Chapter 201: I’ll Kill Every Last Witch

Triss immediately canceled her spells, and everything around her returned to the present timeline.

Her heart was pounding so hard that she could hear it in her ears. Her breathing was ragged, almost like she had just finished running a marathon.

She wanted to run back to the surface, to get out into the open and breathe some fresh air. A terrible nausea was building inside her, making her feel that she needed to vomit just to get rid of whatever was twisting her stomach.

But her body refused to obey.

No matter how desperately she wanted to move, her legs wouldn’t respond. She stood frozen in place, her mind unable to focus on anything other than what she had just witnessed between the gaps in time.

It took her several seconds to form even a single question.

Her lips trembled. "How... is that... possible?"

What she had seen was no more than a glimpse through a tiny keyhole.

Yet that glimpse alone had been enough to turn everything she knew and believed upside down.

Throughout her life, Triss had believed that time was a single, endless flow. Everything that had ever happened, everything happening now, and everything that would happen in the future existed somewhere along that same timeline.

She had spent centuries studying it, learning to move through it, reverse its flow, and manipulate even the smallest moments within it.

She knew that timeline better than almost anyone alive.

But what she had just witnessed was something entirely different.

Beyond the timeline she knew, hidden in the spaces between its smallest moments, there was another.

And it was far greater than her own.

She had seen an enormous river of time stretching farther than she could comprehend, with countless stars and entire galaxies flowing within it.

Compared to that vast existence, the timeline she had spent her entire life studying felt almost insignificant.

The thought alone was terrifying.

She was a Grand Witch who had dedicated centuries to understanding time itself, yet she had never once suspected that something so much greater existed beyond the limits of her understanding.

It was like someone who had spent their entire life inside a house, believing its 4 walls contained the entire world.

Only to pull aside a curtain one day and discover an endless world stretching beyond the window.

The realization was almost crushing.

Everything she had known, everything she had spent centuries studying, belonged to only a tiny part of something far greater.

For the first time in her life, she was certain.

There were other realms... Other universes.

Places that existed entirely beyond the worlds the 5 Great Mothers had created.

And now she finally understood what Azelith must have felt when she saw a creator.

Her legs gave way under the weight of her thoughts, and she sank to the ground, remaining seated for a while as she struggled to accept what she had discovered.

She still couldn’t fully understand it. Even thinking about that enormous river of time made her stomach turn.

But she couldn’t stay there forever. Forcing herself to regain control of her body, she slowly stood up.

Meanwhile, the surface of the boiling pool began to ripple as a head covered in bright crimson hair emerged from the water.

Steam rose from the Drakon girl’s wet hair as she took a deep breath, looking quite pleased with herself.

She had made considerable progress today.

For the first time, she had managed to swim deeper than ever before, enduring both the increasing mana density and the rising temperature of the water.

Satisfied with her training, she was about to swim toward the edge when she noticed someone standing nearby.

Her crimson eyes immediately narrowed.

Through the thick steam rising from the pool and the waves of hot air distorting her vision, she could only make out a blurry figure.

She couldn’t tell who it was but she knew one thing.

Someone was there who wasn’t supposed to be.

A dangerous look appeared in her eyes.

She had gone to great lengths to conceal her identity. After getting rid of the previous boy who had seen her, she had believed her secret was safe.

And now someone else had found her.

She didn’t waste another second.

Her body suddenly vanished from the boiling water and in the next instant, she appeared directly behind Triss.

Strangely, all her clothes had returned to her body, including the black cloth mask covering her head.

Without making a sound, she raised her fist and aimed a punch at the unfamiliar woman’s back, intending to finish her with a single blow.

But her fist never reached its target.

Her entire body stopped moving.

Her raised arm remained suspended in the air, her feet fixed in place, and even the strands of her crimson hair no longer moved.

Triss slowly turned her head.

Her honey-colored eyes, their pupils shaped like spirals, settled on the girl behind her.

The black cloth covering her face didn’t seem to obstruct her vision in the slightest.

"Brat, couldn’t you have picked a worse time?" Her voice was barely above a murmur, but the annoyance in it was unmistakable.

She had just experienced something that shook her understanding of her own existence, and before she could even recover, some little brat had decided to attack her.

It was enough to get on her nerves.

Triss reached toward the girl’s head and pulled away her black cloth mask.

The Drakon girl remained completely motionless. Even her pupils didn’t move.

Triss studied her face, then the red scales rising along the sides of her neck. Her eyes moved to the girl’s slightly pointed ears, where more of those same scales could be seen.

"So you’re that Drakon girl."

She had no intention of killing her attacker, but she was irritated enough to consider teaching her a lesson.

For a few seconds, she looked at the girl, deciding what to do. Then she sighed.

The irritation on her face gradually gave way to something closer to pity.

"Girl, next time, think twice before attacking someone. One wrong choice could make your already miserable life even worse."

With that, she turned away and walked toward the boiling pool.

She began murmuring a short chant. Then, without another glance at the girl, she slowly lowered herself into the boiling water.

Her body disappeared beneath the surface.

The moment she was gone, the Drakon girl suddenly began moving again.

Her fist shot forward through empty air. With her target gone, she lost her balance and crashed face-first onto the rocky ground.

Her chin struck the stone hard, but she barely noticed the pain.

She immediately raised her head, staring at the spot where the woman had disappeared.

Her crimson eyes widened in disbelief.

Although her body had been frozen in time, her mind had remained conscious throughout the entire encounter.

She had seen everything and she had recognized the woman.

The copper-colored robe and matching hat, both decorated with numerous golden lines, were unmistakable.

She had just tried to attack a Grand Witch.

For several seconds, she remained there, staring at the boiling water.

Then the shock on her face slowly changed as her eyes narrowed.

Her jaw tightened, and she clenched her teeth so hard that a faint cracking sound came from between them.

She knew perfectly well that her life had just been spared.

But there was no relief nor gratitude.

Not even the slightest bit.

All she could think about was the way that Grand Witch had looked at her.

Those pitying eyes.

"Why?"

The word escaped through her clenched teeth. She suddenly raised her fist and slammed it into the ground.

BANG!

The stone cracked beneath her knuckles, sending small fragments flying across the ground.

She raised her other hand and struck again.

BANG!

Then again.

The sound of her fists striking the hard rock echoed around the pool.

She kept punching, trying to release even a fraction of the anger burning inside her.

But it wasn’t enough. The memory of those pitying eyes refused to leave her mind.

She struck the ground harder.

The skin over her knuckles split open, leaving blood smeared across the broken stone.

Still, she didn’t stop. "I will kill..."

Punch after punch landed on the stone, spreading more cracks across its surface.

Her hands were becoming a bloody mess, the skin tearing apart until even the white bones beneath began to show.

Yet the pain meant nothing to her as she continued striking the ground, her voice trembling with hatred.

"I will kill all the Witches."