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Persephone was not a good and gentle person. Far from it. She had mellowed greatly over the years but one only needed to remember that she was so vicious she managed to tear down the confidence of someone like the Elf Queen.

“Poison Princess, huh? A title I have not heard in years. Yet this is not the topic. Lady Echidna, I would like to ask you one question. Do you regret your action?” Persephone’s voice was soft as she forced herself to calm down.

“I do not.”

“Even though your action caused the death of so many innocents?” Persephone asked again.

“In front of the Evolution of our species as a whole, all lives are inconsequential. Even my own.”

Persephone closed her mouth. She realized that she was speaking to a Lunatic. Trying to reason with such people was nothing but a waste of time.

“If you had a chance to change the past would you do so?”

“Never.” Echidna gave a dismissive snort, “The sealing helped me realize a new understanding of the Soul. Trying to overtake Nuwa’s body, made me witness a new world I had never thought was possible. Two souls cohabiting in one body. How marvelous is this and more importantly, I was able to find him.”

She gave one look at Sol, her eyes glowing with ardent fervor, “I regret nothing. Because all my actions and decisions led me to the current situation. The result of so many coincidences, there will most likely never be other beings like him. Can you even understand how marvelous this is? Soon a new age will be ushered by this man and all you will be able to partake in this. All of this is thanks to me.”

Her words seemed like the rambling of a madwoman but her eyes showed that her mind was not clouded, “Can you not feel it? All of you are advancing faster than you would have in years. New insights, new chances, new opportunities. All of this is because of one person. Why should I feel regret? In fact, shouldn’t you thank me?”

“You are quite the shameless woman,” Camelia spoke, but Echidna simply shrugged.

“Hate me, reject me, kill me. Nothing can change the facts. As a former Supreme Daughter, you should have a better understanding of Fate than many here. Do you think everything that happened would have done so if his parents were alive, for example?”

Camelia stayed silent. It was not hard to think about. If Blaze and Mars were still alive, there would have been no such thing as fear of rebellion or lack of powerhouse.

Gorfard might have never even thought about rebelling. Camelia herself would have never made a bet with the goddesses. Lupus would not have declared war on them and even the attack of the wings of freedom would have been very different since Mars would have been there to fight Nihil.

Sol would not have entered the Phoenix territory without her bet with the goddesses which means no contract with Isis nor connection with Scheherazade.

The more she thought about this the more awful her expression became. She felt like she was being fed a rotten egg but she had no way but to eat it even if it disgusted her.

Massaging her forehead, she gave a look at her friends and companion and made her decision.

“Why don’t we each give one punishment to her? I believe this is the best way to slightly satisfy us.” Camelia knew that more discussion was useless. It would only make them feel worse.

Like Persephone, Camelia realized that discussing with someone crazy was nothing but a waste of time.

Theresa nodded and was the first to say what she wanted, “I simply want one thing. She must leave Nuwa’s body. This is my desire.” She trusted Sol. But not so much that she would gamble the life of Nuwa.

“I will separate them.” Sol nodded and Echidna did not protest. At the current moment, trying to occupy Nuwa’s body was useless either way.

Pandora raised her hand, “Since we will make her leave Nuwa’s body. Why not use the body of that vampire? I have already extracted all the information I needed and now she is basically brain dead.”

“Oh?” Sol was indeed interested. It had only happened a month ago, but he felt like it was a few years now since the attack by the wings of freedom “I suppose there is a catch…”

“Obviously.” Pandora gave a look at Persephone and the two seemed to share some kind of information.

“I will use my most potent poison on this body. It will not inflict any pain.  But she will need to take an antidote regularly.” Persephone said.

“Also, I will impose a slave seal on that body. One of the most powerful possible. I have always wanted a servant of great renown. What better than having a Supreme Daughter serve me?” Pandora let out a chilling laugh causing Echidna to glare at her.

“Personally. I feel unsatisfied and I am sure many of us feel the same. I wish I could cut you down right here and now and reduce your soul to nothingness. Still, I will not go against Sol’s decision.” Lilith carefully articulated her words before looking at Sol.

“Since she will become a slave. I do not ask for much. I want her to clean the martyr monument in the cemetery. All the tombstones caused by her actions in that war need to be without the slightest dust and that for as long as she lives. Obviously, she also needs to clean Mars and Blaze tombstones.” Lilith gave the punishment she deemed the most fitting. She knew that that action could not change what had already happened. But this was a small consolation.

Arachne raised her hand, “And said what she wished for. Destroy all the mana veins in that body, pull out its energy horns, and reduce the core to fragment. Make her a cripple no different from a human who cannot even use mana.” Her hatred was the highest in the place. But she could not go against Sol. Since this was the case, she would make sure that Echidna lived the most miserable life possible.

Until now, Echidna had managed to stay calm. She had to admit that she had not seen this one coming. Her fingers twitched a little, wishing to slap those women to death. The fact that those insects dared to judge her like this was nothing but a great humiliation for Echidna.

Theresa let out a low whistle after listening to Arachne, “As expected of you. I knew you were the most vicious of us.” She said so but the joy on her face was in no way hidden.

Sol scratched his cheek. Truly hell hath no fury like the wrath of a woman scorned.

 This punishment was undoubtedly one of the worst possible. From a demigod to a mortal with no mana. He was starting to wonder if this wasn’t a form of torture in itself.

In the end, all eyes fell on Camelia. She was the last one.

“What I want is twofold really.” She smiled, “Give us your Kingdom in its entirety. Nominate Nuwa as the Holy daughter of Gluttony. It should be more than enough.”

Then she looked at Sol. “I also wish to destroy her main body. Let's leave no possibility of coming back.”

She smiled like a saint but in a way, her words were no less vicious than those of Arachne.

Still, Sol could see that even in the moment when rage filled her heart, her first thought was always to make sure Sol received more advantage.

“Everyone has spoken.”

Sol stood up and gazed at everyone present. His eyes filled with apologies, “Because of me all of you guys made a great compromise. I cannot even imagine how much it must have cost you.”

Sol had coerced them in many ways; by limiting their choices and the way they could punish Echidna and he would not be surprised if they felt some resentment toward him.

Echidna’s knowledge was simply too precious to simply discard. Sol could read Echidna's soul but having the information without having the mind and thoughts process was useless.

Now that he was a King, her value had lowered slightly but who knew what could happen. At the very least, until he became a god, he had to use everything at his disposal.

At the moment, all they had was pure theory after all and even Sol could not say with 100% certainty that he would become a god.

“So let me resume her punishment. One, separate her from Nuwa. Two put her in that vampire body. Three, enslave her. Four, poison her. Five, cripple her. Six, make her clean the tombstones. Seven, have her officially nominate Nuwa as her successor. Eight, destroy her true body. Anything else?”

The women looked at each other before shaking their heads but Camelia stopped for a short moment before raising her hand.

“I forgot to add. I believe none of us ever stopped you from adding anyone in the harem. At the end of the day, it’s your decision. But…Not her. Never, Ever touch her. I beg you.”

Camelia could accept almost anyone. But if he was to add Echidna in the harem, she had the feeling that she would go crazy. She could not force Sol to listen to her nor did she wish to try. But she hoped that he would listen to her on this.

Sol was startled but he simply gave a wry smile, “I had no intention in the first place.”

Sol loved crazy women. But not that crazy. Furthermore, sleeping with the murderer of his parents would have been too messed up, even for him and he already knew how this would negatively impact his own harem.

Camelia let out a sigh of relief and so did the others. They had not thought about it before Camelia brought the situation up. But indeed, they would have rioted if Sol decided to have some physical relationship with Echidna.

Echidna observed everything that was happening in silence. She had no intention to beg for leniency.

She could see bleak days ahead of her. Wealth, power, authority. She would lose everything she had.

But, the most important was that she managed to keep her life and as long as she was alive ---She could observe Sol’s ascension to godhood.

Nothing else mattered.

For this sole goal, she was ready to sacrifice everything.