SHK CH 774 (Patreon)

Hypnos thought before rejecting that possibility.

There existed an infinite number of possibilities and an infinite number of parallel universes. It was impossible in such a vast cloud of possibilities that only one universe had what she dreamed of.

Thinking like this, he couldn’t help but sigh. The Witch Queen had been a problem, but at least he could understand why she was able to break out.

“You having a hard time? Let me guess, Ambrosia woke up?” She snickered. 

“Why bring Ambrosia? It could have been Anubis.”

Echidna scoffed. “Anubis won’t move. He doesn’t plan to fight that Euphoria. He will leave that to Ambrosia. He is pretty selfish, you know. If it were the wedding of his daughter you crashed, he would have gone insane, but currently he is just joining for the fun.”

“You seem to insinuate that he could leave that place at any moment.”

“Haha…” 

The look of pity Echidna gave made him even more irate.

“We are people who committed multiple taboos in our search for the Truth of this world. We have done things you could not even dare to imagine.”

She waved her hand. “The other two love to call me crazy or whatever. But trust me, you truly underestimate the depth of our madness and power. After all, we were once ready to destroy the entire world for our goals.”

Echidna always found it amusing how people perceived them.

Anubis caused the death of millions upon millions of people and the fall of thousands of empires throughout the universe, all for his goal.

Ambrosia was a woman who once wished to reduce the world to ashes, and now she wished to become all-knowing. 

She had caused the birth of hundreds of witches despite knowing what awaited them and was slowly conquering the Astral Realm through them.

“It’s kinda unfair, you know? Anubis gets to transform millions of people into undead and even steal a part of the afterlife, but people call him an unsung hero. Meanwhile, I just brought forward a few wars for a measly thousand years, meddled a little with life by creating a chimera, and people act like I'm the worst blight in existence.”

What is that crazy woman talking about? Hypnos wondered.

“You just thought I was crazy, right? It’s a look I easily recognize.”

“I apologize. I was simply startled. Now about the deal—”

“I refuse,” Echidna interjected.

“I have yet to bring forth my proposal.”

“No reason to listen. My choice is already made.”

“Are you sure? I assure you—”

“Let me guess. Something something. Help us and we will give you back your body or something like this?”

“…” 

“Bingo, it seems. Well, it isn’t hard to guess. The Wing of Freedom has Lustburg's divine weapon, and that weapon is the key to unsealing my body.”

“Then why not join us. Are you now loyal to the prince?”

“There is no such thing as loyalty between us. I am not his servant.”

“Then…”

“I simply like being on the side that is winning.”

“I do not understand.” Hypnos frowned. It was one thing for Echidna to refuse him. But the reason she gave left him baffled.

“While I admit that the prince has very powerful allies by his side. At the end of the day, they are no match for us. You should know, Euphoria is just the start. More and more of us will ascend back to our Divine position and beyond.”

“That is true.” Echidna nodded.

“Even now, two of your strongest fighters are barely a match for Euphoria alone, and she is still getting accustomed to her power. She is also considerably holding back from destroying the world.”

“You are right. A goddess is still a goddess, from what Sol said. Even a False Goddess like Tiamat could only reach a draw with Luxuria. Ambrosia has not yet entered the threshold of False God, and Lilith isn’t even a demigod yet in the proper sense.” Echidna gave a cold assessment of the situation with no hesitation.

“Yet despite knowing all that, you still proclaim to follow the side that is going to win?” He asked once again in disbelief.

Echidna smiled. It was a soft and beautiful smile, different from the crazy ones she always exhibited.

“Do you want to know why?”

“Will you tell me?”

“Of course not!!”

Echidna laughed out loud with her arm around her belly. Why in the hell would she explain her reasoning and risk enlightening her opponent?

It would be the height of stupidity.

Inwardly, though, her reason was clear. It wasn’t just because she knew Sol was the literal reincarnation of the god creator that brought the Fall of the gods eons ago.

The reason was simple, really.

Hypnos’ dreams were powerful, but they were limited by reality. His Elysium could not bring forth the impossible.

But Sol dared to dream of the impossible and actually made it possible.

Between someone who could make anything possible within the confines of logic and someone who laughed at logic and made the impossible possible.

The one she needed to follow was more than clear enough.

There was also the fact that Sol placed a bomb in her soul. But that was just a minor matter, really.

As for her body? 

She had no attachment to it. She simply needed to create a new and better one after Sol’s punishment for her ended.

Surely you will reduce my sentence now that I rejected the enemy’s proposal, right? Sol.

She grinned as she felt her soul pulse and her vision change. 

Why had she not left the dream even though she could have done so at any moment?

Why did she waste her time talking with Hypnos even though she had no intention of joining his side?

In the first place, why had Sol given her power even though they all knew it would not have been enough for her to be of any help during the fight?

“Thank you. Echidna. I won’t forget this.” Sol’s voice sounded close to her ear, and she could now see him standing next to her while Hypnos’ eyes widened in incomprehension.

This was why.

Truly, she would rather die than have Sol as an enemy.