Dark, unnatural clouds creep above where Eudora is battling Humility. A thin beam of light is fired into the sky, splitting the clouds into two. It looks like the knightess isn't hesitating to use her trump card this time. It goes to show how much of a threat Eudora is to the Order of Piety.

The harpy sisters soar above us and disappear into the clocktower from the open top. A few men tossed out of it. The sisters remain perched on the edges like gargoyles watching over the battle.

"There! It's the witches!"

A group of armed knights at the front of King Marcus' manor draw their weapons to face us. These aren't the usual soldiers, they carry enchanted weapons. Not as powerful as the soul-bound weapons carried by the greater knights, but one slip from us and we're good as dead.

Tapping into the well of magic in my soul, I'm able to draw out the untethered arcane magic from the soul of pride. I shoot forward a crackling bolt of volatile energy from my staff, but a knight is able to slice through it.

I put some distance between us and blast wind at his feet. He's unable to cut through wind and the force throws him to the ground. A fireball finishes him off.

It pains me to have to kill good soldiers. I wanted a peaceful resolution if it were possible.

I know they are all just following orders. If Anora hadn't become councillor, we wouldn't be fighting at all. But she's given us no choice, and we have to do what we must in order to survive. Even if it means challenging the Council of Kings.

As we reach the door, a powerful blast blows us down the path. Belle emerges from the mansion with her hands on her hips, familiar coiled around her upper arm.

Belle raises her nose and sneers. "I thought I sensed a familiar magic signature. It's good that you brought Miracella. Once I bring the two of you and Eudora, it will be my name that will go down in history."

"It's nice to see you, too. Belle, Witch of Wrath." Mira greets back enthusiastically.

"There's nothing nice about this, and I go by Diligence now! Ahh, I'm still fuming about you taking the valedictorian spot of our graduating class."

Mira puts a finger to her forehead and thinks. "I did? Oh, I did!"

"You skipped the ceremony to drink in town," I remind her.

Mira shrugs. "Well, I had already graduated. No one cared for the formalities anyway." 

"I cared!" Belle swipes the space in front of her, summoning a snaking fire that cuts through the air. "No one is more hardworking than me, I tamed wrath itself, I've achieved so much more, and yet you're always lauded as the best."

"I had no idea you took this so personally. Maybe you should have aspired for more," Mira says, rubbing her chin.

I put a hand to my face. "Mira, please read the mood."

"What mood?"

A massive fireblast, larger than I could have imagined, roars past and explodes a building behind us. Mira and I barely dodged out of the way.

Wrath. A greater soul that amplifies their bonded witch's spells. Belle can cast a simple fireball and it will turn into an inferno, and a mere shard of ice can become a blizzard. Such is the wrathful soul to imbue such intensity into the spells.

"Careful, Mira. Just like the other Virtues, she has a soul-bound item on her person somewhere," I warn.

She raises an eyebrow. "Could they be named as such in opposition to the original souls? If that's the case, then it must be sloth. That and wrath makes for a dangerous combination."

I'm astonished by Mira's keen hypothesis. "You're able to discern that from just a name?"

The air around us grows cold as hail begins falling from the sky. Black, swirling clouds form above. We're losing visibility of the battle with every second. Belle conjures a storm onto the field and takes flight on her staff.

I'm unaffected by the change in weather, but Mira has to drink a resistance potion. Just as she tosses the vial to the ground, meteors and lightning strikes at us from above. Mira hijacks Talos' vision who flies into the sky to engage Belle. I grab onto Rio's leg as he sprouts wings and flies up along with her familiar.

I can barely see in front of me because of this storm, but spells are raining down all around me. There's no point casting my own spells to deflect Belle's attacks, they're much too powerful and I'll just be wasting my magic. As soon as I'm close enough—

"...ch out!" Mira calls to me from below, but her voice is drowned out by the squall.

"Out?" I can't make out what she's saying. The clouds above me part as something takes up my entire field of vision. A meteor the size of a flaming mountain plummets toward me. "Rio, right! Go right!"

Rio dives away just in time. Talos dives past us, and the only thing I can think is that Mira is down there. The deafening impact is as loud as a volcanic eruption. We can feel the wave of force even in flight.

"We have to check on Mira." I order Rio to fly us down, but I don't see her anywhere. The thick smog is obscuring my vision more than the storm did.

A strong gale blows everything away as Belle lands across from me. The winged snake coiled on her staff hisses at me as she brandishes the staff, preparing to cast another spell. As the smoke and storm clears, I see Mira behind a magical barrier, and behind her is a number of the city's inhabitants. Half the upper ward of the city has been destroyed.

Mira drops the barrier and shakes her hands. They've been blackened up to her shoulders from Belle's last spell. Forget about my living clothes' natural magic resistance, I would have been turned to charcoal if I took that head on. Fortunately for Mira, her familiar made it in time to double up on her barrier.

"Is there really nothing we can do to convince you to stand down?" I ask Belle.

Belle shakes her head. "I thought better of you. You're siding with two murderers wanted by the Council of Kings. I should be asking you to stand down. Surrender now and I can help you… nnh… negotiate for mercy..."

Just like last time, I notice Belle's legs are a little shaky. Has she always been weak in the knees?

"Are you… okay?"

"It's n-nothing! I don't need pity from my enemies. I'm just not used to moving around so much…" she says, rubbing the back of her legs.

"Think about it Belle! Anora and the Council of Kings had no reason being here. They had no reason to outright execute King Marcus without a proper trial. They are the real tyrants!" My words seem to strike a chord deep inside her.

I know. Belle should know. Headmaster Anora was always outwardly opposed to the Council of Kings, going as far as to pass off their forced curriculum as propaganda. She and her senior witches of the covenant want nothing more than to usurp the Council, and she's getting closer to it by being on it.

Just when I think Belle's conviction is beginning to falter, her body writhes like she's being shocked. She collapses to her knees, clutching her stomach, face flushed red and panting.

"I swore to the covenant, swore to the Headmaster that I would bring rogue witches to justice." Belle rises to her feet, a distinct glimmer of sweat trickles down her leg. 

She... 

No.

She couldn't be…?

I swallow my pride to ask, "Belle, did you… just have an orgasm?"

"N-No! What a preposterous thing to ask!" Belle's face turns redder than a tomato.

I need to find a way to separate Belle from her staff. Otherwise, the entire city will go up in flames from her destructive magic. Beyond her need for recognition is a fear of being an outcast. I can use that.

"Look around you. Does this destruction look like something a witch who serves the people would do?" The accusation leaves her stunned, almost as though she were actually oblivious to what she had done.

"Don't turn this on me. You've made this difficult, and I've only had to respond in kind!" Belle fires back in desperation.

Mira drinks a restoration potion and climbs to her feet. "At what point did we ever lift a spell other than to defend ourselves?"

"You— but… wait, am I… in the wrong?" Belle clutches her head, finally seeing the breadth of destruction she caused. 

The spell channeling in Belle's staff fizzles out.

"Now, Mira!" She digs her fingers into the ground. Half a dozen roots sprout from beneath Belle's feet. Using my connection to nature, I reinforce them with my magic to entangle her and disarm the staff from her hand. 

"Luna, to me!"

Her serpent familiar tries to fly away from the staff and onto Belle, but a vine emerges from the roots to capture it. Belle tries to cast magic from her hands, but without adequate movement, she can't perform any somatic signs to invoke spells.

"Guh… you tricked me!" She exclaims.

"No." Mira puts her hands in the air. "Well, yes. We did cast a spell at you in the end."

Talos has Belle's familiar in his talons and dangles it in front of her.

"Please, don't hurt her!" Belle begs.

"We won't touch a scale on her, but you…" Mira grabs her by the chin, "You've been a naughty girl, haven't you?"

Mira spins Belle around and smacks her butt. She yelps and jolts forward in her restraints. 

"Something you noticed?" I ask Mira.

"You noticed it, too." She says, pushing Belle's robes over her back and tugging down her underwear. 

"Wait, stop! Don't look there!" Belle screams.

Between her rosy cheeks, buried into her butt, is a silver chain coming out of her hole in what I can only imagine is a buttplug. Mira and I look at each other amused while Belle is wailing.

There's something about it that's emanating with magic. The only other conclusion we can come to— the powerful magic on par to a soul-bound weapon, is coming from this sex toy Belle has plugged into her ass.

Mira blows on it, causing Belle to recoil and her ass to twitch. "Hiiiieee! Let me go! I'll do anything, ahhhh!"

I loop a finger around one of the chains and tug. As I do, Belle arches her back and moans. She doesn't sound like she's in pain, if anything she's enjoying it despite her protests.

"Aheehhh—! No, anything but that… don't pull— nnnghhhaaa! If you do… I'll cum..."

Another hard tug pops out the silver buttplug, leaving her asshole empty and twitching. Belle's body convulses as she squirms against the roots.

"I'm cumming— ahhh, aahhahhhhh!!"

Jamminrabbit

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