"Boom!"
Without even turning his head, Dante casually caught that astonishingly powerful punch.
Not even a trace of the aftershock escaped. Dante stopped it completely.
"Yo, you can already do Partial Devil Trigger?"
Dante teased, "But is that how you greet your elders now?"
Sephirot withdrew his hand, awkwardly rubbing his nose. "I thought this was another fake."
"Ha, if someone could fake me, they'd have decent taste. At least they'd understand what true cool looks like."
Dante snorted a laugh and sat up straight.
Sephirot walked over and sat down on the sofa, asking, "What brings you here all of a sudden?"
Dante did not answer that question. Instead, he looked Sephirot over and said, "The moment you walked in, I saw those young witches upstairs sneaking glances at you."
"Not bad, kid."
"But when it comes to women, a pretty face alone won't cut it. You've got to learn how to please them, like giving them a strawberry sundae once in a while."
Strawberry sundae...?
Sephirot rolled his eyes inwardly.
You're an old bachelor who's still single at your age, and you have the nerve to give me dating advice?
Lady and Trish are practically losing their minds waiting for you.
"Are you cursing me right now?"
Dante gave him a look, as if sensing something.
But then he clapped his hands and got serious. "Let's get down to business."
"Something's come up with your Aunt Trish. I need to head over there."
Sephirot's heart lurched.
Trish was no frail ordinary human; she was a demon created by Mundus himself.
If she had encountered something troublesome enough to need backup from Dante, it was probably some Demon God-level monster about to awaken again.
"Should I head back to Patty first?"
Sephirot asked immediately.
Dante waved his hand.
"Relax. My brother's been staying in Los Santos lately. He seems to have taken quite a liking to that little girl Patty."
Hearing that Vergil was holding the fort in Los Santos, Sephirot finally relaxed.
"If you're looking to craft a Devil Arm..."
Dante stood up. "You can go find Nico. Seems like she's run into a bit of trouble herself lately."
"No idea what that kid Nero's been up to these days."
As he spoke, he handed Nico's address to Sephirot.
"Alright, leave it to me."
Sephirot nodded.
This was a perfect opportunity to go see Nico about forging a Devil Arm.
And during this period, he could also toss Zoe into Silent Hill for training.
Dante walked to the living room entrance, looked up, and waved at the second floor with a grin.
"Well then, I'll be off, beautiful ladies."
"Next time I see you, I hope you'll have some good pizza ready."
With that, he pushed open the door and walked away, cool and carefree.
Sephirot watched Dante's silhouette disappear, then turned around and called Zoe out alone.
The two left the villa and went to a secluded alley.
"Sephirot? Did you need me for something?"
Zoe looked at the narrow alleyway and remembered the danger she had faced earlier at the bar, her expression growing uneasy.
Sephirot looked at the girl before him and got straight to the point. "Do you want to become the Supreme Witch?"
As he spoke, his gaze flicked almost imperceptibly toward the alley entrance.
Zoe was stunned by the question.
Over the past few days at the academy, she had been cramming a great deal of related knowledge.
But the more she understood about the mystical side of things, the more awed and insignificant she felt.
In her heart, the Supreme Witch was the most powerful being among all witches, while she was nothing more than a beginner just starting out. It was simply too far beyond her reach.
"Me... Supreme Witch?"
Zoe shook her head repeatedly. "I can't even control my own abilities. How could I possibly..."
"I'll do it!"
Before Zoe could finish her refusal, an arrogant female voice rang out from the alley entrance.
Madison walked out, arms crossed, her posture brimming with swagger.
Her aggressive presence made Zoe instinctively step aside.
Zoe glanced at the domineering Madison, then back at Sephirot, her voice dropping low.
"Madison... is more suitable than me."
Sephirot watched Zoe's timid demeanor and shook his head inwardly.
He had initially chosen Zoe because her weak-willed nature made her easier to manipulate and control.
But now, due to his interference, she had yet to experience the life-or-death crises that had catalyzed her transformation in the original course of events.
In this crisis-ridden world, if she maintained this personality forever, even if he forcibly pushed her onto the throne of the Supreme Witch, the help she could offer him would be negligible.
Let alone controlling a coven.
He did not need her to possess overwhelming combat strength, but she at least needed to keep up with where he was headed.
With that thought, he turned his gaze to the approaching Madison.
Noticing Sephirot's stare, Madison did not falter. Instead, she proudly puffed out her impressive chest, the corner of her mouth curling into a smirk.
Before entering the witch academy, she had already been a moderately famous starlet.
She had only been forced to flee and take refuge at the academy after refusing a director's casting-couch advances and using telekinesis to kill him outright.
A person forged in the cutthroat world of entertainment, she was ruthlessly ambitious, and her approach to people and problems was far more aggressive.
From the moment they first met, she had been constantly finding ways to provoke and probe him. Once she set her sights on something, she would stop at nothing to seize it.
Looking at it from another angle, the fiercely strong-willed Madison might indeed be a better choice.
Intense desire meant she would have a more powerful drive to grow.
Given the right environment, her rate of improvement would absolutely crush Zoe's.
As for whether this temperament would turn around and bite him?
Once a contract was signed, that would no longer be a concern.
Having considered this, Sephirot nodded. "Fine. I can make you the Supreme Witch, but accordingly, you will also need to pay a certain price."
"You will need to sign a contract with me."
"From this moment forward, you must maintain absolute loyalty to me. Anything I demand of you, you must carry out unconditionally, even if it means your death."
Sephirot's tone was ice-cold, without the slightest hint of jest.
He had expected such utterly dehumanizing terms to make Madison hesitate, shrink back, or even feel fear.
He had not expected Madison to show no trace of fear. Instead, she shoved the obstructive Zoe aside and pressed herself directly against Sephirot's body.
Her proud, soft curves pressed against him, and her long, slender thigh pushed its way between his legs.
"A master-servant contract? Unconditional obedience to anything?"
She rose slightly on her toes, her warm lips almost brushing Sephirot's earlobe.
"I was wondering why, no matter how much I hinted at it these past few days, you were as responsive as a brick wall..."
"I never imagined you'd want to lock me by your side this way."
Sephirot pushed her away with an impassive expression. "I hope you'll still feel that way when you're in that world."
"That world?"
Before Madison could ask further, Sephirot handed her a pre-written contract.
"Take a look. If there's no problem, press your handprint."
Madison skimmed it briefly, saw the contents were essentially what Sephirot had described, and signed it with her handprint.
Amid swirling black mist, Rofocale appeared once more.
"I didn't expect our next meeting to come so soon."
Rofocale nodded slightly at Sephirot.
Its gaze swept over Sephirot and Madison, and it laughed. "It seems my lord will soon welcome yet another descendant."
"Bear witness."
Sephirot waved his hand, somewhat exasperated. Did demons have no other forms of entertainment?
"As you wish."
Rofocale snapped its fingers, and the contract split in two.
After the contract was signed, Zoe had quietly slipped away at some point without anyone noticing.
Madison looked at Sephirot again.
"Since you're going to make me the Supreme Witch, when does the special training begin?"
Sephirot smiled faintly. "It's already begun."
Before he had even finished speaking, Madison's vision blurred.
The walls on both sides of the alley began to peel away, and withered trees erupted from the ground one after another.
Among the trees, dilapidated houses stood like tombstones.
(Translated by yourtl.app)