I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

"boom--"

Cecil, who had transformed into a female boxing mage, broke the trunk of the Wishing Tree that had appeared with a single punch, causing everyone in the hall to look at them in astonishment.

"Cecil? Amber?"

Natasha also showed a surprised expression, and as if to coordinate with Cecil's commotion, Geyue, who had been hiding in the shadows, suddenly appeared. A dazzling and intense sword light erupted beside the bear goblin prince, beheading him with a single strike.

The night was drawing to a close.

The Wishing Tree, which had been broken by Cecil's punch, disappeared from its original spot in response to someone's wish and reappeared intact in the center of the ballroom. It emitted a faint light, like a tree of souls, and after waiting for several hours, it was finally about to fully awaken.

As the opposite pole to the Wishing Tree, the Wishing Fairy's head also broke free from Kagetsu's embrace, liberated from this broken body, and transformed into a beautiful soul goddess. Her inhuman charm reappeared, and this time the charm was far more than 20. All those who witnessed her true appearance clutched their throats in pain, for they had lost the right to breathe because of the goddess's beauty.

Duke built this crystal castle using two similar but different Cinderella stories, but in a short time, it was twisted into what the wishing tree and the wishing fairy wished for.

Unlike the pitiful passersby in the Crystal Castle, the three Cinderellas were beings from the outside world, beings desired by the Wishing Tree and the Wishing Fairy, and one of the clues to their departure from this world. A horrifying scene unfolded: all the passersby attending the ball were instantly crushed into a pile of minced meat, turning the ballroom into a hellish scene. Even the prince's body, beheaded by Geyue, did not escape this calamity.

But in the eyes of the three Cinderellas, the scene before them changed; everyone disappeared, leaving only themselves and the princes they had chosen.

Duke stood in the center of the ballroom, dressed in a handsome tuxedo, a mysterious smile on his face, and extended his hand forward:

"Would you like to dance with me, Amber?"

Amber stared at him blankly. Her memory and reason had completely stopped working. Before Duke fell into a coma, he had entrusted everyone and Cecil to her. She was supposed to stay calm and rational, but at this moment, in the romantic, dreamlike ballroom, she couldn't think of anything.

His gaze was fixed solely on Duke in front of him.

In her malfunctioning mind, a voice kept urging her: "Don't you like Duke? Why don't you dance with him?"

Yes.

Amber tiptoed and gracefully walked to Duke, taking his hand and accepting his invitation.

"Would you like to dance with me, Cecil?"

Cecil looked at Duke's invitation with some hesitation.

She was already deeply conflicted about her relationship with Duke. Although she had largely forgiven him, a lingering unease prevented them from reconciling and returning to their former friendly or even intimate state. Right now, they weren't even friends, just acquaintances.

Those three short days remained like a thorn in her heart.

Not to mention that her best friend Amber makes no attempt to hide her feelings for Duke, and Cecil doesn't want to compete with Amber.

But at this very moment, a voice whispered in her ear like a demon: "Why did you give Duke to Amber? You were the one who came first, whether it was meeting her or liking her..."

Yes.

Cecil hesitated and looked up, only to suddenly realize that Duke's outstretched hand was right in front of her. As if possessed, she reached out and took his hand, accepting his invitation.

"Would you like to dance with me, Natasha?"

When Natasha saw Duke's outstretched hand, she instinctively took a step back, her body trembling involuntarily.

In this witch game, Natasha was constantly hampered by her innate abilities, resulting in a terrible gaming experience. She spent half the time in a very bad state, her mind was in a daze, and she would go berserk and attack any creature, causing a lot of trouble for Kagetsu. At this moment, she was covered in a mess.

After being turned into Cinderella by the Wish Witch's "miracle magic," Natasha barely managed to stop her rampage and regain her sanity. She felt that all of this was thanks to Duke and his story.

However, she was still afraid, afraid that she would lose control and go berserk again, afraid that she would cause trouble for Duke.

A voice, seemingly from the depths of her heart, was offering her sincere advice, as if speaking directly to her:

"Why are you afraid? Are you afraid that Duke will leave you, or that you will hurt Duke? Don't you have any faith in him at all? The Duke you know... the Duke who once lent you a helping hand, the friend you regard as a hero, would he leave you because of something like this? Of course not."

Yes.

of course not.

Natasha slowly stopped trembling and looked at Duke's outstretched hand.

Duke had once pulled her out of the bottomless mire, giving her the crucial breath of air. Although that helping hand ultimately didn't completely rescue her—Duke himself collapsed and had to let go—her hero would one day rise again and reach out to her once more.

No matter how quagmire she was in.

Just like right now.

Natasha, stuck in the mud, took Duke's hand and accepted his invitation.

In the dead of night, Cinderella and her friends vanished from the hall, leaving behind only three crystal shoes.

Kagetsu moved swiftly through the hall, battling the monsters born from within herself. Though one foot was already on the path to legendary destiny, she remained agile and free among them, but she had no energy left to help others. She also witnessed the disappearance of Natasha and the others, which caused her to sigh.

This first playthrough is probably doomed again.

Just then, Cinderella's real prince finally woke up. He looked down at the pocket watch in his hand and confirmed that it was not yet midnight.

"The night is still young."

Duke looked up. The magnificent ceiling of the Crystal Castle had been destroyed in the battle between Songyue and the monsters, and the bright moon hung high in the sky.

"It's time to end this witch's game."

Chapter 85 What's wrong with a man being lustful?

The bright moon hung high in the sky, but hadn't yet reached its zenith, just like the time on Duke's pocket watch—past eleven, still several tens of minutes away from midnight. In fact, in all thirteen playthroughs so far, this was the first time everyone had survived to this stage.

This was made possible by the extremely powerful Kagetsu, a formidable woman who had experienced eleven playthroughs and single-handedly shouldered most of the difficulties. She forcibly took the Wishing Fairy's head from Duke and the others, and protected Natasha, who was in the most unstable state among them, keeping her safe until after eleven o'clock. She also told the complete story of Cinderella, helping Natasha recover from her terrible condition and together they created the Crystal Castle.

But it relied more on Duke's accumulation and planning over the previous twelve cycles.

Geyue's actions were entirely dependent on Duke's arrangements. The changes in Joan's pocket watch time were likely her own problem, but the changes in Joseph and Bane's pocket watches were probably also related to him. Furthermore, the coma of the trio whose pocket watch time had changed significantly reduced the difficulty of the game that Amber and Cecil faced alone.

Joseph said that those whose pocket watches were three hours slow needed to leave their group, but the calculation of the cycle number had already proven his division to be a failure... In other words, his calculations were mostly wrong, and the difficulties they faced acting alone were definitely much greater than if they were knocked unconscious and taken away.

The "Book of Truth" obtained in the previous playthrough led Duke to decisively reject Joseph's plan. He finally decided to use the neon lights to evolve himself and knock himself unconscious... With this simple and brutal move, he finally achieved the feat of having everyone survive to the final stage.

But those few tens of minutes were much harder to endure than the previous seven or eight hours!

"Songyue!" Duke shouted, "Help me stall for a few minutes!"

Kagetsu, who was swimming among the monsters, glanced at him, silently sheathed her sword at her waist, and then, for the first time in this playthrough, took out a broken sword from her bosom.

"die."

This is the legendary destiny she is pursuing.

After Ge Yue drew her broken sword, she simply swung it lightly, and the monster that had been entangled with her suddenly stopped moving. About three or four breaths later, it collapsed with a crash as all its life force was exhausted. Without even glancing at the gradually withering and crumbling corpse, she strode towards the Wishing Tree and the Wishing Fairy.

When Duke saw that Ge Yue had launched an attack on the two bosses, he didn't forget his actions. Instead, he waved his hand to control the clones to wake up the few people who were lying unconscious on the ground.

"You guys too, help me buy a few more minutes."

There was no time to worry about the three pocket watches being out of date.

After saying that, without waiting for Joseph, Joan, and Bain to reply, Duke rushed to the spot where the three glass slippers had been left.

As you can see, each of the three crystal shoes is different.

One shoe is quite small compared to the others, another is made of black crystal and has a relatively higher heel, and the last one is even more unique—its heel and even the back half of it have been broken off by someone, so it can only be considered half a shoe.

For Duke, it was crystal clear whose glass slipper it was: the smaller one was Amber's, the broken one must be Cecil's (only she had the strength to break it), and the black crystal one could only be Natasha's.

Without a second thought, he immediately picked up the tiny crystal shoe, but Amber's figure did not appear directly in front of Duke.

Of course, it can't be that simple.

In fairy tales, the prince had to let all the women in the city try on the glass slipper before he finally found Cinderella. How could Cinderella just appear in front of him as soon as he picked up the glass slipper?

Duke closed his eyes, knelt on one knee, held the crystal shoe, and sketched the image of amber in his mind.

That quirky little maid.

That eccentric elf who loves ecstasy as a lifelong faith.

The princess who never displayed royal dignity in her daily interactions.

Duke slowly exhaled, stopping his slight trembling and sweeping away any doubts that might have lingered in his heart. This matter could not afford to fail, because Amber had always firmly believed in him since they met.

"Then I have to reciprocate her trust."

Amber's image gradually and precisely formed in Duke's mind. She was petite, but quite well-proportioned in certain areas. She liked to hold other people's hands, especially his. Although she wasn't tall, her proportions were quite good, and her legs were definitely not short...

In their occasional arguments, he would at most tease her for being short, but he couldn't bring himself to tease her for having short legs.

Just then, Duke, who had his eyes closed, suddenly felt something touching his hand. He opened his eyes and saw a blurry figure in front of him. She was like a suspect in Detective Conan, all black and blurry. She was sitting in front of Duke, elegantly crossing her right leg.

What Duke touched was the long leg she had lifted up.

Duke subconsciously touched it, and the smooth, silky feel almost made him lose himself in it, but he still remembered his business and quickly put the crystal shoes on the princess in front of him.

"So you're a foot fetishist, Duke." Amber shed the blur and shadows, still sitting in the same spot, her little foot still raised, but instead elegantly drawing a circle in front of Duke. Although her face was slightly flushed, her little mouth couldn't help but pout. "I'll remember that."

Duke: "..."

Having been caught red-handed (you really are a foot fetishist!), Duke turned his head away. Even as a straight man, he could sense the strange and ambiguous atmosphere between himself and Amber. In order to break the atmosphere, he quickly turned his head and picked up the second crystal shoe.

This time, he picked up the one that Guangbao had broken.

Having learned from rescuing Amber, Duke was now adept at sketching Cecil's image, this time not putting much thought into it and directly starting to draw the scene.

To be honest, as someone with a foot fetish (Duke: I'm not a foot fetishist, I'm just a pervert), Duke has really observed Guangbao's legs closely (after all, there's not much else to see on that plate). Cecil's leg proportions are just as impressive as Amber's, but the key is that she's several heads taller than Amber, which makes her long legs even more alluring. Plus, due to her extensive training, when the little black man appeared, Duke felt a distinct difference in texture compared to Amber—Guangbao's firm legs, completely uncovered, were captivating…

It would have been even better if she hadn't instinctively kicked herself.

Duke rubbed his shoulder where he had been kicked with one hand, and with the other hand he barely managed to put Cecil's glass slippers on.

"I feel like I just kicked a freak away. Duke, do you have any pigs in your body?"

"hehe."

Duke gave a sarcastic laugh and turned to grab the third crystal shoe.

Chapter Eighty-Six: The Kiss of Truth

Duke picked up the black crystal shoe.

The situation deteriorated rapidly within minutes.

When Geyue unleashed her full power and focused her attention on the Wishing Tree and the Wishing Fairy herself, the numerous monsters spawned from her abandoned Geyue and instead targeted Duke and his group. Joseph and the others fought with all their might to barely withstand the monsters' attacks.

Despite being covered in runes granting superhuman abilities, the replicant was still unable to withstand such intense combat. Furthermore, Duke lacked the energy to control it, and was thus the first to be defeated. Joseph and Joan were slightly weaker, and they too wouldn't survive long on such a battlefield. The only one truly useful was Bane, who was missing an arm.

The hero-level forest ranger bit the bowstring with his teeth and fired with one hand, desperately maintaining the situation.

This is one of the reasons why Duke rescued Amber first.