Chapter 522: Take a Walk

Dum dum dum...

With the bell from the mechanical church's iron cathedral tower ringing in the distance, the meeting finally came to an end.

"Meeting adjourned. Though rushed, time waits for no one—we'll all have to work hard in the coming days, but I believe victory will ultimately belong to us."

After finalizing the last battle plan, Dorothy stood up and announced the meeting's end.

Once everyone had fully dispersed, the hall was left with only her and D Di Nisha seated atop the thrones on either side of the conference table.

"Phew, I'm exhausted."

No longer needing to maintain the Prime Minister's dignity, she collapsed onto the table, her face pressed against the wood, grumbling.

Since becoming Prime Minister a year ago, she had truly been worn down—endless paperwork every day, exhausting herself to solve one unexpected problem after another; this past year had been harder than her entire life in the real world.

Fortunately, the hard times were nearly over—everything was now in place, waiting only for the day of the final battle.

Across from her, D Di Nisha looked at her sister, who seemed utterly drained, her eyes filled with pity and sorrow.

She knew Dorothy had little interest in power or status; if she could, she'd rather hide alone somewhere, secluded, pursuing her own research, rather than attending endless meetings and handling frustrating bureaucratic duties.

But there was no choice—this path of redemption, pioneered by Dorothy, could only be led by her; no one else could truly help.

D Di Nisha herself had regained much of her humanity, but as an avatar, she remained too deeply influenced by her original self—her nature was unchangeable.

She was a vengeful soul.

And a vengeful soul could not lead a band of redeemers.

If she interfered too much, this timeline might once again tilt toward the God-King's ending.

The dragon-slayer who ultimately became the dragon.

The God-King could save the witch world, but she could not grant the witch race true redemption.

D Di Nisha looked up at the wide witch's hat hovering above Dorothy's head—invisible to others—and felt another flicker of guilt.

This child's madness, at its root, stemmed from the God-King's own path having gone astray.

It was she who, in her quest for vengeance, had committed too many killings—so the karmic retribution now fell upon this younger generation.

Though she ached to see Dorothy so worn out, D Di Nisha didn't know how to comfort her sister.

"Dorothy, my sister, the true savior of the witches—please, just hold on a little longer. You are my last hope."

The Shepherdess whispered this prayer in her heart.

But such a prayer only deepened D Di Nisha 's guilt—after all, burdening someone with expectations without asking if they wanted it or could bear it was terribly manipulative.

And...

No one understood the pain of being entrusted with hope better than she did.

Few knew, perhaps, that the God-King's most hated thing wasn't anything else—it was the God-King Cult, the very symbol of her divine authority.

Originally, to seek vengeance, she had founded the God-King Cult—to deify herself and bind her followers together.

But after vengeance was complete, this once-useful propaganda tool became a chain around her neck.

Her god-making plan had been too successful.

So successful that even though she hadn't become an omniscient, omnipotent god, everyone already treated her as one.

She herself hadn't grown arrogant, but her God-King Cult had—its followers developed the delusion that, bathed in the God-King's glory, they were invincible and everyone else must bow to them.

They even grew bold enough to claim they could act as the Lord's proxies—some fanatical angel witches secretly used her blood to create offspring, calling themselves the God-King's direct lineage.

God only knew how D Di Nisha felt when she woke up one day to find she had several new children.

She had truly wanted to kill them then—but ultimately couldn't bring herself to do it.

After all, those angel witches had followed her for years and earned many merits.

Besides, the children were innocent—whether D Di Nisha liked it or not, they carried her blood, and were her kin.

And she had sworn never to harm her own family again.

In the end, faced with ever more fanatical followers, the invincible God-King chose to flee—she handed everything over to her disciple, Long Wang, and secluded herself alone.

Fortunately, Long Wang was truly capable—unlike her soft-hearted teacher, she solved every problem with her fists; if anyone resisted, she punched them. The God-King Cult's first decline wasn't due to external enemies, but because of Long Wang's iron fists.

Of course, no one knew that during the God-King Cult's suppression, the one who laughed the hardest was the God-King herself.

She was utterly sick of these fanatical followers—constantly praying for everything and anything, treating prayer as a cure-all. You can pray to me when you have problems—but who do I pray to when I have problems?

And she couldn't even hit them or yell at them—it was incredibly stifling.

Thinking of it, Dorothy's current feelings might be just like hers back then.

The thought made D Di Nisha feel even more guilty and ashamed.

Knowing how painful it was to be burdened with hope, she couldn't bear to let her sister shoulder this burden without compensation.

Well, though she couldn't directly take on Dorothy's responsibilities, helping her relieve stress and ease her emotions—that she could do.

"Dorothy, would you like to go out for a walk?"

D Di Nisha gathered her composure and made the suggestion.

"Huh? Why are you suddenly in the mood for this? But no thanks—I still need to check on Ati's new magic network architecture at the research institute."

Dorothy looked up at her childhood friend, surprised.

Come to think of it, this was the first time D Di Nisha had ever invited her out—hmm, the God-King's date invitation.

But still, better not—today's work wasn't done; it wasn't time to rest yet.

Previously, the magic network core had been stolen by Sophilia; after taking over the magic network institute, Dorothy had rebuilt an even better core from scratch in just one week, casually upgraded the old network along the way, then stepped down to become Prime Minister.

Now, she had entrusted the magic network institute to Ati.

Though that brat was full of mischief and a real troublemaker, she couldn't deny that, as the former incarnation of the Demon King—no matter how many times back—she was brilliant, especially in magic networks, with astonishing talent; Dorothy's entire knowledge of magic networks was drained by Ati in no time.

Shit, I just accidentally revealed that...

Cough cough, don't misunderstand—I absolutely didn't flee the institute because I had nothing left to teach and feared being laughed at by my student. Absolutely not.

Joking, I'm the Forest Witch, supremely learned—this was purely to give my student Ati more room to grow.

Yes, that's exactly it.

Fine, I'll admit it—I was just too lazy to think for myself. Thinking things through isn't hard, but it's exhausting; copying homework is so much easier.

The magic network was originally created by the Demon King anyway; now that the Demon King's infant form runs the institute, what's there to worry about?

The Home Witch has lately been frequently "inspecting homework" by surprise-attacking Ati, then openly stealing her latest research results.

Pfft, how can you call it stealing for a scholar? It's mutual learning, mutual progress—after all, I'm not just taking without giving; I glance at Ati's work, my mind explodes with inspiration, then I immediately return a supercharged version.

Usually, Ati hands her magic network 1.0, and Dorothy turns around and gives back magic network 2.0.

Hmm, Ati really won big this time.

But every time Ati submits her homework, she wears a smug grin, her pigtails practically pointing to the sky, her face screaming, "Look how amazing I am, praise me!"—only for her pride to be crushed by Dorothy's magic network 2.0, leaving her with a gloomy face as she departs to the melancholy tune of "snowflakes falling."

It's strange—every time, Dorothy genuinely praises Ati for the sake of the child's mental health, gently patting her head and sincerely saying:

"You did well, very impressive—you're almost caught up with me. Just a few small adjustments needed here and there..."

See? That's already high emotional intelligence.

Sigh, today's kids are so hard to understand—so troublesome. Alice is better; that silly little sister is the easiest to handle.

Counting the days, today's about due for checking Ati's homework—Dorothy planned to head over after work; she was eager to see what surprise Ati had prepared this week.

Just thinking of it, her entire day's fatigue vanished by half.

After all, she adored learning—learning made her happy.

But...

"Fine, fine, I'll go, I'll go, alright?"

Seeing her refusal cause D Di Nisha 's smile to freeze, then nearly turn to tears, Dorothy raised her hands in surrender.

Looks like Ati will have to wait a bit longer—let the Demon King's apprentice's wool grow a little more; she'd first go soothe the God-King sister before her.

The Home Witch sighed inwardly, feeling just how busy she was.

By the way, Emora was probably still waiting for dinner at home...

Whatever, forget it—being hungry a bit won't hurt; good for weight loss.

"D Di Nisha, where do you want to go for a walk?"

Dorothy sat up, stretched, and flexed her body, curiously asking.

In her memory, D Di Nisha wasn't the type to stroll around—her daily routine was always the same two points—she had no idea why today she suddenly felt like going out.

"Don't worry about that—just give me your hand."

Seeing her sister agree, D Di Nisha 's smile returned instantly; she flashed before Dorothy and extended her hand, as if a prince inviting a princess to dance.

Dorothy sighed helplessly, then reluctantly extended her hand, placing it in her childhood friend's.

Not bad—no wonder the God-King's hand felt so smooth.

"Close your eyes."

Dorothy had just begun to savor the feel of D Di Nisha 's hand when her sister spoke again.

"Fine, you're being so mysterious—what are you up to?"

The Home Witch was baffled, yet even more curious.

She had assumed "going for a walk" meant an actual stroll—but now it seemed D Di Nisha had a surprise planned.

She liked surprises.

Dorothy grew slightly excited and obediently closed her eyes.

Then the world spun wildly.

"Ugh..."

Screw the surprise—she hated teleportation.

As soon as the teleport ended, the Home Witch immediately yanked her hand free, pulled out a trash bag, and expertly vomited rainbows.

"Ah, this... Dorothy, what's wrong with you?"

D Nishayilianmengbi ， Tayouxiejinzhangdikanzheturanliansecangbaidemeimei ， Youdianbeixiadaole 。

"I'm fine, I'm fine, it's just an old problem—it'll pass in a moment. But next time you use teleportation, warn me first so I can cast a few buffs."

After a few seconds, once she'd regained her composure and her complexion had slightly flushed, Dorothy waved her hand, signaling D Di Nisha not to worry.

She missed her "Spatial Control" forbidden spell—too bad the memory of forbidden magic hadn't been unlocked yet in this second act of Witch Night.

But where exactly are we? Does Pan Duola City have a place like this?

The Zhaimonvhaoqidizuoyouzhangwang ， Moshengdejiedaorangtayouxieyihuo 。

She had a perfect memory—every corner of Pan Duola City, even the newest satellite districts built in the past year, she remembered perfectly—but there was no recollection of this street before her.

But this street is so run-down, so old, and packed with people—yet why are all these people so heavily cybernetic? Don't they fear Soul-Eating Syndrome?

Watching the numb crowds shuffling through the filthy, crowded street, Dorothy frowned, growing angry.

What is the Mechanist Church even doing? She had repeatedly stressed that no one must be given unauthorized cybernetic modifications—it's extremely dangerous.

But her anger flared and faded quickly, for the Zhaimonv soon noticed something strange.

"Uh, wait—this isn't Pan Duola City. It's not even the Magic Republic. This is Noah's Ark?"

Dorothy turned her gaze from the radiant church nearby and stared, stunned, at D Di Nisha beside her.

"This is what you meant by 'taking a walk'?"

Oh my god, we've walked straight into the enemy's stronghold!

.... The Zhaimonv is trembling in fear...