SACRIFICIAL WITCH // 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭

[CH 16] The Familiar

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬʸᴵᴺᴳ : "Power is Power"
ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯

"Albedo the Alchemist?" Alhaitham murmured as he closed the book in his hand. His turquoise eyes glanced around the room, albeit displeased that the whole house decided to have a discussion in his witch's room.

Said witch who was still unconscious from her encounter with a suspicious ley line in the domain. The group wasn't able to get to the gate, but what they did come back with was much more valuable than whatever they could've found if they did succeed in getting to the gate.

"Who's that?" Itto flicked off some strands of hair from his comb that came loose from his scalp onto the floor. The glare Alhaitham sent his way went unnoticed.

"A homunculus made by Rhinedottir, a witch of the famous Hexenzirkel." Kaeya's feet that were propped up on the coffee table before him caused Sloth's eye to twitch.

"So the little lamb and this Albedo are somehow connected to each other?" Ayato thought out loud as he fanned himself.

"Connected isn't an accurate way to describe their relationship." Diluc deep voice rumbled in his chest, "He mentioned 'creation' and even had a discussion with Sucrose about the human's whereabouts. It's like he was keeping tabs on her, even going as far as to pin a familiar on her for protection."

"So... he like... gave birth to her?" Envy's words caused Lust to hold back a chuckle at the thought of his old acquaintance having a baby.

"I don't think he can reproduce like that. Miss Witch right here," Kaeya gestured to (Y/n) who was sleeping snugly in her bed, "might be a synthetic human just like him. In the past, Albedo was obsessed with the goal of creating life. He wanted to follow in the steps of his master."

"The love of a parent can turn into something dangerous when their child is no more." The six other demons in the room turned their gazes towards the oldest in the room. Zhongli's horns gleamed as the demon held his chin as he thought.

"In other words, her death is what caused Albedo to cut off access to Teyvat." Alhaitham concluded and saw Zhongli nod as if to agree.

"The witches are a force to be reckoned with. The same goes for their pupil."

"It's not fair that he's putting the blame on us too. We didn't even do anything, it was Celestia!" Childe complained as he threw his hands up, "It's not like we can do whatever we want in the overworld either. Now I can't ea—do business." He coughed into a closed fist as an attempt to cover his slip up.

"He's projecting his anger towards Hell as a whole due to a single demon." Alhaitham slowly rose from his seat at the witch's desk. "One who was assigned to be his creation's familiar. If he's punishing the demon by shutting the gates of Hell then it must mean that whoever this demon is must be here... and is very powerful."

"Indeed. This Albedo's tactic of shutting the gates of Hell is essentially starving demons like us. Human souls in Hell don't need to eat, but us on the other hand... it's as if you'd plan to starve a strong demon like Mr. Zhongli from getting his fill of souls." Ayato glanced at the golden demon.

"Unfortunately for him, there is one detail that he overlooked." Zhongli removed his hand from his chin to cross his arms over his chest, "Which is that his creation's soul is sophisticated enough to be mistaken as an organic one."

"...He didn't anticipate his creation being led into Hell or Celestia." Kaeya's eye widen and he immediately removed his feet from the coffee table to sit up as if he'd hit a jackpot.

Alhaitham let out a hum as if to agreement, "That's why she arrived in Hell without being guided by a reaper, it's possible that something else took her here."