The Grotesque Miss’s End Story v2c97

Chapter 97: The Dying

The unavoidable Hour of Death was the source of the current chaos in Victoria.

At this moment, everyone in Victoria could see their death date, the suffocating pressure of the countdown, the infectious madness, the cognitive breakthroughs brought on by the Taboo disaster…

All of these factors combined had driven most ordinary people, with their fragile mental defenses, to the brink of collapse.

In less than half a day, countless horrific tragedies had unfolded.

Some were terrified by the approaching Hour of Death, others reveled in its distance, but all, without exception, were caught in this madness, unable to escape.

“In ten minutes… I’ll die?”

Fiona swallowed, a hint of disbelief in her eyes.

But she quickly regained her composure. She wasn’t an ordinary person, not even an ordinary Awakened One. Although the Taboo disaster affected her mentally, it wasn’t to a significant degree.

“If we do nothing, that’s likely the case,” Luo Ling said, checking the time, her expression darkening. “In ten minutes… we were supposed to raid Company headquarters. That is to say, Aunt Fiona, you were supposed to die during the raid.

“It seems… we’re truly facing inevitable defeat…”

“Wait, wait, wait! Miss Luo Ling, what do you mean?”

Before Fiona could respond, Linna interrupted anxiously, her expression filled with worry. “My mom will die?”

“Yes, your mom will die,” Luo Ling nodded.

“Ah… then… what should we do?”

Although Fiona spoke calmly, unlike her panicked daughter, her gaze remained fixed on Luo Ling, a flicker of thought in her eyes.

“Yes, yes, Miss Luo Ling, quickly think of something!”

Linna nodded repeatedly. Even the usually composed knight seemed flustered when it concerned her mother.

“Hmm? Do I need to think of something?” Luo Ling paused. “I’m here. What can the Hour of Death do? Even if she dies, I can revive her.”

For a Grotesquery of the Silent Demise Path, death wasn’t even an injury, just a temporary state.

Both the Puppet Ballad and the Blood Lord controlled life and death. The only irreversible outcome was falling into eternal Silent Demise. Ordinary death was insignificant.

Even before, with only the Puppet Ballad’s abilities, Luo Ling hadn’t been concerned about death, let alone now, with the Blood Lord’s abilities as well.

When Stasha was killed by Educator, it was mainly because Luo Ling’s main body hadn’t been present to immediately intervene. After death, an ordinary person’s consciousness would quickly dissipate.

Unfortunately, Victoria was currently under the influence of a Taboo disaster. The true threat to these maddened ordinary people wasn’t death itself.

Even if Luo Ling revived them, they would only continue to suffer, like in Iris’s Twilight Kingdom, eternally trapped under the Taboo’s influence. It was better to be liberated.

“If you’re truly worried…”

Luo Ling snapped her fingers, and the blood ring in her grey eyes deepened.

Fiona felt a strange warmth spreading through her blood.

“Just in case, I’ll give you Undying Blood, Aunt Fiona,” Luo Ling said calmly. “Even if you’re reduced to a single drop of blood, this ability will preserve your consciousness. That should be enough.”

“Hmm? Miss Luo Ling, is that… all?”

Fiona looked disappointed, even dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief, as if she was crying.

“Ah, sorry, sorry, my mistake,” Luo Ling said, seemingly realizing something, slapping her forehead.

“Wait a moment, Aunt Fiona, I’ll send you back to the Kingdom’s hotel. If the Hour of Death truly arrives, dying in your sleep will be painless.

“As for the raid… Linna and I will handle it.”

For Luo Ling, death was just a temporary state. She had experienced far more terrifying things, so this was nothing.

But others weren’t like her…

For most humans, death was the most terrifying thing.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Linna chimed in, nodding repeatedly.

“Yes, my foot,” Fiona said, glaring at Linna. Wasn’t she usually more perceptive? Why was she acting like a clueless dummy like Miss Luo Ling now?

It was normal for the straightforward Miss Luo Ling to misunderstand, but why was she, her own daughter, making things worse?

“What I mean is, I’m the only human left in the family now, Miss Luo Ling. Don’t you think… it’s a bit… out of place?” Fiona said softly, her gaze fixed on Luo Ling.

Besides Fiona, the only other theoretically human member was Elsa, and the others had practically been assimilated by Luo Ling.

But while crafting Elsa’s Sacred Tool, Fiona had sensed the significant difference between Elsa and a normal human. No wonder she had been so valued by the Harbingers’ Scientist. She was truly special.

Only Fiona herself remained a normal human Awakened One.

Luo Ling was silent for a moment, then said, “Are you sure, Aunt Fiona? Once you step onto the Grotesquery Path, there’s no turning back.”

Grotesqueries were special beings who walked the Paths derived from the deities. They weren’t inherently good or evil, but their actions could be.

Even Luo Ling herself wasn’t sure what she would become.

What kind of being would she be after complete Grotesquification…

“But I don’t need to turn back, Miss Luo Ling,” Fiona said with a smile, her gentle gaze resting on her daughters.

“If there’s an abyss ahead, and you’ve already fallen into it, I… have to take that step too, even if it means falling with you.

“Because now, my reason for existence, everything I love… is you.”

Fiona hadn’t been worried about her Hour of Death for even a moment.

Because she knew that Linna and Luo Ling wouldn’t let her fate be determined by some unknown entity.

However, as Undying Blood flowed into Fiona’s body, the Hour of Death in her vision became distorted, similar to Linna’s.

Although still under the influence of the Fate disaster, this influence was negligible for beings of their level.

Despite being called a Taboo disaster, it was actually just a manifestation of a single Taboo ability going haywire. It wasn’t even at Authority level. Even the Harbingers’ use of Taboo abilities through their secret rituals was far more powerful.

Of course, compared to the Taboo disaster’s coverage area, the Harbingers’ stolen Taboo abilities were insignificant, a world of difference, resulting in a completely different scale of impact.

Luo Ling’s expression was complex. She had never considered walking the Grotesquery Path a good thing. The further she progressed, the more she sensed the terrifying presence at the end of the Path…

But…

“If this is your choice, Aunt Fiona, I respect it,” Luo Ling whispered. “I’ll accept you as my Godchosen, but not now. We’ll talk after this operation.”

“That sounds like… a death sentence, but I’m glad,” Fiona said, a triumphant smile appearing on her face, her gaze towards Luo Ling filled with an unreadable emotion.

“Linna and I… finally belong to you completely, Miss Luo Ling.”

“……”

Feeling their intense gazes, Luo Ling felt a tingling sensation on her scalp. Had she been tricked by Aunt Fiona?

“Speaking of which, Miss Luo Ling, haven’t you seen the Hour of Death at all?” Linna asked. “Even if we’re immune to its threat, we’re still affected…”

“No,” Luo Ling shook her head.

“What could be the reason?” Fiona pondered for a moment. “Because you’re a High-Risk Grotesquery?”

“Probably… not. High-Risk Grotesqueries can’t ignore a Taboo, even a weakened one.”

Luo Ling shook her head. As someone who also wielded a portion of a Taboo’s power, she knew how terrifying and despairing it was.

She looked up at the falling dark snow and whispered,

“If this is all… Fate’s arrangement, then my fate… is already nothingness.”

Artist, the first Harbinger Luo Ling killed, had told her that she had paid with her fate and was now a slave to Fate.

But Luo Ling knew that her thread of fate, as perceived by the Other Shore and Present Paths, was practically blank.

Even Ji Shinian, the former leader of the mental hospital group, had only glimpsed her fate through others’, and even then, he had been so severely backlashed that he lost his abilities and became a cripple.

If her fate didn’t even exist, then there was nothing to determine.

“Miss Luo Ling is truly a unique existence,” Fiona said meaningfully, then, after a moment’s thought, raised another question,

“If that’s the case, is the ‘Hour of Death’… the moment when death is decreed, or simply… the revelation of the time when one is supposed to die?”

There was a difference. In Fiona’s case, was she destined to die in ten minutes, regardless of the Hour of Death, or was it the Hour of Death itself that caused her impending demise?

This wasn’t a trivial question. This Taboo disaster was triggered by the Old Man, and the Authority he wanted to seize was undoubtedly Norn’s Fate Authority.

If they wanted to successfully raid the Old Man and stop his mad scheme, they had to understand the nature of this Taboo disaster.

“I think… it’s probably… both,” Luo Ling said, scratching the back of her head, troubled by this question.

“You know… Chaos-Order and Other Shore-Present… are always the most troublesome Paths.”

Both the infamous and despised Naraku Godchosen and the enigmatic riddle-makers, ranked first on the “dead family” list, were proof of this.

“Indeed, indeed,” Linna said, deeply agreeing.

For her, a knight accustomed to direct confrontation, whose Elemental Path was practically Judgment, these roundabout abilities were the most troublesome opponents.

They weren’t necessarily strong, nor unbeatable, just… annoying. Even if she won, she would likely feel disgusted.

Luo Ling and the others were now heading towards Company headquarters. Along the way, they encountered several High-Order Awakened Ones returning from the battlefield, their strength greatly diminished, but still considerable.

To avoid unnecessary complications, they didn’t charge in directly, lest the Old Man be alerted, giving them some time to discuss.

Fiona possessed a spatial transfer Sacred Tool, which she had used to bring Luo Ling’s main body to her first funeral, but it required pre-set anchor coordinates.

However, after her “unfortunate demise,” she hadn’t maintained them, and these coordinates had long since expired.

“If that’s the case…”

Fiona pondered carefully.

“It’s not.”

A familiar, elderly voice suddenly echoed.

Although not loud, it seemed to resonate beside each of their ears, strangely prominent even in the chaotic surroundings.

At the same time, the falling grey snow seemed to freeze in midair.

No, not frozen…

Luo Ling’s pupils dilated slightly. She clearly saw everything around her slowing down drastically, even the snowflakes drifting slowly.

It was as if they were walking through a gap in time.

The maddened people continued their frenzy, but their contorted expressions and irreversible chaos seemed to quiet down in this near-motionless world.

A shuffling sound echoed, like an elderly man walking through the snow.

“Who!”

Linna reacted quickly, taking out her Sacred Tool, Star Gun, and aiming it towards the source of the sound.

Fiona and Luo Ling also assumed defensive positions.

“It’s me.”

The old man finally appeared, his face unforgettable to anyone who had seen it.

“The Old Man?!”

Luo Ling and Fiona exclaimed in unison.

Why was he here?

“I am indeed an old man, but not the ‘Old Man’ you speak of,” the old man said with a smile, his gaze falling directly on Luo Ling. “Little Miss White Witch, didn’t we just… meet?”

“…Philosopher.”

Luo Ling’s expression darkened as she stared at the old man.

Philosopher and the Old Man looked almost identical, but their demeanor was vastly different.

The Old Man looked like any ordinary, unassuming elderly man, while Philosopher resembled a gentle and refined scholar.

“……”

Time continued to slow down. Luo Ling suddenly realized that almost ten minutes had passed since Fiona revealed her Hour of Death.

So, ten minutes…

Wasn’t the time of their raid on Company headquarters, but the time of their encounter with Philosopher?

But this time, Philosopher didn’t attack, only looking at her with a gentle smile, like an old friend, or a junior, without any fear towards a Grotesquery, nor any hatred towards the enemy who had recently destroyed everything he had built.

…He didn’t attack.

Whether it was because Luo Ling had forcibly erased the Hour of Death, or because Philosopher, sensing the Undying Blood within Fiona, had chosen to abandon the attack…

The answer to this question was also related to the nature of this Taboo disaster.

Luo Ling’s hands clenched slightly. She could sense Philosopher’s current state, a faint unease in her heart.

Linna silently loaded Star Gun, charging the staff-like Sacred Tool.

But Luo Ling immediately stopped her, whispering,

“Linna, don’t.”

Not to spare Philosopher’s life, nor because they couldn’t defeat him, but because…

Philosopher was now like a ticking time bomb.

The ongoing ascension ritual was forcibly contained within him, his path to godhood interrupted, but not yet completely defeated.

But any significant external influence would trigger the ritual’s eruption, tearing Philosopher apart.

It might not engulf all of Victoria, but it would severely injure them.

It wasn’t worth the risk at this juncture.

Even if Philosopher succeeded, it was a lesser threat than the Old Man wielding a Taboo Authority.

“There’s no need to be nervous, ladies. I’m just passing through,” Philosopher said gently. “Our destinations and objectives are different. We’re not on the same path. I simply couldn’t resist offering my opinion, as you were discussing a topic I’m quite familiar with.

“Miss White Witch, you’ve destroyed my life’s work, killed my teacher, and stolen his abilities. Surely you wouldn’t deny an old man on the verge of Silent Demise… the opportunity to converse with a ‘human-like Grotesquery’…?”