"Are you really all right?"
Shade asked one last time. The witch put one hand on her hip.
"As long as you're here, there's definitely no problem."
She gave her hair a light toss, then motioned for her Followers to temporarily withdraw. Even Miss Bell walked into the forest.
"I prepared this move for my promotion to the Thirteenth Order. Stand behind me now, and don't get caught in it."
The witch instructed Shade again. He had no choice but to comply, though he still warned her:
"You're still cursed. Don't cast at full strength."
"Yes, I know."
She summoned her Tenth Ring of Fate from her humanoid form. Shade saw that her Core Ling Runes were the standard three—Death Mimicry and Inspiration. She then took out a gray stone in her right hand as Spellcasting Materials, and Golden Eyes finally showed a serious expression:
"This was taken from a gravestone at least a hundred years old. It's the Spellcasting Materials most commonly used by Witches of our lineage: Thaumaturgy—Wall of Sighs!"
Core Ling Rune—Death, Miracle—Boundary, and Blasphemy—The Living bloomed with light at once. She threw the gray tombstone into the bonfire burning in the forest clearing. Then, a hum seemed to rise from the Depths underground. As the originally blazing flames abruptly transformed into black smoke and dust, and amid a faint vibration of the earth, a rough, square gray stone wall slowly rose from the soil beside the unconscious Father Francois.
The aura of death bursting from the cracks in the ground quickly turned the yellowed leaves black and scorched. In an instant, the golden Woodland gained many shadows that should not have been there. A chilling wind swept through the surroundings, and even the Night Watchman inside the case on Shade's back suddenly shook.
The square gray