Witch Monastery

Chapter 407 407: Malena’s Dark Angel

Malena sat upright. Even though the baby in her belly had grown heavy, with her dancer's strength and flexibility, she didn't feel particularly burdened at all.

She slipped on her house shoes and followed Sulpharlo out of the room, turning down a corridor she'd never been allowed to visit before.

They walked through a winding, circular tunnel, dimly lit by clusters of glowing fungi. At the end, Malena stopped before a massive round stone door—perfectly sealed, seemingly impossible to open.

But then Sulpharlo chanted a strange incantation, and the stone door rolled open with a low hum, flooding the passageway with blinding white light. Malena shielded her eyes, taking a few moments to adjust.

What she saw next took her breath away.

What… what even is this?!

The floor was lined with pure white marble tiles; the ceiling sparkled with countless magical gems, illuminating a spotless, clinical chamber. There was no unnecessary decoration—just a sense of sanitized perfection.

In the center of the room, spaced every meter, stood enormous, two-meter-tall cylindrical glass incubation tanks. Malena counted quickly—there had to be over a hundred!

Each tank was filled with pale green, translucent liquid. Floating in the center, encased in an amber sphere the size of a soccer ball, was… something.

"Come, take a look, Malena." Sulpharlo smiled, beckoning her forward. Malena inched toward one of the tanks and peered in. Instantly, her skin crawled—the amber sphere inside wasn't empty. Curled up within… was a baby.

That meant—the room was filled with over a hundred infants, each locked inside one of these tanks—dead or alive, she couldn't tell.

This was…

Insanity!

Malena turned to Sulpharlo in horror. "Are they… are they… alive?"

Or… corpses?

She wanted to ask out loud, but didn't dare.

Sulpharlo just smiled. "They're all your daughters, Malena."

Malena stared, shocked speechless. "Mine…?"

"Well, not exactly," Sulpharlo mused. "Let's put it this way."

"They are all children made from your blueprint, but without any father—just you as their mother."

"They have bodies almost identical to yours, but their souls are different."

"You might say they're your twin sisters from the same egg, but really, they aren't exactly descended from you or your parents…"

She made a show of running through all the ways these infants might be connected to Malena, leaving her even more dazed and confused.

Finally, the fallen angel shook her head, a bit impatient. "Honestly, Malena, just keep watching—you'll understand when you see my masterpiece."

Malena had no clue what she meant, but obediently took a step back and waited for her ancestor's demonstration.

Sulpharlo took a deep breath and, with a flick of her hand, ripped open a rift in space. Several enormous diamonds tumbled out and hovered around one of the incubation tanks. Malena made a rough guess—put together, these diamonds must have cost tens of thousands of gold!

As the diamonds spun in the air, the fallen angel began to chant a strange incantation: "Clone. Leclonage. Klonen!"

With each repetition the magic power swelled. Even Malena, a complete novice to magic, could sense the tremendous arcane energy whipping around the lab, funneling through the diamonds and into the tank, flooding the curled embryo inside the amber sphere.

And then…the real horror began. Stimulated by wild magical energy, the green liquid in the tank faded, turning almost clear; the amber globe melted away, shrinking down as if consumed by the spell.

Simultaneously, the fetus inside swelled and grew, rapidly developing in a matter of minutes from a tiny embryo into a fully formed adult woman!

But what truly terrified Malena was this—that naked woman inside the tank looked almost exactly like her.

Well—almost. Her muscles were firmer and more sculpted, likely a deliberate tweak by Sulpharlo. Her chest was a bit smaller—maybe she couldn't even produce milk. Her nipples were still pale pink, unlike Malena's, which had darkened with nursing...

And most notably—

CRASH—

A pair of huge, dark red wings erupted from her back, shattering the glass. The watery fluid spilled out onto the floor.

Whew...

The hovering diamonds dissolved to dust, spent entirely by the magic. Sulpharlo nearly collapsed, drained from the spell, her face pale but burning with feverish excitement. "Look, Malena—witness my creation!"

"She inherits every drop of your bloodline, but can also bear my full power! Our perfect soldier—the mighty Dark Angel! With them, we'll raise an army that shakes the Multiverse itself!"

Malena gaped at the spectacle. The winged doppelganger opened her eyes, gaze as cold and unreadable as a serpent.

She stepped from the shattered tank, advancing. Malena shrank back, heart pounding—only to see the woman stop in front of her, bowing her head with surprising deference.

And then, those menacing wings retracted, vanishing into her back, leaving not so much as a mark behind—not even a single freckle to show they'd been there.

Was this... some kind of magic?

When she realized the woman posed no threat, Malena gradually relaxed, then looked at her ancestor for explanation. Sulpharlo gave her an encouraging smile. "You are her original mother. She's just showing allegiance to you, Malena."

Me? The original mother?

Malena struggled to process that, but after a moment, reached out and stroked the woman's damp hair.

The Dark Angel simply stood there, letting her do as she pleased, even more docile than Lisa.

Still, Malena's expression was troubled. She turned to Sulpharlo. "So… is she human? Or…?"

"She's really a new species," Sulpharlo replied, steadying herself. "She doesn't need men. She can replicate herself—create daughters identical to herself!"

She pointed at the other incubation tanks. "See those amber eggs? They don't need men—they can just… produce these by themselves."

She poked the Dark Angel's lower belly, roughly where the womb would be. "Right here—she's probably gestating one already."

Malena looked down, uncertain, at the woman's abdomen. Because of the accelerated growth, the hair there was thick and untamed.

She wondered about this state—were these "Dark Angels" with human faces truly still human?

"And then, all we have to do is seal them inside an incubation tank like this, wait for the right moment, and let them grow up into powerful warriors—just like her." Sulpharlo carried on. "It won't be long before we build an unbeatable army, ready to storm the Multiverse!"

Malena's heart beat like a trapped bird. She couldn't imagine such an outcome.

But then she looked at Sulpharlo's tired face, remembered the diamonds consumed by the ritual, and another thought occurred to her.

Feigning concern, Malena asked, "But ancestor, wasn't that process draining? Those diamonds alone must have cost a fortune. And you look exhausted... How could it be worth it?"

She sounded sincerely curious and devoted, and in her excitement, Sulpharlo answered every question. "No need to worry—we'll harness other forces."

Other forces?

Malena blinked, putting on a sweet face of innocent curiosity. Sulpharlo was patient, explaining, "You know how, every year or so, the Material World gets a night when both moons hang side by side?"

Malena's pupils shrank. Of course she remembered Twin Moons Night—a time of worldwide disaster.

She remembered, months back in South Harbor, a monstrous head-chopping creature appeared, slaughtering nearly a thousand. The severed heads could have filled a small mountain! In the end, only Priest Charles, alongside the Blackstaff Tower and the Amazons, managed to destroy it for good. Truthfully, it was the closest Malena had ever come to a legendary catastrophe—and it had left a shadow on her soul.

"You know nothing of magic, so you wouldn't realize that Twin Moons Night is, at its core, the overflow of raw magic into the Material World. That's what leads to all those disasters." Sulpharlo explained, "If we just wait for the next Twin Moons Night, we'll have more magic than we could ever need."

"In those hours, we could awaken hundreds, even thousands, of Dark Angels—each one ready to fight for us."

Sulpharlo was almost giddy, but Malena felt only dread. The world would face disaster if any of this were true.

She remembered how Sulpharlo had praised Lisa's talent—and thought about the baby inside her own womb. A cold, suffocating fear gripped her heart.

Was this to be my fate, and my child's? To become "original mothers," spawning endless copies—was this it?

No. This couldn't be. She had to stop it.

But she was powerless…

No. She needed to find some power to resist.

Maybe, just maybe…

Unable to suppress her anxiety, Malena forced a smile, saying, "Oh—I see. I'm so ignorant."

"I really don't know anything about magic, but… ancestor, if you could grant them power, could you teach me something, too?"

She tried to sound casual, eager. "I just want to learn a little. There's nothing to do here, so why not make use of the time?"

Sulpharlo studied her, thinking for a while, then nodded. "Very well. As the mother of the Dark Angels, it wouldn't be right if you couldn't command them through a bit of spellcasting."

"I'll give you some basic materials for study. When you've got a grasp of the fundamentals, I'll teach you real power."

Malena gave a sweet "thank you, ancestor," then breathed a deep sigh—the knot in her stomach loosening.

She'd truly feared Sulpharlo would refuse, but it seemed her value was recognized after all.

Good—she could hope for better now.

But…

Looking at her own naked "double" bowing low in front of her, Malena couldn't help but worry.

If, someday, there weren't just thousands of Dark Angels who looked exactly like her, but thousands more that looked like Lisa, or her unborn child, all marching to war in shining armor—

She shuddered. It was unthinkable.

This had to be stopped.

That thought was clear—but for now, she had no power to change anything…

...

Willowwind Town.

After days of preparations, all local business was wrapped up. Saying a fond farewell to Nidalee, Charles gathered his squad and set off for their Underdark destination.

This time, Willo led from the front, map (a gift from Jarlaxle) in hand, with Adele beside her, comparing it carefully to their own hand-drawn map, marking new notes with quick red ink.

The two of them took point, while Charles walked in the middle with Hattie and Theresa at his sides—Hattie taking his right arm, Theresa on his left, like loyal bodyguards.

Bringing up the rear, Nymeria munched blissfully on crisp sesame flatbreads brought from Willowwind—special Halfling treats—happily lagging behind.

She'd spent the past few days exploring every corner of Willowwind Town and sampling every snack in sight, but these sweet sesame crackers were her absolute favorite. She hadn't forgotten to buy a bag for the journey, either.

Finishing her current treat, the Moon Elf opened her Bag of Holding, gazing longingly at the dwindling supply.

Thinking about how this Underdark trip could be a long one, and once she finished these, there wouldn't be any more, she forced herself to stop after just one, resisting the urge to gobble them all down.

Bored with not eating, the Moon Elf's eyes wandered, looking for anything interesting.

Soon, she spotted something and startled, then crept up to whisper in Charles's ear, "Hey, why is Miss Adele keeping such a straight face? She looks scary…"

She didn't know Adele well, so she assumed that serious face meant Adele was angry about something. Just the thought made her clam up, afraid to approach.

Charles just shrugged. "Maybe? Who knows."

He really didn't know. Until lately, Adele had always been friendly, maybe a bit jealous over his relationship with Willo, but at least willing to play the good girl when they were together.

Now, though, she wasn't even pretending—why?

Unbeknownst to him, Adele caught their quiet conversation and flashed him a look filled with anger and hurt, making even Charles feel a pang of guilt.

Wait—why should I feel guilty? I haven't done anything wrong.

If anybody needs to self-reflect, it's her! Where does she get off glaring at me like that?

Emboldened, Charles gently detached his arms from Hattie and Theresa, stepped forward, and asked Adele directly, "What's wrong, Adele?"

"You seem upset. Did something happen? If there's a problem you can't fix, just say the word—I'd rather see you smile."

He finished, but Adele's rage only burned hotter.

You bastard—hogging the mother that was supposed to be mine, doing who knows what every night, and now you expect me to be sweet to you on the road too? Isn't that just a bit much?!

She grit her teeth, but just then, Willo turned and joined in. "That's right, Adele. I've noticed you seem off the last couple days too."

"Is something wrong? Why not just tell everyone, and let us help?"

Adele dropped her gaze, chewing over how, if she let the truth out, it would only embarrass Willo—and risk a big fight with Charles. So, forcing a crooked smile, she quietly replied, "It's nothing—just not feeling well, maybe caught a chill during training. I'll rest and be fine."

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