The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 219

This tone is…

Forte?

Eleanor’s expression was somewhat taken aback. She scanned back and forth between Ciel and “Mond,” unsure how Ciel had managed this.

Ciel looked at “Mond” before her, deep in thought.

If this brain was a living note storing Forte’s memories, there must be a time point of storage. She wasn’t sure what time period the Forte memory before her was recording.

“What is today’s date?” Ciel looked at Mond before her and asked.

Mond merely turned her eyes, glancing at Ciel indifferently. She slowly said, “Oh… you obtained this memory…”

Then, Mond’s gaze no longer fixed on Ciel. She looked up towards Eleanor, a smile on her lips, “The Church of the Savior Goddess… and the Divine Advent Church, have they actually successfully merged?”

“How impressive, Keyman…”

As she said this, Forte turned his gaze back to Ciel.

The Forte brain, having received some of Mond’s memories, seemed to now identify Ciel as the Keyman.

These words from Forte made Ciel notice something.

He knew about the merger of the Divine Advent Church and the Church of the Savior Goddess. This meant the memory he stored this time must be from after the “Uniqueness” side effect was activated.

The Forte memory stored in this brain was not complete, and Forte himself had not undergone surgical modification. He couldn’t communicate thoughts with this brain.

Moreover, Windsor in this simulation was still alive and well. Ciel didn’t need to worry about Forte suddenly changing his mind and agreeing to surgery or anything.

This seemed to be the first time Ciel had engaged in such a normal conversation with Forte—even if this was just a part of Forte’s normal consciousness.

“Are you trying to obtain some information from me?”

Mond narrowed her eyes and said softly, “It’s useless~”

Forte’s tone was confident and dismissive. It seemed he didn’t think anything would come of this memory being taken by the Keyman.

Eleanor, standing beside them, had basically not understood what they were talking about since Forte and Ciel started speaking.

Hearing Forte’s provocation at this moment, the volatility in her potion’s essence made Eleanor step forward. She directly raised her hand towards Forte and coldly snorted, “Forte, no matter what your conspiracy is, you have defied the Goddess’s will.”

“Your plan will ultimately be destroyed. I will capture you and make you face your deserved judgment…”

Ciel slowly raised her hand, stopping the provoked Eleanor from advancing further, preventing her from getting angry and directly crushing the Forte brain before them.

After stopping Eleanor, Ciel looked at Forte before her and replied in an equally calm voice, “You seem… very confident?”

“I am not confident.”

Forte, wearing Mond’s appearance, smiled at Ciel before her and said, “Fate cannot be changed, Keyman… No matter how hard you try, you cannot fight against fate.”

“Did too many time rewinds give you this illusion that you are omnipotent?”

Ciel also smiled and said calmly, “Even if you can’t even retain memories?”

The moment Ciel finished speaking, Forte’s expression, which had been maintaining a slight smile, stiffened. But he just stared at Ciel and said nothing more.

The more he said, the more mistakes he’d make. He knew Ciel wanted to extract useful information from him.

“Don’t worry…”

Ciel slowly reached into her pocket and directly took out a silver pocket watch. She flicked open the cover and said noncommittally, “My watch chain, I will take it back sooner or later.”

Looking at the pocket watch in Ciel’s hand, and seeing the intricate pattern on it, Forte’s expression, which had been maintaining a slight squint, completely faltered.

He knew that the Ouroboros chain he had obtained was not a complete “Uniqueness.” It was more like some kind of component, because it lacked too many abilities. For example, when Forte used it himself, he could deeply feel the chain’s flaws.

The chain could rewind time but couldn’t allow him to retain memories, and it would even directly devour his flesh and blood.

Moreover, once the chain was activated, Forte couldn’t voluntarily turn it off. He had to eliminate the locked target within the time loop to release the chain.

If he failed to kill the target after multiple loops, the chain would become like a curse, devouring his flesh and blood again and again—this gave the chain a natural limit on its usage, something that didn’t exist in other “Uniqueness.”

Although he could have transcendents of the “Reborn” or “Coroner” path replenish his flesh and blood each time, the chain devoured his most fundamental flesh and blood. And sooner or later, the chain would completely devour his brain.

At that point, if his entire body, liver, and even brain weren’t his own, would “Forte” still be Forte?

This was the sense of urgency Forte had felt in recent decades, because he had tried to use this “Uniqueness” to help himself advance to Tier 5, but it simply didn’t work—this “Uniqueness” did not belong to his path.

Even with the “Uniqueness” in his hand, he could only use it as a consumable.

Forte had seen other “Uniqueness.” It was precisely because he had seen them that he knew “Uniqueness” wouldn’t have this kind of “usage limit.”

This was a necessity for achieving godhood. There couldn’t be such a restriction, unless this “Uniqueness” itself was not complete.

Therefore, he began to think of ways to “neutralize” this side effect and extend the lifespan of the chain. After all, everything he had now was brought to him by the chain.

At first, he was worried that someone might come to “reclaim” the chain he held, but after repeated time loops, he basically no longer felt this fear.

Because this power to travel through time was unprecedented, belonging to him alone.

As his power grew stronger, he no longer feared others coming to retrieve the watch chain. Instead, he would find the other components of the watch chain. He wanted a complete “Uniqueness” item.

To increase the usage times of the chain, he had made many attempts.

He began to seek to have offspring. The flesh and blood of his offspring were more compatible with him. It wasn’t until he accidentally discovered the plan of the Church of the God of Order that another plan surged into his mind.

As long as he could become the master of the “Artificial Divinity,” he would be free from the constraints of the physical body, using his consciousness to control countless avatars. He would no longer be bothered by the decay of flesh and blood, nor would he have to worry about lifespan or going mad.

If the plan succeeded, he would be invincible in the world.

But right now, a black-haired girl was half-kneeling before him, smiling, and revealing his greatest trump card and its biggest flaw.

At the same time… she also took out a silver pocket watch.

The moment he saw the pocket watch, Forte was certain that the chain was the watch chain, the one that should have been on this pocket watch.

It was the other component of his chain’s “Uniqueness”…

“This is my item… I found it… I found you!”

Forte’s expression began to twist.

He could no longer maintain his earlier composure and calmness. The greed in his eyes was completely undisguised.

This was what he had been desperately seeking, the other component of the chain’s “Uniqueness”!