"We all saw them! They even dared to threaten our lives!"
"Those heinous bastards summoned demons and skin walkers! They're nothing without those damned summons!"
One of the witch hunters who seemed to be the leader raised his hand to silence the chatter.
Once the people were silent, he spoke, "We only have one concrete way of getting them to surrender."
The other witch hunters trusted their leader's words, but the normal civilians questioned him.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"It had better work!"
The leader remained stoic when replying, "It's simple. All we have to do is..."
---
After a full week had passed, things were going well with everybody's research and training.
Tino had absorbed the maximum amount essence of more summons, Angie learned a surplus of witchcraft, Theef gleaned about his path to Transcendence, Barter's Ruler ruminated over Enlightenment, and Edmond and Evangeline spruced up the sanctuary while collecting materials for the witches.
Estoria was also learning more about tonic and potion making focusing on more of the magical materials that made strengthening and empowering possible.
Null was mostly inside his mind with Ego consolidating the parts of the Cosmic Structure that they had lit up.
They had the emotions, transcendent treasures, greed, mofei, ki, essences, and witchcraft.
"We've got a good amount to analyze after five or so years, huh?'
Null still clung to the emotion-based energies as his favorite, but Ego enjoyed all of the parts of the structure equally.
"I've got a time limit to adhere to though."
"We'll get there. All we need to do is allow Void to develop and adapt to his abilities. You know... I've been thinking if I could take control of him or take over his body somehow to take us to It like that."
Null was speechless at the notion that he could foil the being's questionable plan.
"Do beings like you and Void even have a "mind" to control?"
"Hmm. I guess you're right. Only one way to find out. Call him out."
Null did so and explained what was going to happen.
"Okay," Void agreed.
With his agreeance, Ego dove into his forehead without wasting another moment.
Once inside, Void tilted his head, "Is that it?"
The next moment he fell to his knees and started convulsing.
"Void!"
Null knelt and prevented him from falling over.
'Please tell me this is going to go over peacefully.'
As the convulsions began ceasing, a change occurred in Void's body.
Like an addition of oil to water, dark blobs of his oily skin separated from his body as clear spirit water churned from within.
'He's synthesizing spirit water with Ego inside of him. I wonder if that means they're assuming control.'
Void had turned into a humanoid lava lamp with how his mysterious, oil-like skin interacted with the spirit water.
'Come to think of it, Ego's body is fully made up of spirit water, but what is Void made of? Does he have organs like me or is he entirely comprised of the pitch-black substance?'
More thoughts filled Null's mind as he watched Void's transformation.
"Null...," he suddenly spoke.
"I'm here buddy. Or are you Ego?"
"... I feel weird. I'm not Ego and I'm not Void."
"What?! How am I even supposed to react to what you're saying?"
"I-I don't know! I feel more powerful than ever though."
"Do you think you could control Void's space travel?"
"I don't think so. I only feel a connection to the energy consumption Void has. On top of that, I still have a connection to the Cosmic Structure."
'No connection to his spatial sense? I guess there were some complications in the merging process. Seems it won't be that simple to complete It's shitty quest.'
"So, what can you do now," Null was still curious in the end.
"I can absorb spirit energy and convert it into each energy in the Cosmic Structure myself! It's like I can move independently from you with all of the power."
'Without me? But what do I have without them?'
Null's smile faded catching the eye of the Void-Ego fusion, "Don't worry, Null. I don't have anywhere else to be other than by your side."
"Yeah, alright, you Superego," Null said with his smile returning, "Seeing as this venture was a failure I guess we should get ready to leave for the others."
They took one last glance at themselves while thinking, 'Superego, huh?'
The others were not particularly busy with anything, so Null rounded them up and spoke his desire to continue their journey to find the rest of the crew.
TIno and Angie were a bit reluctant but felt excited about traveling again as a crew despite their current age.
Having done their part in the construction and maintenance of the sanctuary, the rest were not opposed to leaving.
"At least we're not leaving her alone," Tino responded to a sudden question from Angie.
"I guess you're right."
Not too long after they gathered together, there was a commotion outside.
"The witch hunters are here!"
"They're outside the fence!"
With their keen senses, some of the crew perked up.
"Witch hunters," was all Theef said, clearly having used his treasure of Perception.
The rest of the crew nodded and headed outside to check on the possible danger.
Estoria's house— which was the meeting place of the crew— stood near the center of the sanctuary, so they saw the witches rushing to see what the commotion was about.
"I told you that these guys were insufferable," Edmond shouted, "They just don't know when to quit!"
"Let's just scope the situation out first," Null commanded.
What they saw when they reached the fence was infuriating.
"We've got one of you right here! If you dare attack us, we will kill her immediately!"
"Yeah! We will kill her if you don't surrender to us!"
The witch hunters screamed their own threats which further incensed the witches.
"We've got to do something to help her!"
"Where are the helpful summons?! Get them here now!"
They wanted nothing other than to have them kill the witch hunters without caring about their previous morals.