Age of Adepts

No corpses or blood stains remained, but there were shattered and severed vines all over the place. The remaining bloodsucking vines and magical thorns crawled away from the adepts when they sensed the magical aura around the adept’s bodies.

The apprentices’ skirmish had been the first battleground of the Battle of Fate.

You could see the marks left behind on the walls and floor by all the various spells when you walked through the halls, libraries, arcane halls, rooms, and corridors. Not a single door stood untouched. Not one location had been left unexplored by the candidates.

Along the way, the adepts also saw the fragmented remains of armored guards. They had been disassembled, reduced to pieces, and were scattered all over the floor like trash. The surface of these living armors had lost all their shine. Even their exposed joints looked to be rusted and corroded.

The lack of maintenance and upkeep had significantly impacted their combat ability. It was no wonder the guards had been so quickly put down by a group of apprentice witches.

They walked through dark corridors and passed by several ruined battlefields. After a long walk, they finally left the apprentice living area and arrived at the upper floors of the adept’s tower.

The situation there appeared to be even worse compared to downstairs.

The traces of battle on the lower floors had been extremely obvious, but at least most of the magical facilities and architecture remained undamaged. But here, broken pillars and collapsed walls were everywhere. Rubble covered the entire place. It was hard to tell what all the facilities and rooms had originally been.

This place was an extremely run-down tower!

How powerful of a defense could an adept’s tower like this still possess? Could it still be used without undergoing large-scale renovations, repairs, and the installation of a new magical system?

Questions arose in the guests’ minds when they saw the state of the Tower.

However, everyone knew better than to ask these questions that concerned the secrets of the Tower!

Alice didn’t continue to take them up the structure. Instead, she wound through the piles of rubble and finally arrived at a secret stone room that had survived all the damage.

Two stone platforms had been placed in the room, side by side. Two naked women were lying atop the platforms. Apart from that, there were no other objects in the room.

It was a gorgeous young witch that was lying on the platform to the left. Her skin was smooth and white, and her figure was very well-defined. Her breasts weren’t large, but they were firm and supple. Even though she was only lying down on the platform, it gave everyone who saw the sight a feeling of crystalline beauty. It was the unique feeling of tranquillity when looking at a refined work of art.

On the other hand, a strong woman no less muscular than a man laid atop the platform on the right. The reason ’she’ was described as a woman was because of the undeniable female traits of her body. If it hadn’t been for those traits, Greem would have thought of her as a man.

Well-defined lines of muscle, pieces of flesh as sturdy as iron ingots, thick veins that ran through her body like tiny serpents, and healthy, firm arms and legs. Greem swallowed his saliva with a little difficulty. He thought his body had been sufficiently muscular already. When faced with the woman before him, he couldn’t help but feel completely outclassed!

The two witches were Snowlotus and Sofia, who had become candidates alongside Alice. They laid upon the stone platform without a single movement. Not a trace of life remained in their bodies. A cluster of light the size of an egg floated above each of their heads. The adepts vaguely saw two small soul human figures that looked like Snowlotus and Sofia within those clusters of lights.

"Snowlotus!"

Witch Rena rushed forward and cried out in anguish.

She might have been a materialistic and pragmatic person in most circumstances, but she still had a trace of genuine attachment to her daughter. It was clear how upset she was upon seeing Snowlotus’ soul separated from her body.

Sofia’s aunt, Hela, also stepped forward. A semi-translucent girl in a red dress suddenly floated out from within her body. The girl wandered around Sofia’s body and the cluster of light like a phantom. She finally returned to Witch Hela’s body after completing her examination.

Witch Hela closed her eyes as if she was communicating with the spirit. She then sighed and turned to ask, "Lady Alice, what price do I have to pay to revive Sofia?"

Witch Rena was concerned about this as well. She turned and stared at Alice, waiting for an answer.

They were all veteran Northern Witches. They knew very well the course of events that had taken place during the Battle of Fate. Alice hadn’t absorbed Snowlotus’ and Sofia’s powers of Fate. In fact, she had exhausted her own powers of Fate to reform their bodies and gather their shattered soul pieces back together. This action would have undoubtedly drastically reduced her powers.

No one would have performed such a foolish act as harming their own benefit for the sake of someone else!

At this moment, Witch Hela had to understand Alice’s intentions. It didn’t matter if she had to lower her pride a little. It was for the sake of her relative. After all, the two girls remained suspended in this unique state of body-soul separation. That cluster of the power of fate was forcefully maintaining their life. Even the Second Grade Death Witch had no guarantee that she could revive the two girls without Alice’s help.

The Death Witches were only good at turning live humans into ’dead’ humans, not the other way around!

"The two of you know very well what a severe loss it would be to me if I allow Snowlotus and Sofia to live! I will be direct in speaking my thoughts here. I need your sincerity, and I need them to serve me for a hundred years!" Alice, who had reverted to her adult appearance, was unusually calm and decisive at this moment. There was a sense of maturity in every one of her actions.

The two Second Grade witches fell silent immediately.

They thought for a long time and finally exchanged looks. Both of them saw the trace of helplessness in each other’s eyes.

They might have been Second Grade witches, but it was impossible to fight against a witch leader approved by the laws of fate within the Tower of Fate.

Even if she was only First Grade, it was impossible!

A witch leader was a witch leader. Her noble status remained! If they tried anything against Alice, they would not have any advantage against her. Fate’s powers supported the Witch of Fate, as did the abilities of the Tower. Perhaps this was why Alice allowed them into the Tower without a second thought!

Every witch branch had their own towers of origin. These towers served unique functions different from those in an ordinary tower. There, the innate talents of the respective witch branches were significantly amplified. These towers also served as essential legacy sites.

And the Tower of Fate was undoubtedly Alice’s home ground!

Here, in this tower, the Witches of Fate would have their abilities amplified by magnitudes of hundreds and thousands of times. The powers of the other witches, on the other hand, would be suppressed to their weakest. Trying to snatch Snowlotus and Sofia away from this place was a fantasy.

"I can agree to all your conditions as long as Sofia is revived!" Witch Hela finally spoke.

"I can agree as well! I will agree to anything if you can bring back Snowlotus!" Rena replied hastily.

"I have faith in your promises!" Alice nodded, "I’ll treat them like true sisters!"

Alice then waved her hand, and the two clusters of light with Snowlotus’ and Sofia’s souls in them slowly dropped and entered their heads.

Alice walked forward and used her sharp nails to cut their skin. She started carving the mark of fate upon their foreheads. It was a symbol of two snakes biting each other’s tails. The brand started glowing once she finished drawing the totem. The light disappeared in the blink of an eye. The two girl’s foreheads became as smooth as they were before they had been cut. Not a trace of the brand could be seen.

"From now on, the two of them will be the deputy leaders of our Witches of Fate. Do you find this a suitable arrangement?" Alice asked the two witches in a gentle voice.

Hela and Rena bitterly smiled when they heard this.

Even though this outcome didn’t match their original expectations for the Battle of Fate, it was still a happy ending when compared to the worst possible outcome. Supporting Sofia had mostly been Hela’s personal decision. Most of the other Death Witches had been standing on Alice’s side before the Battle.

What else could she ask for with a result like this?

Snowlotus and Sofia’s bodies abruptly started moving while everyone was still deep in thought.

Snowlotus’ long eyelashes fluttered, and a soft groan escaped her mouth. The rough and uncouth Sofia had already sat up. She looked around her surroundings in wide-eyed confusion. Her eyes slowly started to focus as she examined everything around her.

"Sofia, it’s me!" Witch Hela stepped forward, removed her hood and revealing her face to Sofia.

Greem instantly felt a shiver run down his spine.

What a hideous face!

If one ignored the numerous stitches that ran across her face like centipede legs, and the face that had split into four or five pieces, she could still be considered pretty. However, the numerous cuts and stitches on her small face had utterly wrecked any beauty she had. Ignoring the wounds scarring her face was impossible!

For the first time in his life, Greem hated his excessively powerful vision.

The chip’s atomic-level visual capturing abilities had perfectly projected the face in his mind. It had magnified every detail of Hela’s hideous face. Greem could even see wriggling maggots and strange creatures moving under her face through the cracks of the stitches.

If Greem hadn’t suppressed the turmoil in his stomach with his powerful Spirit, he would probably have embarrassed himself by throwing up on the spot!

"Aunt Hela, you? Didn’t I die?" Sofia leaped off of the stone platform. Her substantial body caused the ground to tremor and rumble when she landed.

The Physiques of berserk witches were unbelievably strong. They could compare to body-refining adepts. She was able to move about freely so soon after her soul had re-entered her body.

Still, her uncouth and unrefined behavior was intolerable. She just stood there with her legs wide apart. She didn’t seem to care about her nudity with a male adept standing right before her.

At this moment, Snowlotus also sat up on the stone platform. She scanned her surroundings in confusion.

"Where is this? Didn’t I... die?"