Omega POV, 3rd Person Omniscient
"...I'm against you taking those girls along."
The beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Witch ― Minerva ― crossed her arms and puffed out her flushed cheeks as she declared that, anger filling her glimmering eyes.
She was sitting on one of the six chairs positioned around the white table. Opposite to her, Echidna let out a choked "Hmm..." in response to her complaint.
She raised her cup of tea off the table and gazed at the hot steam rising up from it,
"I'd like to go and see how much the world has changed in these 400 years. What do you all think about that? I mean, Y/N did agree to take us to a city after he finishes his business, so..." Echidna said, completely ignoring the first remark.
"Now hold on just a minute. Didn't you hear what I said? How can you ignore me so easily! This is unacceptable. Utterly unacceptable!"
Minerva flared up in anger at Echidna as the latter tried to ignore her earlier complaint by changing the subject. With her face still flushed, Minerva grabbed Echidna by the scruff of her neck; however, that only caused her smile to grow deeper.
"I was just joking. It sure would be nice if you didn't fly off the handle so suddenly."
"You goddamn..." The Witch of Wrath raised her fist in anger, but a voice stopped her outburst.
"――You shouldn't always get so riled up Minerva, hhaa."
A languid voice called out to Minerva as she grew angrier and angrier, with her soft eyebrows raised on end. The voice belonged to a woman who was sitting hugging her knees on one of the chairs, submerged in a sea of her own hair.
For better or for worse, that lethargic gaze belonged to Sekhmet.
"Echidna's messing about with you, hhuu. This wouldn't be the first time, hhaa. She's just going to take advantage of you every time you fall for them, hhuu."
"So you're saying I should just let her be? I'm completely against this!"
Minerva bellowed that she wasn't in the wrong with tears in her eyes, before then crouching down where she sat, looking completely at wit's end. Two small hands came from her left and right, patting Minerva on the head.
"I D-Don't, I don't think... M-Minerva-chan... Is in the wrong here, y-you know?"
"I agree, Nerva's not at fault. Dona's the real baddie here. Should I tear her apart?"
The ones who were comforting Minerva from both sides were Carmilla and Typhon.
Unlike Carmilla, there'd been no bluff in the words the young Typhon had spoken. Left unchecked, there was a real chance she'd use her authority on her. Thus, Echidna shrugged her shoulders in apology. If her soul was shattered beyond repair, it would not benefit her contractor as well.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that. Someone as weak as I am wouldn't stand a chance against you all, if you were to turn against me. Besides, considering that I'm the host, you'd all fall together with me if I did. Besides, Y/N would be sad if you guys destroyed me, you know?"
"Don't use Y/N as leverage to justify your actions! He's a nice person, so don't drag him into this!" Minerva said in defence for the boy, who was technically her contractor as well.
"If you're going to use that as a threat Dona-Dona, then isn't it just a little strange that we're all here with you like this~?"
"...You had to go and put me on the spot there." Echidna sighed.
Right next to her, while restrained in her coffin, Daphne gave her a laugh. She'd already "devoured" her own chair and was now stuffing her face with the tea cakes that were set on the table, drool pouring down the corner of her mouth.
Echidna let a wry smile slip onto her face as she looked on at the participants of the tea party. They were the Witches, her friends.
"You girls are always such an odd bunch, if I do say so myself." Echidna said as she gave the other witches a smile, but that definitely ticked Minerva off.
"I really don't want to hear that coming from you!"
There once was a Witch who plunged the world into a maelstrom of chaos and terror.
The world then entered an age of darkness because of that being known as The Witch of Envy. Afterwards, said Witch passed down into legend, becoming an object of terror that few dared to speak of.
But there were actually six other Witches of Sin during that era; yet, they remained surprisingly unknown, with all of their deeds, personalities and such falling into obscurity...
"...Or, to put it more accurately, they're in my citadel of dreams, after I collected their souls."
"Y-You... You know you did all of that on your accord though..."
Carmilla looked at Echidna reproachfully, as the latter placed the cup she'd been drinking out of down with a smile.
That look of protest in her eyes was rather cute, but have too much of it and it would become poison. After all, Carmilla could make people devote their lives to her by merely staring at them and asking them to do so. None of the Witches of Sin could even come close to Carmilla in regards to how many people she'd made throw their lives away because she so desired. The only person immune to her charm might be her contractor, since Deceit's powers really work in some fascinating ways.
But, even then...
"Those are rookie numbers compared to Minerva, since she's the one who killed the most." Echidna sneered, but Minerva was put into a silent lament.
"..."
"Oh no, someone's made Nerva cry! Was it Dona again? She really never learns her lesson!"
Large teardrops had welled up in the silent Minerva's eyes as she listened to Echidna's recollection. Yet, the reason she didn't pose any objections was because she was fully aware of how much of a mass-murderer she was.
Minerva's authority let her forcefully convert the destructive energy she could hold into healing power. Her punches and kicks were some of the gentlest in the whole world, but they didn't come cheap.
Minerva saved the lives of many people; but at the same time, she also killed many with natural disasters. The Witch who had saved and killed the most people in the world, was Minerva.
Nevertheless, the amount of lives she'd taken by no means repudiated the gentleness of her heart. That's why her point had been a deeply honest and sincere one.
"...How long do you plan to keep Colette and Palmyra around?"
The focus of Minerva's agenda became what they were going to do about those two girls from now.
The Witches were gathered here in the citadel of dreams that Echidna had built, merely as souls. However, it was a citadel only in name; a green hillock was situated there instead, with a tea-party taking place on it.
The topic they were discussing was regarding the two girls she'd met on her journey. Currently, both of them were outside of the citadel of dreams ― To put it briefly, they were tagging along with Omega in the real world, who was possessed by Echidna. The girls were far more resistant to the miasma than your average person, based on the fact that they kept their wits about them even when coming into contact with the Witch Echidna. Regardless though...
"This really isn't good enough. It's not safe for starters. What are you planning on doing with them?"
"...Well, it's like I told the two. One of them was driven out from her hometown, and isn't even able to use the "Beasting Bracelet" that her parents left her as a memento. So I want to at least give them the knowledge and skills to keep them alive. Also, Y/N vowed to protect them as well, so I want to find out why he would do that for two random girls out in the wild..."
"There must be something more to it, hhaa. I'm guessing it's not something you did out of kindness, hhuu. This isn't like you, considering you've brought chaos to so many countries for one reason or another, hhaa. Do you have a fever or something? Hhuu."
"Ooh~, she was soaked in ice cold water for quite a looong time, wasn't she~? Isn't it pretty much unheard of for a Witch to drown to death~? Bhahaha~" Daphne laughed slightly.
Only within this world of dreams would sweets appear as much as one desired. Daphne, who was constantly stricken by insatiable hunger, laughed happily as she devoured them.
The young Typhon tilted her head in response to what Daphne had said, and said: "Oh?"
"You're wrong Phinnie, I drowned 'cause all of that water came pouring in! Since I met my watery grave, I suppose I managed it before Dona?"
"Indeed, when it comes to drowning, Typhon has a lot more experience than I do. We have to take our hats off to that." Echidna chuckled.
"No! We don't!"
Minerva snarled at Typhon and Echidna as they unmindfully shared a laugh together.
Centuries had passed since the Witches of Sin had wreaked havoc everywhere. Now they were long-dead, with naturally each of them having their own manner of death. Typhon's death by drowning had been one of those.
Either way...
"W-We're... We're getting off topic... We're getting off topic, aren't we?"
"Yeah. I don't have a fever by the way. Nor does my body on the outside. Therefore, I can safely say that the decision I made to take them with me was done under normal circumstances."
"So~, you're saying that you actually meant what you said before~?" Daphne said as she drooled again.
"...Joking aside, my body is quite weak as things stand."
Echidna brought up the body she had on the outside ― Omega's actual body ― in response to Daphne's question.
The body which she was possessing was a duplicate of Ryuzu Meyer's, fabricated using Pseudo-Od as its core. It wasn't truly made from flesh and blood, rather from an artificial substitute that wasn't too far off from a Spirit in terms of composition.
"I'm making use of it in a way that wasn't originally intended. I had to get rid of quite a few things so that I could pour myself into this vessel. I might ask Y/N for some modification help, but that'll have to wait, unfortunately..."
"So you did something like that, hhuu. Don't you think the world is going to end this time, hhaa, if one of your flops goes out and about again, like the olden days? Hhuu."
"Whoa there, I didn't expect that from you, Sekhmet. You care about whether the world ends?"
"It's not the end of the world, hhaa, that I care about, hhuu. It's just that, if the world ends, your favourite things would be in deep trouble as well, hhaa. That's what my issue is, hhuu."
"..."
"It's as I've been telling you for a while now, hhaa. I'm more terrified of you losing your interest in this world than anyone else, hhuu. After all, there's no knowing what you would do, hhaa."
Sekhmet spoke for an unnaturally long time; when she finally finished, she let out an utterly exhausted sigh. Then, she placed her head on her lap, and began to talk again.
"I'm exhausted, hhuu. I don't have anything else to say, hhaa."
"Whaa? Whaa, you're going to sleep? Want me to sing you a lullaby?"
Typhon somewhat valiantly began to take care of the exhausted Sekhmet. Echidna took a glimpse at their topsy-turvy parent-child relationship, one that she was all too used to seeing, before then batting one of her eyes shut.
"The point Sekhmet brought up now was rather interesting, but you needn't worry about it. I am not going to repeat my past mistakes. The problem I had with those was that I shaved off parts of my soul to make myself fit into the vessel. That's why this time, I shaved off a different part."
"A-A... A different... part... W-Which one?"
"My powers." Echidna said, somewhat regrettably.
She had to regulate how much of herself she could pour into the vessel she called Omega, otherwise she wouldn't fit.
This time around, Echidna had cast aside the powers she had no particular attachment to, in order to preserve herself. Thanks to that, she'd been able to step out from the Sanctuary while still keeping her own identity.
And in exchange for that...
"It seems like I've regrettably lost most of the powers and skills I developed as a Witch. I still have the knowledge, but I don't imagine it will be easy for me to regain my former strength."
"Oh~, is that why that happened~? You ended up burning a bit of the forest straight after you left the graveyard, right~? It did kinda seem like you weren't able to control it at all~" Daphne inquired, a slight sarcasm in her voice.
"――. Yeah, that's why."
"Wait up, why did you hesitate there? Are you sure it wasn't just down to a lack of effort on your part?" Minerva questioned.
Daphne had pointed out the incident where she'd messed up after leaving the Sanctuary as Omega.
When she'd used her magic like in the citadel of dreams, she'd imagined that she would have been able to put out the fire. However, that hadn't been the case. Part of the forest had burnt down as a result, with her almost dying after being caught up in the smoke.
"Of course not. What other reason are you saying it could be?" Echidna responded, feigning innocence.
"It could be that you're a complete dolt! You've always been someone who's quite careless in a lot of respects, ever since the olden days! How many times is it now that you've burnt forests down?" Minerva yelled, not pleased with Echidna's response.
"Not that many. Please don't just spout out whatever you like."
"W-Wasn't there a time... that you went out... i-in public... still wearing your nightgown?" Carmilla supplied once again from the side.
"Who's side are you on Carmilla? Also, I'm thinking that it was you who told Y/N about that event, although that shouldn't be possible..."
Echidna gazed at Carmilla as a look of dissatisfaction appeared on her face, having just been on the receiving end for her past slip-ups. Carmilla however just tilted her head wonderingly in response to her gaze.
"I-I'm... I'm on my own side... Y-You know?"
"...I suppose so. You've always been that way."
Echidna facepalmed as Carmilla put herself first without any shred of hesitation.
Certainly, it was true that she'd set forest fires; and if need be, it was also true that she'd carelessly gone out in public wearing just her nightgown. Even so, the circumstances surrounding Omega now had nothing to do with those things.
The key thing now was that Omega had lost her powers, making her extremely weak and fragile.
"Of course that doesn't apply when I materialize myself, even if it's just for a short amount of time. Most people end up dying from mental breakdowns just by looking at me, thanks to my miasma. It's just that I don't want to make heavy use of it. Anyhow, I..."
"...There's someone you don't want to be found by, right?"
Typhon anticipated what Echidna was going to say, and spoke them for her innocently. The latter didn't bother to deny the point the young Witch had made.
She was speaking the truth. All of the Witches here in the citadel of dreams knew that. It wasn't just Echidna after all.
This someone was an enemy all of the Witches had in common.
The person who they all considered as enemy, is even known by their contractor. Although he does not the full fact, there does indeed exists a reason why the witches all despise that man.
"Anyways, that's why I don't want to stand out. So rather than wandering around on my own and bringing about modern Witch-related legends, I'll..."
"You mean to say it'll be far more convenient for you to mingle in as a trio of female travellers, yeah?" Minerva asked.
"Yeah, pretty much. There's a chance I'm inviting different kinds of dangers, but there's no way anyone would think that a Witch would be moving about with other people. Especially when I'm with Y/N. A hero from the camp of a royal selection candidate's partners would not be questioned for such a 'horrid' status."
"...If you say so."
Her explanation should have made quite a lot of sense, being a valid reason for travelling along with Palmyra and Colette. But it didn't have much of an effect on the others, considering how long they'd known each other.
She did like them, but sometimes, in instances like this, they were such a nuisance.
"By the way, how long do you think it'll take to get your powers back?" Minerva inquired, interested.
"Right, I guess they'll be in a far better state in roughly two to three years. Though that's just an estimate from how I'm seeing it now." Echidna replied, a little disappointment in her voice.
"I see... Then your deadline is two years."
Minerva's compromise had been to set a deadline for the time Echidna spent with the girls. The very fact that she'd set the shortest time possible as the deadline was indeed typical of her good nature. However, with Y/N's involvement in this, maybe she could just allow it. The Warlock of Deceit keeps his promises, after all.
"So, we're moving towards where Y/N said, right?" Minerva asked her fellow Witch, wondering on how things will turn out later on.
"I suppose so, right? Colette and Palmyra seemed fine with it, so I'm just travelling with them for now. Don't be so agitated, Minerva, I can protect them despite my lack of control for magic in my current state. Besides, I'll be going against my promise with Y/N, and I'm sure we all don't want that, do we?"
It was true, since now that boy has became one of their final hopes for survival, and the survival of their ideals.
Having settled on how they were going to deal with the girls, Echidna's interest moved over to the next subject. The other Witches exchanged glances with each other, shrugging their shoulders as they witnessed Echidna coming more and more to life.
A bundle of curiousity, an incarnation of the thirst for knowledge. None other than said person would whisper those words. Yet, from the eyes of her friends, this sort of stuff amounted to nothing more than simple nosiness.
"It terrifies me that your nosiness, hhaa, could quite easily destroy the world, hhuu."
"Whaa? Didn't you say that you were done with talking?"
Typhon caught ear of Sekhmet's exhausted mutter and innocently cocked her head in confusion. Sekhmet gave her hair a brisk ruffle, before placing her hand over her mouth to shush her.
Meanwhile, Minerva was letting out a bunch of "Yeah" and "uh-huh"'s with a disgruntled look on her face as Echidna talked about her plans for the future. Daphne was there, god knows whether she was listening in or not, as well as Carmilla, who'd occasionally interject with some ill-choiced words.
――The Witches' tea party, unleashed on the world, continued to take place for a while to come.
? POV, 3rd Person Ominscient
In the darkness of who-knows where, a pink haired girl in her black robe lied on the floor, staring into the darkness since she couldn't really move.
Her limbs have been cut off for a long time, so she didn't know what to do.
She might fade away soon, since damaged pseudo-spirit bodies are vulnerable to damage.
If she was going to die, what would be her last wish?
She had all she could've possibly wanted. She travelled the world far and wide and saw it from different eras, commanded an army, and learned ancient magic. What else could she possibly want?
A 'defect'. That's what she was. A defect from the other clones that have been created, who went off and wandered the world on her own.
But maybe... there could be one last thing she desired. Emotions. It was a word that she never completely understood, and a feeling she never really felt. If there was a person that could help her with that, then maybe, just maybe...
...she'll feel alive again.
It was at this moment she suddenly noticed a lot of movement in the upper floors. The guards and residents of this almost abandoned mansion never had this much of a haste in their movements, so, why now?
A loud crash sounded overhead, and she suddenly sensed that somebody was attacking the mansion. The entire second and third floors has been blown away, and screams filled the air as she took a deep sigh.
Well, I guess this is my moment. The girl thought as she felt the first floor being blown away as well, the ceiling of the basement opened up, and she saw sunlight for the first time in decades.
"To die in sunlight... what a beautiful scene." She muttered, but fate betrayed expectations.
A black-haired youth entered the basement after he jumped down, and yelled up towards the first floor. "Elsa! Meili! I found her! You guys can clean the rest up now!"
As if a order was received, more chaos ensued upstairs, but the boy did not seem to mind as he made his way towards her.
"You're Sphinx, right?" The boy asked, no source of hostility in his voice, which surprised her, since usually when someone says her name their voice is laced with venom.
"Don't worry, I'm here to get you out, hold on for a moment, okay?"
Huh? He wants to save me? Sphinx was bewildered at the boy's actions, since why would anyone save someone who would turn her allies into the undead and also shoot crazy Yang magic?
With a swift slash of his two swords, the chains restraining Sphinx shattered and disappeared into nothingness. Although this was shocking, what surprised Sphinx even more was the next actions of the young boy.
"Periodic Table Manipulation." The boy muttered softly, and Sphinx's limbs began regrowing, half flesh and half spiritual substance, making energy surge through her systems as she moved her new hand, and looked up at the boy.
He was surprisingly dazzling in a sense, but that just might be the lighting in the room. Her core suddenly felt warm, and for the first time in 300 years, Sphinx felt warmth, and perhaps the thing humans called emotion.
He radiated a feeling similar to the sun, yet it could only warm Sphinx's heart. She experienced the feeling for the first time, and remembered one of her creator's last orders.
You all must obey the Apostle of Greed when that person comes. You'll know who the 'true' Apostle is, since their black pendant will be able to be sensed by you all.
Is he... the legendary 'true' Apostle of Greed?
As if understanding her thoughts, the boy pulls out the exact same obsidian pendant that was foretold. She gasped, and the boy nodded again without meaning.
"Are you...?" Sphinx spoke, her voice coming out as confused, but also expectant.
"My name is Y/N L/N. I am the current Apostle of Greed, Warlock of Deceit and Sloth. I'm here to rescue you, Sphinx. Do you wish to join me, on our new path of Liberation?"
Sphinx had no words, as she was already so shocked by the event. She had tears roll down her cheek for the first time as she stood up and ran into the arms of her saviour.
Thank you... for you are here at last...
Sphinx thanked her creator for this moment, and the word 'emotion' took root in the girl's mind.