Chapter 140 - Ritual - Part 8

Doris stood in the middle of the circle, watching the fingers pile up as she continued to sing. While other children were busy cutting off fingers, she only stood there, watching—smiling.

"It's her," I said, getting off of Wolfie. "It's Doris."

Wolfie let out a low growl as he glanced at Doris, looking for any way to get inside the circles. We have to stop them, but how? Should we step inside the sigil, what will happen to us? Will they gain control of us as well?

They were standing in two circles, with the sigil being drawn on where the children were standing. The fingers—it was as if they were absorbed into the sigil, making it even darker than before. With each disappearance of a finger, the sigil grew wider and wider, going into where the adults were standing.

Will they gain full control of the people once the sigil reaches everyone here?

Right now, the children were still cutting off the adults' fingers, and there were only about five or six people left. If my guess is right, then they will probably succeed in turning these people into their puppets once their fingers are absorbed into the sigil and the sigil reaches where the people were standing.

What about the singing? Is it something akin to a spell to get the ritual going? To make the sigil absorb the fingers and expand? If Doris is the one leading the ritual, it will be right for us to stop her first. That way, the ritual will come to an end once she stops singing. Hopefully.

"Wolfie, can you help me distract them?" I glanced back at the warriors, seeing how they were still busy with the mad puppets. "You have to stop the children from cutting off the remaining fingers."

He nodded, but he didn't take off right away. He looked at me, as if he was wondering what I was going to do in the meantime. 

I was around eighty percent—no, ninety percent sure that something bad would happen to us if we stepped inside the sigil. It was possible that they'd be able to take control of us if we were standing inside the sigil, regardless of whether we consumed Mary's blood or not.

That, if I was not a white witch.

Maggie once told me that black and white witches were on opposing sides of magic and that each other's magic would act as a purifier of the other's, rendering them neutral. Because they were born sisters, neither side of the witches could use magic to kill or harm the other. They were meant to live together, but unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse.

Just like how I can go in and out of the magic barrier, the sigil, too, will have absolutely no effect on me. But that won't be the same for Wolfie and the other warriors. So, I have no other choice but to stop Doris myself. I'm the only one who can stop her.

To stop Doris from singing, the only thing that I could do was to knock her out—just like what the warriors were doing to the puppets. Even if she couldn't harm me with magic, she could still harm me with her physical abilities—and not to mention, the people under her control. 

I let my hand roam to my pocket, grasping the weapons inside. If things don't go according to what I want, I have no other choice but to use these weapons. 

"I'll go and stop Doris," I said, immediately seeing his red eyes filled with worry. "You have to stay away from the sigil," I added, and he frowned at the mention of me going alone, but decided to put his trust in me. Though worried, he believed in me. 

Wolfie took off and jumped into the first circle, running straight to the people who were walking towards the children. He lunged at them, knocking them to the ground one by one. He let out a growl to intimidate those people, but they remained calm and composed. They didn't say anything in response to Wolfie's intervention and simply stood up, as if nothing had happened.

The children, too, didn't give any reaction and only smiled, still singing the same song. They were acting as if nothing happened and kept the ritual going, despite Wolfie's constant interference. 

Seeing Wolfie already on his task, I quickly followed suit, going around the circle to attack Doris from behind. I snuck in between the people standing behind Doris, forcing them to make some room for me to butt in. I tried to shove them aside, but they were very persistent about the spot they were standing on. I have to force my way through the little gaps between these people to get inside.

After several attempts, I finally succeeded in going past the first circle. I have to say, these people really act like a doll. They didn't give any attention to anything else that they were not told to do. It was fortunate that they acted in this manner during such a difficult time, but it was at the same time, very creepy. 

Because once Doris told these people to kill me, they'd do exactly just that. 

Doris, seeing how Wolfie kept on disturbing the ritual, raised her right hand. I had no idea what she was doing, but I could definitely hear something coming. It was a hiss—a lot of hisses. 

Snakes. 

Numerous snakes appeared from all directions, going straight for Wolfie. With their fangs bared, they were ready to work together to take down the big wolf who was disrupting the ritual. They moved at such a speed that they had reached Wolfie in a matter of seconds, creating a series of curves with their bodies as they moved. 

Wolfie let out another growl, but those snakes knew no fear. Though they were not stronger in terms of strength, they were stronger in terms of numbers. Wolfie had to fight twenty to thirty snakes all by himself. 

Surprised by the sudden appearance of the snakes, I was ready to leave everything behind and run to him, protecting him with all that I could. But before I could do just that, another growl came.

It was a furious growl, but not that came from the Alpha. It was a growl that came with the appearance of a brown wolf, quickly followed by a grey one. They were the Alpha's most trusted men—his Beta and Gamma.

I came to a halt when I saw them snickering at each other as they ripped the snakes in half with their canines, showing no mercy to whoever or whatever dared to come close. It wasn't until today that I realized how strong the three strongest men in the entire werewolf population were.

While Doris continued to sing, it was obvious that she was getting irked by the three wolves—even more when seeing her snakes losing to them. As the three wolves and snakes fought between the children and the people, the children were unable to continue cutting the remaining fingers. Wolfie succeeded in his task.

Now it's my turn.

I took advantage of the opportunity to sneak behind Doris, keeping my steps and noise to a minimum. Fortunately, Luke had previously taught me how to knock someone out during the few times we had sparring lessons, which will come in handy in this situation.

Though he did teach me a few techniques for knocking someone out in a single hit, I've never tried it in real life and I didn't know whether I could pull this off or not. Regardless, I clenched my fist and prepared to strike her jaw with it.

I raised my fist and hurled forward, trying to land a blow on her but got taken aback when I saw her turning around, her eyes meeting mine. Doris quickly dodged and lunged at me, still singing. She didn't seem to want to stop the ritual any time soon.

I stumbled backward and fell with Doris on top of me. But with her being a little kid, it was quite easy for me to turn the tables around. I toppled over and laid her on her back, shutting her mouth. Despite my attempts, she continued to sing behind my palm.

"Stop singing!" I said, pressing my palm harder against her mouth, that I was afraid I'd suffocate her. Her serpent-like eyes stared at me, clearly amused.

Even though Doris was under the control of a black witch, she was still the owner of this body. So if I hurt her, I'd be hurting the real Doris, not the black witch. And she—the black witch—was well aware of this.

Though mumbled, Doris continued to sing, staying calm even when I was suffocating her. She didn't put up a fight but instead let me do whatever I wanted, and I could feel my hands trembling when I realized she was out of breath.

Not wanting to kill her, I lifted my hands slightly, allowing her to take a breath. When she noticed my hesitation, she used it to land a hit on my face and knock me backward, putting her body on top of me once more. She then moved her small hands up to my neck, choking me.

"Doves don't kill—but snakes do."