The scream for help woke Samantha up from her thoughts, it was she was at the last pillar and it should have been peaceful.

Unlike the other pillars that were close to residential areas or cities, this one was deep iin the mountains.

A place that did not look like it was regularly visited by humans yet-

*BOOM*

Samantha rushed towards the sound of the explosion and-

"Who are you!"

She screamed as she found her companions and a few witches that were under Morgana huddled together as they combined their spells to defend the Pillar.

"Oh? Are you their boss?"

The one to answer Samantha was a woman with bright platinum blonde hair.

She had an icy temperament and wore a silver dress.

Despite the ground around her being covered in mud and dust, not a single speck of dirt could be seen on her figure.

"I’m Samantha! A witch under Morgana and a servant of Richard Rex!"

Samantha did not know who the foreign woman was, she was not taught about important people as Richard believed that they did not need to.

Yet the woman before her was obviously of foreign descent, it was impossible for her to be a local and her English was very clear without a local accent.

Her name may not have any power to the woman but Morgana and Richard should-

"Morgana? Richard? Morgana is serving Richard or is Richard serving Morgana?"

The woman asked curiously, Samantha did not know whether it was a secret or not but by the looks of it-

"Morgana serves our Master Richard Rex! This pillar was personally created by Morgana under the orders of Master Richard!"

Although the woman spoke of Richard and Morgana quite casually, the fact that she seemed to know them gave Samantha a bit of hope that she was aware of their power.

It was the classic fox borrowing the tigers skin but Samantha had no choice!

The woman was leagues above her, maybe only Richard and the other top people could contend against the woman.

Unfortunately for Samantha, the woman did not seem perturbed and instead showed a calculating smirk.

"Iiiss that soo~? Then it would be a royal pain in the ass for Morgana if I were to... I dunno- crack it a bi-"

*Crack*

"Hm?"

The sound of glass cracking echoed and then-

*Shatter*

The space next to the woman shattered, she immediately tried to evade but her actions were a step too slow as black chains shot out from the dark rift wrapping around the woman tightly.

"Long time no see... Skadi"

The familiar voice of a woman she loathed echoed from behind Samantha, despite loathing her, Samantha was truly grateful that she finally arrived.

But Samantha could tell that she didn’t come to save her or the people protecting the pillar.

"Morgana? I expected you to take a couple of hours to get here... hm~"

The blonde woman stared at Morgana, blood was already dripping from the places where the chains wrapped around but she didn’t seem all too bothered with it as she stared at Morgana, her eyes glowing with a pale blue light.

"I see~ It seems Merlin- no... Dam- no... Richard? It still feels off... hm? But I guess that’ll do- Richard’s magic huh? He’s gotten even more potential than when he was Merlin. It seems he also finally fit your taste"

The woman who Morgana called Skadi spoke with a carefree tone, even when her body was being harmed to an extreme degree by the chains, she still maintained her calm expression while she spoke with Morgana.

"Hmph! I don’t want to hear that from you, the scar you left almost made him food for Scathach"

"I didn’t mean to do it! Also, it’s not my fault if he fell in love with me right?"

The two women had a heated exchange, despite their tone and expression remaining calm and aloof, the chill and thunder in their statements could be felt from miles away.

"I thought Richard was against the use of sacrifices?"

Skadi dropped a bombshell that shocked even Samantha, everyone save for Skadi turned to Morgana, their eyes showing a complex series of emotions.

Did we do something that would get us hated?

What would happen to us now?

It was hard to believe that Richard, the man who treated men like guinea pigs and women like sex toys... that man who looked as if he could do any evil act in the world-

He didn’t want to use sacrifices?

Based on Morgana’s teachings which she inserted while building the pillars, Samantha and the other local mystics knew that magic was related to the soul and is the reason why ancient civilizations used sacrifices and other bloody rituals to create miracles.

It was not some twisted, misguided religious belief.

There was a mystical basis for it as the magic that uses sacrifices turns the souls of the sacrifice into the source of "magic".

The more sacrifices were used, the greater the power of the spell.

While individual mystics could have the power to create magic without sacrifices, it needed a powerful heritage.

Richard claimed that he had the blood of both demons and angels, which is why he was able to wield magic as freely and on such a scale that few could copy.

It was also for that reason that he could turn regular people into mystics who could wield magic through sex.

Samantha believed that the inhuman nature that mystics carried is what allowed them to commit atrocities without worry.

After all, pigs and humans were both mammals yet pigs are treated as food by humans.

So what was wrong with a non-human treating humans as mere materials?

But the claim that the weird woman gave made the whole idea confusing.

Normally, Samantha would ignore such statements, she would believe that Morgana was being framed and the the lies were used as a tool against Morgana but-

Isn’t this my chance?

All Samantha had to do was find a way to escape...

If she could sneak away, meet Richard and inform him of Morgana’s actions...

"S I T"

Yet as she tried to think of escape routes, Morgana turned to her, the timeless witches eyes were dark and carried a suppressive force that created an actual physical pressure that pushed Samantha down.

"I knew you were rebellious, Richard need not know about this- and he need not know about you"

Morgana turned to the witch named Skadi, the chains tightened yet even with all the force exerted, the witch did not seem in any way affected.

"Do your worst"

The witch said with a smirk and-

*SPLAT*

The witches body exploded but-

"Huh?"

Samantha, even while her body was forced down could still see the mysterious moment when the body transformed.

The alluring witch had turned into a brown haired man who screamed as his body was torn to shreds.

Morgana picked up the decapitated head of the man and after closing her eyes for a moment with the head in her hand-

*CRUSH*

With her bare hands, Morgana crushed the head and muttered-

"Robert huh? Tsk-"

Morgana was pissed, that much was obvious but-

*GLARE*

The ancient bi-witch turned to Samantha, her eyes blazing with unreleased anger.

"You wanted to take my place?"

Her words voice as she asked was deep and foreboding, Samantha did not want to answer but-

"So-sorry..."

Silence would be punished, confirmation would be punished-

All she could do now was-

"I... I just wish to be closer to Master Richard..."

She banked on the one thing that she believed could save her.

Using Richard’s name-

But her tactic did nothing but anger Morgana even more-

"You think that’ll work on m-"

"Stop that"

The moment Morgana’s rage exploded, Samantha thought that it was going to be her end.

She already started to pray for salvation but just before Morgana made her move, an angel came.

"She appeared huh?"

One of the women who had an important position within the group, Yuna Seok, a South Korean fortune teller and information trader arrived.

Her pink hair that looked to be dyed and which Samantha secretly made fun off looked rather heroic now.

"You..."

Morgana wanted to say something but stopped.

While she and Yuna held an equal standing, Richard was obviously going to side with Yuna, especially after he learned of what Morgana had done.

Yuna knew that and that was why she strode towards the powerful witch with as much confidence as she had when dealing with weaker mystics.

"Skadi... I recall that she’s a special person to Richard?"

Yuna asked Morgana who was unfazed as she answered-

"Special? You were there when it happened right? Skadi was the one who cursed Richard, she was also the reason he suffered for so long. Moreover, she lost that status after Richard made a deal with that Goddess"

Yuna responded to Morgana’s words with a simple smile, she too was unfazed at Morgana’s knowledge of the matter.

"But Richard still has a desire to get a hold of Skadi and the woman who likely is her current incarnation- Karen Tamashiro. He may not be obsessed with her but Richard is the type to protect his things"

The two witches glared at each other as sparks flew in between the two.

"That woman is not here, that was merely a puppet, one who bore the soul of a man named Robert, of course, that soul has been reclaimed by its owner"

Morgana said half heartedly as she turned around leaving the place but before she did, she gave the witches some tasks while she reinforced the protections on the Pillar.

So you know about them huh? Of course... anyone with your power and experience would wonder why Richard would pick the Philippines of all nations to escape to

Yuna thought as she watched Morgana continue with her activities.

Things are starting to get interesting~