Most importantly.
This blade of yours...
It isn't even sharp.
Locke looked at the machete cleaving, enveloped in a fierce, howling wind. A mocking smile surfaced on his face.
You expect to hack me with this piece-of-trash blade?
Do you take my Steel Body for...
"Boom!"
"What?!"
Hank Fox's machete slammed into the ground, burying itself directly into the earth. However, an expression of sheer astonishment rapidly washed over his face.
"Where is he?"
"Looking for me?"
Locke's figure appeared in front of Hank Fox like a phantom. He spoke softly, and then, his pale right hand directly thrust forward.
Boom!
Hank Fox's face instantly flushed crimson. As if struck by a literal speeding train, he flew backward with a heavy crash, smashing straight into the motorcycle that had just caught up from behind.
Instantly.
The front of the motorcycle collapsed inward completely.
Locke retracted his right hand, the corners of his mouth curving upward slightly.
He had originally intended to tank the hit head-on.
After all, he did possess a Steel Body.
But...
There was no need for that.
A precious child does not sit under the eaves.
A gentleman does not stand beside a crumbling wall.
Locke didn't enjoy playing the pig to eat the tiger, nor did he enjoy showing off. Most importantly, while the Steel Body was described that way, what if an error occurred?
One can never be too careful.
Locke's style of conducting matters boiled down to two words.
Rock solid!
"Pfft!"
Hank Fox crashed to the ground. Directly clutching his chest, he rolled onto his side and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. He looked at Locke with utter disbelief.
"You aren't a witch."
The space between Locke's brows twitched.
You're the freaking witch, your whole family is.
I am a man.
In this day and age, are there any men who get called witches?
"My apologies."
With a sharp whistle, Locke instantly appeared right in front of Hank Fox. With a crisp pop, he directly slapped away the handgun Hank Fox had drawn, then pinched Hank Fox's neck. A gentlemanly smile surfaced on his feminine face.
"A witch? That would be my companion. You are quite interesting."
Staring at Locke, who had just bared two fangs in front of him, Hank Fox's eyes constricted violently. "You're a vamp—"
Before the words could fully leave his mouth.
Boom!
An explosion resonated in the distance. Immediately after, Locke hoisted Hank Fox up and vanished from the spot.
A few minutes after Locke left with Hank Fox, the New Orleans Police Department officers, their sirens wailing out in the distance, arrived at the scene in a flurry.
Meanwhile.
Inside Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies.
Cordelia, who was currently inside the academy teaching a few student witches how to commune with the dormant Salem and utilize its abilities, suddenly came to a dead halt. She stared up at the ceiling, her heart violently jolting. "Hank!"
Hearing the name, the witches sitting in a circle exchanged glances.
Eighteen-year-old Zoe Benson, who had only recently joined the witch academy not long ago, looked toward the side and asked Nan, a fellow witch capable of mind-reading and telekinesis, "Who is Hank?"
Queenie—who was fat, short, and dark, looking precisely like a lump of fat tissue and a living voodoo doll—shushed her and said, "Cordelia's husband."
"Huh?"
The blonde Zoe Benson blanked slightly. "I didn't know Cordelia was married."
Nan said in a low voice, "They've been married for three years, but it seems they're living apart now."
"I heard it's because of issues regarding wanting a child."
"Yeah, it's completely impossible anyway."
"Why?"
Nan shook her head. "Hank is an ordinary person. According to certain theories, witches and ordinary people can reproduce, but the difficulty coefficient is extremely high."
Zoe blinked. "They separated just because of that?"
"No!"
"..."
Zoe and the others raised their heads, looking toward Fiona Goode, who was walking down the stairs. She was known as the former Supreme Witch and was also Cordelia's mother.
Fiona, who had once passed the Seven Wonders to become the Supreme Witch but failed to awaken Salem, thereby leaving her unable to maintain her youth and authority, walked down the stairs. Looking at Cordelia, who was slowly snapping out of her daze, she spoke to the three girls,
"Because Hank's father, that elder Fox, is a member of a witch hunter group."
Zoe shook her head and looked at Fiona. "Mrs. Goode, have you found Madison?"
Madison Montgomery.
A Hollywood movie star who was also Zoe and the others' classmate, but a few days ago, Madison had suddenly gone missing.
Fiona shook her head, saying she hadn't. Then, looking at Cordelia who was rising from her chair, she flicked her right hand. With a heavy bang, the main door to the living room slammed shut. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Hank is in danger."
Cordelia looked at Fiona and said, "Just now, Hank's protection charm was triggered."
Even though she and Hank were living apart.
But...
Three years ago, Cordelia hadn't walked into the marriage hall with Hank out of numbness. Yes, they were encountering some difficulties now, but Cordelia believed they would resolve them.
After all, just because the elder Fox was a witch hunter didn't mean Hank was a witch hunter too.
She was married to Hank, not the elder Fox.
"You are not allowed to go!"
"What?"
Hearing this sentence, Cordelia let out a laugh and looked at Fiona, her mother. "Are you commanding me?"
Fiona was expressionless. "I am reminding you that a mouse's son knows how to dig holes!"
Cordelia let out a disdainful laugh. Walking straight to the doorway, she silently chanted a few lines. Under the lock-picking spell, the tightly secured lock on the door directly shattered apart, and she walked straight out.
Zoe and the others stood up. "Cordelia!"
They wanted to chase after her too.
But...
Fiona blocked Zoe and the other three, saying with a smile, "Now, we can continue our class."
Zoe and the others: "..."
Fiona was the previous Supreme Witch. However, because she hadn't awakened Salem, although she mastered the magic of a Supreme Witch, she wasn't a Supreme Witch in the truest sense.
Once a new Supreme Witch emerged from this round of Supreme elections.
Then...
She would be unable to maintain her status as the Supreme Witch, and she wouldn't even be able to use magical power through the authority of the Supreme Witch to preserve her youthful appearance.
Therefore.
Only after she had messed around enough outside did she return here. Her purpose was to find a way to prolong her status as the Supreme Witch. Whenever an exceptional witch appeared, she would even dispose of them in advance.
For instance, that Madison Montgomery.
She had already taken care of her a few days ago. In fact, to prevent any uncertain factors from occurring—such as someone trying to resurrect her—she had specifically dispatched people to watch over Madison's corpse.
As for her daughter, Cordelia?
She wouldn't do.
If Cordelia also displayed any thought of trying to seize the position of the Supreme Witch, Fiona would make a move against her without the slightest hesitation.
Boom!
The wind howled.
With a heavy thud.
After Cordelia came out, she crossed her hands and directly applied a magical incantation. With a sharp whistle, she vanished on the spot. By the time she reappeared, she was already inside an abandoned warehouse in the industrial zone on the west side of New Orleans.
The next second.
"Bang!"
"Boom!"
Cordelia stepped out from the blurring smoke. Looking at Hank, whose hands were bound by iron chains as he hung upside down in midair, she waved her right hand, casting a bolt of magical power that boomed out like lightning.
But...
Locke pulled the chain. Instantly, the unconscious Hank slid toward the other side, causing the magical power to strike empty air.
"What?!"
Only then did Cordelia catch sight of Locke, who was slowly walking out from the shadows wearing a suit, looking feminine and elegant like a gentleman of the dark. "Who are you?"
"Kindred!"
Locke smiled as he stepped out from the darkness. "Cain!"
"A vampire?"
"No."
Hearing Cordelia's words, Locke shook his head with utmost gentlemanly grace. "Vampires... do not use that filthy creature to describe me. I am of the Kindred, and I am the Kindred itself!"
There were several progenitors of vampires here.
But vampires?
Locke could guarantee that he was the sole progenitor of the Kindred.
What?
What if there was another?
Impossible.
Even if there was, mincing him would make him the unique one.
Locke spoke as such, drawing closer as he looked at Cordelia, a faint glimmer flashing in his eyes. "Long time no see, Mrs. Fox."
Cordelia frowned.
The next second.
Cordelia widened her eyes in astonishment.
Beneath the moonlight filtering through the warehouse glass, Cain, who was entirely bathed in the moonlight, slowly shifted his form. From feminine to masculine, from beautiful to intensely sharp and handsome.
From Cain, he turned into Locke!
Cordelia's face lost all color from the shock.
"It's you."
"It's me."
Looking at Locke, whom she had seen at Lake Pontchartrain a few days ago, and thinking about the news from the New Orleans Police Department these past two days, Cordelia said in a deep voice.
"You came for that witch who was murdered by the witch hunter group."
In fact.
Cordelia had gone over to Lake Pontchartrain a few days ago precisely hoping that the elder Fox could allow her to retrieve the corpse of that poor witch who had been captured and burned from the lake.
But that elder Fox resolutely refused to agree.
Before Cordelia could take any action, by the time she went over again, she heard that the New Orleans Police Department people had arrived and subsequently located the corpse.
Locke smiled and said, "Carrie is my younger sister, and that Anila Katz was Carrie's friend, so she counts as my friend as well."
Cordelia raised her head to look at her hanging, unconscious husband Hank Fox, then looked toward Locke. "My husband doesn't know anything."
"Is that so?"
"What?"
Locke also raised his head, looking at the hanging, unconscious Hank Fox as the corners of his mouth turned up. "Are you certain your husband doesn't know anything and is completely unaware of the circumstances?"
Cordelia said in a deep voice, "He is just a minor insurance salesman."
"Heh."
"..."
Locke let out two mocking chuckles. Tilting his head, he looked toward Cordelia.
"Since that is the case, then, Mrs. Fox, could you tell me why just a moment ago, your husband was holding a machete soaked in voodoo juice, planning to chop me right down?"
Cordelia: "..."
...
(T/N:- Damn Madison is here aswell. She's also there on my other translation fic, superman's son.)