Chapter 141: Countdown to the Destruction of Dallas City

Hearing the Witch-Crone describe the events of the past, Jera felt a complex mix of deep emotion and lingering doubt. The Witch-Crone, possessing the acute sensitivity of one who mastered the art of prophecy, read the shifting expressions on Jera’s face with ease and more or less guessed her thoughts.

"What is that look for!" she snapped. "Do you take me for someone who would cast a malicious curse just to satisfy selfish desires? My entire life, I have held a clear conscience!" After a brief pause, she added, "Let me tell you a secret: I am actually a hidden hero of this world. I have saved the lives of tens of thousands of sentient beings..."

Speaking of this, the Witch-Crone seemed to recount her proudest accomplishment. Her tone grew cheerful, and she emphasized that were it not for the fact that Jera was her chosen successor, she would never have shared this secret.

"It was about ten years ago," she reminisced. "By chance, I heard a couple seeking a witch to examine their daughter, who claimed she could see ghosts. I went to investigate, and do you know what I saw?" Her voice rose with excitement. "I saw fate! That girl was a harbinger of darkness and death. In her pupils, I saw the destruction of Dallas City! I felt as though I had grasped the threads of destiny itself, and never had fate been so kind to me. I made a prediction then that could not possibly fail: the day that girl reached adulthood would be the day of Dallas City’s destruction."

"How could I allow that? How could I stand by and watch Dallas City be destroyed?" The Witch-Crone paused, then added an inexplicable comment: "My painstaking efforts would have all been in vain."

Realizing her slip, she quickly added, "For the sake of the countless innocent lives in Dallas City, I could never let that prophecy come to pass. I absolutely could not allow that girl to reach adulthood!"

"So, you killed her?" Jera asked, a sense of dread deepening within her.

"No, no, no! How could I ever bring myself to harm such a sweet little girl? You know I have the softest heart; I can't even stand to hurt a small animal, and I’m squeamish at the sight of blood. Instead, I simply suggested to her parents that they burn her, and I took the liberty of hypnotizing them."

The Witch-Crone chuckled. "Of course, that wasn't enough to be sure. The power of blood ties can sometimes transcend the limits of witchcraft. So, I cast a 'Curse of Destiny' upon her—the 'Decade of Misfortune.' Even if she wasn't killed, she was fated to die by the blade or be decapitated within ten years. Either way, she would never reach her sixteenth birthday!"

"You see? That is how I saved Dallas City. It will endure for ten thousand years, standing firm! And this is all my doing. The millions of souls in Dallas City will live on in blissful ignorance, forever unaware of who their savior is, because I have told this to you alone."

"Hehehehehe..." The Witch-Crone laughed triumphantly. Jera’s sense of foreboding grew stronger, yet she restrained herself, refusing to use her powers.

...

Andy waited until late into the night before Catherine returned, looking exhausted. Before Andy could even ask about the outcome, Catherine—now in her human form—stripped off his shirt.

She told him to wait for an explanation, as her human transformation was time-limited; she needed to set up a magical array to suppress the curse. She had Andy lie on the bed, and from her spatial bag, she produced various materials, painting and marking his body. As she wove complex hand seals, the room began to shimmer with spiritual light.

It was only then that Andy noticed the light was silver-white; she had reached the Silver rank.

Catherine was giving her all to suppress the curse. She no longer cared about hiding her strength; compared to his pride, the curse was a matter of life and death. She knew the stakes. Fortunately, suppression arrays did not require deep expertise in array theory—a field in which she was more than qualified. The difficulty lay in the caster's proficiency with curse-based witchcraft, which was exactly where Catherine excelled. She was confident she could suppress the bloodline curse for at least a year. Beyond that, she would need to find other methods.

Once the array was set, Catherine was drenched in sweat, but she was certain Andy would be safe for the time being. She transformed back into a cat, curling up on Andy’s chest to rest while explaining her findings.

The curse, she revealed, was not cast directly upon Andy but was a bloodline curse passed down from his ancestors. Based on the concentration in his blood, it had been active for three generations—meaning it was cast on his grandfather.

Catherine explained that the caster must have been a master of arrays and fate-based witchcraft. She likely set the array in Dallas City, using some secret method to amplify its power exponentially, weaving it into the very foundation of the city and anchoring it to Andy’s grandfather. Since then, Andy’s bloodline and Dallas City had been balanced on the scales of fate—one’s gain was the other’s loss.

Catherine analyzed that the caster had the power to wipe out the bloodline entirely but seemed to prefer watching them struggle in despair. From that point on, Andy’s bloodline and the city were inextricably linked as enemies. Anyone who gained control of Dallas City would, through the pull of fate, inevitably come into conflict with Andy’s family. Such conflicts would only end with the destruction of one side. If the ruler of Dallas City died, the next would simply take their place in the cycle. Furthermore, it wasn't just the rulers; any prominent figure from Dallas City would, for one reason or another, harbor malice toward his bloodline.

Catherine suggested that Andy should look into his father’s death on the front lines; there might be hidden truths there.

Her words reminded Andy of his feud with Viscount Colin and how his grandfather, Will, had been robbed of his property by Viscount George. He hadn't realized such dark forces were at play.

Andy then asked if leaving Dallas City—or even the plane—would break the curse. Catherine replied firmly that it would not. The curse would only end with the extinction of either his bloodline or Dallas City itself. And by "extinction," she didn't mean the death of its ruler—she meant the total annihilation of the city.

"What do you mean by annihilation?" Andy asked. "If I convinced the next ruler to rename the city 'Sparta,' would that count as the destruction of Dallas City?"

Catherine shook her head.

"What if I paid to have all the residents relocated and tore down every building? Would that be destruction?"

Catherine shook her head again. "It means exactly what it says," she said. "Total slaughter, leveling the ground, and erasing Dallas from history entirely—that is the only way it ends."

Andy fell silent.

Just then, the alchemical clock in the room chimed. It was midnight. Catherine started, then looked at Andy with expectant, hopeful eyes. Even as a cat, her expression was unmistakable. Andy realized she was anticipating something important, something tied to the time.

A new day? Was today important to her? Andy activated his enhanced memory and quickly scanned through his thoughts. It was Catherine’s birthday.

He realized they had been away from Dallas City for over a year. Catherine was now fifteen.

In another year, she would be an adult. She was finally growing up.