Encounter: Witches of Sin

Episode: Charlotte Nivanie

Foreword:

This chappie contains implications of suicide, actual suicide, suicidal thoughts, self-injury, and explicit scenery. Proceed at risk of my work getting cancelled.

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Ink. The deep, black color of oozing ink. That color is splattered all over the floors, all over the walls, all over the ceiling. The room was covered with splattered ink.

And in the middle was a lone blue-haired girl standing quietly. And over to the girl's left is a blue-haired girl who had her throat sliced open, with black ink flowing out from it. And to the girl's left, another blue-haired girl with a kitchen knife stuck to her skull, again with black ink pouring out from the injury. In front of the girl was yet another blue-haired girl hanging from the ceiling with a rope tied to her neck.

"Watch, and remember. This reset was special, but you won't see this again next time."

The blue-haired girl was holding a knife. Looking around in the near completely pitch black room, she sighed before placing the knife against her left chest, just around the heart area. And without hesitation, plunged the knife into her chest, into her heart. There was no blood. Instead, what came out of her was a pitch black, oozing liquid, the exact same as the liquid that messed the room. She did not scream, there wasn't even a single facial expression. Not a single hint of pain or agony. The girl lost balance and fell to one knee, only to lose strength and fall over. She kept the knife inside her, and even twisted it a few times before she lost her strength. She fell to the floor, dead.

"This is... something..."

I say to myself as I watch Elizabeth kill herself for the 7th time.

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"Celes? Are you listening?"

"Ah?"

Ah... No, I wasn't... I was completely absorbed in that weird feeling of deja vu again. Speaking of, I'm getting that feeling again. I don't know why, but I just feel like I've been through this already. Ferris in front of me doesn't seem to feel if something's wrong, so I'm sure I'm just worrying too much, but I have this uneasy feeling.

"Geez, you really need to stop spacing out in times like these. What are we gonna do about our project due next week?"

"Um... maybe... do it?"

I felt like I saw a vein popping there, and I even saw her hand turn into a fist for a second there. To be honest, I really don't want to suffer the wrath of Ferris. Especially if she's serious and goes vampire mode on me... I apologized quickly, but I had absolutely zero idea what to do about our project.

"It's on the medical field, isn't it? I'm not a pro in that area, so I'm asking you on what we should do."

Even if you say that, I'm not even sure how to present something like the human anatomy without some sort of model or, and God forbid, using an actual body...

"It's because we couldn't pick fast enough that we're stuck on the hardes one, y'know? You need to take responsibility."

Ferris is guilt tripping me to the point that I'm wondering if partnering with her was a wise choice... To be honest, I really don't wanna go solo. For one, I'm horrible at talking, and for two, I'd be too tired to talk in the first place.

"...Why don't we... ask Eli?"

"Elizabeth? Why her? I thought for sure the first one to come to mind when talking about bodies would be Val..."

"...Just a hunch."

To be honest, I also don't know why Eli suddenly appeared in my head when I was thinking about asking someone to help out. It's definitely true that the first person to appear would usually be Val. She is quite smart and wise, so I'm sure she'd know what to do in this situation, but for some reason, Eli's name just appeared in my head.

"Well, it won't hurt to give it a try. Let's go."

Ferris jumped up from the table we were sitting at and immediately moved towards the academy's flower garden. That's usually where we spot Eli and Char, so I'm sure that's also where they'll be today.

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...

"A favor? I don't mind, ask away."

...

"...huh? Teach you about blood magic? For what reason? You're not planning to do something stupid, are you?"

...

"...And remember, the spell only works when you're nearby the catalyst, so if you die far from it, you'll die for real, okay? I don't know what the hell you're planning to do, but for you to need my help, it must be serious..."

...

"I'm not asking or anything, just... be careful, okay?"

...

"I don't want to hear such morbid jokes from you. Now hurry up and get back to your routine. We're arousing suspicion."

...

"No need to thank me. Just hurry, shoo!"

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It seems that we hit the jackpot. Ferris and I visited the flower garden, and indeed there we found Eli. Strangely enough, she was alone. Usually Elizabeth would have her sister following her around everywhere, but today she was alone. We approached her.

"Eli?"

"Ah, hi... Huh?!"

She responded normally at first, then suddenly jumped when she turned and saw Ferris and I. She fell down to one of the beds, and I helped her up.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you two..."

"No no, we're the ones who suddenly came up behind you... What were you doing, by the way?"

Elizabeth froze up when Ferris asked her what she was doing. She turned around very raggedly, like a doll who had a hard time turning, and looked towards the flowers.

"... Nothing in particular... just watching flowers..."

"Huh... and your sister?"

She froze up again, and somehow I could feel a negative energy leaking from her. I could see her hand turning into a fist, with her nails digging into her skin. A black, oozing liquid came out from her injury, but Eli didn't look fazed in the slightest.

"She's.... not feeling great right now, so..."

I should probably move out of this awkward tension zone. That new goal aligns perfectly with the main reason we even came here in the first place, which is...

"Um... the human... anatomy... body... could you help us?"

The negativity from Eli disappeared almost instantaneously, and she turned around quickly and moved towards me. I feel like her eyes were saying "thank you", but I'm not so sure.

"The human body, yes? I don't mind helping you out, just..."

She looked at Ferris, then back at me. I nodded at her, understanding what she was trying to say, and then I looked to Ferris, who also nodded.

"...Thank you."

Eli asked the both of us to come over to her room before the day ends, saying she has something to show us. I had a very bad feeling about that, but I decided that I'll go anyway, whatever Eli may have planned to let us see.

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Foreword:

Darkness! How's that! You like it?? Ah, I feel like it's been so long since I made this type of thing~~

Also yes, Return by Death.