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→ The Darkness that Came from the East (5) ←

1.

It felt like an incomprehensible amount of time had passed.

The pitch-black darkness, devoid of any light, had disrupted Della’s circadian rhythm a long time ago.

She couldn’t properly tell when it was time to sleep, to wake up, or even how much time had passed.

Then again, even if it wasn’t disrupted, she wouldn’t have been able to sleep in this state.

The white spears that pierced her body felt like it had morphed into tender flesh, embedded perfectly inside as if it became a part of her.

She couldn’t even laugh at her plight.

Della was someone who had always prided herself when it came to her mental strength, thinking that she would never be shaken by anything.

But, after being forced to witness the horrifying event unfolding right in front of her while being pinned on a wall like an insect specimen, even she would feel nauseous.

-Ooooo!

Especially when she also had to deal with that sound on top of all that.

The loud vibrations that were echoing through the underground chamber, as if they were trying to drill into her ears.

Listening to that horrific sound, as if it came from the depths of hell, she felt a strong urge to tear her eardrums out.

“…”

Della lifted her head, which had been hanging weakly.

Her complexion was extremely pale, as if she was someone on the brink of death.

The stress and pain building up inside her was too much for her to endure, even considering that she had a spirit body.

It wouldn’t be strange if she were to lose her mind if this were to continue a while longer.

Suppressing the urge to swear, she stared at the strange object that was emitting the loud noise in the center of the underground chamber.

Its form was like a lotus that had not yet fully bloomed.

She estimated that both its height and weight were at least a dozen meters.

Layers upon layers formed a massive mound, waiting for the right moment to blossom.

All of its petals were made of human arm bones, interlocked like humans praying.

Even someone who was infamous for her rotten morals like Della couldn’t help but feel repulsed by the grotesque artwork.

The stem supporting the bone petals looked like a tangled mess of red threads, similar to ropes.

At first glance, it seemed like a tangled mess of wires, but its true identity was humans’ central nervous system.

Beneath the slowly wriggling stem, white and murky chunks of flesh, resembling fish innards, twisted and turned as if they were alive.

The mass resembled a brain, impossible to describe as just a piece, clung together like a lump of clay, supporting the stem and flower buds like roots, submerged under a mix of brain fluid and blood, just like a lotus stem.

To put it simply, its flower was made of bones, its stem made of nerve bundles and its roots made of brains…

As for what was the purpose of this lotus flower that seemed to come straight out of a B-grade horror movie, it was actually an altar.

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

It served both as an altar to offer Paola’s prayers, wishes and desires, and a collective artwork for the masses that was compressed into a compact size suitable for Paola’s needs.

The humans that were ensnared in that artwork would pray for her until their synapses and nerves finally gave out.

Or rather…

It was doubtful to call them ‘human’, as they had lost everything that normal human beings should have.

-Oooooo!

The vibrations echoed loudly once more, as if countless dead souls were screaming together.

Another arm bone extended outward, unfolding like a petal.

Jutting out from the center of the lotus was the ‘Red Branch’.

The artifact of the Red Knight’s, possessing the special trait ‘distortion’.

Della knew too well the power it held.

Through the White Knights, mere inferior clones of the Red Knight, through their white spears that were merely replicas of the Red Branch, resonating with each other, they could disrupt any kind of spell.

But, Paola had bigger plans than just boosting the Red Branch’s combat capabilities.

What she was trying to do was to control the ‘distortion’ concept that it had, pushing it to the extreme and manipulating it in the desired direction.

Her goal wasn’t just to manipulate space or magical fields, but to distort fate and reality itself.

Essentially, she was aiming to erase the fact that her apprentice witch had died in her hands.

“Ugh…!”

Della wasn’t the only one revolted by this grotesque scene.

The group of Knights were created by collecting the hearts of ‘1200 victims’ from the previous incidents Paola orchestrated with Dagon’s Flute.

There were also four witches she hunted down with her combat Homunculi and among them, there was one witch who survived up until this point. Just like Della, she was also observing the artwork that would bring about an unprecedented disaster.

-Ooooooo!

Paola Xochitl knelt beneath the lotus flower, offering her prayers.

Her madness and determination to sacrifice everything for a single wish were so pure that they’d send chills down one’s spine.

Even amidst this horrifying scene, at a glance, she looked just like a saintess.

-Snap!

At that moment, she stood up from her seat.

She paid no mind to the brain fluid and blood that were staining her clothes as she approached the witch who was hanging on the wall.

The Red Knight, who acted as her bodyguard, followed suit, making a scraping sound as it did.

“Eeek…hiiik…!”

Her appearance looked pitiable.

Just by looking at her face, it was obvious that she was a young witch who hadn’t become one for long.

The girl, who once thought that she was special, was filled with pride for being chosen to find the ultimate secret, was now reduced to a scared little girl.

Then again, anyone would react similarly after experiencing such terrible things.

“P-Please… S-Spare me…”

As the blonde witch pleaded through tears and snotty nose, Paola stared at her with expressionless eyes.

They were cold, like the unfeeling gaze of an insect, hardened and dry.

“I-I’ll do anything…a-anything, s-so please…have mercy…”

The witch trembled so greatly, making it seemed like her body was about to fall apart.

If she hadn’t been impaled by the spear, she would have probably clung to Paola’s feet already, begging for mercy.

Actually, she might even lick her shoes.

To this trembling and frightened witch, Paola spoke in an unexpectedly gentle tone.

“Don’t worry.”

She then took out a sharp obsidian blade, her expression lit up as she stared at the young witch who was desperate to look for a glimmer of hope.

“It won’t hurt that much.”

“W-Wait…p-please…wait! Ugh…aa…kyaaaah…!”

Following that, a loud, agonizing scream echoed through the space.

The noise of flesh being sliced, guts being yanked out and womb being extracted.

All of them were drowned out by that scream.

-Oooooooo

“…”

The scream was abruptly cut off, like a radio being switched off.

In Paola’s hand, there was a red chunk of flesh.

A fresh chunk of meat infused with the witch’s brand and mana.

She gently cradled the bleeding womb as she approached the lotus flower in reverence.

“This is my offering.”

As she knelt down and offered her sacrifice, countless skeletal arms reached out to receive the flesh.

-Oooo

-Oooooo

-Oooooooo

An unprecedented number of flower petals bloomed all at once.

The encircling White Knights, surrounding the area, simultaneously banged their spears against the ground.

Those white spears resonated with the Red Branch, emitting a squeaking sound, meanwhile amidst the chaos, Paola offered another prayer.

And this was a perfect moment for Della, her only chance to make a move.

Amidst the frenzy ritual that resembled a demonic ritual, Della summoned her mana.

A while ago, Paola sensed that human’s mana alone wasn’t enough to make the ceremony proceed at a satisfactory speed, so she offered witches’ brand as additional sacrifice.

Every time she did so, the lotus bloomed at a rapid pace.

In each instance, everyone, including the White Knights surrounding her, would be focused on maintaining the ritual.

Hence, the perfect opportunity for Della to break free using the limited mana she had gathered so far.

-Snap, snap, snap!

First, she yanked out the spear that pierced her arm, ignoring the wound that it caused.

She gritted her teeth, enduring the intense pain that clouded her mind.

Despite the feeling of her flesh and muscle tearing apart as the white spear came out, she extracted the other spears too, one by one, from her body.

“Ngh…ahhh!”

Each time she did, it felt like her consciousness was slipping away.

She barely managed to pull out all twelve spears and crawled out of the opening created by the White Knights, who were busy pounding their spears like excited fanatics.

The clock was ticking.

Based on her observations of the sacrifices in the past, she knew that the White Knights would become fully alert again in five minutes.

“Ugh…urrg…”

I can’t let this happen!

Need to…warn them!

She knew Paola’s scheme was far from finished.

Even if she managed to fully unleash the Red Branch’s potential by making that lotus bloom, she still required more mana for the resurrection ritual.

In other words, she was planning to mobilize all 1200 White Knights, along with the Red Knight, to carry out another massacre.

Just like when she utilized Dagon’s Flute to massacre those civilians.

How many people would die from that?

Ten thousand, a hundred thousand? Maybe even one million?

The toll might surpass the incident that the Witch of the Plague herself caused in the past.

“Arg…ugh…”

Barely escaping, Della realized that she couldn’t go on like this as she crawled to a large tunnel.

Her bleeding was too severe.

There were only two outcomes that awaited her like this, either death or losing her consciousness.

Either way, she wouldn’t be able to escape with her consciousness intact.

“Huff…huff…”

Della took a deep breath, raising a single finger.

With the little mana she had, using powerful healing spells on a body that could barely hold itself together was too wasteful.

She rolled up her sleeve before biting it. Then she pressed her flaming fingertips against the wound, searing it shut.

“…!!!”

The pain she felt was unbearable, as if she was on the brink of death.

Scent of burning flesh and meat filled the air as her skin sizzled and blistered.

This was the kind of pain that would kill her outright if she was a human. Blood spurted out of her mouth as she clenched her gums tightly.

After barely managing to control her bleeding with such a crude and aggressive method, Della barely managed to rise to her feet, grasping the tattered cloth against the rain-soaked tunnel wall.

Now that she barely could hold her body together, she dragged her feet forward.

But she had no time to relax, not even for a moment.

-Clank, clank, clank!

Footsteps echoed in the distance, drawing closed and closer.

The White Knights, some which weren’t participating in the ritual, perhaps on their patrol.

She couldn’t get caught here.

Even at her best, she could barely handle twenty of them at once.

The white spears that resonated with the distortion ability of the Red Branch, the ultimate weapon for killing witches.

Even if she managed to escape and expose her plans to the witches outside, it was still very doubtful that they could handle those knights.

Unless there were witches capable of powerful physical attacks like Duchess Tiphereth or Ea Sadalmelik was around, it would be impossible to defeat them.

She knew that, but she decided to think about it later until she completely escaped from them.

“Damn it— Cough, cough!”

Cursing under her breath, she used magic to support her trembling body and began to run.

With each step, the pain threatened to overwhelm her.

-Clank, clank, clank!

I can’t get caught here again!

Delle, who had squeezed out her last bit of strength, saw a light descending vertically in the distance.

It came from the escape route she had taken a note of back when she first decided to confront Paola, just in case an unforeseen event happened.

“Ignite—!”

She cried out, summoning wings of flames, using up all her remaining strength.

Currently, she was 45 m down underground.

With her current condition, there was no way she could climb a ladder even if she wanted to.

She had to fly out in one go.

Utilizing large wings that resemble a phoenix’s she shot upwards in an instant, smashing through even the large steel covering.

“Ugh—!”

As she managed to push open the iron door, her consciousness blurred again, but she managed to emerge nonetheless.

The rush of fresh air filled her lungs, a welcome relief after what felt like an eternity.

“Haa…haa…have to…head to…the Witch Point…”

I need to tell them everything.

They’ll protect me and treat my wounds there.

With that goal in mind, she bolted out of the alleyway.

-Screeech!

Just then, a blinding white light filled her vision.

A sports car with a grill resembling a horse’s hoof screeched to a halt, but it was too late.

-Bang!

The impact threw her body through the air, as if she was a can being kicked.