"How incredible!" After coming to her senses with a flushed face, Echidna wasn't focused on the fact that Fujino had kissed her, but rather on the sea of unfathomable knowledge Fujino had given her. Echidna even Felt that she might not be able to absorb all of this vast, ocean-like knowledge.
"How does it feel?" Fujino smiled, looking quite happy. Echidna's reaction was quite novel and interesting to her.
"It's wonderful!"
Echidna said excitedly, reaching out to grip Fujino's hand tightly, staring at her with a burning gaze like that of a fanatic.
Fujino could feel the heat in Echidna's heart from her gaze. If that heat were to manifest as actual flames, its power would certainly not be small.
"I'm glad you like it." Fujino smiled and stroked Echidna's hair. It Felt different from Satella's or Emilia's, but like every girl in Fujino's harem, it was very well-maintained.
"Heehee." Enjoying Fujino's caress, Echidna smiled happily. If the people of the world were to see one of the legendary Sinful Arch-Witch, Echidna, like this, their jaws would surely drop in shock and never be able to close again.
"By the way, Master, Satella is with you, right?" Echidna looked up and asked. Possessing the book of wisdom, she was also aware of Satella's whereabouts.
"That's right," Fujino nodded in admission. Although everything about her in Echidna's book of wisdom was written by Fujino personally, most of the records were true. After all, they weren't important matters, and Fujino wouldn't waste energy writing other things.
"I know you don't like Satella, but I think you should also be very clear about why she did what she did back then. In the end, that matter cannot be blamed on her," Fujino said calmly.
Satella actually has two personalities, a fact known to all the Sinful Arch-Witch. The two personalities can be categorized as the Witch Satella and the normal Satella. The personality of the Witch Satella is the true reason why Satella is known to the world as the Witch of Envy. It's like two sides of a coin, black and white; the Witch Satella represents the dark side and is called Evil, possessing immense power—so powerful that even all the other Witches combined could hardly match her. Meanwhile, the normal Satella is the white side, called Good; due to her personality, she is relatively weaker, ranking in the upper-middle among the Witches.
Under normal circumstances, the Good personality of Satella is the one active, while the Evil personality, the Witch Satella, remains dormant within the body, only emerging when needed, such as when the Good side loses control or in other special situations.
The reason Satella devoured half the world and became the enemy of the world back then was that she fell victim to a scheme. The Good side was injured and fell into a slumber, while the Evil side awakened and became incredibly violent and devoid of reason. Thus, the out-of-control Satella became the enemy of the world and, in her madness, killed the other Witches and devoured half the world. It was also because the out-of-control Satella killed Echidna and the other Witches that Echidna hated her existence so much. In the original story, when Emilia and the others came to the Sanctuary to undergo Echidna's trials, Echidna treated Emilia very poorly because she looked exactly like Satella, causing her a lot of suffering.
Later, the out-of-control Satella, who had devoured half the world, was heavily injured by a combined, life-risking attack from the Dragon God, the Sword Saint, and the Great Mage. Finally, the Dragon God and the others worked together to seal her away.
The sealed, out-of-control Evil personality eventually vanished completely after enduring for a period of time, due to the severe injuries and the attacks from the Dragon God and others, as well as the secret intervention of the world will, which deeply hated Satella for devouring half the world. Only the sleeping Good personality remained. Since both the Good and Evil personalities were fundamentally part of Satella, after the Evil personality vanished, the power it held did not disappear; instead, it was unconsciously and completely absorbed by the Good personality of the same origin.
Therefore, the Satella currently in Fujino's hands is the Good personality. This is also why Satella, who is known as a Witch, wants to atone for those who died back then. Because of her kindness, Satella cannot bear the evil consequences she caused, even if it happened because she was schemed against; the Good personality still takes all the sin upon herself.
"..." Echidna fell silent for a moment, then nodded, indicating she understood. She also realized that Satella's actions couldn't be entirely blamed on her, and she knew the truth well, but seeing her sisters die at Satella's hands back then would make anyone harbor hatred.
The silence only lasted for a short while. Now that she had gained a vast amount of knowledge, Echidna wouldn't dwell on those past hatreds. In Echidna's heart, knowledge always came first!
Although her sisters' lives were also important, in the face of knowledge, they could all step aside!
"Alright, let's go," Fujino said.
"Okay... wait! Master, I am still a spirit body; I can't go outside the Sanctuary," Echidna said helplessly. After dying at Satella's hands, she had been acting as a spirit body; her physical body had long been destroyed by Satella, and as a spirit body, she could not leave the Sanctuary's barrier.
"Are you stupid?" Fujino looked at Echidna playfully.
"Eh!" Hearing someone call her stupid for the first time, Echidna was completely dazed. This was a word she had never heard used to describe her before.
"I have the power to break the barrier directly; do you think I don't have the power to take you with me as a spirit body? Besides, haven't you noticed yet? Are you really still a spirit body now?"
The series of questions left Echidna even more confused, but she quickly came to her senses and checked her body, only to discover in surprise that she was no longer existing as a spirit body, but truly had a body of flesh and blood!
"Have you finally noticed?" Fujino smiled and walked up to Echidna, reaching out to pinch her soft cheek and pulling it outward slightly. While playing with her, she explained to Echidna: "The Flame of God has the ability to repair everything. A mere body is naturally nothing for the Flame of God. From the moment you touched the Flame of God earlier, it restored your body for you, but you were so completely captivated by the Flame of God that you didn't notice."
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