The Grotesque Miss’s End Story v2c92p1

Chapter 92: Killing Educator p1

The fire in the fireplace gradually dimmed, a chill filling the usually warm cabin. Even the Old Man couldn’t help but huddle deeper into his chair, hands tucked inside his coat.

He stared intently at the flickering flames, a slight smile appearing on his lips as he saw something.

“Brother, it seems… you’re about to lose.”

His words were met with silence.

The Old Man looked up at Philosopher, huddled on the sofa, seeing that his brother’s cloudy eyes had lost their light, his body stiffening.

Gruesome age spots covered Philosopher’s body, his arms, resting before him, practically just skin-covered bones. No trace of life remained.

Silently, without a sound, this empty human shell had fallen into eternal Silent Demise.

Next… was either ascension to godhood or annihilation.

“Brother, have you… gambled everything on the path to godhood…?”

A faint light flickered in the Old Man’s aged eyes, memories flashing through his mind like a slideshow, until this moment, the moment of their reunion, yet also their final parting.

He sighed and stood up shakily, reaching out with his equally withered hand and gently closing his brother’s eyes.

Then, the Old Man noticed some photographs on the wall behind the sofa.

He walked over and examined them, his gaze darkening.

“Me, brother, Historian, Educator, the Boy, the Woman, and… the White Witch?”

The White Witch was in the third row. The Old Man, the Woman, the Boy, Educator, and Philosopher were all in the second row.

Only the first row… held a dark, shadowy figure.

…Historian.

“Why… this order?”

Was it based on strength? Or influence?

But either way… it didn’t seem quite right.

Doubt flickered in the Old Man’s mind.

He now knew that the Woman was Historian, and that Historian had chosen the Company, abandoning the Harbingers’ “path to godhood.”

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, but he quickly abandoned them.

It was pointless.

Even if Philosopher had arranged the photos in this order for a reason, it didn’t matter.

Regardless of Philosopher’s intentions, only achieving final victory mattered now.

The Old Man reached out and removed Historian’s photograph. Suddenly, violent tremors shook the cabin, like an earthquake.

The entire structure began to collapse and disintegrate, the surrounding scenery also fading, merging into nothingness.

Clearly, this special spatial Boundary, along with Philosopher’s death, was dissolving, returning to the real world.

This rendered the Old Man’s previous efforts within the cabin meaningless. He had been trying to escape this space. His return would strengthen the Company’s chances.

“Thankfully, Historian ultimately chose the side of justice.”

A faint smile appeared on the Old Man’s lips. The photograph in his hand, the cabin walls, even the entire space, all vanished.

The real-world Victoria was calling him. He just needed to close and open his eyes to return.

“Should I deal with the White Witch and my brother’s path to godhood first? No, this battlefield is important, but not the most important.”

“I’ve stopped the Harbingers’ schemes once before, but it still led to this. Passive intervention isn’t enough to end this completely.”

“More importantly, I need to… do something… while the Harbingers are distracted by this battle, and while Victoria’s Boundary is temporarily locked.”

This was a golden opportunity, allowing him to act without any distractions or unforeseen circumstances.

The Old Man had already decided how to utilize this opportunity.

A plan he had attempted countless times before, always met with failure due to various concerns and reasons.

A path to godhood the Company had prepared countless times.

His own ascension.

—Initiated now.

This was the most opportune moment for this plan.

“Sorry, brother, but it’s me… who has achieved final victory.”

The Old Man took a step forward, and the special spatial Boundary completely dissolved into nothingness. The surrounding scenery shimmered and shifted, and he returned to the gloomy, fog-filled Victoria.

He looked up at the faint inspiration fluctuations in the distance, his eyes narrowing.

“It’s time… to end this… anomaly.”

……..

At the site of the ascension ritual.

As a pair of black eyes with red pupils opened in Educator’s vision, an unprecedented terror washed over him, completely dominating him, his mind filled with the desperate urge to flee.

But this panic only lasted for a brief moment before Educator suppressed it, although it still affected him.

Educator’s carefully prepared killing blow against the White Witch, amplified by further overexerting his abilities and enduring even greater pain, was easily neutralized by these strange and terrifying eyes.

“Who!”

A violent, murderous aura filled Educator’s mind, a single word carrying endless killing intent.

He was now practically identical to the legendary Blood Lord, Count Dracula, who had plunged entire nations into seas of blood.

The massive blood shadow giant’s eyes burned with rage as he looked towards the being that had momentarily disrupted his mind.

A small, red-haired girl, small enough to be held in his hands, stood before the ghostly silver-haired girl, her cute face contorted in anger, her flowing red hair framing a pair of beautiful, mismatched eyes, one emerald green, the other black with a red pupil.

It was Elsa.

She had witnessed the Harbingers’ atrocities countless times in the memory packages Luo Ling had given her, especially the moment Stasha transformed into a bloody mess, a scene that pained her even though she hadn’t been there.

And the perpetrator of all this… was this detestable Educator.

“Don’t you dare hurt Sister White…”

Elsa glared at Educator’s incongruous head atop the massive blood shadow, her eyes spitting fire.

Although her right eye remained its usual emerald green, her left eye had transformed into a terrifying black eye with a red pupil.

—The Sacred Tool, Eye of Fear and Envy.

A High-Order Sacred Tool meticulously crafted by Aunt Fiona, its power far exceeding expectations, almost reaching Authority level, limited only by the relatively ordinary quality of the Sacred Relic itself.

Derived from Grotesquery Sequence 37, the Core of Fear of Nightmare, it was the grand prize Elsa had personally drawn from the Company’s secret vault.

Fiona hadn’t crafted it before, partly due to being busy, and partly due to not fully understanding Elsa’s abilities.

A custom-made Sacred Tool needed to be tailored to the user’s abilities.

Only after Fiona was attacked and brought to Starry Victoria did she finally begin crafting Elsa’s Sacred Tool.

After understanding Elsa’s abilities, Fiona, after much deliberation, presented two options for Elsa to choose from.

The first, of course, was to craft an ordinary Sacred Tool. With the Sacred Relic’s completeness and Fiona’s skills, creating a top-tier Sacred Tool wouldn’t be difficult.

But that would be too ordinary. Even with this Sacred Tool, Elsa’s strength would still be among the lowest.

The second option was an unprecedentedly mad idea: to directly transform one of Elsa’s eyes into a Sacred Tool.

For the Oneiric-Nightmare Path, the best location for a Sacred Tool was, of course, the eyes, the windows to the soul.

Elsa was special, even among the unique members of the Starry family.

Because her Path… wasn’t on the side of Order, but the Grotesquery Path.

The other side of Oneiric, Nightmare.

It could be said that Elsa was a being between human and Grotesquery.

This meant that in many situations, Elsa couldn’t be treated as an ordinary Awakened One, but as a Grotesquery.

For example, in terms of using Sacred Tools.

Ordinary Awakened Ones couldn’t directly use Sacred Relics because they couldn’t withstand the Grotesquery Path, but Elsa could. She was born that way.

Therefore, directly transforming one of her organs into a Sacred Tool by fusing it with a Sacred Relic was also possible.

Sacred Tools were originally created as a way for humans to use Grotesquery abilities. If there was a more direct method, it would naturally be more effective.

However… this method was incredibly risky.

Even after presenting this option, Fiona still advised Elsa to choose the safer first option.

If the crafting of an ordinary Sacred Tool failed, it would only result in the loss of a Sacred Relic, and a bit of backlash was nothing to the powerful Fiona.

But if the second option failed…

Elsa would permanently lose an eye, conceptually, just like Saint Alyssa.

Elsa’s only question to Fiona regarding these two options was—

“Which one is stronger?”

The answer was obvious.

Elsa didn’t want to forever hide under the protection of her older sisters, even though no one expected her to fight.

Fiona respected Elsa’s choice.

Therefore, Elsa, without telling her Sister White, had undergone this incredibly risky procedure.

Perhaps due to Elsa’s strong will, or perhaps due to a stroke of luck, the crafting process went smoothly, Elsa’s left eye successfully fusing with the Core of Fear, becoming her unique Sacred Tool.

Moreover, after the Sacred Tool was complete, Fiona was surprised to find that it was beyond her control.

Not out of control, but… too perfect, unbelievably so.

After its creation, the Sacred Tool not only fused with the Core of Fear, but also, with an uncontrollable desire, fused with several Grotesqueries sealed within Elsa.

Fortunately, the Sacred Tool was complete before it could absorb all of them.

There was no need to name it, as its name appeared directly in Elsa’s mind.

Eye of Fear and Envy.

A strange and awkward name, yet carrying an indescribable aura of antiquity, as if it had witnessed countless births and deaths.

Even Educator, in his near-invincible Blood Sacrifice Demon God form, felt an uncontrollable fear before this eye.

“Finally… I can help Miss Luo Ling.”

Elsa glanced at Luo Ling, who was currently focused on contesting the ascension ritual with Philosopher, and made up her mind.

This time, she would protect Sister White.

“Who are you…”

Perhaps because Elsa had always been inconspicuous, Educator didn’t recognize her, only looking at her with confusion.

This was a powerful being who could momentarily affect him, yet he had never heard of her before.

The knight who had accompanied the White Witch when she decapitated the Boy had been identified, but this time…

Being inconspicuous had its advantages. At least no one knew about Elsa’s abilities.

“Regardless, anyone who dares stand in my way… will die!”

Educator could no longer suppress his thirst for blood and slaughter. Every moment without killing, without drinking warm blood, felt like being tormented by ants crawling all over his body.

The massive blood shadow moved with unbelievable agility, appearing before Elsa in the blink of an eye, its blood-formed scythe descending, aiming to decapitate her.

But it missed.

The crimson in Elsa’s left eye intensified as she used her ability to its fullest, affecting Educator’s judgment, making him swing at empty air.

Educator quickly realized this, and his solution was simple and brutal: he began indiscriminately attacking the general area.

The blood scythe swung wildly, each strike fueled by his burning blood.

Neither fear nor anger, nor distorted perception, could stop the maddened Educator.

“……”

Elsa panted, her small body trembling, but she gritted her teeth and persevered, constantly influencing Educator to attack in other directions.

The difference in power between an Authority and an ability was simply too vast.

Even though the Eye of Fear and Envy was an incredibly special Sacred Tool, seemingly possessing a high Sequence ranking, Elsa couldn’t fully utilize its power yet.

Being able to achieve this much was already remarkable.

After a moment, Elsa, her inspiration severely depleted, faltered for a split second, and Educator instantly seized the opportunity, swinging his scythe.

Both Luo Ling and Elsa were about to be cut down.

At the last moment, a large number of fungal strains suddenly emerged, growing wildly.

No matter how fiercely Educator attacked, the fungal strains continued to grow, only withering and returning to the earth after the scythe’s power dissipated.

“Where did these things come from?” Uncontrollable rage surged within Educator, almost overwhelming him. “Could it be… that knight from last time?”

Although the White Witch had appeared and decapitated the Boy after he left, the details of that battle were well-known among Victoria’s high-ranking officials.

Among them, the knight who had betrayed humanity and become the White Witch’s Apostle was particularly noteworthy.

But after the withered fungal strains disappeared, the figure that emerged was unexpected.

A blindfolded nun, held in a princess carry by her supposedly dead sister, a faint, lingering inspiration fluctuation emanating from her outstretched hand, connected to the fungal strains on the ground.

It was she who had blocked his attack, protecting the red-haired girl and the White Witch.

As a body created by Luo Ling using the Puppet Ballad’s abilities, Alyssa could utilize the Puppet Ballad’s power to its fullest extent, both in terms of strength and precision, far exceeding Elsa and Linna, allowing her to create such a defense.

“Theologian…”

Educator’s pupils constricted as he recognized the figure, but he quickly regained his composure.

Indeed, he had previously believed the Theologian wasn’t the White Witch’s Apostle, due to various seemingly impossible reasons, but now, this reality seemed… quite reasonable.

However… Educator had never truly trusted the Theologian. Even the Immortality Authority he had given her still required his permission to be used.

Seeing Alyssa, Educator immediately disabled the secret ritual, a cruel smile appearing on his lips.

He had more or less grasped the strength of Elsa and Alyssa. The White Witch, currently occupied with the ascension ritual, couldn’t intervene, and the other two Apostles were no match for him.

Even though time was running out, even a little bit… was enough.

Defeating the White Witch, even for a moment, preventing her from interfering with Philosopher’s path to godhood, this victory… would belong to the Harbingers.

Even if… it meant his death.

He couldn’t let the White Witch succeed.

The path to godhood wasn’t just about ascending to a Sequence position. The immense power, if controlled by the White Witch, would be catastrophic.

The Blood Refining Barrier completely dissipated, and all the Awakened Ones and Harbingers within its range, who had received its power, were drained of a portion of their life force, fueling Educator.

His power was surging out of control, his consciousness fading, only a sliver of reason remaining, fixated on defeating the White Witch.