Chengzhong Dino furrowed her brow slightly. She seemed to want to pull Sophie over for questioning, and she lunged forward, flicking out a length of mana thread.
The thread whipped through the air, transforming into a streak of golden light that lunged at Sophie.
“How bitter!” Sophie cried out as her scalp was nearly flayed.
That brat, pulling my hair.
Looking at Sophie, who couldn't be bound by mana threads at all and shattered upon contact, Chengzhong Dino was momentarily stunned.
“So painful.”
Did you really think mana threads meant to bind normal humans could move someone with a Physique of 1?
While Sophie winced from the pain, her mind was racing.
If it were just Chengzhong Dino alone, the threat wouldn't be that great. Her cute little sister was definitely easier to handle than a hostile, sadistic vampire.
Despite being shaken by the Vampire Count earlier, the Count was essentially no different from an ant to her.
Her emotions were relatively stable now.
As long as Chengzhong Dino didn't go berserk, Sophie had a hundred ways to coax her.
And as long as she wasn't afraid of exposing her true identity, she had nearly ten thousand ways.
Haha, so the Puppet Witch is that cold and aloof in your eyes? To me, she’s completely different.
—If only I could actually speak.
However, this time, Chengzhong Dino seemed to have no intention of letting Sophie speak at all.
Hearing the sound of threads descending again, Sophie grew anxious.
If I can't even open my mouth, I can't talk my way out of this.
The only thing she could use now was the soul-binding items in her inventory.
Should I try summoning Chengzhong Dino directly?
After all, there should be a one-day system grace period for friendliness.
Or should I summon another Witch?
But there was no telling if I’d just be torn in half.
Or maybe I should just summon all seven...
Well, perhaps the story of the Red Moon continent would end right here, skipping straight to a chaotic, R-rated harem ending.
Just as Sophie was about to press the first Witch summoning item...
At the critical moment.
“Gravity Reversal.”
A crisp, ethereal declaration rang out.
【Log: [Miaoyue] has cast the Forbidden Spell [Gravity Reversal].】
A crimson full moon forcibly crowded into the sealed sky.
Heaven and earth instantly swapped positions.
The direction of gravity was forcibly inverted. The withered grass rooted in the soil, the rubble, and the thousands of pale threads suspended in mid-air were all torn away in an instant... and fell toward the sky.
Crack, crack.
Time began to flow again.
The wind roared once more, and the rumbling of the earth thundered through the clouds.
Under the effect of the gravity reversal, everyone who had been floating in mid-air plummeted toward the ground that had become the sky.
Having lost the restraint of the time-stop, Sophie felt her body suddenly become weightless as the wind whipped past her ears.
“Hero, save me!”
She cried out for help.
Sophie shouted for the only trump card that gave her a sense of security.
“I’m here.”
A brilliant streak of pure white holy light pierced through the chaotic, inverted space.
Like a pure meteor, it accurately intercepted Sophie as she free-fell in mid-air.
Two slender but powerful arms scooped her up.
Sophie landed steadily in a warm embrace that carried a faint scent of soap.
“Waaaah, Hero, you’re so slow! I almost died just now.”
“Sorry I’m late, but I’m glad you’re alright,” Kaila said, her tone level.
But Sophie could clearly hear the Hero’s slightly accelerated heartbeat calming down.
The hair that had been torn away began to grow back rapidly under the radiance of the holy light.
I was almost turned into a pair of boots just now.
“Hold on tight,” Kaila whispered.
At the same moment Kaila caught Sophie, the Hero’s movements didn't stop.
She nimbly swung her right leg in mid-air, the tip of her nun’s boot accurately hooking a reddish-brown figure that was falling downward.
Maid A.
“Cough.” Maid A spat out a mouthful of blood, clutching the little Elizabeth bat in her hand. She said in surprise, “Hero, when did you get here?”
“Long time no see, Maid,” Kaila tilted her head slightly. “About... three days ago?”
“No wonder,” Maid A realized. “No wonder this white-haired girl is so fearless. It turns out you were her trump card. Is Miss Hill here too?”
“No.” Kaila shook her head. “Don’t be noisy. I’m going to get you out of here now.”
The Hero’s speed increased, the meteor flying toward the edge of the area covered by [Gravity Reversal].
...
Above.
Or rather, below.
The two Witches didn't even bother with any probing attacks; they were already well-acquainted.
“It’s you.”
Chengzhong Dino hung in the air. She adjusted her top hat and widened her eyes. “You lowly thieving cat! You actually dare to show your face before me!”
There were two kinds of women: childhood friends and thieving cats.
She was the childhood friend.
The other six Witches were undoubtedly thieving cats.
“Thieving cat?”
Miaoyue stepped onto a lunar blade and came before the Puppet Witch.
“As if you’re worthy of using that word. This is my kingdom,” Miaoyue said coldly. “Take your mess of broken threads and crawl back to your dead city!”
“Hahaha, since when did a thieving cat get to divide territory? Let’s get one thing straight: you’re the challenger here.”
Chengzhong Dino’s ten fingers suddenly spread wide.
Beneath the inverted firmament.
Hundreds of millions of pale threads extended from her fingertips.
The body of the Tenth Generation Count, hanging in mid-air, began to twitch involuntarily. The threads forcibly pierced through every inch of his bone and meridian.
Tons of rock falling toward the sky under the pull of gravity, patches of withered grass, and even ancient trees uprooted by their roots were all forcibly stitched onto the Count’s broken body the moment they touched the threads.
The mana threads stitched them together.
In just a few seconds, a terrifying vampire giant of indeterminate height—composed of soil, rock, giant trees, and the flesh of a high-tier vampire—was suspended by a single thread, spanning the space between heaven and earth.
The colossus let out a roar.
Facing such a massive creature, Miaoyue didn't even blink.
“Old hag,” Miaoyue’s voice was cold and clear. “You are nothing more than a commoner born into an era that didn't have me.”
“Is this how Teacher raised you? Truly pathetic.”
She didn't back down, bringing her hands together in front of her chest with fingers interlaced.
Dense moonlight gathered in mid-air.
An incredibly massive, dark red new moon that occupied nearly half of the inverted sky was forcibly squeezed into existence between the two of them.
Everywhere the red light touched, everything was dissolved.
“Today, I will tear that pathetic puppet of yours into absolute shreds!” Miaoyue shouted.
“As if you could!”
Dino’s ten fingers slammed downward.
The vampire giant swung a massive arm made of half a mountain peak, carrying a torrent of hundreds of millions of golden threads, and smashed it toward the dark red new moon.
The dark red new moon also crushed forward at the same moment.
Two types of beyond-tier mana collided directly.
There was no deafening sound.
All sound was annihilated by pure energy at the point of intersection.
A ring of visible, pitch-black cracks spread frantically from the center of the energy toward the surroundings.
Space itself shattered.
Under the mutual pull of the two women's mana, the wasteland turned into a chaotic purgatory of constant collapse and restructuring.
Rocks touched by the aftershocks instantly turned to powder, and vegetation was evaporated into nothingness.
No matter what the substance was, it was completely erased the moment it came into contact with that energy aftershock.
“Cough...”
Maid A was hooked by the belt by Kaila’s boot in mid-air, and she desperately protected the shadow in her arms.
The bat that Elizabeth had transformed into fluttered frantically in the maid’s embrace.
She stared fixedly at the space that was constantly collapsing in the distance.
“What... what are you talking about? What is going on?” Elizabeth let out a sharp screech. “What exactly is happening? Who are these people?”
What kind of absurd dream was this?
Just a few days ago, she was a noble Twelfth Generation Vampire, a person of status carrying a huge amount of Gold Sun to take over the position of Bishop of the New Moon Sect.
Elizabeth had never felt so powerless.
As a noble vampire.
She should have easily ascended to the vacant Bishop position of the New Moon Sect.
But who would have thought an unexpected obstacle would appear out of nowhere?
She should have easily tamed this low-tier vampire who was disrespectful to her.
But who would have thought this vampire would actually dodge her bloodline suppression and even turn around and charm her most trusted maid?
After spending a fortune to settle the church disputes, she had intended to use an ancient ritual to win in one fell swoop or eliminate this disgusting white-haired girl once and for all.
In the end, the opponent not only brought out something more impossible than the sun and moon shining together, but even defeated an Eleventh Generation Vampire.
Cain above.
At least she had seen with her own eyes how the Ancestor died.
As a demon who had always been active in the human world, how could she not know of the seven Witches who cursed the world?
The Puppet Witch was simply not a being she was even worthy of looking at.
How on earth was she summoned here?
Could it be that she also had her eye on the Bishop position of the New Moon Sect?
And as for the one who had just arrived, she actually recognized her.
The problem was that the full moon had already passed!
Only during the full moon would the New Moon Lady be willing to come out for a stroll, allowing the New Moon Sect to summon the Goddess to descend and share their thoughts with her.
Now, the Goddess had run out on her own and was fighting with the Puppet Witch.
What was the situation now? Had the New Moon Lady also set her sights on her church's Bishop position?
Now, two Witches who lived in legends were actually shattering space on this wasteland for the sake of an unknown title.
“What kind of world is this...” Elizabeth murmured.
“Oh, to report to my mistress, right now two Witches are fighting over something unknown,” Maid A watched the fight between the two Witches with great interest. “The person carrying me right now is the Hero, and I am a maid. We both come from Destinos, so we know each other.”
“Out of the obligation that a ‘maid must answer her master's questions,’ I have already told you the details.”
“Destinos? Isn't that...” Elizabeth was about to continue asking when she felt a surge of intense pain.
She looked blankly at the source of the pain.
At the location of the bat's heart, a wooden stake was now impaled.
“You... have no more trump cards left, right?” Maid A said regretfully. “As a cultist, you would have been purged by the Hero anyway. From the looks of it, you won't survive. Might as well make the best use of you.”
“Cough, cough, cough...” Elizabeth, falling into paralysis, was no longer able to speak.
“Maid, you’re doing that kind of thing again...” Kaila frowned, but she was interrupted by the maid.
“The Hero isn't in a position to act right now, nor do you have any way to stop me.” As Maid A spoke, her voice grew lower and lower, and then she spat out another mouthful of blood.
As a min-maxer, Sophie could clearly feel it.
Maid A’s stats were dropping.
【Log: [Servant A]: “Fortunately, I’ve... gradually gotten used to this feeling.”】
Sophie’s eyes widened.
This was the first time she had ever seen someone able to change their own designation in the system logs.
Servant A paused for a moment, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and tossed the dying Elizabeth into Sophie’s arms.
“My former master, Elizabeth, I shall gift her to you, Lady Sophie. A vampire can extract from their own bloodline ancestor, can they not? I wonder if this can be used as a favor, to have you stay your hand and let me go?”
Good grief, she not only killed her master but sold her out directly.
And as for what Kaila said about her doing that kind of thing again...
The other woman was definitely the type of person who would use any means necessary to achieve her goals.
Sophie took the bat, her internal guard rising slightly.
“Doing this will only make you weaker and weaker, until you eventually die in the street,” Kaila said in a low voice. “If you keep going, what will you become? A prostitute? A beggar?”
“We’ll see when the time comes,” Servant A said nonchalantly. “For freedom, I can give up everything.”
As they talked, Kaila had already carried them to the edge of the [Gravity Reversal] field.
“Whew... finally safe.” Sophie let out a long sigh of relief.
Today had been far too exciting.
Fortunately, she was finally going to live.
Once this fight was over, she would go back to her hometown with the Hero...
Crackling sounds suddenly caught Sophie’s attention.
She squinted her eyes and poked her head out from Kaila’s embrace.
The battle in the distance had entered its climax.
“Thieving cat, why would Brother choose a useless person like you?”
Chengzhong Dino’s hands crossed and moved rapidly in front of her, her afterimages blurring together.
Hundreds of millions of golden threads extended from the vampire giant’s back, weaving into a massive net in the sky that covered everything as it descended toward Miaoyue.
Meanwhile, the colossus also threw a direct uppercut.
They formed a pincer attack, joining forces to besiege Miaoyue.
Miaoyue’s face remained cold as her bare feet lightly tapped the void.
“Old hag, it’s because Teacher thought you were too old and didn't want you, right? Oh dear, he hasn't gone to see you even once from start to finish.”
A ring of crimson ripples rippled out from beneath her feet.
“Perhaps when you stand before him, the first thing he’ll say to you is, ‘Who are you?’”
The moment the massive net touched the crimson ripples, the mana composing the threads began to dissipate uncontrollably.
The golden threads snapped one by one, turning into specks of light and disappearing into the air.
“Ha, that’s hard to say.” Dino immediately changed her strategy. The residual mana from the snapped net was instantly compressed under her control, turning into countless invisible needles that broke through the ripple’s defense, stabbing directly at Miaoyue’s throat and heart.
“Brother always praised me for being his capable assistant, but I think it must be quite happy to be a thieving little kitten pampered by Brother like you.”
“Waiting in a small cage every day for Brother to return, waiting for Brother to change your litter box. Have you ever actually helped Brother with anything from start to finish? Oh, if I were you, I might die of shame. Without Brother’s care, do you still lack the ability to take care of yourself even now?”
“You should be more considerate of Brother and learn to be a little independent. Don’t always let him raise you like a little pet with no self-care ability, okay?”
Miaoyue pursed her lips, and the lunar blade beneath her feet instantly split in two.
One lunar blade blocked in front of her, parrying all the invisible needles.
The other lunar blade was held in her hand as she threw it fiercely toward the vampire giant below.
The dark red lunar blade expanded rapidly in the air.
Their voices were transmitted to the surroundings through mana, and Sophie heard them clearly.
Sophie: ...
Wh-Why are they saying such mean things?
Chengzhong Dino was the first Destined Crown she had chosen. At that time, she only had stats, while Dino’s puppetry ability had extremely strong mechanics. So she had relied heavily on her help for many things, bringing her along on almost every quest, and Dino had never refused her. She had always been grateful.
Miaoyue was the last Destined Crown she had chosen. At that time, she had both stats and mechanics, and the treasures in her warehouse were too many to count. She had easily completed all the quests by tilting just a few resources her way. But even so, feeling the admiring gaze coming from behind her had always been very gratifying.
Sophie discovered something she had previously overlooked.
That was that the seven Witches were not without contact.
It was possible that during the time she was active, most of them were familiarizing themselves with the power of the Destined Crown and didn't move around much.
But now, they clearly had quite a bit of contact with each other.
This also meant that everyone knew about her.
Cough, having many wings?
The retirement plan of revealing her identity to only one heroine had instantly fallen through.
And why were the gentle and considerate Dino and the gentle and kind Miaoyue usually using these kinds of lines when they met?
I... have never heard this tone before.
It's impossible; if this keeps up, the wings are going to get tangled.
The dark red lunar blade expanded rapidly in the air.
In just an instant, the giant was bisected at the waist.
But the severed giant didn't fall.
The threads connecting the giant’s upper and lower body tightened rapidly.
At the severed cut, rock and flesh writhed and fused frantically.
“Die,” Dino pushed her hands forward, “little stray cat.”
The giant’s fists, carrying the kinetic energy to destroy everything, slammed heavily toward the void where Miaoyue stood.
The pressure from the punch even compressed the surrounding air into a visible physical air wall.
Miaoyue crossed her hands in front of her chest to protect herself.
“Boom!”
The massive impact sent Miaoyue sliding back hundreds of meters in mid-air.
“The old hag sure is strong,” Miaoyue caught her breath and spoke again. “But Teacher never studied Forbidden Spells with you, did he?”
“Teacher only saw you as a useful tool. When the tool is no longer useful, it will naturally be replaced.”
“Oh dear, since you want to see the results of the hard work Teacher and I put in together so much, then I’ll satisfy you.”
Miaoyue raised her hands high.
The crimson moon in the sky, which had originally dimmed, burst forth with a blinding light ten times stronger than before.
“Moonfall.”
The horizon was torn apart.
A dark red meteorite over a hundred meters in diameter, dragging a long trail of flame, smashed straight down toward Chengzhong Dino and the vampire giant.
Dino looked up and threw her hands upward.
Ten million threads gathered into a super golden spear over ten meters in diameter, flying upward against the meteorite.
“Clang—”
The spear pierced into the core of the meteorite.
The two forces were deadlocked in mid-air.
Violent energy fluctuations turned into ring after ring of physical shockwaves, spreading frantically in all directions.
The surface of the wasteland was peeled away layer by layer.
Sophie: ...
Judging from her experience.
They were fighting for real now.
—The kind that couldn't be coaxed by words alone.
“Quick, run, run!” Sophie hurriedly said to Kaila. “Neither of them can kill the other, but if these ultimate moves collide, we’re going to be in trouble.”
Sophie looked at the [Gravity Reversal] barrier that was close at hand, thought for a moment, and continued, “Running out of here isn't enough; we probably have to leave Solitude entirely.”
But Kaila didn't answer.
She only said, “Sophie, I need to free my hands.”
“Ahead is Silvervein City.”
“Ah? Oh.”
Sophie bit down on the bat, her hands hurriedly clutching the Hero’s neck as she hung herself onto her.
【Log: You have hit a battle-incapacitated bat with your fangs. You have activated Soul Devour. Vampire template is being promoted.】
The next moment, Kaila turned around and raised the shield made of pure holy light in her hand against the spreading aftershocks.
The runes on the shield lit up in sequence in an instant, bursting forth with a dazzling white holy light.
“Sever, right here.”
Kaila held up her shield.
The white curtain of light that covered the sky collided with the mixed energy of dark red and gold.
Kaila let out a muffled groan.
The surface area receiving the force of the mana aftershock was simply too large.
The next moment, whether it was the white, red, or golden light, they all dissipated at the same time.
She had blocked it.
But—the battle between the Witches was still continuing.
Rate on N.U.
