A system notification flickered in front of me, displaying bold purple letters. The blade on my neck gently tapped against my skin, as if telling me to obey her and not resist.

I slowly raised my hands and stood up from my chair, turning to face the first witch I met. It's amazing how it happened, as soon as I randomly chose a point in space, the first target of my mission was found and right now holds the edge of a short blade at my neck. I'm starting to believe in these tales of fate and an easy search.

Purple hair growing on one side, and the right one shaved into a short crew cut next to a silver implant attached to the temple. A slender figure, a little above average height, but she is far from me, you can say by the estimate one meter sixty-eight or all one hundred and seventy. A slender girl in some kind of overalls, the top of which was unbuttoned and dangled from her waist, and she herself stood in a white T-shirt. Not an ounce of muscle on her body. The arms are thin, the thighs look soft, not bulging like Terra's. Apparently she followed only her own harmony, without resorting to training. Most likely, the means are similar to those from my time, when it is enough for girls to take pills and they lose kilograms of excess weight in weeks.

Her purple eyes, spiced with a mischievous gleam of superiority, walked over me, periodically stopping at my arms and chest. Yes, I myself stared at her without any embarrassment, trying to mentally digest the fact that the witch was in front of me.

I don't even know how you imagine a witch when you hear about them. A shriveled old woman with a hooked nose? These are already old tales. In my time, all witches were described as young beautiful girls with the looks of a model. Huge breasts, long legs, curly hair, an arrogant look and uncontrollable lust. Just a dream of any teenager and not only. But here is the first representative in front of me, and she looks normal. More suited to the description of an eccentric girl who loves adventure on her ass, rather than a socialite with unbridled sexuality. From such an evening you spend at home watching TV, rather than in expensive restaurants ...

"Darling, give me control of the ship," she said in a gentle whisper.

For a second it seemed to me that I began to soar in the clouds. The whole body became cottony, lips began to move by themselves in an attempt to tell Atria what the girl asked me to. But then...

Attention!

The influence of the powers of the mind witch has been detected!

The condition for acquiring a unique passive skill has been fulfilled: “Find the first witch”!

Received a passive skill - Immunity to the mental powers of witches.

Whoa! Wow! Mind Witch? She is? Does that mean she was trying to brainwash me now? Crap! But the feeling is quite pleasant, as if her voice is some kind of drug that I want so much, and I am ready to do anything for her. Horror is simple. In just a second, such an attraction of emotions is like a rollercoaster.

The girl stood in front of me smiling. Apparently, after exposure to her powers, she dropped all caution. She removed the blade and tucked it into the sheath at her hip, which opened of its own accord to receive a sharp purple blade. This is probably her favorite color, since her hair, eyes and weapons are the same color.

"And you're cute," she said, whispering again using her powers, but my immunity blocked them, "I wouldn't mind having fun with you." Listen to your moans, screams, make it hurt a little.

The witch stood before me smiling, feeling her power. I completely lost my vigilance, what a pity ...

Sharply lowering my hand, I grabbed her by the neck, and the second grabbed her hair, squeezing it between my fingers at the very base. Swinging slightly to the left, I hit her head against the bulkhead, and then I throw her back inside the ship. It's good that I was never told not to hit girls. Otherwise, he would have died early, very early. Immediately after the first sex with a girl who decided to go through the sharp blade of a clerical knife on my throat. Then I beat her with my fists, in every possible way discarding all the nonsense about the nobility and the knights of the saving girls. I don’t care what gender the one who wants my death, I will personally mutilate ...

- Creel, I hope you remember that we need witches alive and capable, - Atria's voice immediately informed me, - And also, it is desirable to establish friendly contact or close partnership with them.

“I know,” I said, slightly disappointed, calming down.

Unclenching my fists, ready to beat the girl, I took a step towards her. The witch sat on the floor in surprise, shaking her head, from under her purple hair a scarlet trickle of blood dripped onto her forehead. She touched it with a trembling hand and looked down at her bloody fingers, her eyes wide with amazement and fear. This is the view of those who are thrown from the throne of their own complacency. Face in the dirt. Making them fully feel their own insignificance.

- How are you ..., but who are you ?! she asked in confusion, standing up on shaky legs, and then shouted, taking a deep breath, "Kill yourself!" I order you to kill yourself! Hit the wall until you die, scum!

And again. Again this wave of bliss that swept the whole body. Her voice seemed beautiful for a second, but then the obsession subsided. I didn't even take a step towards the wall to hurt myself.

- How cruel you are, and who wanted to have fun with me? I asked, snapping my knuckles.

- It can't be, why doesn't it work?! Everything has always worked! Everyone listens to me...

I grabbed her by the hair and lifted her up. The girl weighed quite a bit, I managed to lift her with only one hand and put her on her knees.

- Who are you?

I know she is a witch. But a witch does not mean that she is kind or otherwise. She could be a hired killer or something. Although the killer would definitely not kneel in front of me like that. There people are literate, carefully prepare for the case and rarely find themselves in such situations.

Creel, I highly recommend not being so rude...

Atria, shut up! I rudely ordered the ship's AI while looking into the witch's face, "How did you get on the ship?" Who are you anyway? Who sent?!

Classic questions, but always relevant in situations like this. The witch is silent, I see her scared in her eyes. She's probably never been in a similar situation before. Damn, I thought the first witch wouldn't give me that much trouble. Apparently, you have to come to terms with the fact that they may not be entirely good people. Still, it would be too naive to harbor such illusions about their kindness, when the entire universe inhabited by intelligent beings is hunting for them. It will not be easy for me, but no one promised a pleasure trip through the new world on a personal boat.

The girl is silent, only looks at me with hatred. She understands that her powers do not work, and this pleases me. Thank you Tria for this gift. It would be foolish to die from the first witch I have to save. But I can't kill them either. I do not know all the reasons, but I feel something bad will happen.

- Answer! Who sent you...

There was a rustle of the bedroom door being opened, and a yawning Terra appeared in her underwear. She tried to tie her unruly black hair into a single braid while moving her ears, whispering something under her breath.

Creel what are you doing here...

- Kill him! the witch screamed at the top of her voice, using her power.

- Get out of here! - I shouted, but I realized that I did not have time, because Terra was numb standing in one place.

- Kill him! Rip this motherfucker! Listen only to your mistress! The witch continued to scream.

At that moment, I wanted to wring her neck, knock out all her teeth and break her jaw so that she would not scream. I forgot about Terra in the other room. If the forces do not act on me, it does not mean that they do the same with others.

“Terra, stay where you are, don’t get any closer… Discharge!”

I had to do it. Use the command of the slave collar to bring the furriod to his senses. She screamed in pain and collapsed to her knees, and, it would seem, had already begun to recover, until she heard a new order:

- Ignore the pain! Kill him by all means! Sacrifice yourself if you have to!

And Terra rose to her feet. Ignoring the strong currents running through her body so that her fur began to smoke, she slowly walked towards me.

- Oh you bitch! I growled angrily, looking at the witch.

Who knew that her powers could do such a thing. This is not ordinary hypnosis or suggestion. She can suppress the instinct of self-preservation, turn a rational being into her toy, a puppet on strings blindly following orders. Witches are powerful, you can't take that away.

- If she is dear to you, then let me go and surrender! she said with a smile, feeling her newfound superiority.

But she did not rejoice for long. I had to calm her down and knock her out so that I would no longer think about ordering my furriode to kill me. As Terra slowly walked towards me, still avoiding the shock of the collar systems, I grabbed the witch's throat with my hand and pinched it, cutting off the oxygen supply. I didn’t want to injure her anymore, I can’t calculate my strength and significantly cripple her, therefore it’s better to knock her out for a while until I deal with my cat.

Damn, it's my own fault. If he had not hesitated with all this, but immediately knocked her out, he would not have ended up in a similar situation. You need to be more careful.

As soon as the witch stopped fluttering in my arms trying to get out of the chokehold, I lowered her to the floor. She moved aside from a light push of her foot, and I got a guarantee that no one would accidentally crush her during a fight with a furrio.

Ironic. Only recently I asked her if she would turn the knowledge received from me against me, and so it happened. Well, that is not on her personal initiative.

Terra looked down at the body of the witch lying insensibly in the corner of the room. An animal growl escaped her lips. The claws lengthened, flashing in the reflections of the light with their sharpness, the fangs were bared and wanting to bite into me.

- Trying to stop you with words is useless? I asked Terra, remembering how it all happens in the movies.