The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet

Chapter 137: On the Other Side (Arc 4 - The Boundary END)

Back on Metous, Nina said goodbye to Tella after another meeting. Nina did feel slightly bad for dragging Tella into these, as the most recent few lunches were really more about Nina needing to have a non-work-related talk with someone she liked. 

She was fond of Tella enough that she would consider her a friend one day, but friendships took a long time to form. Tella was, of course, not the only person she could talk to, but recent events made it harder than ever to move from planet to planet or even around Metous’s domains.

Back in her office, a small sigh came from Nina’s mouth: “It has been a long time coming.” She was reading the latest batch of reports from her own and shared operatives. 

Thanks to the information gained from their prisoner and efforts from others within their network, there had finally been a sizable step forward in the investigation of Dominous Hood.

While there was technically no proof, the attack on Jelannax Station was the final act that forced many to act. People in power knew who was responsible; there was no one else who could orchestrate such an attack, no matter how much they tried to pin it on a group effort of pirates or the actions of a revengeful madman with a warship.

Though no matter how much of a ‘boon’ some said Dominous Hood’s recent actions were for the people fighting them, in getting them to unite people who were on the fence or not believing in the threat, or simply didn’t want to be involved. Nina saw such words as filth, as no matter how much the wind was blowing in their favour, it shouldn’t have taken back-to-back horrendous incidents for that to happen. 

At this point, very few cared what Dominous Hood’s reason was, and the majority of the ones that did only cared to try and predict their movements. 

While progress on the side of this was good, it was stressful, and it wasn’t the only thing that had inadvertently brought her worry. 

The marble that Ceella provided them had turned dark a few days ago. They had kept it safe in Nina’s facility, and they had even activated it a few times to ensure the portal was still working. However, without warning, the orb lost all its light, and they weren’t able to do anything with it. 

That caused a mild panic, but they tried to remain calm, as it could’ve meant a number of possibilities, but the issue was that there was no way to confirm or test any of them.

There was practically no communication between Nina and Ceella before the latter disappeared. Nina could only hope that either she would come back through the portal or their coms Ceella held would work whenever, wherever she appeared.

Then, to make matters more confusing, the marble in question lit up again, but this time a deep sparkling purple.

“This is so strange…” Nina had gotten a rough estimate of Ceella’s ability now that she knew who she was. 

She understood all the incidents that she had been involved in. The three notable ones were the attack on the Blazer concert on Metous, the Earth space tear incident, and the Jelannax station conflict. 

Ceella was certainly powerful despite only being a partial witch, as Nina decided to refer to her as. 

To which Nina didn’t know whether Ceella not being a proper witch was a blessing or a curse.

Witches tended to stay out of trouble, as whoever they were contracted to tended to stay out of conflicts. There were exceptions, but they were the weaker witches.

Ceella didn’t fit into any category of witch, even excluding her partial status. She was powerful and clearly operated without any restrictions, but for Nina, she believed that must simply be what Ceella’s contractor wanted.  She didn’t trust that one of these such entities wouldn’t do a full contract for no reason. 

While there was a reason, it was not as malicious as Nina feared, but recent events had been making her think the worst about many topics.

“I’m back with the report,” Lila called out as she entered Nina’s office. She couldn’t leave the facility, so she started working for Nina. She had jumped from job to job here, but recently she was helping sort through the information that was sent their way.

“Oh, thank you, dear.” Nina looked at the report that had been uploaded to the device she was using. “Anything you want to add verbally?” 

“Not particularly…” Lila answered. 

“Okay, well, the Stellas’ say hello and eat plenty.”

“Of course they did.” Lila smiled and rolled her eyes. “They never change.”

Nina offered Lila a brisket from the plate she was eating from, but Lila refused and stated she had just eaten. 

“That’s fine, but it is good to see you are looking better.”

“Yes… I guess having Colours in the same building as me, despite never seeing her, was more mentally stressful than I realised.”

Colours had been trapped within Nina’s grasp since her attack on Lila; she was the only one out of the two that day Nina was able to save. As an adult with at least some form of seniority, they interrogated her for all she was worth. It had taken a long time, but they had managed to get some useful information out of her.

Lila sighed, “Though, one worry was just switched with another.”

“Sorry, I can’t help with it.”

“Don’t be. I am sure she is doing something crazy and will be fine.” Lila learned a little while after being here about Ceella’s whole jumping through a portal to the unknown fiasco. She had known some information, but upon learning everything, she was nearly ready to slam her head into a wall. 

However, she chose to believe that Ceella was alright.

Nina closed her eyes and nodded. She didn’t think a person who was in contact with one of those dangerous entities would disappear quietly. 

Nina had spent a fair amount of time attempting to reach the entities that had the power to grant humans power and wishes. It initially started from a mild curiosity about the rumours, but when Mathew, the boy whom she personally knew and who disappeared when he was eleven, only to come back as a Witch years later, made her dive deeper into the unknown. She didn’t want power; she wanted to understand the danger that these entities could bring.

The answer to that latter question seemed to be low, but she could never be sure how much they indirectly influenced events with their pawns. Nina did fear some days she was overreacting to the presence of these beings, but when humanity reached so much and even explored the stars, the fact that there were still things out of reach was terrifying.

Nina and Lila continued to have a small talk for a few moments, speaking about a few fun topics such as how work has been and the Stella family. 

Eventually, they led back to serious matters.

Lila asked, “So, is it true that a raid is being planned?”

Nina paused and debated her answers. “Something is being planned, but the details on what it is are still a topic for debate.”

“Oh, I see…” Lila lamented.

 Nina replied, “Don’t be too worried; there will be answers soon.”

Why do they even have a headquarters…

One piece of information that was obtained via joint effort was the general area of the possible Dominous Hood headquarters. While this news was something to celebrate about, the fact that an organisation like Dominous Hood even had a headquarters was weird to Nina. Having an outpost in various locations made sense, but a central hub was concerning. 

Then the speaker on her device turned on, and a red glow flickered in the corner. “NINA! The marble is reacting again!” It was the emergency button.

Nina replied back, “What is the situation?”

“We don’t know. Suddenly, the orb lit up like fireworks and has been constantly pulsing with massive energy.”

“Any sign of an explosion?”

“Not zero percent.”

“Understood, I am on my way.” Nina stopped the call and transferred an open comms to her earpiece. “Follow me.” 

“Understood, boss.” Lila opened the door for Nina and followed her afterwards. 

Then they moved to the room where the artefact was stored as Nina was receiving constant updates on the situation. 

When they arrived, it was pulsing with a bright purple light as a weak heat filled the room. 

“What…” Lila mumbled. 

Nina quickly reacted and formed a barrier in the room for safety purposes, but the barrier shattered as a flat mirror of the purple light formed.

Then a hand emerged from the barrier, causing cracks, and then the Starlight wall shattered.

A being broke through the purple barrier. 

Energy dripped from their skin, and it shook the very room.

Something about them was unnatural. Nina never even had this reaction for some of the fiercest monsters she had fought.

Nina saw them and concluded they couldn't be human. No matter what their body shape may suggest. 

“Argh, feels… It’s great to breathe in that good oxygen again; it feels like home again.” But the voice… she knew that voice, and this thing's appearance.

And Lila ran towards it with excitement, “Ceella!” 

Espr watched as Ceella continued to modify her domain with her authority to her liking. 

The space that only had one purple star in the domain was now covered in thousands of various sizes and colours. None were even close to the size of the original, as Ceella wanted these extra stars not to be just for show. Each was a small store of energy that could grow by intaking the light emitted from the central star.

An outsider, seeing Ceella’s enthusiasm, one might assume she had no care for the outside world anymore, but the fact that she was purposely keeping the scars on her body for the time being said otherwise. Her body could be modified to various extents, and removing all visible damage–even the wounds that couldn’t be healed with conventional means–was well within the range of possibilities.

Ceella tried crafting a second star that could directly generate energy, but she learned that was out of her reach for the time being. 

It was a curious sight, as Espoiramissa had never seen a newly formed Spiritual being create their domain before. The process was different from Dungeons, as while they were Spiritual beings, they were a different type, and their worlds were reliant on the physical. This also meant they could create nearly any type of physical world, but Espr wouldn’t be able to create a place exactly like what Ceella was creating.

An imitation within the planet’s body was possible, but actually creating stars that could generate energy was impossible. Ceella only had one of those stars, but eventually she would be able to create more.

She was a fast learner. Ceella had even figured out how to manipulate the souls stored within her domain.

Ceella was spending so much time here, partly because it was enjoyable and she was extremely invested in her art project, and she needed a bit longer to rest. The evolution process and rest fixed many issues she had, but it was an exhausting endeavour that left most newly awakened Spiritual beings knocked out for ages.

Ceella had awoken so early because it was part of her nature not to sleep, so there were still some developments within her existence that were finishing up that she needed to be within her domain to complete.

Espr was feeling many things. 

A sense of pride and fulfilment that Ceella managed to achieve this, and that they got to watch the process unfold.

There was also sadness, anger, and longing. Ceella was supposed to belong to them in the end, but she had broken free and created her own world.

She had escaped beyond the boundary.

But Espoiramissa still wanted Ceella.

…Why are you so dazzling…