The Witch Among Humans

Chapter 53: The Invasion - Part 3

"You should have already figured out what went wrong with the portal. What happened?" Belos seemed to barely refrain from yelling. Still, he was incredibly serious.

His tone of voice was a great motivator for his followers. "W-We're speeding up our effort, Emperor Belos."

Darius simply watched from afar. He had to help with the heavy lifting to avoid being spotted. Unfortunately, this resulted in him speeding up the process of fixing the portal. At least it wouldn't be fully functional for the rest of the day.

Clearly the tech squad hadn't figured that out yet. They ran another test to power up the portal, which resulted in sparks flying. The overwhelming magic from the machine dispersed into the air.

One glare from Belos made them begin to work faster... and clumsier to. All the better.

However, the dispersed magical energy the portal created didn't just disappear. It traveled quickly through the castle. Most could feel the energy pass by them.

Down below, the Basilisks were beginning to calm down. With less energy flowing through the air, their senses weren't as overwhelmed.

The Basilisk with half a head of Navy-Blue hair took this as an opportunity. She hadn't been able to take in any of the magic due to her companions slurping it all down. But now they were worn out.

She began taking in the magic around her, almost inhaling it as fast as she could. She was unaware of how long the magic would stay down here in the cells... or if the man with the golden mask would come down to check on them.

After eating enough of the magic, she used a trick that one of the others had discovered while still sane. Her tail began to glow, illuminating the entire cell. The other Basilisks simply stared in awe of the bright light.

Then, she changed her form. All she did was make her body thinner, but it was enough to fit through the bars keeping her trapped.

Once she escaped, her eyes darted to each of her brethren trapped in these metal bars. The serpentine creature wanted to save them. She really did.

But the magic was already leaving, and time was running out.

The blue-haired Basilisk slithered away, making her escape before any could find out that anything had happened in these cells.

To be honest, most people probably didn't know about this area. Only the man in the mask ever showed up.

---

"Luz? Luz!" Eda kept calling out the name as if it would do anything. To be frank, she knew the young witch would be fighting the Emperor's Coven head on.

Still, sitting at home doing nothing was a waste of time. Also, Stringbean had freaked out whenever all of this started.

All Eda knew was that something big was happening... maybe this was the invasion. Eda's girl was in the middle of it, so she had to at least try and help in some way.

She came across a random guy with his arm trapped beneath some of the rubble coming off of nearby buildings. This wasn't her priority, but... she felt bad just leaving him.

"Hang on, dude. I've got this." Eda got into position to lift up the debris. 

The combined efforts of Eda and this guy made it surprisingly easy to lift the building pieces off of his arm. He was incredibly grateful to her for the rescue.

Then, some police officers arrived. They took over caring for the injured man. Among them was Lilith, who looked shocked to see her sister out and about.