Chapter 111

Why is there such a tombstone in Lilith's backyard?

"Miss Witch, is this someone you know?"

After hesitating for a moment, Dark Feather asked.

Surprisingly, the Witch didn't react much, simply replying calmly:

"I don't know him."

It seems the Witch doesn't recognize this child either...

Just as Dark Feather thought this, she looked up and saw something slowly dripping from the woman's emotionless face in the slanting sunlight.

Those deep purple, icy eyes, without anyone noticing, shed raindrops that slid down their cheeks and dripped down their faces.

The woman seemed completely oblivious to all of this.

"Then why are you crying?"

It wasn't until Dark Feather reminded her that Haihara paused for a moment, then reached out and touched her cheek, feeling a damp, cold sensation on her fingertips.

At that moment, Haihara realized that she seemed to be crying.

But she herself couldn't understand why this was happening; all that remained on her face was confusion and blankness.

"I..."

Haihara paused for a moment before slowly regaining her composure and wiping away the tears from her face.

She genuinely didn't know what was going on.

They didn't even know whose tombstone it belonged to.

But after seeing the tombstone, she felt inexplicably sad.

However, that feeling has now disappeared.

"Have you found that Magic Crystal?"

Seemingly feeling a little awkward, Haihara changed the subject.

After hearing what the Witch said, Dark Feather felt that the Magic Crystal was probably not in the house.

Or perhaps the Magic Crystal doesn't even exist in this place.

"... No."

Dark Feather lowered her head.

It was clear that she was feeling a little down.

Not far away, there seemed to be a swing. For some reason, she slowly walked over and sat on the swing.

"Why do you want the Silver Feather Magic Wand?"

On another swing nearby, Haihara asked this question.

Dark Feather squatted on the swing, her head slightly lowered and buried in her knees, but she did not fall off the swing, as light as a fluttering feather.

"A reason?"

Faced with this question, Dark Feather's gaze wavered somewhat.

However, her answer was quite straightforward:

I want power.

If she possessed the power of Overlord, she could fulfill certain wishes that were otherwise impossible.

Haihara slightly raised her chin, looking curious.

While the desire for power is a common reason for Black Magical Girl, based on their time together, she didn't think Dark Feather was someone who cared a lot about power.

This is just casual conversation; it's fine if the other person doesn't want to talk.

Upon hearing this, Dark Feather slightly raised her head.

She remembered the hallucination she had at the college earlier that day.

Normally, she would probably make up some excuse to get by, because she doesn't want to tell others about her personal matters.

But...

Dark Feather took out his medicine bottle and casually waved it in front of Haihara.

"I have a wish that I want to fulfill."

Or rather... a wish she absolutely had to fulfill.

Haihara glanced at it; although she had never taken it before, she could roughly guess what the medicine bottle was about.

She had students before who had taken similar medications.

She was all too familiar with this situation.

After hesitating for a moment, Dark Feather slowly spoke again:

"I made an irreparable mistake before."

She couldn't tell the Witch everything about herself yet, so she only spoke vaguely.

"The school I attended before was full of people with terrible personalities. But even though they were terrible, because I'm also a hypocrite who's good at pleasing others, I managed to fit in."

She attended a girls' school.

While the term "JK" sounds nice, there are quite a few people with bad personalities who are disliked, and her class just happens to have a lot of such people.

In order to avoid being ostracized, she could only pretend to be one of them.

Those girls don't actually do anything too outrageous, but their cold words that exclude outsiders and their various unreasonable behaviors can indeed hurt others.

For her, all she could do at the time was observe.

Haihara nodded casually to the side.

As a teacher who has seen countless high school girls (JKs), this kind of thing is normal; in fact, it's quite common in this society.

"But at that time, I had a friend."

She was a girl with a smile as bright as the morning sun, but she was somewhat aloof and didn't quite fit in with her classmates.

For her, he was also her only true friend.

During that somewhat depressing period when I was forcing myself to be part of the same group as other classmates I disliked, the only time I spent with that friend was truly enjoyable.

What unpleasant thing happened between you?

"..."

It's probably more than just unpleasant to describe.

Whether it's a sigh or a bitter expression, it will appear light; Dark Feather doesn't know what expression to use.

Just as he was about to continue speaking, Dark Feather opened his mouth but did not utter a sound.

For a moment, she didn't have the courage to tell Haihara what had happened.

She slowly raised her head, trying to calm herself down, and just then, she seemed to notice a tall tree in the distance of the meadow.

The tree had no branches or leaves, and was grayish-black in color. In this season, it looked like a withered and decaying log. However, she could vaguely see that a fruit seemed to be hanging from the tree.

Why is there a fruit growing there?

Moreover, the fruit, with its faint crimson glow, didn't look alluring at all; instead, it was rather eerie.

"Did you see that?"

Haihara looked at the tree in the distance and said in a cold tone.

Dark Feather looked at it more closely, but felt that the thing didn't seem to be a fruit at all... There was something transparent and crystalline inside, emitting a blood-red light.

When Dark Feather looked down, she saw that her Magic Wand had appeared in her hand at some point, and the Magic Crystal on it was emitting a dark mist that began to spread throughout her body.

This was not her own idea.

It was the Fallen Heaven himself...

"... This is?"

Dark Feather froze, watching as the Magic Gear on her body began to be stained by the black mist. The pure white dress was turned black by the mist, changing back to the color of the Shadow Feather.

The colorful feathers, however, appeared to have been soaked in filthy ink, turning into a decadent color.

Haihara, who was standing nearby, also noticed what was happening to Dark Feather.

"Was it influenced by that Crystal?"

Haihara looked at Dark Feather.

"Crystal?"

Dark Feather could only see the fruit hanging on the dark tree in the distance.

She felt unwell all over, yet she couldn't help but be drawn to the fruit on the tree.

"That is a high-level Crystal with power surpassing that of the Fate Kite. After Lilith left, it seems to have been absorbing the Magic Power of this area, and eventually it even grew into this tree."

As she spoke, Haihara walked towards the tree.

The tree stood at the far end of the backyard, seemingly out of place with its surroundings. Yet, compared to it, everything else appeared as if it were fabricated, barely maintaining a fragile illusion.

At the very top of the tree, there was a fruit formed from blood, constantly dripping with solidified Magic Power, just like fresh blood.

At that moment, for some reason, Haihara remembered a story about snakes.

In mythology, the devil disguised himself as a serpent and tempted people to eat a fruit from a tree. The serpent said, "Eat that fruit and you will gain wisdom equal to that of the gods."

However, the price of wisdom is endless suffering.

This can be considered worthy of a high-level Crystal of the Serpent System.

Haihara turned her head again and looked at Dark Feather, who had followed her.

"It's up to you now. Take that Crystal off, but don't even think about putting it on your Magic Wand right now; you can't handle it."

The fruit on the tree is the advanced Crystal they are looking for.

Next, once they obtain that Crystal, their journey will have achieved its goal.

However, Haihara herself did not want to touch that Magic Crystal.

This Magic Crystal is not only a high-level Crystal, but also the first Magic Crystal created by the Witch Haihara is not sure what the consequences will be if she touches it, but it is definitely not a good thing.

"Is it no longer needed?"

Meanwhile, Dark Feather felt uneasy ever since she saw the Magic Crystal on the tree.

The discomfort intensified as they got closer.

It almost turned into a feeling of nausea.

Are you alright? Don't push yourself.

The air seemed to be filled with a very strong Snake-Type Magic, which was almost as dangerous as poison to the weak Magic girl.

As for Dark Feather, it seems that it has also been affected to some extent for unknown reasons.

"No... it's okay."

Dark Feather felt a headache starting to throb, and she had to reach out and gently touch her forehead.

Meanwhile, the Magic Wand in her other hand was flashing with an eerie light.

Her condition seems to be a bit bad right now, so anyway... let's take that Magic Crystal off first.

As she spoke, a pair of black Feather Wing unfurled from her back and quickly began to flap, flying towards the top of the tree, which was about twenty meters tall.

She wasn't flying very fast, but with each step closer she got to the fruit, the almost eerie longing in her heart grew stronger.

Finally, she reached the top of the tree.

Enveloped in a blood-red, transparent light, was a strange, pupil-shaped Crystal that flickered incessantly, like a beating heart.

As Black Magical Girl, she wasn't too averse to such somewhat disgusting scenes.

Without hesitation, she reached into the fruit, into the pile of cold, sticky, blood-like flesh, and pinched the Magic Crystal.