The Witch (Lisrene)

Chapter 9

There was a piece of yellow-colored talisman stuck onto his right shoulder which was burning painfully. The characters inscribed in red cinnabar ink on the talisman sparkled faintly like crackling flames. The talisman was stuck onto his shoulder as if it was glued on despite the strong night breeze in Hai City, which was located by the sea.

Argh... it was extremely painful. Lisa gritted his teeth and refused to let out any sounds. He knew that the pain would subside quickly. The effectiveness of this talisman was merely 5 seconds. Once it was up, the burning pain would stop.

5 seconds later, the red glow of the cinnabar inked characters faded. The talisman dropped off from Lisa's shoulder. He lifted up his head with his face drenched in sweat after that earlier bout of suffering and looked at the middle-aged man who was taunting him.

He did not recognise this man. He had not even entered into any dreams related to this man before.

"Why?" Lisa asked coldly.

"Why? You still dare to ask me why? This foul atmosphere has been surrounding Hai City the entire month because of you. Do you know that countless people have not been able to sleep peacefully these days? Do you know how many evil spirits have been surfacing from the darkness? Do you even know how many innocent people have been harmed?" The middle-aged man scowled fiercely at Lisa as if he was looking at something that was awfully abhorrent. He felt that blaming Lisa was completely justifiable and was filled with righteousness.

"Just a moment ago you questioned me on whether I was the culprit behind the widespread panic amidst Hai City these days. Yet now, each and every statement you made pointed out that everything that happened was because of me." Lisa stared at him with a burning gaze. He laughed coldly before continuing, "therefore, you do not know if I was actually involved in these incidents. You only felt that I should be involved in it. Or should I say, regardless of whether I'm involved or not, in your eyes, I must be the ultimate culprit. Am I right?"

"So what if it's as you've said?" The man remained composed despite Lisa guessing his true intentions accurately. The disgust in the man's expression became even more distinct.

This Ephialtes was indeed proficient in invading others' privacy and bewitching humans' minds.

"Which also means that you do not have any concrete proof that I'm the culprit. You're just directing your anger at me." Lisa concluded.

"You are Ephialtes, the ruler of all evils. Killing you is just a matter of time."

"I recalled the president of the Metaphysical Association (MA) telling me that as long as I still retain my rationality and total control of the power of Ephialtes, then I'm not considered the true Ephialtes. In the metaphysical world, you practitioners are supposed to adhere to the righteous path and not harm the innocent..."

"That's right. If it had not been for the established rule of not harming ordinary people in the metaphysical world, do you think that you would still be alive to this day with your true identity?" The man raged.

"Then how do you justify your earlier actions?" Lisa countered. "Why did you attack me with a talisman?"

"You also said earlier that that was a talisman. The talisman is only effective against evil spirits and malicious beings. If you were indeed an ordinary person, you would not have been hurt." The man retorted.

"Humph, I see. Those that can be harmed by the talisman aren't considered as ordinary people but evil spirits and malicious beings. So even if I take this talisman to the MA to demand for a proper explanation, it will be pointless." Lisa mocked.

The man did not refute him. But the fearless expression that he had confirmed the validity of Lisa's deduction.

"Being harmed by practitioner techniques will not leave a single scar on my body. Even if I was seriously injured by you, without any proof, I would not be able to report to the police."