Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

The Blood Moon Condensed Light exploded within the Thunder Angel’s body, scattering all the dark clouds covering his bones, and cracks spread densely across them while his ribs shattered directly into powder.

The Thunder Angel crashed to the ground, and the next moment, a river of stars poured down from the sky, completely shattering the Thunder Angel’s remaining bones as well.

Only then did the starry sky above vanish, transforming into a young girl in a white dress who fell from the heavens.

”Master!”

Starnight opened her arms wide, her face brimming with unrestrained joy.

The wild wind whipped through her light green hair, strands dancing freely in the air.

”Starnight...”

Compared to Starnight, Loren was far more composed. He caught Starnight steadily mid-air:

”Long time no see...”

Starnight excitedly rubbed her cheek against Loren’s face, but she quickly realized she was no longer a little bird, and immediately began blushing as she pulled away from Loren.Still, she couldn’t help but look into Loren’s eyes, smiling as she eagerly poured out how much she had missed him:

”After you left, I tried everything I could to find you. I searched every corner of this world, even the depths of the Endless Ocean...”

As she spoke, Starnight suddenly burst into tears.

”It’s alright, I’m back now.”

Loren wiped away Starnight’s tears and gently descended with her from the sky.

”Let’s take this angel home first and keep it restrained so it can’t recover. Then I’ll go seize the materials for the Severance Ritual. It’ll be quick.”

”Okay.”

Only after Starnight acknowledged did Loren set her down.

By then, the angel had been smashed into a deep crater and was slowly regenerating itself, the overflowing electric currents causing the sand on the ground to melt.

So Loren immediately used Abundant Magic to create a wooden meat grinder and stuffed the Thunder Angel inside.

The thing only looked like a two-meter-tall box on the surface, but inside, Abundant Magic was constantly being activated, shredding the freshly healed Thunder Angel apart again.

”Alright, let’s go.”

A long wooden pole extended from the box, and Loren grabbed it to hoist the wooden meat grinder up.

Carrying this thing made acceleration difficult. The Dawn Magpie’s speed was impressive, but its carrying capacity was poor, and even a slight increase in drag had a significant impact, so Loren ended up using the Dusk Crow’s wings instead.

”Yeah.”

After Loren took to the sky, a pair of identical wings sprouted from Starnight’s back, also Dusk Crow wings.

”How can you transform into so many Mythical Creatures? Is your Arcane Ability the ability to turn into any Mythical Creature?”

Now that he was finally reunited with Starnight, Loren could finally ask the question that had been nagging at him all this time.

”My Arcane Ability is called [Myriad Mimicry], and it lets me transform into creatures I’ve seen.”

”Creatures you’ve seen?”

Starnight’s Arcane Ability was quite similar to the World Card’s effect, but each had its pros and cons. The World required witnessing the creature’s death, while [Myriad Mimicry] only required having seen it.

However, the World enhanced the recorded abilities and was more flexible to use.

The World granted the abilities of those creatures, and this even included other humans, allowing the user to employ unique skills possessed by special individuals.

[Myriad Mimicry] involved turning oneself into those creatures, and no matter what she transformed into, she could only use basic abilities.

None of that was the point though. What Loren cared about was why Starnight could transform into so many Mythical Creatures. Since her transformation required her to have seen them with her own eyes, that meant Starnight had encountered those Mythical Creatures.

”So you’ve seen a Dusk Crow before?”

It was understandable that Starnight had seen the Dawn Magpie, and Loren could even comprehend Starnight having seen the Starry Sky Whale, but he simply couldn’t figure out how she had seen the Dusk Crow.

The Dawn Magpie often flew around everywhere, so perhaps Starnight had caught a glimpse of it at some moment, and then she happened to have gone to find angels and spotted the Starry Sky Whale as well.

But the Dusk Crow could extinguish light itself, and it had always been hidden over the Endless Ocean where no one could see it.

Loren remembered very clearly that Starnight hadn’t been present the last time he saw the Dusk Crow, and it had gone extinct after that. Even if Starnight had returned to the Endless Ocean, she couldn’t possibly have seen the Dusk Crow.

”I think so, otherwise I couldn’t have transformed into it, but I don’t really remember.”

”Then do you know where the Starry Sky Whale is?”

At this point, Loren grew somewhat excited. Ever since his transmigration, he had been longing for the Starry Sky Whale, and part of the reason he had taken the Requiem was because of it.

After Loren obtained the Time Card, that desire reached its peak. Now that he possessed the Dawn Magpie’s ability, he was fully capable of meeting the Starry Sky Whale.

But Starnight’s next words poured cold water on Loren’s enthusiasm:

”I don’t know. I don’t even remember where I saw the Starry Sky Whale, and I didn’t even know what it looked like until I transformed into it...”

”Could your Arcane Ability have evolved in a moment of desperation?”

That was indeed possible. After experiencing intense emotional turmoil, a Witch’s Arcane Ability would evolve, and that might be why Starnight could transform into Mythical Creatures she had never seen.

Just as Loren came up with this self-satisfying explanation, Starnight shook her head:

”It’s not like that. It’s just that I was anxious back then, and suddenly I recalled some things, like having seen many powerful creatures...”

”Recalled?”

Loren seized on the key word, which meant Starnight had indeed seen those creatures, she just had no memory of it.

”How old are you?”

Loren had originally worried that Starnight was still underage, but now it seemed more likely that he was practically a little boy compared to her.

”Hmm... I’m not really sure... I only have memories of living as a Nightingale, and that probably wasn’t even that many years...”

”Alright...”

It didn’t matter that Starnight couldn’t recall these things. What mattered was that Starnight could transform into many Mythical Creatures.

”Can you turn into the Eternal Ember Serpent?”

Loren couldn’t wait to test Starnight’s Arcane Ability, so much so that he landed directly on the ground.

”I can.”

As Starnight agreed, she quickly transformed into a gray-white Ouroboros, crushing half a forest beneath her.

However, the Eternal Ember Serpent Starnight became was considerably smaller than the one in Loren’s memory, just like when she had transformed into the Starry Sky Whale.

The moment Starnight transformed, the temperature in the area began to plummet rapidly. The Mythical Creature she became did indeed possess that creature’s characteristics, though Loren wasn’t entirely sure whether Starnight could perform the Severance Ritual.

”Try turning into the Desolation Deer.”

Loren was like a little kid, having Starnight transform into this and that. Starnight’s Arcane Ability was indeed quite formidable, so it was no wonder Loren was so thrilled.

Starnight nodded her massive serpent head, then her body began to rapidly shrink, turning into a stone-like giant deer.

The next moment, the surrounding trees that had just been covered in frost instantly withered, and the entire land fell into deathly silence, the effect continuously spreading outward.

”Alright, that’s enough...”

After Starnight demonstrated the Mythical Creature’s abilities, Loren suddenly had a strange idea:

”Starnight... can you grow out a pair of animal ears?”