Editing Failing Witch:Volume1 Episode4 (section)

===8===

At first, only a quiet crackling was heard.

Then the pile of rubble was blown away by a tremendous force from the inside. A pair of glowing red snake eyes emerged.

“Oh, oh…”

Arbamini roared while slanted diagonally. She seemed to be threatening her opponent with bloody teeth bared, but she also seemed to be protecting the other two lying within the rubble. Either way, that was not the face of an undefeated elite. Her entire body radiated the pressure of an animal afraid of feeling more pain.

“Oaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”

A thought floated up in Yagoro’s mind. They were supposed to be Macbeth’s witches. Arbamini, Holibre, and Lampans always acted as a trio, but he realized something was missing there.

Where was traitor Macbeth himself?

“Was there ''a fourth''?”

“Aspect of Admiration: ATU 0500. The imp Rumpelstiltskin demands my child’s life in exchange for helping with a difficult task. Aspect of Antiquity: Faust. That is the name of the man who met a mysterious and tragic death after carelessly making a deal with an unknown being. Aspect of Amorality: the witches who lead Macbeth astray. That trio of bewitching shades lures him to certain doom with sweet-sounding prophecies.”

Yagoro couldn’t help but smile a little when he saw a broom moving through empty air as if stirring an invisible cauldron and heard an unsteady incantation mixed with blood.

She was following the basic form. Even Demon King Aristotle, who fancied himself a wise man, had forgotten about the Three Aspects and attempted a brute force attack when he was pushed too far.

“The Three Aspects rotate to propel us toward a single goal. This ritual of death cares not if it used for good or evil.”

The fallen prep school ace glared at Yagoro.

Her breathing was shallow and she couldn’t hold her shoulders at the same height, but still…

“This is our power.”

The witch bared her bloodstained teeth and let a low, low voice spill forth.

Arbamini’s oxygen-deprived face was slanted as she thrust her broom handle toward him and roared.

“Macbeth’s witches bring about absolute ruin!! To life, to status, and to the will to fight! This is who we are. This is the source of our power!! Have you ever cursed someone as strongly as thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssss!!?”

Her resentment was like a solid shockwave.

Maybe Melehe and Dorothea were lucky they were unconscious on the floor. Yagoro could feel Viocia squeezing him tighter as she helped support his body that seemed as limp as a broken doll.

With a shattering sound, the colors red and black burst from the handle of Arbamini’s Formula Broom. Several magic circles larger than umbrellas were drawn out in the air, covering the space around her, and a pitch black power swelled out beyond the limit. Once it passed a certain point, the tip of her broom would launch the resentment and dark magic with more force than an arrow loosed from a drawn bowstring. It would be like a sudden downpour directed at Yagoro.

But a small smile was his only reaction.

He had gone through so much, but it was true he had never cursed anyone with such pure intensity.

“ATU 0510a, Cinderella…”

“Kh.”

He held his 70cm baton out as if in response.

''While reaching his other hand around the nearby girl’s hip and pulling her close.

He released his final trump card.

“I activate the wedding. After passing the trial of the glass slipper, the pure maiden is wed to the prince, bringing her great blessings and happiness!! Listen up, wicked and malicious family, no matter how powerful your onslaught, you can never surpass and outdo this pure one!”

A torrent swallowed up and eliminated the approaching darkness with even greater force.

Something invisible scraped at the air, blazing orange. It looked a lot like a sugar sculpture, but it was in fact melted glass that shot from the tip of the baton. It burned away the incoming dark magic and rushed toward Arbamini.

“I trust your Voland strength to keep you alive in the 1400+ melting point of glass!!”

“!?”

A tremendous explosion and deafening roar fought for supremacy while the tutor boy distinctly saw a grimace on Arbamini’s face past the remnants of the darkness.

Did she envy him his ability to keep his morals and continue to worry about others while on the verge of death?

(If so, you’ve got it all wrong, don’tcha think?)

Yagoro had his own objective. On that day too early to call spring, he had reached out a helping hand to a girl who looked lost in front of the posted list of people who had passed the exam. At first, he hadn’t done so out of kindness.

(At the very least, I’m not as strong as you three who found a way to prevent any infighting because you didn’t want to walk the same path as ''the fourth''.)

“Hey, Arbamini.”

They all wanted to pass together.

Accomplishing that by sabotaging everyone else to lower the passing line was absurd, but the tutor boy thought their solid friendship was something that surpassed logic and was worthy of respect.

And because they had something respectable that he did not, he wanted them to enter a beautiful and friendly rivalry with Viocia.

He wanted them all to compete against each other so they could all improve.

But that meant thoroughly tearing down their ugly wickedness here.

Do not deny your desires.

If he wanted to call himself Viocia’s tutor, he needed to trust in himself and do what was in her best interest.

And that meant changing that trio’s “situation” before they traveled any further toward the darkness!!

“''This is magic. Study enough and you can find the answer''!!!”

Did his words reach them even as they were drowned out by the cacophony of destruction?

The muddy orange stream burned away the deadly power and slammed the Voland-tamer girl into the wall.