's soldiers is immune like ascenders."

Lena picked up the tablet and nodded. "We already did, mother. The latest Nanotech suits block and protect the wearer from infection."

"Also…" Mao Feng faced Luna who had been silent since the meeting began.

Caught slightly offside, the pale beauty straightened herself to appear serious under her mother's gaze as she continued speaking.

"…Dark Blade will fight alongside us."