An Intensely Burning Flame lay before me, with a Scythe placed neatly beside it. Hmm, yep. That’s my Scythe alright. It’s an incredibly capable weapon for cutting the Rope and taking down that psycho Gretel.
Gretel stared blankly between me and the Scythe glowing with twilight, then burst into laughter.
“PUHAHA! So you actually thought you could escape with just that Scythe? I was wondering where you’d disappeared to! What a laughable sight. Unfortunately, it’s your turn to be eaten deliciously. You’ll regret rejecting the chance to become my Hansel, even in d*ath!”
The cold blade sparkled under the ceiling light. Danger! At this rate, I’m really gonna lose a limb!
d*mn it. First things first, gotta survive. I quickly thought and said,
“Hmm, does it have to taste this bad?”
“What? It tastes bad?”
Bingo! She fell for it! Gretel frowned unpleasantly at the comment about taste.
“Yeah! Eating like this makes it taste bad. Did we cook evenly inside out? Or did we at least get roasted nicely on the surface? This is like eating half-cooked meat. It’s bound to taste terrible and give you indigestion.”
“So what are you suggesting?”
“Isn’t there a better way than just eating us like this? Cooking would be tastier than just roasting us raw, right?”
“Cooking?”
With these words, Gretel perked up her ears. Perfect, it’s working! As expected, she’s a monster who craves delicious food—she even eats human flesh, after all. But no matter the type of meat, cooking it properly with various ingredients always tastes better than hastily grilling it.
Judging by her expression, it seems Gretel has never cooked properly in her life.
“Are you insane?! We’re already destined to be eaten, and now you’re talking about cooking?!”
Adel screamed in panic upon hearing the suggestion to cook himself. Ugh, stay quiet! I’m trying to buy time here!
Gretel glared at Adel irritably, silencing him instantly.
“What kind of cooking are you talking about?”
“Hehe, so you do know that cooked food tastes better, huh? Meat can be steamed, stewed, or added to soup—it’s all delicious. Believe it or not, I’ve got some experience cooking back home.”
“Hmm? So what?”
“I’ll treat you to a delicious meal! Of course, using us as ingredients.”
Gretel scrutinized me suspiciously, but couldn’t hide the drool dripping from her mouth and lips. She stroked her wobbling jowls and asked,
“Hmm. Why should I trust you?”
“Why trust me at all? Even if we fought again, you’d clearly win anyway. How could I possibly stand against you? So I figured dying by cooking myself would be preferable to being horribly murdered by you. No hidden agenda here.”
“Hmm…”
Gretel continued to stroke her wobbly chin while maintaining her skeptical gaze. Meanwhile, the intense heat behind me made sweat pour down like Rain. Adel, standing nearby, began hyperventilating and muttering incomprehensible nonsense to himself.
At that moment, Gretel smirked.
“That’s a good idea. Alright, I’ll give you the special opportunity to cook yourselves.”
“Seriously? You’re reasonable after all!”
“But…”
Uh oh? Something feels off. Gretel raised her Chinese Cleaver above her head again.
“I’m too hungry to wait. Let’s start by tearing off one of your arms each.”
“E-EH!? You crazy MONSTER!!!”
I’M GOING TO d*e! The Chinese Cleaver charges fiercely toward my arm. I could already picture the cold blade slicing through my flesh and bone, bl**d spurting everywhere.
Just before the blade touched my skin, I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away, unable to bear witnessing it.
TING!
Wait? TING? Why is there a metallic clanging sound? Confused, I opened my eyes to see a familiar blonde hair.
“ELISE!!!”
I cried out in joy. But my relief was short-lived as a chilling sense of dread gripped me. Something was wrong with Elise. Her usual face, filled with playful madness and mischief regardless of the situation, was nowhere to be seen.
Her eyes lacked any trace of madness. Instead, they burned with uncontrollable fury, consuming even the madness within her. Her expression was unreadable—a face I had never seen before. Yes, Elise was angrier than I’d ever witnessed.
In Elise’s hand was the broken fragment of the Chinese Cleaver.
“What are you?! You d*mn woman! How did you escape again?! Stop interfering and get lost!”
Gretel stumbled backward, startled. But realizing her mealtime had been interrupted, her face contorted with ugly wrinkles.
“Hey.”
Elise’s voice sent shivers down my spine. Her deep, menacing tone sounded like that of an enraged demon.
A sudden gust ruffled my hair.
“AAAGH!”
When I came to my senses, both Adel and I were lying next to the Scythe. Elise had freed us. Without sparing a glance at either of us, she kept her piercing glare fixed on Gretel.
“You.”
“W-What?!”
“Did you try to trap me in that disgusting dream?”
Gretel snorted.
“Hmph! Who else but me, you dumb girl. Are you as dim-witted as you look? Still, escaping my magic on your own deserves some praise…”
Gretel’s pupils widened. Reflected in her eyes was the large shard of the broken Chinese Cleaver, hovering dangerously close to her eyeball.
“HIIEEEEK!!!”
TING!
The invisible barrier deflected the shard, but only barely. A long gash appeared near her eye, oozing bl**d.
Gretel touched the bl**d streaming down her face and gnashed her teeth.
“You DARE!!”
But she didn’t even get to finish her sentence. BOOM!! She had to hastily erect a defensive barrier, which cracked instantly under Elise’s powerful punch.
“N-No way! W-What are you?!”
“Someone you should never have messed with.”
CLANG! With another punch from Elise, the barrier shattered. Using the extra limbs sprouting from her back, the hefty Gretel scrambled backward while hurriedly chanting a spell.
But nothing happened. Elise simply walked forward, unaffected by Gretel’s telekinetic pressure.
“Impossible! You’re resisting my telekinesis with sheer strength alone?!”
Good grief. Elise was walking through Gretel’s telekinetic force as if it were nothing. Facing Gretel directly, Elise spoke.
“You subjected me to the worst possible experience. For twenty years, I was trapped in this hellish world. My body refused to age as I wasted away. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t find the white rabbit who brought me here. During those agonizing years, I had only one wish.”
As she spoke, Gretel’s tongue shot toward Elise like a whip.
“Hah! Fell for it! The saliva on my tongue can dissolve rocks in an instant!”
True to her word, smoke rose from where Elise caught the tongue with one hand. But Elise paid no mind and yanked hard.
This caused Gretel’s massive body to soar through the air and crash into Elise.
“My only wish… was to go home.”
CRUNCH. A severe cracking sound echoed as Gretel slammed into the wall, wreaking havoc inside the House of Candy. Bits of candy rained down from above. Though she had tried protecting her face with the arms on her back, they were now broken, bones protruding grotesquely through the skin.
“H-H-Huh… This… this isn’t real. H-How could you have such strength?!”
Shocked, Gretel muttered to herself.
Elise stood expressionlessly before her. In the shadow cast over her, Gretel’s face turned pale, as if she’d seen a demon itself.
Elise slightly curved her lips and said,
“You gave me… that unbearable despair. At first, I truly believed it was real. Oh, how happy and joyful I was. Meeting the people I longed for, finally returning home—it all felt so natural that I couldn’t help but smile. But alas…”
She brushed her golden hair aside.
“It was all fake, you b*tch?”
With those final words, Elise unleashed unspeakable violence upon the pinned Gretel.
