Chapter 955: A Special Gift

Deep night, the Dragon King’s Palace.

The birthday celebration remained lively, the revelers still reveling in their indulgence.

Yet, as the guest of honor, Dorothy had already returned to her temporary room in the Empress’s Palace.

Yes, she’d returned with a mountain of gifts.

But she didn’t rush to open them the moment she stepped inside; instead, she gazed longingly at the towering pile of exquisitely wrapped boxes, then pressed her dragon claws together.

“Hmm, life needs a touch of ceremony—first, a bath and fresh clothes, only then can I open gifts worthy of my expectations.”

That’s what the House Witch thought.

Though the gifts inside these boxes were already fixed—this wasn’t a lottery, no luck involved—she still felt that as long as she hadn’t opened them, the contents remained in a Schrödinger state; wasn’t that its own kind of lottery?

So a little ceremony couldn’t hurt.

Though as an absolute outsider to fate, ritualistic luck-chasing was useless to her—Dorothy knew this well—it didn’t stop her, this Non-Champion, from seeking psychological comfort.

What if? What if this time she actually opened something amazing?

One must always hold onto hope, right?

Thinking this, she tossed her hat-senpai onto the bed, and the white princess dress she’d endured long enough slipped off naturally; Dorothy, utterly naked, walked into the bathroom, and the sound of rushing water began.

Yet the House Witch didn’t know that, listening to the bathroom’s water, the two others in the room—besides a cat and a dragon—were now heartbeats racing.

On the bed, the seemingly ordinary but fundamentally bizarre witch’s hat twisted violently; countless tentacles writhed and entwined, then coalesced into a human form.

When the tentacles parted again, a stunningly beautiful witch sat upon the bed.

Though a witch, she possessed an otherworldly beauty like a legendary immortal—hair darker than night, skin paler than death, starkly contrasting, paired with goat-like horizontal pupils; everything radiated mystery and danger, temptation laced with unspeakable strangeness.

Miss Azathoth glanced toward the bathroom, listening to the soft patter of water; her pale face flushed slightly, her expression conflicted.

“Tch, really have to do this? It’s so embarrassing—I still have pride, but aside from this, I can’t think of anything better to give Qianbao.”

The demoness hesitated.

Her long, silky black hair now floated and coiled like serpents, betraying her anxiety and unease.

She nearly caved, ready to revert back into the hat—but suddenly, a strange courage surged within her; after agonizing to the extreme, she gritted her teeth and decided to go all in.

“Hmm, no one else will ever know—if I don’t tell, and Qianbao doesn’t tell, then no one will find out. The dignity of the great future King won’t be tarnished.”

That’s what she thought.

Soon, the pitch-black witch’s robe wrapped around her body melted like liquid, revealing the flawless body no one had ever seen.

If Dorothy had stepped out just then, the House Witch would’ve blinked rapidly, whistled, and teased, “Whoa, senpai, you’re one of those who looks slim in clothes.”

But then again, it made sense—Vanni-senpai was the being capable of splitting off the Dark Fertility Mother, a terrifying embodiment of reproduction and motherhood itself; all her incarnations stemmed from her true form.

She, the Fourth King of Fate, was born to explore the realm of Omnipotence; her body naturally bore divinity, approaching the true form of a god.

Or rather—this was the body of a divine infant.

All she needed was to wait until her unique magical foundation—One as All—fully matured, and she would naturally become Him, like a duckling turning into a swan, a cocoon bursting into a butterfly, becoming a god.

The divine realm, coveted by countless powerful beings in the Western Universe, awaited her.

Yet at this moment, this divine infant wasn’t pondering lofty matters; she gathered the black, amorphous slime that had been her robe into a ball, held it in her hand, then used her serpentine hair to curl her spellbook over, another strand flipping pages, expertly connecting to the Magic Web, and began.

“Best Maid Outfit of the Year.”

Yes, Miss Azathoth was about to fulfill her long-overdue bet.

This was both keeping a promise—and a gift.

“Tch, now Qianbao can’t keep saying I’m unreliable anymore.”

The demoness, cheeks flushed, studied the outfit templates on the Magic Web, while her hand kneaded the amorphous black slime, reshaping it.

But—

“Shit, do you people really play this wildly?”

Even the unspeakable demon, gazing at the outfit templates and the witch reviews beneath them, felt slightly corrupted.

Well, after all—she was a witch.

The demoness was dressing, yet she didn’t know that just a short distance away, inside one of the gifts, the embodiment of Lust was brewing her long-planned scheme.

“Tch, the Dragon King and the God King must be guarding me tightly, afraid I’ll ruin Teacher’s birthday party—but they didn’t expect that I never intended to be a guest at all. What’s the point of waiting? What more sincere gift could there be than giving myself?”

Little Arty gloated inwardly.

She laughed at the Dragon King’s folly, the God King’s lack of wit.

Cough cough

Okay, joke aside—what she truly laughed at was the Dragon King’s indecisiveness, the God King’s weakness.

Heh, all of you playing some pure romance game?

“I hurt you once, I’m a sinner, I can’t face you again.”

“It’s not the right time yet—I want a perfect ending. Wait for me. When I create the perfect world, we’ll be eternally happy.”

Laughable. What kind of innocent girl’s romantic fantasy is this? Are you two acting out some teenage melodrama?

You two are ancient, why pretend to be naive maidens? Ugh.

What do you even think love is?

Love is war.

And war demands no mercy.

Speed is paramount. The bold seize the world first.

No time for slow-boiling frogs, no need to care whether a forced melon is sweet—just get it in your mouth, deal with the rest later.

Arty knew the two old fools would guard against her—but it didn’t matter. Their love experience, weaker than a child’s, would never anticipate her direct assault on the stronghold.

Hmm, when everyone assumes you won’t charge straight in, and you do—it’s a proper conspiracy.

The simplest tactics often work best against the strongest foes.

Of course, she hadn’t done nothing—she’d exerted just a little effort.

For instance, she gave Dinisha a touch of courage, amplified her jealousy, pushing her from watching from afar to stepping onto the stage.

She subtly heightened Nidhogg’s competitiveness and sense of sisterly duty, drawing her focus toward the unexpected Dinisha.

She also admired the long-separated sister-brother bond between Gabriel and Lucifer, so she nudged them to pay closer attention to each other.

In short, a little here, a little there—tonight’s guests would be busy enough that no one noticed the party’s main guest had slipped away.

Hmm, Teacher never liked crowds—shy, socially anxious—leaving early was perfectly normal.

Besides, she received so many gifts today; as a witch who loves lottery-style luck, she’s itching to open them now—perfectly normal.

Inside the gift box, a stunning girl wore only a few threads—red silk ribbons tied just so, covering essentials perfectly.

Well, honestly, there wasn’t much to cover.

Though the girl possessed flawless beauty, appearing pure and saintly like an angel at first glance, closer inspection revealed her seductive, devilish allure—pure yet sensual, with legs of perfect symmetry: thighs rounded, calves straight, toes like translucent jade, tender and alluring.

But why is it just the face and legs?

Hehe.

The little hillocks simply can’t comprehend the perilous beauty of the peak.

The wicked demon simply can’t grasp the greatness of motherhood.

But it didn’t matter—Arty didn’t care. The embodiment of Lust, mistress of pleasure, no longer needed base temptations.

Today, she would claim her.

Arty held the authority of Lust—she’d chosen this sin’s power specifically for this moment.

A pale pink mist quietly spread through the room, undetectable to all.

She’d carefully observed earlier—the room held only Teacher. Her usual constant companion, the rebellious disciple, was unexpectedly absent; she’d gone to discuss gifts with her friends.

Well, Vanni had never given a birthday gift before—didn’t know what to pick, needed advice—perfectly reasonable.

So the final obstacle was gone. Now, it was just her and Teacher’s private time.

Lust’s power subtly lured one to ruin—it was humanity’s innate sin—so before detonation, no one could sense it.

And how to detonate?

Hehe—just wait until Teacher, utterly unguarded, opens the box and sees her own face inside—that instant, she’ll fall head over heels in love, then ascend with her to the peak of bliss.

She knew Teacher was fundamentally traditional—thanks to that strange yet conservative old man’s upbringing—and to win such a teacher, seizing her body was enough; whether she admitted it or not, she’d occupy a uniquely special place in Teacher’s heart.

Compared to Dinisha and Nidhogg, Arty knew she, as an adopted disciple, lacked deep bonds—so she must claim that special place.

Though this method was vile, it worked.

She was a demon, after all—demons’ love has always been this way.

“Teacher, I’ll make you happy.”

Arty anticipated this.

Dorothy stepped out of the bathroom wearing her beloved plush dragon pajamas.

“Senpai, wanna open gifts together?”

She instinctively asked the hat on the bed.

“No, those are your gifts—open them yourself.”

The hat-senpai replied.

The House Witch frowned slightly.

She felt Vanni-senpai was acting strange today—normally, this troublemaker was always eager to open gifts and draw cards.

Hmm, though this joker mostly just wanted to see her fail and laugh at her immediately.

But why the sudden change?

“Are you still brooding over that squid thing from earlier?”

Dorothy thought for a moment, then asked this way.

At the banquet just now, Aistros had already been handing out squid balls everywhere; their deliciousness had drawn nothing but praise from the guests, who all asked which chef had made them—but the Goddess of Wealth merely smiled without answering, her desire to show off clearly greatly satisfied.

The other Circle Knight sages, however, looked at this goddess with strange expressions, and then everyone started teasing her, dragging Aistros off to play games, leaving the goddess unable to extricate herself.

The home witch had originally planned to greet her, but seeing that scene, she decided not to disturb them and went straight back to her room.

But the Squid Demon had already been eaten—surely Sister Fan hasn’t figured it out yet?

The home witch felt worried; she believed Sister Fan’s mental state was truly urgent and needed immediate treatment.

After the seven-day celebration ended, they would set out immediately for the Mechanical Wasteland.

Sister Fan was, after all, a Sage-level being; even though she teased her daily about never being able to handle high-level battles, that was just a joke—this crazy sister’s danger level was actually higher than most Sages.

To cure Sister Fan’s madness, her three main personalities must be forced to fight for dominance—and naturally, that would require a great battle.

So Dorothy needed to choose a suitable treatment site for her sister—or rather, prepare a battlefield for her.

Since the Mechanical Wasteland’s difficulty rating was nine stars, it was naturally the perfect choice.

Treating Sister Fan at the same time would also let them harness her chaotic power to better conquer the Mechanical Wasteland—two benefits in one, perfect.

“Uh, no, I’ve long since stopped obsessing over it—just open your gift first.”

The hat sister said this again.

Dorothy: “.”

Sure enough, Sister Fan was a bit strange.

But since Sister Fan didn’t want to talk about it, she couldn’t force her—she turned her attention instead to the gift box before her.

Following her intuition, she reached out and picked up one gift box from the pile.

She looked at the mark on the box.

“Uh… Mamen’s gift?”

Dorothy blinked in surprise—she hadn’t expected the first one she picked would be from that terrifying demon god.

But whatever—it couldn’t hurt to open it and see what it was. After all, with her kind older sister and Long Wang watching, even a demon god couldn’t harm her.

The home witch thought this.

Then she opened the gift box.

Then, her vision went black—she saw nothing.

Someone had covered her eyes.

Then, the hand covering her eyes gently turned her head.

Dorothy heard a familiar voice.

It was Sister Fan’s voice.

“Cai Bao, happy birthday.”

The home witch opened her eyes and saw the demon girl, dressed in a cat-eared maid outfit, blushing shyly and looking at her with nervous hesitation.

So beautiful.

In her heart, a pink flame erupted suddenly.

And so, Dorothy lunged forward.

The home witch lost control.

Aty was such a great assistant—no wonder she’s a teacher, so good to her students, haha.

(End of Chapter)