City of Witches

༺ An Unknown Side (5) ༻

1.

It felt more like he was watching a graceful dance than a sword fight.

Every unnecessary move was trimmed away from her movements.

The refined swordsmanship that could only be produced by those who had crossed the line of death, holding and wielding the sword tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, hundreds of millions times to the point of boredom.

With just the tip of her toes touching the ground, Eloa spun gracefully, her eyes narrowed as her clothes fluttered around her.

There was something pretty about this pure display of skill.

But this wasn’t a tto get distracted.

Momentarily captivated by the scene, Siwoo raised his sword a little too late to defend himself.

-Clang!

Her sword was imbued with a hidden strength that belied its gentle movement.

The voice the clash produced sounded like a grenade going off, sending Siwoo flying backward.

His feet hit the ground, leaving dents on the hard surface, while cobblestones flew up like popcorn around him.

This was only because he had braced himself. If he had taken that hit head-on, he would have been launched dozens meters away instead.

“Haa!”

Struggling to support his buckling knees, Siwoo pushed the sword forcefully to create sspace.

With his ability to adapt and use anything as a weapon, be it dagger, axe, or even shield, he was always ready.

Eloa, on the other hand, was wielding a sword much bigger than herself.

At a first glance, it looked like Siwoo would have the upper hand in a close quarter combat.

But it wasn’t the case at all.

In close quarter combat, Eloa could use her smaller size to her advantage.

Being small meant she could move around him more easily even in a tight space.

She’d trip him up with her feet, jab him with the tip of her sword, even use her elbows and kicks to keep him off balance.

-Kang!

Siwoo pulled his shield inward then shoved it toward Eloa, trying to push her away.

Eloa, who protected herself by inserting the sword between the points of impact, used this to bounce away.

On its own, this wasn’t an effective attack from Siwoo.

She easily endured the impact of his shield strike by leaping away after all.

But that was exactly what Siwoo had been waiting for.

“Got you!”

-Srrrt!

He twisted the four ribbons that had been staying still in the air, waiting for the exact moment to attack.

Then, he proceeded to mimic how Ea had used these things.

Each of the ribbons was packed with power, much stronger than even Siwoo’s strongest sword swing.

Feeling the sensation similar to releasing a bowstring, he intercepted Eloa, who was still floating in the air, and launched an attack that was like a homing missile.

His attack covered all directions simultaneously.

Its speed surpassed even that of bullets.

At that moment, it really looked like this would finish Eloa for good.

But…

“I hereby declare a covenant.”

One letter on the side of the Sword of Covenant glowed.

A surge of powerful mana spread out as Eloa kicked her legs hard mid-air.

With the absence of a solid foothold, her movements were constrained by the lack of reactive forces in the air.

This was common sense that would apply to anyone.

However, Eloa wasn’t just anyone, she could easily break that common sense if she wanted to.

-Boom!

As she performed the kick mid-air, a shockwave rippled out in all directions.

Eloa’s rear leg moved so quickly it broke the sound barrier. To anyone watching her, it looked like she had ‘stepped’ on empty space before shooting forward like an arrow.

With a violently powerful force that seemed to mock the laws of physics, it shoved the air around her aside.

The ribbons that Siwoo had released veered off course, trying to follow where she went, but…

That was the wrong move.

“Gah!”

Before he realized it, Eloa had landed a kick that shattered his shield as if it was a cookie and struck him right in his abdomen.

He crashed into a parked car, destroying it comically as if it was a block of lego, and flew for a while before being slammed into a cosmetics store.

“Ugh…”

Struggling to get up, he found her standing over him with her sword pointing at his neck.

That was the sign of KO for him.

“Haah, I lost. Cough, cough!”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, because you were holding back.”

“Well, we need to go shopping later, no? Can’t have you looking like a mess.”

Eloa reached out her hand to him with a gentle smile.

His armor dissolved into shadows before he stood up, clasping their hands.

The more they sparred, the more he felt like he had beca professional wrestler.

Today, he played the role of a beaten-up villain spectacularly.

“I thought I might have a chance to win today…but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be…”

“You did good, you haven’t forgotten about taking the initiative like what I taught you last time. The problem is that the moment you thought your plan had failed, your defense becsloppy. If you had trusted your own defensive skills instead of focusing on the ribbon, you could have kept going for a while.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Eloa smiled with satisfaction.

Siwoo’s skills were really getting better and better each day.

Though he had nearly mastered his abilities thanks to his covenant, there was one thing that he lacked until Eloa stepped in.

Hand-to-hand combat.

When he only relied on his instincts, he showed weakness in regard to controlling his power efficiently and planning his next move. But those weaknesses were successfully addressed through their spars, which were similar to real battles.

He had grown proficient in using his power effectively and strengthening his spirit body, so it wasn’t inaccurate to say that he had becseveral times stronger than before.

“With your current skills, you should be able to handle most witches without any trouble. As long as they don’t use their self-essence magic, that is.”

“That doesn’t mean anything then!”

“Not really. This also means that you’re strong enough to take down a moderately strong Homunculus.”

Seeing his bitter smile, Tiphereth secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Due to the embarrassing thing that happened yesterday and the day before, she thought that she’d be acting all awkwardly around him, but once their training started, it turned out that she could act like her usual self just fine.

Guess they were right about following the routine getting you off from things.

She did think that if Siwoo had known what was going on, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.

There was no way something good would cout of it if he were to know that she had been peeping at him when he had sex and was somehow aroused by it…

No, stop thinking about that already!

He won’t know as long as I keep my mouth shut anyway! This kind of thing won’t happen again in the future anyway!

With that thought, she finally felt more relaxed.

“In any case, good job.”

“Thank you for the lesson again today.”

The pair then walked out to the wrecked Gwanghwamun Square.

Both the square itself and the streets nearby were totally smashed, as if they had just endured a bombing or something.

Their spar was unlike that of your typical human’s brawl.

When they bumped into a car during their fight, it was crushed like aluminum foil, the solid asphalt floor would crumple under their feet whenever they touched it.

There was no need to mention what happened to the parts of the ground that were touched by the misfired ribbons.

Thankfully once the interdimensional barrier disappeared, everything would be completely fixed, making Siwoo feel thankful that such a convenient spell existed.

The pair went back to the Witch Point, cleaned up, changed their clothes, and headed towards the nearby department store.

What were they going to do? Just sshopping.

2.

“Hmm hmm…. ”

Eloa was humming along to the classical music playing inside the department store.

With each of her joyful steps, her hair would sway, following the rhythm.

She seemed to be happier than usual and it didn’t escape Siwoo’s notice.

“Master.”

“Yes?”

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

His words were quite straightforward and there wasn’t any other meaning to it, but Eloa realized what he was trying to say half a beat too late.

Blushing slightly, she stopped humming.

Realizing that she was acting frivolously without thinking, she felt a little embarrassed.

“Stop teasing me.”

“I wasn’t, I was just happy to see you in such a good mood.”

They went to the department store together with the fancy car Periwinkle had given him.

Currently, they were exploring the women’s clothing section.

In truth, Eloa wasn’t particularly keen on clothes or jewelry.

Back when she was an apprentice, the only clothes she had were the clothes given by her predecessor. After she beca witch, she only wore simple clothes.

There was a reason for this though.

Even among witches who had all sorts of hair and eye colors, hers stood out quite a lot.

Since she preferred simplicity and hated to gain all the attention, she balanced it out by opting to wear plain clothes.

This beca habit after a long thad passed, and the fact that she never really had a reason to go shopping on her own made her never change her ways since then.

When Siwoo offered to buy her clothes, she had no reason to reject him, that was why she calong willingly.

If anything, she was excited to receive a gift from him, it didn’t really matter what it was.

“Hmm…”

“Mm…”

But an unforeseen problem arose.

Siwoo didn’t know much about fashion, like which clothes would suit whom, what the latest trends were, and so on.

And Eloa wasn’t any better.

So, they ended up wandering through the store like a conveyor belt sushi.

“What kind of clothes do you usually wear?”

“Ones that are comfortable to move in, or dresses.”

“Uh…then should we check out this section?”

They randomly chose a brand and entered a store that seemed to have a lot of dresses. It took a while before a clerk approached them.

“Hello— Oh my…”

The female clerk, who seemed quite young, was taken aback when she saw Siwoo, even more so when she saw Eloa.

Siwoo was already handsenough, but Eloa was even more so, since she had a really unique appearance even among witches.

She stared at the two of them blankly, went speechless for a bit before coming to her senses and apologized.

“I’m sorry! You both are so handsand pretty…haha…! What kind of clothes are you looking for?”

But that awkwardness didn’t last long.

Her eyes immediately lifted up as she began to recommend one outfit after another in a really friendly voice.

“Are you sure you aren’t a model? Jeez, your hair color looks so pretty on you!”

“What about this one? This kind of outfit is quite popular these days, it would definitely suit you!”

“You noticed that it’s getting chilly at night these days, right? Pair it with this cardigan, it’ll look very pretty!”

“Just look at it! The sporty and casual vibe will suit you well! Actually, this one might look good on you too…”

She kept on suggesting clothes to her like a kid playing dress-up with her favorite doll.

Meanwhile, Siwoo could only stand on the side, acting like a human clothes hanger, holding up the clothes recommended by the clerk.

“Would you like to try them on?”

“I probably should…”

“Yes, you should try them before buying them.”

“Then, the fitting rooms are over there! If you need any alterations to the clothes, we can do them right away, so don’t worry if the size doesn’t fit!”

Seeing how Eloa looked a little doubtful on whether she should try the clothes on or not, Siwoo answered for her instead.

Those pretty clothes weren’t cheap, so it made sense to try them first before buying.

The first dress she grabbed was a gray knit dress that cdown on her calves.

Though a knit dress didn’t sound appealing, it was quite a popular style at the moment in Korea.

After a round of rustling sound from inside, Eloa shyly emerged from the fitting room.

“Woah…”

Before Siwoo could even react, the clerk already exclaimed in admiration.

The knit dress she recommended hugged Eloa’s body tightly, showing off her figure and curves perfectly.

Though she wore a cardigan to cover her upper body, her swaying butt would be visible through the clothes each tshe took a step.

“Ah…”

He knew he shouldn’t react this way, but it was better than looking away.

Because she had only been wearing loose sweatpants and windbreaker, he never noticed that Eloa’s body was more curvy than expected.

Just a while ago, she looked like a princess going on a secret date, now, she had this seductive charm that only actresses would exude.

“T-This feels a little too tight…”

Due to the snug embrace of the knitted fabric around every curve of her body, and the stares she received as soon as she stepped out of the fitting room, Eloa was completely flustered.

“No! You look really great, Miss! Don’t you think so too?”

“M-Me? Y-Yes, it looks good on her.”

“C’mon, you need to react more~ Or else, you’ll make her feel bad~”

“Uh, you look beautiful. It looks really great on you.”

Unlike Siwoo, who had gotten used to extraordinary beauties because of all the times he spent with the witches, Eloa’s beauty seemed to catch the clerk off guard.

She was so hyped that she made Siwoo say his opinion twice.

While staring at herself in the fitting room mirror. Eloa wondered, ‘Does this really suit me?’ but hearing Siwoo saying that she looked pretty made her dismiss those thoughts and sent her to cloud nine.

“R-Really?”

“Yes, it really suits you well. Would you like to try something else?”

“Okay.”

Next, she tried on jeans, a belt, a black shirt, and a trench coat.

This time, it was in the Western’s city woman style and it suited Eloa well.

“This feels a little stuffy…”

“What do you mean a little stuffy? You look so good in it, just like a movie star! Don’t you think so too?”

“Y-Yeah, you look really good, um…”

“R-Really?”

This spattern repeated itself after that.

Eloa would ponder inside the fitting room, wondering if the clothes really suited her.

As soon as she cout, Siwoo would agree with the clerk who clapped her hands in admiration.

Then, she’d feel flattered by his compliments about how pretty or cool she looked.

Consequently, they ended up buying everything.

Of course sof them had the wrong size, so they had to wait for the store to alter the size for them.

While waiting, Siwoo bought her three pairs of shoes.

With that, the shopping spree, which had been a feast for the eyes, cto an end.