Catherine spotted them. A slow, cruel smile spread across her face.
She floated over, stopping right in front of the trapped couple. The young woman looked up, her eyes wide with absolute terror. She was beautiful, with bright blonde hair and clear, unblemished skin.
To Catherine, it was an insult.
"Oh, my," Catherine whispered, stepping off her broom. Her boots clicked against the cobblestones. She walked slowly toward the couple, her gray grimoire hovering beside her. "What a tragic little scene. Young love, trapped in the ruins of their miserable city."
"Stay away from her!" the young man yelled, placing himself between Catherine and the trapped girl. He didn't have a grimoire. He had no magic to fight back with. He just held up his bare hands, shaking violently.
Catherine didn't even acknowledge his existence. She simply waved her hand. A thick ribbon of ash shot forward, wrapping around the young man's waist and hurling him effortlessly into the side of the fountain. He hit the stone with a dull thud and slumped to the ground, groaning in pain.
Catherine knelt down beside the trapped, sobbing girl.
"Such pretty hair," Catherine mocked, reaching out to grab a fistful of the girl's blonde locks. "Such smooth skin. You haven't had to worry about the years creeping up on you yet, have you? You take it all for granted."
"Please," the girl begged, tears cutting tracks through the soot on her face. "Please don't."
"Don't worry," Catherine smiled, a terrifying, empty expression. "I will put it to much better use than you ever could."
Catherine's hand glowed with dense, gray mana. She pressed her palm flat against the girl's forehead.
The girl's scream was blood-curdling. The ash magic invaded her pores, violently ripping the ambient mana and physical vitality from her cells. Her blonde hair lost its color, turning a dull, lifeless gray. The smooth skin on her face sagged, deep wrinkles forming around her eyes and mouth. The vibrant energy of youth was literally vacuumed out of her, leaving her looking like a withered, exhausted old woman.
Catherine pulled her hand back, taking a deep, shuddering breath as the stolen vitality washed into her own body. She touched her own cheek, feeling the flawless, artificially maintained smoothness of her skin.
"Delicious," Catherine murmured, standing up.
The young man, recovering from his collision with the fountain, scrambled forward. He looked at his partner, his eyes widening in absolute horror at her withered, aged state. She lay there, barely breathing, her youth completely stolen.
The man looked up at Catherine. The fear in his eyes was instantly replaced by a burning, reckless hatred.
"You witch!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face. "You monster! Look what you did to her! You absolute monster!"
Catherine's serene, mocking smile vanished instantly. The word struck her deepest, most volatile nerve. The confident, elegant facade shattered, revealing the vicious, insecure fanatic beneath.
"Monster?" Catherine repeated, her voice dropping into a harsh, grating growl. Her eyes narrowed into furious slits. "You dare call me a monster, you filthy peasant? You should be grateful! Her pathetic, mundane life finally served a purpose. She got to feed my eternal beauty!"
She raised her hand, the gray ash swirling violently around her fingers, condensing into sharp, jagged spikes.
"If you love her so much," Catherine sneered, preparing to launch the lethal attack. "I'll let you die beside her. Ash Magic:—"
She didn't get to finish the incantation.
From the shadows of the alleyway, Lencar reached down to the cobblestones. He picked up a small, jagged piece of broken masonry. He didn't need to step out. He didn't need to reveal himself. He just needed to channel a microscopic burst of wind magic into his thumb and flick the stone like a bullet to shatter her concentration.
He raised his thumb, locking his eyes on Catherine's raised hand.
But before Lencar could release the projectile, the atmospheric pressure in the plaza violently shifted.
A massive, roaring gale cut through the heavy, suffocating ash. It wasn't a natural gust of wind. It was a highly concentrated, razor-sharp current of pure, elemental mana.
Whoosh.
The blast of wind swept through the ruined fountain, slamming directly into Catherine's ash spikes and shattering them into harmless gray dust. The force of the gale pushed Catherine backward, forcing her to cross her arms over her face and dig her heels into the cobblestones to keep from being blown away entirely.
Lencar slowly lowered his hand, dropping the piece of masonry back into the dirt. A faint, knowing smile touched his hidden lips.
He didn't need to intervene. The protagonist had arrived.
The dust and ash cleared, revealing a tall, imposing figure standing between the injured couple and the witch.
Yuno stood perfectly straight, his pristine white and gold Golden Dawn robe snapping sharply in the wind he commanded. His four-leaf grimoire floated openly beside his hip, its pages turning steadily. He looked completely unbothered by the chaos of the burning city around him. His golden eyes were locked onto Catherine with a look of absolute, icy indifference.
The young man on the ground looked up, entirely stunned. "A... a Magic Knight? You saved us."
Yuno didn't look back at him. "Take her and run. Get out of the plaza."
The man didn't need to be told twice. He gathered his withered, exhausted partner into his arms and scrambled away, disappearing into the smoke-filled streets.
Catherine lowered her arms, glaring at the newcomer. She took in his tall, athletic build, the handsome, sharply defined lines of his face, and the undeniable, overwhelming density of the mana rolling off his body.
Her anger immediately subsided, replaced by a twisted, predatory intrigue.
"Well, well, well," Catherine purred, her tone shifting back to its mocking, sultry cadence. She picked up her broom and leaned against it, striking an exaggerated, alluring pose. "What do we have here? A little hero in a shiny golden robe. And aren't you just a handsome little knight?"
Yuno simply stared at her, his face a complete blank slate.
"It's a shame you have to die today," Catherine continued, taking a slow step forward, her hips swaying. "But before I turn you to dust, why don't you let an older woman show you a good time? With a face like that, and mana that strong... I could make you feel things you've never even dreamed of."
From his hiding spot in the alley, Lencar had to physically bite the inside of his cheek to stop from laughing out loud. He knew exactly how this interaction was going to go. Catherine was trying to play the seductress, completely unaware that she was talking to a boy whose only two interests in life were becoming the Wizard King and beating a loud, magicless idiot in a rivalry.
Yuno did not blink. He did not blush. He didn't even shift his stance.
He looked at Catherine from the top of her silver hair down to her boots, and then met her eyes with an expression of profound, unfiltered boredom.
"I have no interest in old hags," Yuno stated flatly.