I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Before becoming the Radiant Witch, she was a very high-ranking paladin, a status that made her unafraid of battle.

I'm not saying anything, let's see how you manage to turn the tables!

Explosions and holy light erupted one after another, and the dark figure rushed towards Cecil. The two ran faster and faster until they finally met.

The narrow road meets the brave to win!

Cecil plunged his sword into its chest, pinning it firmly to the spot!

Since you are immortal and cannot be sealed with magic, we will use physical means to pin you to the spot.

The Radiant Witch raised her hand, and four identical Holy Light Knight swords materialized, then pierced the dark figure's limbs one after another, preventing it from escaping no matter how much it struggled.

"You're so handsome, Cecil."

Suddenly, a writing tablet was handed to Cecil. She was slightly startled and quickly looked up, only to find that the headless fairy had been standing in front of her at some point. She had taken off her motorcycle helmet, and the bloody neck made Cecil's scalp tingle.

And the handwriting on the writing tablet is constantly changing:

"But you can't escape my grasp."

Do you think staying silent will make things more effective?

"If you're unwilling to speak, I naturally have ways to make you talk."

Cecil frowned, her expression turning hostile as she stared at the wishing fairy before her. Holy light began to condense behind her, as if she wanted to eliminate this alarmist. But just then, she heard her own voice:

"I can't talk... huh?!"

She abruptly covered her mouth, but she still couldn't stop herself from blurting out her true feelings:

"What's going on? What happened? Why can't I control my mouth...?"

The sound stopped abruptly.

Because she suddenly realized that she couldn't control not only her mouth, but her entire body. The worst thing happened from the moment she unconsciously revealed her true feelings.

"So, not speaking is completely useless. You really don't need to be so afraid. There's a wishing tree right next to you with the ability to make your wishes come true. What's the use of just not speaking? No one can really stop thinking. Since you can't stop it, you might as well enjoy the unique rules of this other world."

Cecil's hope was rekindled.

Because that's Duke's voice.

She knew that this man would not fall like this; he would surely return like lightning!

With Amber's help, he appeared between Cecil and the headless fairy. In a short time, he suppressed the PTSD memories that were surfacing and regained his composure.

Duke had a faint, cold smile on his lips, a pocket watch in his hand, and asked curiously, "It's not even six o'clock in the evening yet, the sun hasn't set, and logically speaking, before night falls, the miracle that belongs to you and the Wishing Tree shouldn't be happening yet. Why are you in such a hurry to act? What are you going to do for the next six hours?"

"Who said it didn't get dark?"

The headless fairy raised the writing board in her hand, and the words written on it changed the entire world.

Night has fallen.

Even the timeline has jumped forward significantly.

Duke's pocket watch jumped from 5:40 to 8:17 in one breath, leaving less than four hours until midnight when the Wishing Fairy and the Wishing Tree would lose their power. The Wishing Fairy's aura also suddenly intensified; as midnight approached, her and the Wishing Tree's power grew stronger.

"Thank you, Duke."

The handwriting on the writing board revealed a sense of pride.

But Duke, standing in front of her, also wore a smug smile and shrugged: "No, I should thank you, Wishing Fairy."

Seeing his smile, the fairy finally realized something was wrong.

Question 1: Why did the higher-ups of the floating city choose the eight of us as the strategy team?

“I am the undisputed strategist, Amber is the ineffective safety valve, Cecil and Geyue are both henchmen, Bain is an all-around top player, and his excessive obsession with the Tree of Life can give the ‘Wishing Tree’ a concrete form, just like now.”

“I know Natasha’s signature spells very well; she is the best candidate to end this game.”

"Then, what about Joan and Joseph? Joseph is a supporting character to create a bond between Joan and Joseph, so what about Joan? Why did the higher-ups of the floating city specifically choose this mute infiltrator to participate in the game?"

Chekhov once said a theory: "In a story that follows the traditional three-act structure, the gun that appears in the first act must be used in the third act. Conversely, the act of firing a gun in the third act should be foreshadowed earlier."

The wishing fairy could not understand what Duke was saying.

"By my wish, you have come to life. Although you have no head now, your body is clearly capable of thinking independently—being able to think means you can dream."

"So when should the trigger be pulled on the 'Dream Witch,' Chekhov's spear?"

Question two: When did you enter the dream?

The wishing fairy was so shocked that she dropped the writing board!

Duke smiled and waved goodbye to the wishing fairy, then disappeared along with Cecil behind him.

The wishing fairy in the dream was stunned on the spot.

The wishing fairy outside the dream lay disheveled on the ground, unable to utter even a whispered murmur because she had no head.

Chapter Seventy-Five: Four Reincarnations

"Is this enough?" Joan, who was on Joseph's back, withdrew her hand and looked at Duke with a hint of fear. "If she were an ordinary person, she would at least sleep until this time the next day."

"That's enough, but don't get your hopes up too high. As midnight approaches, her power will gradually increase, and by then, a dream of this magnitude won't be able to hold the Wishing Fairy back." Duke shrugged. "I wasn't expecting this method to solve her anyway."

Joan swallowed hard. In her mind, Duke's image was becoming increasingly terrifying. Anyone who opposed him would not have a good ending, and even the Wishing Fairy, who was fighting on her home turf, was completely manipulated by Duke... The thought of her once planning to challenge Duke sent chills down her spine.

Fortunately, we are still somewhat on the same side.

Duke, of course, had no idea what Joan was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't care about Joan's thoughts. For him, the most important thing right now was to get everyone through this witch game safely.

He began to think.

We absolutely cannot stay here any longer. The Wishing Fairy is one thing, and Duke can easily handle such a clumsy boss, but there's still a Wishing Tree nearby that hasn't fully emerged from its slumber.

Do you even understand the significance of "Murphy's Law"? If it weren't for the Wishing Tree's unconscious help, the Wishing Fairy's offensive wouldn't have been so successful—at least Cecil, who had shut his mouth, wouldn't have been so easily controlled by the Wishing Fairy.

"Duke, what should we do now?"

“Alright, let’s go find Kagetsu and Natasha first.” Duke snapped his fingers. “I have a lot of questions to ask Kagetsu, and we need everyone to be together to beat the game.”

……

"Haa... Whew..."

Heavy breathing sounds filled the air.

Natasha writhed on the ground in agony, instinctively tearing her clothes apart, exposing large patches of her pale skin to the air. Her condition, which had been steadily suppressing her rampaging innate abilities, suddenly worsened. If she had managed to maintain her senses before, Natasha was now completely consumed by desire.

She needs a man... no, any man or woman will do, not even human, any living being will do!

She suddenly raised her head, her vision locking onto a handsome man who bore a striking resemblance to Duke. This appearance fueled her even more frenzied impulse. Just as Natasha was about to spread her wings and pounce, a flash of sword light tore his body apart, easily beheading him.

Natasha was slightly taken aback.

She had no interest in lifeless creatures, nor did she have any intention of "taking advantage of the moment." She turned to her next target, this time a woman was born from her intense desire. Strangely, her appearance was somewhat similar to Duke's, and her fate was exactly the same as the previous man's: she was beheaded by a sharp sword light and fell to the ground.

Unable to maintain her composure, Natasha tilted her head, not dwelling on the matter, and continued searching for her next target. Thus, her "nanny" diligently rushed towards her next target, instantly slaying the tentacle monster with a Duke-like face with a single sword strike.

Why are they all Duke students...?

Even the seemingly mute and unassuming Yue couldn't help but mutter a curse in her heart.

Duke, gender-swapped Duke, crossdressing Duke, Duke tentacle monster, orc Duke, succubus Duke... Holy crap!

In a short period of time, Geyue had already killed no less than a hundred mutant Dukes, gaining a profound understanding of the vast defensive range of the succubus race, as well as the depth of Natasha's obsession with Duke... Seriously, if you like Duke so much, why don't you just confess? Is it really that interesting to pretend to be a female contact and tease idiots?

It's clear that Kazuki's inner world isn't as emotionless as her poker face suggests; she simply doesn't like to express her emotions. If the internet existed, Kazuki would definitely be the kind of repressed, nerdy girl who's all bark and no bite when it comes to real life—a woman who's full of witty remarks but can't utter a single one.

Now how to do?

Geyue sighed.

Geyue and Natasha weren't particularly close; they were just fellow countrymen who knew each other—yes, Geyue wasn't human either; she was also a demon from the Abyss, only she wasn't a succubus. Natasha's reason for inviting her was simple: Geyue was powerful enough. Geyue's reason for accepting the invitation was equally simple: she had made a secret deal with the higher-ups of the floating city.

Even Natasha herself was unaware of this deal. She had no idea that her inviter was also predetermined by the higher-ups of the floating city. Geyue's mission was to protect Natasha in this game and ensure that nothing happened to her. With her near-legendary strength, this would not be difficult in most cases.

However, even in the bizarre Crown-level Witch Game, an unexpected event still occurred.

Kagetsu, who was supposed to be Natasha's "bodyguard," not only failed to protect her but also became the first obstacle to Natasha's survival.

In Duke's words, it was a "door-opening kill." Once the two of them entered the Witch Game alone, Natasha's abilities would go berserk due to the rules of the alternate dimension, and Kagetsu would then go berserk under the influence of Natasha's abilities, instantly defeating her. Because Kagetsu was simply too strong, Natasha didn't even have a chance to fight back.

She slashed Natasha three times in a row.

The first time was during the first playthrough, which Kazuki herself had no memory of; she heard it from Duke and Joan. The second time was the starting point of her memories: the second playthrough. After she had already finished killing Duke and the others, they arrived late. In a daze, Kazuki hacked Duke and the others to pieces, leaving only her and Duke alive in the end.

But she finally regained her senses.

"Yes, you did all of this, but you're not allowed to break down, you're not allowed to run away, and you're not allowed to die, understand?"

Geyue still vividly remembers Duke's words at that time. He was holding Amber's body, and his voice was as cold as a demon from hell:

"You have to live. I need you to live to the next time loop. Only then can Natasha survive."

Then, Kazuki and Duke barely survived until midnight. Kazuki chose to retain her memories and restart everything, but strangely, Duke, who also entered the "settlement screen," did not survive—because in the next playthrough, Duke had no memories.

In the third playthrough, Kagetsu failed; she still managed to kill Natasha… but this time, at least the other players didn't suffer heavy losses in their encounters with her. More people survived to midnight this time, including her, Duke, and Joseph, but Duke still had no memory of her.

Thus, the fourth playthrough begins.

Chapter Seventy-Six Summer Returns

Because of Joan's presence, and Duke's failure to regain his memories in each playthrough, his initial actions are always disrupted by Joan, ultimately leading him to the underground false Saint Ipgil, where he finds Cecil and Bane. While this allows them to save Bane in time, it also leaves Natasha's problem for Kazuki to solve alone.

In the fourth playthrough, Kazuki finally managed to avoid Natasha's door-opening attack.

This time, the moment she entered the witch game, she tried her best to distance herself from Natasha to avoid going berserk and successfully protected Natasha for the first time.

This is a small step for Kagetsu, but a giant leap for the strategy team.

Therefore, the fourth playthrough is the closest we've come to completing the game so far. In this playthrough, everyone avoided the initial kills and, with the help of players like Kagetsu and Joseph who possess memories from the previous playthrough, successfully reunited. The game was successfully imported for the first time, and we began to face the threat of the witch game head-on.

At the time, the situation was so good that Geyue felt that she was sure to clear the game this time. When the group was not complete, Duke was able to lead everyone to survive to the end. Now that the group was complete from the beginning, even if they still failed, more people would survive than before. Once everyone had the memories of the previous playthrough, it would be easy to clear the game.

Soon, Kazuki realized that something was wrong.

Because in this playthrough, only she and Joseph survived. Even Duke didn't make it to the end. The two of them barely made it to midnight only because of Duke's sacrifice.

Fifth playthrough, survivors: Kazuki, Duke.