The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 287

Deep within the Other Side, in a twisted, misty ancient castle.

A pure white armor was fiddling with a giant metal claw before it.

It was a huge hand covered with sharp blades, its original appearance completely unrecognizable, but the rigid white armor and sharp knuckle blades looked extremely aggressive.

The armor also had many precise, transparent film-covered holes, like observation windows left for the eyes beneath. This gave the metal arm a broken look, as if it had been corroded with many holes.

And exposed between the armored fingers and the half-arm’s joints were numerous mechanical structures and gears connected to flesh, emitting a faint metallic screech as the giant claw moved.

Clickety-clack——

The armored left hand stood up and crawled left and right, seemingly a little unaccustomed to its own body.

“Just make do with it. It’s better than your previous skin. Consider it an upgrade.” Looking at the metal claw before it, the Pure White Armor ejected a large amount of white steam from its armor seams. It said helplessly, “Did you remember what I said? Just say you evolved yourself.”

Click-clack——

The giant claw lay on the ground, seemingly agreeing with a hint of fear.

But soon, the giant claw subtly trembled, as if expressing something.

“You want to change back? Do you have a death wish?” The Pure White Armor shook its head and said, “There are plenty of lost souls like you in the Other Side who don’t even know their own path… Can you find a way to advance before your life runs out?”

The Pure White Armor said, reaching out and gently tapping the back of the giant claw’s hand. Its phantom voice softened slightly, “You’re all just lost souls… don’t be picky.”

Just as the Pure White Armor was about to say something more, the pendant placed on a nearby table flashed with a red halo. The inscribed runes seemed to faintly glow.

The giant claw seemed to sense something. It began to scuttle towards the pendant, clickety-clack, but was yanked back by the Pure White Armor.

“Wait!”

The Pure White Armor seemed to have lost its previous languidness. It directly stood up, walked towards the pendant, and gently picked it up.

“Cough cough… Can you hear me?” The Pure White Armor coughed ceremoniously twice, then asked in a phantom metallic hum.

“I need to ask you something.” A blurry young girl’s voice came from the glowing inscription.

“What is it?” The Pure White Armor asked in confusion, “As for paths… I’ve already told you everything. If you’re asking about your pet—guess what, it’s alive!”

“Is that so… that’s good… and… it’s not my pet…”

A fragmented voice came from within the pendant.

“I want to ask you about… Sadhana…”

Sadhana…

The Pure White Armor clenched the pendant in its hand. After a long while, its phantom voice finally emerged from within the armor again.

“I know of Them… What do you want to ask?”

“If it involves putting me in danger, I will refuse to answer.”

After a short pause, the pendant of the faceless goddess statue once again lit up with a faint red glow. The young girl’s voice came through again, but this time much clearer.

“What is its relationship with me? Why do I feel it hates me so much?”

“And, I feel, it’s very familiar…”

Two simple questions made the Pure White Armor fall directly into silence.

“I apologize, I refuse to answer.”

The Pure White Armor, after a long silence, gave this answer.

“I do not wish to be involved in this matter, Your Excellency Ciel. Please forgive me.”

“But what I can tell you is, it is lost. It is already a wandering spirit.”

“It went mad a long, long time ago.”

Yes, a long, long time ago, so long that even the Pure White Armor had forgotten the concept of time.

“Thank you.”

Not until the pendant’s light dimmed, and after a long while, did the Pure White Armor finally put down the pendant in its hand. It looked at the giant claw that was sneaking over, trying to snatch the pendant.

The Pure White Armor walked to the giant claw, hung the pendant directly on the buckle reserved on its back, secured the pendant, and then patted the giant claw’s back.

“What, are you going to stay here with me forever? It’s not impossible…”

Before the Pure White Armor could finish speaking, the giant claw, having obtained the pendant, splayed its fingers and scuttled away, clickety-clack, directly rushing out of the ancient castle, crossing the ponticulus, and disappearing without a trace.

“Hahahahaha——”

After standing in place and laughing for a few moments, the Pure White Armor stopped laughing.

The vast, empty, twisted ancient castle was now left with only it, a lonely, still-sane Other Side creature.

It stood before the ancient castle, like a statue.

It had somewhat forgotten the origin of this ancient castle, only remembering that it had been here since before it was a “Lord.”

And being a “Lord” was a very, very long time ago…

So long that the concept of time no longer existed.

…

Meanwhile, in the simulation, Ciel slowly opened her eyes.

She had just finished her call with the Pure White Armor, and her mental power was considerably depleted.

After all, being separated by the Other Side, not to mention poor “signal,” the consumption also multiplied.

Just as Ciel wanted to sit up and drink some water, she found that her hands seemed unable to move.

On her left, Avena was embracing her left arm, lying beside her. On her right, a heavy head was pressing on her arm, and her blood flow was somewhat impeded.

I specifically lay horizontally… such a large area, and you just had to crowd over, didn’t you…?