Somewhere in a mansion in the city of Elmsworth.
A man stood before a mirror, bowing like he was talking to someone in a superior position to him. The mirror carried the image of a hooded man sitted on a throne. The one who bowed before the mirror couldn't help but tremble before the image, even though they were separated by thousands of miles, he could never forget the terror the hooded man had and could still inflict on him.
"Lautaro, how is the operation going?"
The figure in the mirror asked after he took a sip from the chalice he held in his right hand
"Your lordship, everything is going according to plan"
Lautaro, the one who stood before the mirror trembled, his voice cracking as he replied to his master
"It had better be"
The one in mirror continued with a scoff
"It took a lot to convince the city council to stay out of the events of tonight, however, due to that, they also won't help or take any action of the operation fails"
The figure paused once again to take his drink, his aura surging as he made his speech.
Lautaro shouldn't have been able to feel the aura due to their distance, however, he felt a phantom pain pulsing through his body. He had long been oppressed by the aura that even the mention of it could drive him to despair
"The city has imposed a lockdown on its citizens, the only ones out now are the denizens of the night, while we have free reign to do as we like, under no circumstances can you harm those already in their homes, do not allow my hard work to be in vain"
"Do not fail me boy. Take control of the Elmsworth underworld and you shall be rewarded, even more than your feeble mind could ever fathom"
And with that the mirror ceased working, dimming until its surface was now black, blending with the wall on which it lay upon. If one walked in now, he wouldn't be able to tell there was a mirror or screen on the wall.
"As you command, my lord"
**********************************
It was dark, with the moon high up in the sky by the time Getsuga finally made it to the city of Elmsworth.
She had gotten enough information from Anne to understand what was going on in the city, as as for anything she missed, well, the ones she would meet would fill her in on it.
Entering into a city that had been relegated to a battlefield with five severed heads on her back definitely wasn't the sanest thing to do, but there was no way Getsuga was going to let go of a chance to devour the sheer amount of life force the carnage would leave behind, she had just lamented about how she would require a huge number of souls and lifeforce, and heaven had answered her plea.
On her first step into the city, she was met by 5 uniformed men.
"State your name and allegiance"
Their leader asked as he approached the dark elf
"Didn't you receive the instruction to stay in your home? What are you ..."
Before stopping abruptly, he saw the head of his comrades, the very ones he sent to chase after the escapees dangling on ropes behind the very one he was interrogating
"The Moonfang, he one walks in the darkness and basks underneath the moonlight, arise and do my bidding, Reaper"
Getsuga chanted, looking at the guards that were before her, the lead guard had drawn his sword and was about to strike but it was too late.
A shadowy figure materialised behind the leader of the guards, the aura it emanated froze the movement of the guards and left them defenseless, it raised its bony hands brandishing the scythe it held.
The sight glowed silver, the reflection of the moon shining upon all those who saw it, and with one swift movement, the heads of all the guards were separated from their bodies, their souls and life force plundered by their killer.
Getsuga didn't let the commotion stop her as she continued her movements into the city. Since the war that was going on only involved the members of the underworld, she didn't have to worry about killing the innocent.
"Rise Phantoms, feast on the blood of the ones before you"
Two shadows manifested from behind Getsuga. One was her mother and the other the village priestess.
However they were a lot different from the way they were when they were first summoned by Getsuga.
Over the period of time Getsuga spent in the forest, she had learnt more about her art and how it worked, those that had been killed by her and had their souls extracted, could be utilised as her warriors.
When she killed her tribesmen, Getsuga wasn't truly in control of herself, however the wrath she felt towards her birth mother and the one responsible for the ritual, the priestess, had made her subconsciously select their souls to be used as her puppets eternally.
Unlike the first time they were summoned, they had lost the light in their eyes, they were no longer capable of free movement. They still had their wills and ego, but they were trapped, like a prisoner inside their cells.
They had their souls bound to their owner, unable to go against her will. They were nothing more than puppets.
Over the time they had spent together in the forest, Asuka and Haruta had gone from anger, hate and frustration, to despair and fear.
Their bodies, if what they had currently could be called that, no longer listened to them, they were now like guests in their body.
Talking, moving or even crying, nothing could be done without the acknowledgement of their master Getsuga. They had watched her do a lot of things in the time they had spent in the forest, but now they watched as she mercilessly killed all those who stood before her.
Even while they couldn't control their bodies, the body still trembled in fear of what was about to happen, what they were about to do.
The five who had died weren't exempted from Getsuga's spell, as their souls begin to give shape to five illusory shadows.
They were different from Haruta, Asuka and the reaper that had definite forms, with their weapons being the only thing that was corporeal. They also didn't have their consciousness attached to them, they were just a ball of instinct that followed the commands of their master.
"Go feast"
And with that command from Getsuga, her creations scattered into the city, their target, any living soul that they encountered.
*****************************
Getsuga didn't have any weapon or any phantom around her, she didn't need to. All those in the immediate vicinity had been killed after all.
She sat down on the floor and crossed her legs, channeling all the nether in her body and the bit in the artifact she was able to control into the spell she was about to cast.
Repeated trials during her travels showed that, as long as she provided enough nether and souls, she was able to create a massive spell that automatically created phantoms of anything that died in the vicinity, and that was what she was trying to do at that moment.
Using the souls of the fallen, those slain in the battle that was ongoing in the city, she drew a magic circle with her own blood around her.
The magic circle she was trying to build would be slightly different as the city was so huge that even if she emptied every bit of her energy reserves and the one in the artifact around her neck, she wouldn't be able to cover a thousandth of it, so she was going to inscribe a new magic circle she had theorized
The circle had been drawn already now she just had to infuse her nether into it and activate the major keys that would power the circle.
She removed the artifact from her neck and placed it in between her legs before chanting.
"Devour, Convert, Absorb, Enlarge, Expel, Adapt"
"Devour the souls and the life force of the fallen,
Convert the life force into nether, and the souls into phantoms,
Absorb the materials for your growth and
Enlarge, grow in width, size and power,
Expel that which isn't needed and,
Adapt before repeating the circle"
As she finished her incantation, the artifact sent a red beam towards the moon in the sky, and a red glow emanated from Getsuga and the circle.
The glow didn't stop, and the magic circle around her began moving. It took the instructions from it's creator and filled in the blank spots in the spell
Repair, Reconstruct, Control, Link.
If any mage could be around to see that, they would have died from shock, as Getsuga just performed an art that shouldn't be possible, at least not at the current world standard.
She had built a semi-sentient magic circle. Granted she was only able to do it due to the resonance between her art, the artifact, and a certain passage to hell which was leaking excess nether due to the actions of a certain duo, but she still pulled off something impossible.
Thus, Getsuga, single handedly ended the underworld war that had engulfed the city. Without leaving her spot, her soldiers had taken over and decimated every battlefield.
The phantoms were unending, as those who died only added to the number of phantoms, and as the phantoms were within the effects of the magic circle, they couldn't be vanquished.
This one-sided massacre continued until, just as the moon vanished into the horizon and the spell lost one of its power sources.
That night, the witch of calamity was born.