Caterina was no different than a small bird being caught. She squirmed and screamed. All for nothing. Not even in delaying her suffering.

Jude pulled her close and his mouth opened wide.

"STOP! STOP, JUDE FISHER! THIS ISN'T YOU!" Caterina screamed at the top of her lungs.

Siderius stood there, looking at the pair of husband and wife with indifferent eyes. That was the cost of being a witch.

Sooner or later, you shall be devoured by your own desire. The only way to avoid it was to never practice magic in the first hand.

But what kind of witch could resist such a temptation? I had never seen even one could refuse the allure of magic. Siderius thought.

Witches were no different than humans. They were essentially humans with heightened sensitivity to Dark Aether and an organ that could produce magic. They could do many things that a human could not. This made them, at their core, to have a superiority complex to humans.

So in every case when witches existed, they would enslave humans and treat them as inferior.

"The core idea of being a witch can never be separated from supremacism. That makes them dangerous."

Jude shut his mouth without taking any bite at Caterina. His mouth had not bitten into her flesh but it had bitten into the invisible mana core of Caterina.

"So that was how her mana core became incomplete. Ironic." Siderius commented.

Her true love attacked her in his madness and destroyed the very thing she had worked all her life for. The self-destruction that was so common with witches that Siderius couldn't recount how many times he saw it.

Jude's grasp loosened and Caterina fell on the ground. She bled black tears out of the corners of her eyes.

Her gaze lost its focus and her eyes stayed wide open. It looked like she was no longer there.

"He should be here any moment." Siderius turned his head toward the door.

And as he anticipated, a figure went inside.

Jude's son, Jareth Fisher. He was only sixteen when he died. The same age as Snow when he made the deal with Siderius.

Jareth was a tall young man. He was a human. Jude's genetics weren't good enough to produce an offspring with magic. Still, he had never hated the kid. For him, witch or human, Jareth was his son and Jude loved him sincerely.

But everything turned sour the more power Jude gained. Slowly, Jude became the abusive father that he had never wished to be. All because of the corruption of magic.

Still, Jareth understood everything. He knew that all of it would go away once his father reached the rank of Lesser Witch.

But that night was different. He went inside the estate to see his mother in her raven form and his father as the creature of many things.

Jareth knew at that moment what he needed to do. If he didn't, Jude would have eaten his mother and consumed her to the bone.

Jareth needed to be there to save his mom.

Poor. Poor Jude. Poor the Baron of Scalize. Poor the brave witch of the vast sea. Poor his life and his wife.

He had everything. But magic always comes at a price. And that night, he had paid the price and then some.

When Jude regained his consciousness, dawn had broken. The sun shone through the cracks of the Baron's estate, illuminating the beast that was gnawing at human flesh.

His eyes lost its madness and he looked down. His hands were bloody. The floor was soaked. And there laid the remnants of what was supposed to be a human.

Jude's body shrunk and returned to its original state. He was shaken but not that worried. The truth was that it wasn't the first time he lost control.

But he would always be certain that the people he harmed would only be nobodies.

"It is probably a guard or servant." He told himself. But even when his mind didn't register the truth. His body already did.

His hands trembled like frailed trees in the storm. Those clothes on the ground were gravely familiar. It was not the clothes of a servant or a guard.

But maybe it was a coincidence. Jude tried to tell himself.

The truth dawned on him when he saw the motionless Caterina on the ground.

Instantly, the Baron of Scalize fell on his knees. A man should never cry because it is weak.

That day, the Baron, the daredevil fisherman, the brave witch of the vast sea, cried like a baby.

Siderius stood in the memory and looked down upon the man. He was broken beyond repair. His face twisted like an old piece of paper.

Then. The man punched himself in the chest, where his Mana Core was supposed to be. Dark Aether pulsed in his veins and retreated to the Core. Magic withdrew from his flesh and mind.

Jude locked his Mana Core away, putting it to a dormant state. From then on, he would no longer be controlled by his desire.

At a price, Jude lost almost all of his magic, only retaining a very few that couldn't be used in combat.

Suddenly, Caterina stood up from the floor. She raised unnaturally with her back arched. Her head snapped forward with her eyes beaming at Siderius.

The vengeful hunter's brow furrowed. The Black Witch was looking right at him. She wasn't supposed to do that. This was only a memory.

The scene quickly withdrew into her. Darkness filled the space.

Siderius had returned to the dark mind space. The place where his mind and Caterina were linking together.

But Caterina didn't disappear. She was still there with her monstrous raven form. Her eyes shone a dark green color.

Immediately, Siderius felt a push to his psyche. Caterina's subconscious had spotted an intruder and it would now do whatever it takes to eliminate this threat.

"I should have known." Siderius mumbled. "Trespassing into such devastating trauma triggers her defense mechanism."

A door appeared behind Siderius. It was the door of his Mind Palace with all the alchemical symbols engraved on it.

He kicked the door open and immediately jumped inside.

"Follow me if you dare, witch." Siderius said.

Caterina screeched loudly and flew inside the door.

The landscape changed once more. Now, they returned to Siderius' castle. His humble abode back in his old world.

Siderius appeared on the balcony inside the castle while Caterina was thrown into the forest outside.

He looked over and saw that Caterina had turned into a gigantic black raven that was running in his direction. Along with her, was a giant white owl.

The owl was smaller than Caterina but was still unnaturally big. It had the size of an elephant while Caterina was as tall as a two-story house.

"Shit..." Siderius said. Alchemy Palace was used to materialize any poison to the mind into an enemy. It was mostly used to conquer mutations of the witch hunter process.

Now, it had turned both Fluff and Caterina into his enemies.

A familiar voice came from behind Siderius. "Welcome back, teacher."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.