Chapter 27: Temptation
"Bullshit!" was the first word Junk said after hearing what the night whisperer had to say.
"What a foul mouth you have, boy," she said, taking one final sip of tea. Delicately and elegantly dropping the cup on the wooden bench next to her. "We'll have to correct this for you."
"There will be nothing to correct. We are leaving," April said.
"And how are you going to do that exactly?" she asked her.
"Don't worry. We'll find our way out of here. Somehow."
"Like she said," the guardian grunted and left with her.
"Oh, really? Are you certain? Should I have someone escort you out of the property? Or should I… Do it myself?" she asked them. Not too long after, the two casually began walking away from the conversation and from the disturbing woman known as the night whisperer, they quickly realized that they wouldn't be able to leave as soon as they were hoping. The first one among the two who realized was no other than Junk himself. As he walked away from the witch and attempted to move through a door frame constructed entirely of grass and flowers, shaping the entrance of a maze surrounding the fairy-like and enchanted garden, the young man was suddenly met with an objection. A physical objection represented under the form of an invisible force field. Preventing him and April to be leaving this place. The boy accidentally ran head first into the invisible wall. Not knowing what was waiting for him in the first place.
Thud!
April stopped as soon as she heard and witnessed what had happened. She frowned.
The witch who betrayed September was never okay with them leaving.
"What the heck?" Junk said as he accidentally hurt himself.
"Are you alright, Junk?" the elvish girl was worried about him. She didn't want to see him get hurt in any way shape or form.
"I'm fine! I'm fine! Don't worry about me," he told her.
"Let us go," April turned back to the night whisperer, "let us go right now, or I swear, I'm going to destroy you myself," she threatened him. She wasn't kidding around. She wasn't interested in spending any more time here that it was needed. They had to continue adventuring. They had to keep going if they wanted to find September again. Doing their best to find out what happened to her after she had left for her crypt, if anything did happen to her.
"I'd really love to see that," the night whisperer whispered as she stood up.
"Good. Because this is going to happen for sure. Do you hear me?" April became frustrated. She quickly walked back in the direction of the woman who brought them here, and was now fully prepared to beat the hell out of her.
"Big mistake. I wouldn't have done that if I were you," Junk grunted from behind the beautiful, but angered, green-haired elvish young woman. She wasn't running, but she was definitely walking as fast as she could, glaring at her enemy as she made her way toward her. Making sure to think about the way she was going to attack her first. Planning. Every big step she made caused her huge tits to jiggle a lot in her new green and white village girl-style dress. The cleavage region of her dress was absolutely out of control. Every step she took, and her breasts came dangerously close to simply pop out of her dress. She wasn't wearing any form of brassiere underneath the dress, of course, the night whisperer didn't go as far as giving her any form of underwear. Although, it wasn't the kind of outfit that required a brassiere so much. She could go without it, but the reality was that it came so close to her tits popping out of her dress (multiple times as well), that the night whisperer couldn't keep a straight face as she made her way toward her. Like a wild animal rushing toward her delicious-looking target. Upon reaching her position in the garden, April didn't say another word. She simply charged at the night whisperer and swung her right fist into her face. The witch then successfully avoided the fist at the last second.
Calmed. Zen. Controlled.
She didn't move much. Simply to move out of the way of the obvious attack. April grunted. She frowned even more. She tried punching her again, and she reacted by moving so quickly again that she avoided her attack one more time. She was so in control that it frustrated her even more.
"Can you do it a bit faster? Please? You're a little too slow."
"You don't say? Let me fix that for you," April replied to the night whisperer, already out of breath, already running out of energy, but not quite just yet. She waited a bit longer this time. Focused. Found herself again. Closed her eyes for a few seconds until she was finally ready to. A green aura of energy began manifesting itself all around her. Surrounding her. She then re-opened her eyes again. Her eyes were burning with visible green energy. It was time. Now, for the first time since the inception of this battle, she moved faster than her. Surprised her as she made her way behind her. Totally shocking.
"Huh!" she didn't see that coming. She vanished for a second.
"Looking for me?" she whispered in the neck of the night whisperer, the conspirator who dethroned and took September down.
"I didn't know you could use seasonal mana," she said.
"You have seen nothing yet," she replied to him, "Spring Green Kick!" April yelled out the name of her attack and violently swung her kick at the night whisperer's head. Hitting the back of her head with her heel. She accidentally lifted her dress so high in the air as she kicked her that we could see all the splendid thickness of her left leg for one short moment. One short moment that seemed to be lasting forever as Junk, the guardian, witnessed all of this unfold in beautiful slow-motion. The night whisperer was suddenly taken down. She was projected so far away from her that she fell down on the other wooden bench where Junk and April woke up onto. She was forced to sit on the bench as she fell back down from the sky. Immediately breaking the bench in one go. April was even more out of breath now. The night whisperer was too. She had been wrecked.
"I don't understand why you would ever want to do that… Why fight when you're pregnant? Hold on. I guess you longer are pregnant," the witch asked April before pointing out to her.
"Huh. How do you know I'm pregnant? Wait…" she shot back at her.
"That's right. She is, indeed, pregnant," Junk confirmed. He supported her. But then took one more look at her and her belly. Wait a minute… She didn't have a belly bump, which he thought for sure he had seen one in the pumpkin patch after defeating Lord Monsoon. September explained to him earlier that a demon such as him impregnating her and April had gifted the both of them with hyper-pregnancies, which meant advanced and accelerated pregnancies.
However, now April no longer had a belly bump as it was the case earlier before they woke up. Did this mean that she was no longer pregnant? This came to an absolute shock for her.
"Wait. No. It's gone," she touched her belly or the general lack of it. "I am no longer pregnant. I didn't even notice," she said.
"What? But you were still pregnant back in the clearing?"
"That must mean that you give birth to a soul. That always happens when a woman is impregnated by a demon. That demon being your guardian," the night whisperer witch remembered.
"So, it's gone already? I'm already pregnant of you Junk's," the elvish woman asked him as she stopped touching her belly. She had been caressing it through the new green and white dress for the past several minutes. Still feeling a presence inside of her body. Even though it was gone, she could still sense that life had been pushed out of her not too long ago.
"It's okay. Everything is okay, April," the boy tried reassuring her.
"So, where's the soul, then?" Junk turned to the night whisperer witch and confronted him.
"Somewhere safe, I assume. The witch village surrounding the guild of witches will be a nice and cozy permanent home for it," she replied, indicating that she already knew where the soul had gone to. She knew a lot more than she let on to believe.
"Curse you. They are going to use it against September and us," April was shocked. She felt as if she had failed everything she was supposed to be doing while helping the former Witch Queen.
"No. No. That's not it at all. We want to help you. One day become one of the better members of the guild," she still tried recruiting them.
"I'm having a lot of trouble believing you. But there is something I'm confused about. It doesn't make any sense, pointy hat girl. Why send the soul to this so-called witch village and bring us here in this remote garden in the middle of nowhere? Why send the spirit away while you keep us entertained here?" Junk asked him. The young man made sure that he was slowly getting closer to the night whisperer as he asked this elaborate question.
"Honestly? I thought it was fitting," the whisperer woman whispered to them. Still recovering from this terrible blow she took. Still panting. Still trying to get back up from the pile of shattered wooden pieces of the bench she accidentally destroyed following the Spring kick.
"Fitting? How so?" April asked her, even more confused.
"This place is my secret house, not too far from the village. Yes. I succeeded in my mission and gave the guild what they wanted."
"Which was the soul, right?" Junk confronted her again.
"Yeah. A little piece of the team assembled by September. You. A trace that could lead them to her. You are already aware about this, but everyone wants to punish her for being a renegade witch and leaving after being dethroned. She was supposed to be remaining in the witch village forever. Now, she must pay for what she has done. We are going to find her. One day, or another. But honestly, I am not too worried about this. We are going to find her, but I'm not in any hurried to make this happen. They can find her on their own. I'm just an employee of them, after all. No. I was interested in something else. I thought this place was fitting because this garden is actually not a garden," the night whisperer began explaining. The witch who used to drink tea in the garden earlier was completely cornered. There was no way to go. April stood behind him as Junk was on the other side of him. The woman was still panting. She was slowly getting better, but not anywhere enough to fully stand.
"What is it, then?" Junk asked him. Quickly becoming more and more impatient with all the bullshit he believed she was telling them. To him, the whisperer was only attempting to stall and to gain some time, so she could hopefully escape or plan a counterattack. One thing was certain, Junk never ceased staring at her and watching her. Making sure she wouldn't do anything shady to them again.
"It's a maze," the wounded witch ultimately revealed.
"A maze. Wait a second…" Junk said to himself.
"So, if you see where I'm going with that…" the night whisperer was amused by the fact that she had put a maze and a Minotaur together.
"Junk. Are you being serious right now? A maze. And you have a demonic Minotaur form. You don't see the connection between the two?" April stepped in, placed both of her hands on top of her wide hips, and tried to make him understand what she tried explaining to him.
"No. I got it. That makes a lot of sense."
"Tell me, Junk. Since your demon form is the one of a Minotaur, have you been into a maze before? Can you find your way in one?" April bombarded the boy with a series of questions.
This was exactly what the witch had been hoping for this entire time.
April momentarily lost her temper a bit and forgot about what was truly important right now. The wounded witch seized this wonderful opportunity. Swiftly stood up. Spun around. Circled around the distracted April and took her by surprise. She now stood behind her and held her with her arms. She was now her hostage. One more time.
"Oh, no," she murmured.
"Damn."
"That's just wonderful. I distracted the both of you. And now, you are going to suffer for it," the night whisperer said, grinning. "Thanks for that powerful kick, by the way, April."
"Why is that?" she asked him.
"It allows me to shed my skin a bit," she was right, the wounds caused by the kick were shedding her skin, revealing that she was something else deep inside. There was a monster underneath the human's skin. "Sometimes, I enjoy dressing up and pretending I am human," she revealed.