The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch-Chapter 93 - High Noon Arrives, Doom Descends (3/4)

He slowly raised his hand, wiped the blood off the mask. Braque looked up towards the sanctuary’s dome.

Above the dark dome, in the area untouched by the torchlight, something terrifying, evil seemed to be surging.

The moment he looked towards that darkness, Braque felt the spiritual alarm explode in his mind.

“Radiance Bishop” Braque abruptly raised his hand!

A white shadow shot straight towards the dome, then exploded violently like a holy light bomb, illuminating the entire stone dome with pure light!

Simultaneously, it illuminated the blood threads above, seemingly alive, coiling and twisting overhead. The entire dome resembled a giant heart, pulsating rhythmically with the writhing blood lines.

At this moment, many believers were disturbed by the holy light above. They raised their heads one after another, expecting to witness a miracle.

But the instant they saw the blood threads above, strange howls began to echo in the minds of many.

No... wrong...

Braque’s eyes widened, his scalp tingling.

Kitty, kneeling before him, had also looked up and seen the terrifying blood array above. Reacting even faster than Braque, the white shadow on her body had already lunged towards the wooden door behind the Bishop, about to break out.

“Schlick—”

A blood thread pierced down from the dome, entering directly through the top of Kitty’s head, straight into her heart, dragging her struggling body slowly upwards.

Countless blood lines began to descend from above, hoisting up corpse after corpse. During the process, many bodies were sucked dry into mummies, completely losing all signs of life.

Wrong... Wrong!!!

The white shadows behind Braque shot out violently. Two rushed towards the rear door, four lunged towards the gradually coalescing dark red vortex overhead.

He had to destroy this terrifying ritual array before it fully formed! If not! At least he could escape using “Shadow Shift”!

Schlick—

The white shadow rushing towards the rear door, upon reaching the edge of the blood array overhead, had a large chunk of its torso torn off by something unknown. Intense pain, seemingly transmitted from the spiritual body, almost made Braque scream.

He quickly moved away from the door, looking up in horror at the gradually forming blood vortex.

Almost everyone was dragged towards the top, their flesh and blood offered as sacrifice, channeled through the complex web of blood threads above into the central dark vortex.

A speck of starlight drifted out from the seemingly bottomless vortex.

Braque’s mind went blank.

All whispers, fears, pains seemed to vanish, leaving only a familiar warmth, like flesh and blood merging.

Mother Goddess... above...

Braque knelt on the ground, looking up in terror at the vortex above.

The starlight entered Kitty’s suspended, mutilated body. Her body rotted and swelled, lumps of flesh piling up, slowly solidifying into a terrifying blood cocoon.

The cocoon shell hardened bit by bit, pulsating as if alive. Through the translucent shell, under the remaining holy light, one could glimpse the beautiful, ultimate life being nurtured within.

Crack—

The blood cocoon cracked open bit by bit. A figure slowly floated down from above, the multiple pairs of insect wings on its back flapping, emitting a wail-like buzz.

“Divine Servant... Milord...” Braque’s heart began to tremble with excitement. He looked at the inhuman figure before him, his emotions bordering on frenzy.

Under his gaze, the “Divine Servant” slowly raised its head, looking towards the dome.

Its gaze seemed to pierce through the hanging corpses and the terrifying blood array above, through the stone dome, towards the existence above the dome.

“Mother Goddess... Milady.”

A bloody slit opened on the Divine Servant’s face, seemingly calling out to some entity above.

Mother Goddess Milady?!

Braque looked up in astonishment towards the dome above.

Who was above the stone dome?

Who was up there, worthy of being called Mother Goddess by the Divine Servant Milord?!

The blood array couldn’t have been drawn and triggered out of thin air. Someone must be nearby, performing this ritual!

Priestess Kitty’s earlier words flashed through Braque’s mind.

No... It wasn’t someone impersonating him, nor someone impersonating a Bishop...

The person who instructed them, who made them complete these rituals...

Was the Mother Goddess’s proxy! The Mother Goddess’s human vessel!

It was the Saintess!!!

“I... understand, Mother...” The Divine Servant seemed to have received instructions, its gaze slowly turning towards Braque before it.

A blood thread emerged from its slit, continuously splitting, burrowing towards Braque’s body.

Braque knelt devoutly on the ground, arms outstretched, watching the spreading fleshy tendrils, raised his head madly, shouting:

“Mother Goddess above!!! Urgh!!!”

The fleshy tendrils burrowed into his body, gradually draining him inch by inch.

The distant Divine Servant, sensing the transmitted, immense flesh and blood energy, bulged with lumps of flesh once more.

It began its second cocooning.

...

Creek Hill, Deton Manor, Card Room.

“I win.” Ciel smiled, placing the last card onto the pile, then looked towards Adele beside her and said, “Let’s go, let’s head back to the city for something to eat.”

Adele: “!”

Avena: “?”

Hearing Ciel’s words, Adele practically jumped to her feet. Normally, she slept early and ate regular meals. Having missed breakfast and lunch today, she was already dizzy with hunger.

Avena, however, was filled with confusion.

Her earlier distraction caused her to lose the solitaire game, but... the change she expected hadn’t occurred at all?

Or did something happen that she just didn’t notice?

They walked out of the card room, through the corridor to the front hall. Just as they were about to pass through the main door and step outside the manor, an anomaly occurred.