Cold. Shivering.
When Echidna opened her eyes, she found a glass-like spherical cage, her entire body submerged in a pale green solution within it.
Her limbs were weak, her breathing shallow, and though her consciousness was clear, it was severely sluggish.
In this state, Echidna heard a voice filled with emotion.
"Quite the pitiful sight, Echidna."
Echidna raised her eyebrows, straining to glance in the direction of the voice.
Through the transparent glass, she saw many familiar faces.
Emilia, whose face still looked as annoyingly long as ever.
Puck, the artificial spirit she had personally created, in his cat form.
A gentle, unfamiliar woman with a butterfly hair ornament.
And the handsome black-haired, black-eyed young man who had just spoken to her, now gazing at her with calm eyes.
Seeing this, Echidna slowly used her Spiritual Power to connect with the air, speaking through the glass:
"Quite the words of a victor~"
"Should I say 'nice to meet you'? Mr Luo Shu."
Luo Shu arched an eyebrow, studying Echidna, who was still smiling despite being soaked in anaesthetic fluid:
"Is that all you have to say?"
"Of course not."
Echidna seemed to regain some strength, though it wasn't her doing—Dr. Tabane Shinonono, monitoring her condition remotely, had reduced the anaesthetic's effect to allow her to speak more clearly.
At that moment, Echidna uttered crude words with a smile:
"What I want most right now is to take this solution I'm soaking in and pour it all down your throat!"
Luo Shu remained unfazed by Echidna's outburst.
After stripping away the Demigod authority she had painstakingly attained, a few insults were to be expected. Frankly, Luo Shu found Echidna's cursing skills rather lacking.
If it were him, he would have launched into a tirade targeting the opponent's mother and ancestors with the precision of a seasoned veteran.
"So, Miss Echidna's current wish is to invite me for some Echidna Tea?"
Hearing this, Echidna's eyes flickered briefly before she fixed Luo Shu with a meaningful gaze:
"You know me?"
Echidna Tea—the term was something even Echidna barely remembered.
After all, it was from before she crossed the Abyss and arrived in this world.
In her previous world, her methods hadn't been as refined. To monitor someone she wanted to observe, she would use her bodily fluids—blood, hair, or similar substances—as a medium, tricking them into consuming it.
Given the difficulty and cost of collection, Echidna had always used her frequently shed hair to brew the so-called Echidna Tea.
Naturally, with her mischievous nature, she would deliberately imply to those who piqued her interest that the tea was made from bodily fluids.
But this was something only the witches she had toyed with would know.
Echidna's black eyes turned icy as she stared at Luo Shu. Finally, she closed them, reopening them with calm resignation:
"It seems my loss was deserved."
An opponent who knew her intimately, yet whom she knew nothing about.
Faced with such an adversary, Echidna understood perfectly well why she had lost.
Faced with Echidna, who now seemed resigned to her fate, Puck floated over and asked with a serious expression:
"Ah, though I'd very much like to ask what exactly our relationship is, right now, such trivial matters are hardly worth questioning."
After sighing, Puck pressed on gravely: "Echidna, where have you hidden that pureblood demon you stole?"
"It should exist, shouldn't it? That 'person' you've concealed—the one attempting to ascend to Demigod."
Hearing this, Luo Shu turned his head to glance at Emilia.
At that moment, Emilia leaned closer to Luo Shu and explained in a hushed voice:
"Earlier, Dr Tabane Shinonono and I worked together to unlock Echidna's memories. We discovered that she seems to have handed over the pureblood demon's body to someone attempting to ascend to Demigod along the same Class as her teacher."
"However, just as we were about to investigate further, Echidna sealed away that portion of her memories..."
As she spoke, Emilia's expression turned troubled.
Though Echidna's authority had been stripped away, she was once a true Demigod.
Thus, with Echidna actively sealing her own memories, Emilia truly had no means to lift that blockade...
And yet, those very memories held information about a witch on the verge of ascending to Demigod.
If left undiscovered, the threat posed by a hidden Demigod lurking in the shadows was something the Familia simply couldn't afford.
Meanwhile, after hearing Emilia's explanation, Luo Shu pondered briefly before turning back to Echidna and saying:
"You gave the pureblood demon's body to Betty, didn't you?"
"Betty?" Hearing this, Puck—who had been preparing to interrogate Echidna—was instantly stunned.
Even Emilia widened her eyes and covered her lips:
"Betty-san... how could that be..."
"Betty... who is that?" Kanae Kocho tilted her head in confusion.
In response, Puck replied with visible unease: "She's... a little sister I took in. But she shouldn't have come to this world from the Abyss... wait, sister..."
Puck's feline face shifted through a series of expressions before finally settling into dawning comprehension. With a complicated look, he stared at Echidna and said:
"I see now..."
"So, what should I call you? Mother?"
Echidna merely glanced at Puck before letting out a soft, mocking laugh:
"Finally realised, have you? It seems the seal I placed on your memories is nearly undone."
Echidna readily admitted to being Puck's creator, though she couldn't help feeling a trace of resentment towards this 'adopted child' who had followed Emilia for years.
But now, such things no longer mattered.
Turning her gaze to Luo Shu, Echidna curled her lips into a derisive smile:
"You deliberately spared me because you want that thing, don't you?"
"That book which knows all—the Tome of Wisdom."
Faced with Echidna's mockery, Luo Shu's lips twitched upwards as he scoffed:
"Sorry to disappoint, but you guessed wrong!"
With a casual wave of his hand, a dictionary-like book with an azure cover materialised in his grasp.
Gripping the blue tome, Luo Shu sneered at Echidna and said, "Echidna, your Tome of Wisdom never said there was only one copy, did it?"