Way of the Knights

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"Well then…that's my answer I guess." Vendrick muttered as he entered his secret hideout.

He just came back from his trip - a risky but totally worthwhile one as he ended up witnessing the whole debacle between the Eldest Sister and uncovered the real identity of the Forest Witch.

The scene he witnessed answered some of the things he was curious about. As it turns out, the Forest Witch's relationship with the Hag isn't so good and it was kept a secret from the other hags. It isn't so hard to realize what was up since the actions of the Hag were pretty obvious. 

It's clear that the Forest Witch has something that belongs to the Hag and she's using it to control her. Now, from what he had seen, it's probably that girl that's embedded on the tree. He doesn't know who she is but he could tell that she's important to the Hag, so much so that the Hag has no qualms about blowing this whole forest up and threatening to use the alleged 'Dear Brother' of the Witch against her. 

This gave him a lot of options. Thankfully, he made some recent breakthroughs that allowed him to infiltrate their territory without being detected or else he'd missed out on this completely. Still though, it would be hard for him to actually do something right now. 

He knows that the Hag won't exit the swamp so easily. If he clashed with her in there, the Forest Witch will definitely sense it and would probably do something about it. Whether she helps that Hag or just curiously watch, it'll be bad for Vendrick. 

Right now, what he needed is time. Since he could infiltrate the core of the wilderness without them detecting his presence, it bought him time. He'd use that to deepen his accumulations and make himself stronger before dealing with them. 

Sighing to himself, Vendrick wanted to get some rest before cultivating but before he could do so, his senses detected something. 

He swiftly turned his head towards the direction where he felt it. He squinted his eyes to see if he could make out something but he couldn't, even so he knew that his senses weren't wrong so he immediately activated his ocular technique. Lo and behold, he saw something, a spirit passed through the formation as was silently approaching him. 

"So you CAN see me! That's great!" The spirit exclaimed, its face brightening up like the sun. It looked around his base with awe and wonder, saying: "Nice base you have right here. Is this why they can't sense your presence?"

"Identify yourself, Spirit." Vendrick coldly stated, he wasn't really thrilled about his privacy being compromised. A bit hypocritical of him really.

"Geez, calm down. No need to be all rude or something." 

"I won't repeat this for the third time. Identify yourself or - "

"Or what?" The Spirit interrupted him. "You're going to kill me? Heh. Go on then, I dare - "

*Bzzt!* *Boom!!*

"...you." The Spirit shivered as it dumbfounded stared at the large gash that appeared close. It then looked back at Vendrick and saw that he was already holding a spear made out of pure lightning, he's seconds away from hurling it. 

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Wait! I'm sorry, okay! I'm sorry! It's my bad. I-I'll introduce myself." The Spirit panicked and thought to itself:

'Shit! I encountered a Madman!'

"My name is Maria! I'm - "

*Bzzt!* *Boom!*

"Eek!" Maria shrieked in fear as another bolt of lightning landed not too far from her. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

"I didn't ask for your name, I don't care about that. I asked you to identify yourself." Vendrick coldly stated. 

"Isn't my name part of my identity? What the hell!? Shit! Okay fine!" Her outburst were stopped when she saw another lightning spear appearing on Vendrick's hand. "U-uh, ah! I'm the spirit of the girl embedded on the tree! You should've seen me since you were sneaking about the swamp without being detected!"

*Bzzt!* *Boom!*

"What the hell!!!?" Maria shrieked at him. "Have I not told you my identity yet? I'm not lying."

"No, you already did. I know you're not lying." He replied. 

"Then what was that for!?" 

"...to scare you I guess." He shrugged. Vendrick then snapped his fingers and the formation suddenly fluctuated. 

"W-what did you just do?" She asked.

"None of your business." Vendrick coldly replied. "Now tell me, what's your relationship with that Hag and why are you embedded on that tree?" 

"What the fuck!? You seriously think that I would willingly cooperate with you after you threatened my life three times in a row? Are you insane? Fuck you! I'm not telling you anything! Hmph! I'm out of here." 

"Good luck with that." Vendrick wasn't offended with her outburst nor did he send another lightning spear at her. He just sneered instead and watched the spirit in amusement. 

Seeing how he reacted, Maria was confused. But then again, she thought that maybe Vendrick was bluffing for whatever reason. Lightning is effective against ghosts and evil but she isn't one of those. She's a spirit, the lightning will hurt yes but it won't be enough to kill her. 

On the other hand, staying within a closed space near this madman is the worse idea. That's why her choice was obvious. She turned around swiftly ran towards where she entered. As she ran, she was anticipating Vendrick movement. She told herself that the moment she hears thunder crackling, she'll evade to side and get away from here. 

*Bam!!*

Unfortunately, her plans were shattered right before it even began. To her utter shock, she slammed face first at the walls of the blue dome. She felt the pain all over face but it was numbed by her disbelief. 

"W-what the hell..." Maria couldn't believe it, how is it possible for her to slam into the dome when she's clearly incorporeal? She's a spirit! She passed through this wall without much obstructions before, why is this happening now?

She then remembered the scene when Vendrick snapped his fingers and the blue dome fluctuated. To her horror, she looked back and saw Vendrick's cold stare and the mocking sneer on his face. That's all the answer she needs. 

He was one step ahead of her. 

"Aha-ahahaha!" Maria laughed out of frustration and mockery. "I'll give it to you, you're sharp and sly. You got me. But do you really want to do it like this? Aren't you afraid that I'll call my sister to get me out of here? We're very close just so you know, and she's incredibly powerful that you wouldn't stand a chance."

"Oh no. Whatever shall I do?" Vendrick's words were obviously sarcastic. "Boo hoo. Eldest Sister is scary. Boo hoo. I'll die. Boo hoo. How can I possibly let her catch me? It's not like I offended her by killing all of the other Hags so far, I couldn't do something like that. Hags are scary after all. There's no way the small and meek me could even think about such a thing."

Maria was speechlessly shivering out of frustration and fear, she thought to herself: 'Damn it. I've really stepped on it now. This guy's an insane madman.'

"But...hmm..." Vendrick appeared to be in deep thought, then he continued: "Actually, you know what? Yeah, go ahead. Do it. Contact your sister for me will you? That way, I'll end her here without alerting the Forest Witch. I can slay her but I wouldn't want the Forest Witch to interfere, since its isolated here, that makes my job easier. Plus, you get to watch as I effortlessly kill her knowing that her death was caused by you since it was you who sent her here."

"I get to hill her and have witness her death, then I'll also kill you after that. That's a triple win for me. All that will be left is the Forest Witch and my job at the Southern Continent is done. Hah! Just the thought of that excites me. So yeah, why don't you be a dear and call your dear sister here?"

Maria shivered again and again as Vendrick revealed his plans to her. The villainous aura was thick around him and his gaze felt like it needles piercing through her skull. 

"Alas, I just remembered that this won't work." Vendrick sighed, looking at Maria as if he just lost a fortuitous encounter. "How can you possibly call for her when the silver lining that connects you from your body was neutralized the moment you stepped inside of my base?"

Maria felt an existential crises the moment Vendrick revealed that information to her. She hurriedly looked back and saw that indeed, the silver lining that connected her to her body was neutralized. In fact she almost couldn't feel its existence. 

As fear over-shadowed her heart, Maria was pushed to edge of despair. She looked back towards where Vendrick is and to her shock, she saw him crouching mere inches away from her, his cold gaze was freezing. Maria could almost feel that grip of death encroaching upon her. 

"...remember this, Spirit." Vendrick whispered. "It was never your turn to threaten me. It's always been mine."

"You have no power here so either do as I say, or watch as I devour you. I'll get what I want anyway."

"So? What's it going to be?"