Chapter 362: Head Witch
"Ladies?" The voice came and yet no response seemed to come from Joan or Gia.
Laz took a second to observe this person while she observed him back, not an ounce of panic in her voice or stance. She was dressed from head to toe in black. Black lifted boots, black fishnets, black skirt, black tank top underneath a black leather jacket and a lot of silver chains and jewelery. She even had black cross earrings which hung down from one of the several piercings in her ear. Black lipstick, black eye liner, even black contacts which made her eyes look like dark voids in between her long, silky strains of black hair.
Despite the kind of ridiculous nature of this girl, Laz had to admit that she really went all in on this theme.
After staring at Laz for a moment and taking in his looks, she then turned around to face Gia and Joan and found them standing there, looking at the ground with apologetic looks on their faces. Although they were intrigued by Laz, it wasn’t enough to get them to ignore the head witch’s order. The problem was that something inside of them was telling them that attacking Laz was a very, very dangerous thing to do. Despite that, they had tried to pull themselves together to get it done, only for their bodies to refuse to move.
Strangely, when the head witch’s void like eyes landed on the two strongest physical fighters she had, she just nodded and said,
"I see."
The void like eyes then turned back to Laz as a strong, freezing wind suddenly blew over the dusty field, causing a layer of frost to cover everyone and everything in the area... except for the head witch and Laz.
"Hmm... interesting..." Laz said, looking around him as Joan and Gia started to back away. Other then them, everyone else had passed out and was unable to defend themselves. The reason as to why Laz thought it was interesting was because despite being a display of strength, the amount of energy used was focused more on the area where he stood, letting those who could not defend themselves alone for the most part.
"You...!" The head witch said, focusing her eyes on Laz.
Laz couldn’t help but sigh. He had wanted some down time to strengthen himself as well as hide himself, but it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, he was again placed in a situation where he stood out.
Laz reached up and removed his collar, throwing it to the ground. Seeing this, a small smirk appeared on the head witch’s face. She had already figured this point out. If anything, it was Joan and Gia who seemed the most surprised, not even suspecting that Laz wasn’t actually suppressed.
"Good. Come then you male piece of shit. Let me see just what makes you think you can stand against me," the woman covered in black laughed as her eyes went wide. As soon as she did so, the sky turned from grey to a dark shade of ash as it felt like the light was being consumed. Looking up, Laz noticed two large slits in the sky about twenty feet above him. As his curious mind stared at them, they started to open into two massive black holes. Like the eyes of some ancient beast staring down at him, they wished to consume and destroy him. If Laz were any ordinary man, this sight could have been enough to break his mind.
But Laz was far from a normal man.
Thanks to his master, he had memories of traversing the starry sky and seeing wonders that no human had ever behold.
Giant beasts? Maybe if they were the size of a planet Laz might had been frightened. But for this thing?
"Hardly," Laz said out loud, although only to himself.
Laz stared back at the eyes with a look of contempt as he closed his own eyes for a single breath.
Opening them again, Laz’s icey blue eyes had turned gold as a light within spread out from them.
’Heaven’s Gaze," Laz said in his head as the light from his eyes spread out to engulf the blackness of the devouring.
"Heh. If you think...AAAHHHHHHHHHH," the head witch barely even got out her sneer as pain assaulted her head, causing her eyes to close as she backed away from Laz’s gaze. The black hole like projections in the sky withered to nothing as the golden light grew, threatening to engulf the entire field.
"Mercy, young man. Mercy...!" An old woman appeared beside the cowering head witch and shielded her, as though she was going to take the brunt of the damage to protect the one behind her.
Laz turned his gaze to this interloper before slowly closing his eyes and cutting off the power of the skill.
What he saw from that old woman at that moment was calm mind, a disturbed heart and a nervous soul. She was worried about the girl and would have no concerns about sacrificing her own life to save her.
That was not the kind of life that Laz would take.
"Relax grandma," Laz said, with a softness to his voice and without insult.
"Thank you. Truely. I know... she can be... stubborn... but she is... a good person." The old woman muttered on, her heart finally calming down. For the old woman, it was easy to decide to sacrifice herself, but it was another concern altogether when she considered if it would even matter. As such, the racing of her heart was now the biggest problem.
"Grandma... no..." the head witch said, her eyes finally clearing up as the pain lessened. The strain was starting to take effect as the old woman lost balance and dropped to the ground, the head witch, Gia and Joan right there beside her.
"It’s alright dear. This wasn’t a battle you could win but at least, this old woman was able to help you not lose. Now listen to me, this boy may prove useful so bite back your tongue and give him a chance, ok? Can you do that for me?"
"Yes. yes. I promise grandma. I promise.."
"Oh... enough of this. I mean seriously, it’s not even that bad," Laz said, not wanting to have to sit through one more minute of this drama bullshit.
Walking forward, Laz put a hand on the old woman’s shoulder. Before anyone could stop him, he injected a small strand of black fire that surged through her, repairing and strengthening the blood vessels and vein walls while also repairing the damage to the old woman’s heart by incinerating the decades worth of toxins and build up that had caused it so much problems.
Almost like a dip in a lava pool, the old woman let out a muffled scream before Laz pulled his hand away. Joan and Gia, for their part, reacted quickly and got into a defensive stance, making a human flesh wall between Laz and the old woman.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD," the young head witch screamed as she decided to give up her life to take his, all before a single hand caught the girls wrist and pulled her back.
"Young man. Have you ever thought that perhaps you should be a little bit more gentle with the elderly?" The old woman asked, her eyes fixed on Laz.
Laz stared back, a slight grin on his lips.
"If you were thirty years younger, you’d probably kick my ass without hesitation. Even if you’re heart is weak, your body could give a forty year old a run for their money. Why the hell would I bother being gentle with you?" Laz asked, laughing.
The old woman, after having been seen through by Laz, just started laughing herself.
"HO ho ha. You know boy, you are an interesting one. Got quite a lot on you a woman could lose herself in besides just those special eyes of yours, eh? Damn straight I would have taken you thirty years ago. But whether you could have walked away or not would have been up to you," the old woman laughed harder, causing both Joan and Gia to turn red while her granddaughter was already a bright shade of tomatoe.
"GRANDMA!!!"
"Alright. Enough joking. Come with us. I’m curious about what you actually did to me. As for these little sluts... Well... you two go get that bitch to clean up her mess before I clean her up. Understood?" the old woman instructed Joan and Gia.
"Yes mam," they replied without hesitation and quickly split up, Joan running for whoever the bitch was while Gia got to waking up the guards to tend to the knocked prisoners.
Laz glanced back one last time before joining in step behind the head witch and her grandma as they made their way along. Laz noticed that the older woman seemed to walked a lot more at ease now. Thinking about the black flame of his, he couldn’t help but wonder what other secrets it held. It had been a while since he used it like this, but the combination of heaven’s gaze and the feeling from his blood told him that helping this old woman would be a piece of cake.
Thinking about it, Laz knew it wasn’t healing per say. He didn’t magically make her better. Instead, the flame burned away the things that were making her sick, cleansing her system and her heart. All he did was remove the rot and her blood did all of the rest of the work. I seemed, just like her granddaughter, that she was also in the void palace realm. It was just that she had gained her strength much later than her granddaughter and the effects of a long life had severely shortened her remaining lifespan after getting to this point. Despite that, she was in great shape and her modest clothing did little to hide the several tattoos that were still visible. considering she must have been in her fifties, Laz couldn’t help but wonder just what she looked like thirty years ago.
Taking a brief glance at her granddaughter, Laz noticed that while she was in great shape, it wasn’t nearly the level that her grandmother would have been at at the same age.
No words were spoken until they arrived at a rather lavish looking house. The double glass doors opened wide to reveal a modern design living room and furnishings with hardwood floors stairs that lead up to the second floor and a balcony that overlooked the entrance way. They ended up veering away from all that and ended up in a den like room with large, comfy leather chairs that sat in a circle around a fireplace with a desk off to the side in front of a large window. While the room might seem tamed, it was also imposing with wooden bookshelves lining the walls, covered in all matter of reading material.
The old woman took a seat and indicated for Laz to take one too as the head witch sat down in her own chair. Seeing this, the grandmother looked over at her granddaughter, glared and coughed to get her attention.
"Drinks?" The grandmother said, a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"Me?"
"Our housekeeper is off for today so yes, you."
With a bit of grumbling, the black clothed witch stood up and walked over to the cabinet, grumbling a bit to herself as she pulled out two bottles.
"I’m good with the hard stuff today doll," the old woman said, before reaching over to the small, circular table next to her and grabbing a tablet.
"Grandmother. You can’t be serious..." the young woman said, glaring at her grandmother.
The old woman didn’t say anything in return and just started tapping on the screen as though immersed in her own world.
"Fine," the young woman said, putting one of the bottles back and grabbing three cups. She then came over, set the three cups down on another side table and filled them two-thirds of the way full before handing one to Laz and setting one down next to her grandmother. Just as she turned away, her grandmother reached out, slammed the entire drink and passed it back to her granddaughter for a refill.
"My god.."
"Just fill it. I haven’t been able to have a good drink in a while..."
"But gran... your heart and..."
"Little girl. Don’t think for one second that I don’t know my condition better than anyone. And on top of that, you really have no idea just what this boy did to me. So shut up and pour me a drink," the old woman didn’t look up again, instead intent on whatever she was looking for. While her granddaughter looked upset, she didn’t say anything and poured the drink.
"Now, be a dear and burn some sage and sandalwood," the old woman said before reaching into the drawer on the table beside her and pulling out a brush and black ink.
Just as Laz was going to ask what she was doing, the old woman wrote in the air as though on invisible paper. As Laz looked on, the runes flew out of the brush one by one and engraved themselves around the room. Laz had to admit, from the way she was doing it, she was a pro and actually looked like a witch casting a spell.
As the runes surrounded them in a dome, Laz just sat back and sipped, the strong liquor burning his throat slightly. He knew the runes she was using and wasn’t alarmed in the slightest. While the old woman didn’t say anything, the young witch couldn’t help but stare at him and wonder if he knew what she was doing, or it he was just to stupid to understand.
"There done. As I guessed, these aren’t something you’re unfamiliar with. If you were, there is no way you would have been able to alter that collar and make the locking rune on it ineffective."
Laz didn’t respond, instead eager to see what this old woman wanted. While Laz was indifferent, the young witch finally understood and looked at him in a new light. If she had one guilty interest, it was playing with and learning runes. Seeing someone else familiar with them, one acknowledged by her grandmother was enough to get her interest.
"Anyway. The reason I invited you here was because I thought I recognized you. So tell me, Lazarus Crowe, is this actually you?"
The old woman held up a video playing on a government website of the most dangerous infected in the country. As it turned out, Laz had taken the top spot.
Laz didn’t nod or deny or act in any way. Instead, he sat there and took another drink.
"Answer her," the young witch demanded as a spark of energy shot out from her fingers. From underneath Laz’s feet, a rug had been laid under the chair in the same way all of the chairs had their own rugs.
But beneath this, a glow emanated from it, an H like character; Hagalaz and another; Eihwaz. Between the two of them, the molded and forced a power to descend onto Laz, making him wish to allow them to challenge him and understand his response.
While the power was hard for even Laz to resist, considering the rune obviously came from the grandmother but was powered by the young witch, Laz simple raised a finger in the air as black flames sprung forth. Writing in the air as though the finger was a paintbrush and the fire the ink, Laz wrote out the rune Raido, overcoming the obstacle in front of him as the runes underneath his feet fizzled into nothingness.
"I am he. And you’re use of runes is.. flawed."
This time, both the grandmother and granddaughter were awed.
