Editing Failing Witch:Volume1 Episode4 (section)

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The location itself audibly strained from the pressure. The several layers of dust cloud obscured the view, but there had to be cracks running through the floor and walls.

There was nothing Viocia could have done. Dorothea’s legs had frozen in fear and Melehe had to have been caught in the blast before she could work out a concrete countermeasure.

The trio’s invulnerability had only been the setup for accepting in a Voland and wielding its power with no risk to themselves.

Recall when Dorothea was manipulated by Demon Lord Aristotle. The prep school’s instructors and even Maleficium’s Benandanti had been powerless to defeat that monster.

The same thing was happening here, but what if a monster had found a way to retain control of her body?

So Viocia’s group had something else to thank for their survival.

“Was that you, Moloch!?” shouted Viocia, unable to get up and covered in soot and dust.

The bronze joints screamed in protest.

They were broken and falling apart.

But the joints remained connected by something like countless threads, they forced themselves to move, and Moloch – who had been feared by so many students as a killer pot – crawled forward to guard the fallen girls.

But this defense was far from perfect.

That giant was nearly a scrap heap already and he was unsteady. So unsteady he looked ready to collapse at any moment.

“Kee hee hee, kee hee, ee hee hee.”

Arbamini, with the red fried shrimp braid, slowly approached. Her vertical serpentine pupils glowed crimson, but something was different than when it was Dorothea.

It likely helped that Holibre and Lampans were magically supporting her.

Arbamini cackled with unhinged laughter, but she was still herself.

The human had taken control of the Voland.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!! Who should I beat to a pulp first? I can wield even the most powerful magic without worrying about dying. A Voland? Power run wild!? So what!? Ah ha ha, ''none of it can hurt me.'' I’ll wield all this power and crush you all with no risk to me!!”

She had negated the magical risk. She had transformed the Voland’s uncontrollable power into a tool for her own violence.

Melehe kept her cool the best.

“We need to fall back for now.”

“But…but. Oh, I know. Teacher will do something about this.”

“We might could manage, but Dorothea is too terrified to last long! Not to mention Moloch who is bearing the burden for all our shortcomings!!”

The “snap!!” of breaking metal rang out.

It came from directly in front of them. Arbamini had arrived at the bronze heap that had been Moloch and mercilessly jabbed her slender arm into his body, which should have contained a scorching furnace.

She stirred up his insides and dragged them out.

She now held a red-hot metal pipe. Probably something like a bellows that efficiently delivered air to a fire. She held it in her bare hand, but she didn’t look remotely bothered.

It was Viocia who covered her face with her hands and screamed.

The panic of his initial defeat came rushing back.

“Ahhh, Moloch!?”

“Hmph, that’s not what I wanted. Outta the way, trashcan pot.”

Orange light swept through horizontally. Dorothea and Melehe both tackled Viocia to the ground as the giant bronze mass was blasted to the wall.

Melehe bit her lip until it bled, but she still kept calm and arrived at the optimal decision.

[[Image:Failing_Witch_v01_BW07.jpg|thumb]]

“Run away!!!”

Her vertical takeoff allowed her to take flight without an ultra-low-altitude approach run.

Melehe and Dorothea took flight at the same moment. Viocia was still being dragged along by the sky pirate girl. She kept looking back, shouting Moloch’s name.

(Kh!! But it has to be done!)

Melehe clenched her teeth. Flying so close to the floor caused the air compressed by her flight to push up from below, so keeping her balance was a challenge. And having a ceiling overhead made it all feel so different from normal. She felt like she was constantly flying below a bridge.

And…

“Melehe, o-over here! Eep. Hold my hand!!”

Ordinarily timid Dorothea spoke with strength in her voice. As soon as Melehe obeyed, her Formula Broom obtained a firm stability.

“What did you do?”

“W-well, I’m no good at flying fast and high. Eep. I’m better suited for the ground than the sky. Maybe because I do so much jogging?”

She had this backwards. This wasn’t about what she was “no good” at. This was a strength she had developed for herself.

Formula Brooms were meant to soar high in the sky. The ease with which Dorothea had mastered low-altitude flight was an overwhelming “weapon” in her arsenal.

“But, um. Eep. I-it’s so different when the three of us are together.”

“Yes. Even if one of us is just weighting me down back there.”

“Those three realized this a lot faster than w-we did. Eep. They must be smart, so why?”

Dorothea may have been asking why they only seemed capable of using their talents to hurt people.

During their high-speed escape, Melehe and Dorothea held an impromptu strategy meeting.

“We’re in serious trouble if they have complete control of Macbeth’s witches and the apparitions’ prophecies. That curse generally makes its target undefeatable no matter what.”

“B-but isn’t Macbeth a tragedy? There must be a loophole.”

“Either of you born through caesarian section?”

“Oh, right. Eep. That’s how the story goes.”

“Born from an egg or created in a test tube would work too. They can’t be vanquished by anyone ‘of woman born’, so they can’t defeat someone who was removed from her mother in a special way. So if none of us meet the condition set up in Macbeth, we can’t defeat that trio!!”

Sounds of destruction followed after them. The trio were invulnerable thanks to the witch prophecies, so unlike Melehe’s group, they didn’t need to make any minute course corrections while flying. They would occasionally bump into the walls or ceiling and sometimes break right through those things to take a straighter line in pursuit.

“Ah ha ha!! Run faster. Fly faster. A single hit from us and you’ll be in a real tragic state!!”

Several sounds of bending metal rang out.

A tremor ran through Viocia’s back just before some things flew rapidly after the fleeing group. They were a smashed-up three-legged dishwasher and a food carrying cart, ripped open from within. Each of them was a monster that had driven so many students to abandon the will to fight, but they also had to be items that had wandered the abandoned old meal center while carrying as many feelings as Moloch.

Mocking laughter stabbed into them from behind. From disturbingly close. Instead of standing still and working her violence, Arbamini had mounted her broom to pursue them while grabbing and throwing everything within reach. Ordinarily, her arm would have been torn off the instant it made contact.

“Ah ha ha, ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

“How…how can she do this?”

Viocia was dazed. She didn’t seem fully aware of the reality before her eyes.

Was that a fragment of bronze she was squeezing in her hand?

“Moloch is a big pot and he only wanted to feed everyone tasty food. The others are probably also only walking around the abandoned building looking for a place for themselves. So how can she laugh like that while she destroys them?”

“Viocia!!” shouted Melehe. “This violence will continue until we stop that trio. So are you only going to freeze up because you ‘can’t believe it’? All you’re doing is abandoning Moloch and withdrawing into yourself!!”

Viocia gasped and raised her head. She squeezed her Formula Broom tight once more. They were already at speed, so she only had to drift away from Melehe to take flight.

She had decided for herself to save Moloch, so she couldn’t give up on him now.

“Where can we make a U-turn!? We can’t leave him like this!!”

“We need to do something about the Macbeth witch magic first.”

“Th-there’s a big, multilevel room over there. Eep! Fly clockwise around it and we can return the way we came!!”

“Ugh!! This dunce of a witch is a pain even after she’s recovered!!”

Melehe complained, but she still followed after Viocia. They circled around the vast, cylindrical space and made their way back down the long, straight hallway.

“What now?” asked Melehe. “They’re monsters who can use the power of a Voland with no risk to themselves!”

“There must be something we can do!!” insisted Viocia. “We use witchcraft, which is so tricky you need to pass such a hard exam to learn more about it. There’s no way you can use a supernatural power so convenient it really makes you invulnerable, so there must be some kind of loophole we can use. The only reason we haven’t found it yet is because we don’t have all the information. So we need to keep at it until we have that information!”

Arbamini came into view down the hallway. As did Holibre and Lampans. They were riding their brooms straight toward Viocia’s group. Arbamini was out front and she had her arms spread as if in welcome.

That was when it happened.

Just before Viocia’s group crashed into them, Arbamini was struck by a powerful blow from the side, tossing her from the hallway into a side room.

Lots of crashing and exploding came from that room.

Something was happening to Arbamini’s trio. Something the Voland-transformed wicked girl hadn’t expected.

“Was that…teacher?”