City of Witches Chapter 259

An immeasurable amount of time had passed.

The darkness, devoid of even a single ray of light, first shattered Della's biological clock.

She could no longer properly distinguish when to sleep, when to wake, or even how much time had flowed by.

Then again, in this state, even if her biological clock were normal, she probably couldn't have slept anyway.

The white spears that densely pierced Della's body had, at some point, healed while still impaling her tender flesh, becoming like a part of her body.

She couldn't even muster a laugh.

She had prided herself on having strong mental fortitude, enough to remain unshaken by most things.

Being forced to watch the horrific events unfolding before her eyes, pinned to the wall like an insect specimen, was quite a nauseating affair.

-Ooooooo!

Especially that sound.

The massive vibration echoing through the underground cavern drilled into her ears.

Listening to that dreadful sound, as if rising from the very bottom of hell, even the impulse to tear out her own eardrums arose.

“…….”

Della weakly lifted her bowed head.

Her complexion was haggard, like that of a patient whose day of death was near.

No matter that it was a Spirit Body, the stress and pain accumulating in her body had already surpassed the critical threshold.

At this rate, she might go mad.

Suppressing the urge to spew curses, Della gazed at the bizarre object emitting the deafening roar in the center of the underground cavern.

It resembled a lotus flower whose bud had not fully bloomed.

A height and circumference reaching tens of meters.

A massive bud, layered upon layer, waiting for the moment to unfurl.

All its petals were made of human arm bones, interlocked as if in prayer.

The grotesqueness of this artwork, which even Della—with her exceedingly low moral and ethical barriers—could not help but find nauseating, did not end there.

The stem supporting the flower was made of tangled, rope-like skeins of red thread.

At a glance, it resembled a messily wired bundle of cables, but its true nature was the human central nervous system.

Below the stem, still writhing slowly as if alive, were white, murky, grayish lumps of flesh, tangled and coiled like fish entrails.

A mass of brain matter, difficult to describe with the singular term 'one,' resembling a lump of clay rolled into a ball, lay submerged beneath the cerebrospinal fluid and bloody water spread on the ground, supporting the lotus's stem and bud like roots.

A flower of bone, a stem of nerve bundles, roots of brain matter...

The identity of this lotus, which seemed fit only for trashy B-grade gore movies, was an altar.

A massive altar made from human bones, brains, and nerve bundles.

It was also a compact-sized collective artwork of the masses, transformed to retain only the function of praying, wishing, and yearning on Paola's behalf.

The humans entangled in that artwork would pray for Paola until their synapses and nerves burned out from overload.

No.

Though whether one should still call those things, which had lost everything that constitutes a human, 'human' was a question that arose.

-Ooooooo

Once again, a vibration, as if countless lost souls were screaming in unison, echoed loudly.

Another arm bone unfurled outward, as if a single petal was budding.

Protruding sharply from the very center of the lotus was the 'Red Branch'.

An Artifact of the Enemy Knight possessing the characteristic of 'Distortion'.

Della knew its power well.

The White Knights, replicas of the Enemy Knight, and the white spears they wielded, though mere replicas, resonated with the Red Branch and interfered with the workings of Magic.

But what Paola schemed was not simply enhancing the Red Branch's combat capabilities.

She focused on and pushed to the extreme the concept of 'Distortion' possessed by the Red Branch, aiming to control it in the direction she desired.

Not distorting space, not distorting magic power fields, but ultimately distorting natural order and distorting reality.

In other words, her goal was to treat the fact that Paola's Apprentice Witch had died as 'something that never happened'.

“Kgh...!”

Della was not the sole audience member of this revolting performance.

The knight order created from the hearts of '1200' victims collected from the previous assault carried out using Dagon's Flute.

And among the four Witches hunted by mobilizing all available combat-type Homunculi, the one survivor was also viewing this unprecedented calamity-inducing artwork.

-Ooooooo!

Paola Sochtl, kneeling meekly below the lotus, offering prayers.

Her madness and will, throwing away everything for a single wish, were terrifyingly pure.

So much so that even in this horrific spectacle, she appeared at a glance like a saint.

-Click!

Paola rose from her spot.

Not minding in the least that brain matter and blood stained her hem, she approached one Witch pinned to the wall.

The Enemy Knight who had been guarding Paola until now also followed behind her with a clicking sound.

“Hic... Hiiik... Eek...!”

Pitiful, really.

Judging by her face, she was a young Witch who hadn't been one for long.

The gaze once overflowing with the recognition of being a chosen being pursuing ultimate secrets, the inflated self-consciousness and pride stemming from it, was now no different from that of a mere frightened girl.

Given the horrific things she'd experienced, it was understandable.

“P-please, spare me... spare me....”

Paola looked at the golden-haired Witch, pleading with tears and snot running down her face, with eyes devoid of any emotion.

It was an insect-like, inorganic, and dry gaze.

“Anything, I'll do anything... Please have mercy....”

The Witch trembled as if her body would break apart.

Had she not been impaled by the spear, she probably would have clung to Paola's feet, begging.

She might have even licked her shoes.

To the slender Witch trembling with fear, Paola spoke in an unexpectedly gentle tone.

“Don't worry.”

Before the young Witch, whose expression was about to brighten with a tiny hope, she drew a sharp blade made of obsidian.

“It won't hurt that much.”

“W-wait.... Just a moment... Kehek... Hruek... Kyaaaaaah...!”

Immediately after, noisy screams of 'Kyaak Kyaak' echoed.

The sound of flesh being sliced, the sound of cutting open the belly and extracting the womb.

All were likely drowned out by those screams.

-Oooooooo

“…….”

The screams cut off abruptly, like a radio suddenly switched off.

In Paola's hand was a single lump of red flesh.

A fresh lump of flesh, imbued with the Witch's Brand and magic power.

Cradling the womb dripping blood from both hands preciously, Paola walked with reverent steps toward the lotus.

“I offer this.”

As she knelt and presented the offering, countless white skeletal arms reached out to receive the lump of flesh.

-Oooo

-Ooooo

-OoooooAn incomparable number of petals bloomed all at once.

The White Knights surrounding the cavern on all sides began pounding their spears against the ground in unison.

The white spears resonating with the Red Branch emitted a mournful, metallic wail, and amidst that clamor, Paola offered up another prayer.

The chance is now.

Within the frenzied roar reminiscent of a demonic ritual, Della drew upon her magic power.

As if sensing that human magic power alone was insufficient for the ritual's pace, Paola offered additional Witch's Brands as offerings.

Each time, the lotus bloomed at a noticeably faster rate.

And each time, everyone, including the White Knights, focused solely on controlling the ritual.

In other words, this was the only opportunity to escape using the magic power she had painstakingly gathered until now.

-Thud! Thud! Thud!

Ignoring the tearing of her wounds, Della forcibly pulled out the spear piercing her arm.

A horrific pain that turned her vision white.

Feeling the flesh and muscle that had fused with the white spear tear away, she pulled out each spear from her body one by one.

"Kgh... Kgh...!"

Each time she pulled one out, she felt her consciousness might slip away.

Having barely pulled out all twelve spears, Della crawled on her belly through the gaps between the White Knights pounding their spears, like an excited zealot.

There isn't much time.

According to the data she had accumulated while observing three Witches being offered as sacrifices so far, in barely five minutes, the White Knights would return to their impenetrable state of alertness.

"Kgh... Kgh..."

I must stop it.

I must inform them.

Paola's plan is not yet over.

Even if she fully blooms the lotus and draws out the Red Branch's potential to the end, ultimately, even more magic power would be needed to perform the resurrection ritual.

In other words, she plans to simultaneously deploy the 1,200 White Knights and the Enemy Knights to carry out a great massacre.

Just like she indiscriminately killed civilians using Dagon's Flute.

How many will die?

Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? A million?

Perhaps there will be even more victims than from the Plague Witch.

"Kgh... Kgh..."

Having barely escaped the cavern and crawled to the large tunnel, Della realized she couldn't hold on like this.

Because she forcibly removed the spears blocking her wounds, the bleeding was too severe.

Death or unconsciousness from excessive blood loss.

Either way, failing to escape the ritual would be the same.

"Hoo... Hoo..."

Della took a deep breath and raised one finger.

What was supporting her already tattered body was a handful of magic power, so she couldn't use wasteful magic like healing spells.

Della rolled up her sleeve, bit down on it, and cauterized her wounds with a flame from her fingertip.

"......!!!!!"

Pain that felt like death.

The smell of burning flesh as the skin and meat shriveled and charred.

Even Della's tightly clenched gums gushed with blood from pain that would have sent a human into shock and death.

Having controlled the bleeding through a crude and violent method, Della used the crumbling, damp tunnel wall as support to barely lift her body.

She dragged her tattered body, practically scraping her feet.

But there was not a moment to rest.

-Clank clank clank

Footsteps echoing from far away were heading this way.

Probably from a White Knight not participating in the ritual but stationed elsewhere.

I must not be caught.

Even when Della's body was in perfect condition, killing twenty White Knights was her limit.

The white spears resonating with the Red Branch's distortion ability were no exaggeration to call anti-Witch weapons designed to kill Witches.

Even if I get out here and reveal the entire conspiracy, would there be any way to deal with that knight order?

Unless you're a Witch capable of powerful physical attacks like Duke Tiferet or Ea Sadalmelik, you couldn't withstand them...

But such leisurely reflections wouldn't be too late even after a complete escape.

"Damn it... Cough! Cough!"

Uttering an uncharacteristically vulgar word, Della began to run, supporting her creaking body with magic power.

With each step, an excruciating pain as if her body would shatter shot through her.

-Clankclankclankclank

I cannot be captured again here.

Della, squeezing out her last ounce of strength, saw a light shining vertically from far away.

It was an escape route she had noted when she first came to meet Paola on her own feet, as a precaution for a one-in-a-million situation.

"Burn...!"

Della created wings of flame with all her might.

This place is 45 meters underground.

In this physical state, climbing a ladder was impossible.

I must fly up in one go.

Della's body, wrapped in large wings like a phoenix's, ascended instantly and even shattered the large iron cover.

"Ugh...!"

Her consciousness almost blurred again from the process of pushing open the iron door, but she was out anyway.

The refreshing air, smelled for the first time in a long while, pleasantly tickled her lungs.

"Hoo... Hoo... First, I must go to the Witch Point..."

I must inform them of everything.

Let's receive protection and treatment there.

With that sole goal, as Della rushed out of the alley, into her eyes—

-Screeeech!

A white light enters.

A sports car with a grill as grotesque as a horse's hoof slammed on its brakes belatedly, but—

-Thud!

The sight of Della's body floating up like a piece of paper could not be stopped.

Author's Note (Afterword)

I think the twin cover illustration came out really well, hehe

I changed it to show you after a long time.

There are still two things about Amel I haven't revealed...

I can't reveal them because it would be a spoiler.