Hearing this, Marie Laveau's expression shifted drastically. She immediately snatched up the landline receiver on the table and began speaking rapidly in a local dialect.
A moment later, the phone rang.
After listening to the report from the other end of the line, she was so furious she laughed.
In all of New Orleans, besides that venomous woman Fiona, she could not think of a single other person who could have silently unearthed that coffin right under her nose.
"I can help you deal with her."
Sephirot chose that moment to speak up.
Marie Laveau narrowed her eyes and sized him up for a few moments, disbelief written across her face. "You? By yourself?"
Fiona was the Supreme Witch of this generation, possessing immensely formidable power.
Even as the Voodoo Queen herself, Marie Laveau had to avoid a direct confrontation with her.
And this young man of unknown origins standing before her, what gave him the right to make such bold claims?
Sephirot did not waste words.
He gently raised a hand, curled his five fingers into a fist, and then slammed it directly into the ground.
Boom!
The hard floor instantly caved in, forming a small crater half a meter wide.
Marie Laveau's pupils constricted sharply. Regardless of whether this man could truly hold his own against the Supreme Witch, that inhuman strength alone was worth establishing a relationship over.
"Very well."
She cast aside all her disdain, said nothing further, and after asking Sephirot for an item of Patty's, she stood and walked to the center of the room's open space.
Unlike Fiona's method of divination using tarot cards,
Marie Laveau's divination was brimming with primal wildness, like some ancient ritual.
Her eyes rolled back until only the whites showed, and her body began to twist in erratic, unpatterned movements as strange murmurs escaped her lips.
With her movements, the shadows within the previously dim room seemed to take on a life of their own, beginning to surge and writhe.
A few minutes later, Marie Laveau, who was still in the midst of casting her spell, acted as if struck by an invisible force.
With a muffled grunt, her entire body flew backward, slamming against the wall.
She clutched her chest, panting as she wiped a trace of blood from the corner of her mouth.
"Cough... whoever is behind this is terrifyingly strong. My voodoo spirit had no right to even get close."
"Moreover, there's a barrier around that group of people, repelling any attempt at outside investigation."
Sephirot's mind settled. Two divinations from different systems had yielded roughly the same result. It seemed Fiona truly had not deceived him in this matter.
He spoke up again, asking, "How can a witch grow stronger quickly?"
Marie Laveau could not help but let out a cold laugh at this question.
It sounded like a newborn infant running up to ask how to become a full-grown adult in a single day.
But seeing that Sephirot did not appear to be joking, her expression grew slightly more serious.
She pondered for a moment, then spoke in a low voice. "A witch's mana is tied to her very soul."
"To break through the natural accumulation process, one must be pushed to the brink of life and death to stimulate one's latent potential."
At this, Marie shook her head and said, "Bringing someone to the brink of death is easier said than done. The slightest misstep, and you'll truly end up a corpse."
"Very few people are willing to attempt this anymore."
Sephirot listened to her explanations, sinking into deep thought.
This theory was essentially consistent with his earlier speculations.
For these witches, the growth of power was never a gradual climb up a slope, but rather an explosive leap.
This could be seen from the energy Zoe unleashed when Madison and the others pranked her with a scare not long after she first enrolled.
As long as the external threat was deadly enough, they could make a tremendous leap in a single burst.
Sephirot rubbed his chin.
A high-pressure environment that could provide life-and-death situations, while also allowing him to control the mortality rate at any time.
In this world, what place could be more suitable than Silent Hill, which Alessa controlled?
Use real death and desperate predicaments to push Zoe, forcing her to rapidly awaken the "Seven Wonders" in a short time.
Then kill Fiona, allowing Zoe to naturally obtain the complete power of the Supreme Witch.
With this in mind, he looked at Marie Laveau sitting across from him and spoke words that shocked her. "I intend to kill Fiona and train a new Supreme Witch."
Hearing this, a glint of surprise flickered in Marie Laveau's eyes. "Aren't you afraid I'll go and warn her?"
Sephirot's expression remained unchanged.
Marie Laveau and Fiona, or rather, New Orleans voodoo and Miss Robichaux's Academy, had long been locked in bitter enmity.
Voodoo had been rooted in the land of New Orleans for a very long time.
The Salem witches who later fled here established their own territory in this place, and even founded a school.
In their struggle for territory, both sides were stained with each other's blood; their hatred ran bone-deep.
Just as on the plane, when Fiona had somehow seen the business card on him and learned that he was going to find Marie Laveau, she had immediately offered him benefits to stay.
Both of them desperately wished the other would drop dead on the street. How could Marie Laveau possibly warn her?
Seeing that Sephirot's demeanor remained calm, unchanged from beginning to end despite her words, she said with a hint of regret, "You're telling me this because you want me to help you deal with Fiona?"
"No need."
Sephirot continued, "I can handle her alone."
This simple statement made Marie Laveau's pupils sharply contract.
Having fought Fiona for half her life, Marie knew her capabilities better than anyone.
Where did this young man get the confidence to single-handedly hunt down a Supreme Witch?
"I brought this up to you in the hope that after I kill her, you will join Miss Robichaux's Academy."
Ignoring her shock, Sephirot went on, "Or rather, I hope a mutual-support alliance can be established between your people and the Academy."
"You're quite ambitious."
Only now did she finally understand the scheme this young man before her had devised.
A trace of wariness flashed deep in Marie Laveau's eyes as she sneered coldly. "Fiona is bound to die sooner or later. By using a corpse as an easy bargaining chip, you think you can seize control of both major witch forces on this land for yourself?"
Sephirot nodded noncommittally, making no effort to conceal his intentions.
"I might encounter some trouble later on and will need a stable intelligence network. Cooperation between the two of you would be the most convenient for me."
Marie Laveau stared at Sephirot for a long time, as if trying to confirm whether he was joking.
After a moment, she continued, "Since this is for the sake of forming an alliance, Fiona's death alone won't be enough."
"Speak."
Sephirot quietly waited for her to continue.
A surge of anger suddenly rose on Marie Laveau's face.
"A hundred years ago, a pair of despicable Black thieves used underhanded means to steal the black magic left behind by my ancestors."
"By exchanging souls, they seize the bodies of the young and have survived to this day."
Sephirot listened quietly.
"That kind of trick is an insult to voodoo."
She raised her head, fixing her burning gaze on Sephirot. "Countless times, I've wanted to skin them alive and rip out their tendons. But they know my methods far too well; the moment I get close, they immediately sense it and set traps to counter me."
"But you are different. Your power seems to come from a demon."
"I hope you can go to that estate, kill them with your own hands, and bring back the black magic of my ancestors."
Observing the killing intent in Marie Laveau's eyes, Sephirot quickly weighed the matter in his mind.
Killing two ordinary people in exchange for cooperation with a voodoo force was an all-upside bargain.
"Give me their address."
(Translated by yourtl.app)