Inside the City of Dreams.
Satou Kazuma and Aqua were already sitting at a table, starting to eat and drink wildly.
"You...are you really here because you were worried about Emilia?"
Echidna asked with some doubt.
These two people are just like they're on vacation?
"Echidna, I'm ready."
Emilia took a deep breath and said to Echidna.
"Hmph, you really think you can pass the trial?"
Echidna snorted coldly, and the surrounding environment changed.
Just now it was a green meadow, but it instantly turned into a lush green forest.
The trial is a replay of memories.
"Wow, that's amazing! It's like watching a movie!"
"Speaking of which, it wouldn't be a problem to have Echidna help show movies, right?"
Echidna seemed to want to say something, but Satou Kazuma and Aqua kept interrupting each other, making it impossible for her to say a word for a long time.
Here, it seemed to have become their own movie theater.
Echidna's brow twitched slightly. Just as she was about to speak again, the surrounding environment suddenly changed.
Ice and snow covered everything, and Emilia knelt on the ground in pain.
"As expected, it won't work."
Echidna narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at Emilia in front of her.
Emilia has a part of her memory sealed.
And because she can't get this part of her memory, Emilia can't pass the trial.
All of this is meaningless.
"The trial is over—"
"Huh? What's going on?"
Aqua, holding a bottle of wine, walked to Emilia's side.
"Her trial has failed."
Echidna replied.
"Huh, failed? It feels like it hasn't even started?"
Aqua asked.
"The trial is to replay memories, and Emilia doesn't have that part of her memory, so she can't pass the trial."
"Puck said that before, right?"
Satou Kazuma said.
"But in any case, the trial is over—"
"Huh, wait a minute, can the trial only be challenged once?"
"No, as long as you have the qualifications, you can keep challenging it."
"Oh, then why not just continue challenging it?"
"Um...her mental state probably doesn't support it—"
Before Echidna could finish speaking, Emilia had already stood up.
Huh?
Logically speaking, because her memory is sealed, Emilia's mind should be severely damaged, and she wouldn't be able to challenge the trial again in a short time.
Why does she look fine now?
Echidna's gaze shifted, landing on Aqua.
Did Aqua do something?
"Emilia, are you okay?"
Satou Kazuma asked.
"I...I..."
Emilia's voice trembled slightly. She didn't know what had just happened, but a feeling of fear was growing in her heart.
Just...what's going on?
Emilia's eyes were a little hesitant, and Aqua grabbed Emilia and walked aside.
"Huh? Aqua-sama?"
"The first trial failed, so let's drink and rest for a while! Don't worry, you won't get drunk here."
Aqua said, stuffing a bottle of wine from the table into Emilia's hand.
"I..."
"If you think it's too hard, it's okay too."
"But..."
"It's okay, it's okay to avoid difficulties that can't be overcome! This is the teaching of our Axis Church - it's not you who's wrong, it's the whole world!"
After Aqua finished speaking, she put the wine bottle in her mouth and started gulping it down.
"Although that useless goddess usually doesn't have a good brain, I still agree with what she just said, we can always talk about it later, but useless witch, even if we don't challenge it, can we stay here longer?"
"My name is Echidna!"
"Oh, useless Dona!"
"I'm not useless, ahhhh!"
"No wonder you're Betty's mother, you're really similar in this regard."
"Ughhhh..."
Echidna felt her breathing rhythm, which she had finally calmed down, become chaotic again in an instant.
Hearing Aqua and Satou Kazuma's words, Emilia lowered her head and fell into thought.
She recalled the series of events she had encountered before, almost all of which Aqua and Satou Kazuma had helped her solve.
She owed them a great debt.
But when it came to this matter related to her past, Emilia felt that she absolutely could not back down.
She wanted to know who Geuse really was to her.
She wanted to know what kind of existence Fortuna was to her.
Why did she feel sad when she heard this name?
Emilia desperately wanted to know this.
Then, she picked up the wine bottle, drank it all in one go, and turned to look at Echidna:
"Echidna, I want to challenge again!"
"The result won't change at all, as long as your memory is sealed."
Echidna looked at Emilia without expression and said slowly.
"Then what if we break this seal!"
"It's impossible, it's part of the contract you signed with Puck, it can only be done if the two of you break this contract, are you ready to lose Puck?"
"I..."
Emilia held her crystal pendant tightly.
At this moment, Satou Kazuma spoke up:
"If the contract is broken, can't we just sign a new contract?"
"Oh, I feel like Kazuma is right."
Aqua also immediately agreed.
"Signing a new contract is not easy, you should know what Puck's true form is, right? When you signed the first contract, Puck consumed a lot of his own mana, and ever since then, Puck has basically been consuming his own mana. Your mana is not enough to support his actions, which is why he can only appear during the day sometimes. To sign a new contract, it will take a lot of mana, and your mana reserves are not enough!"
Echidna replied.
"Huh! Then I have a way!"
Satou Kazuma suddenly remembered something and said to Emilia,
"You can rest assured about this, I really have a way to solve it!"
"A solution?"
Echidna's face was full of confusion.
No matter what method, it's impossible to replenish so much mana in a short period of time.
Even Echidna can't do it.
"Kazuma-sama, I believe in you."
Emilia took a deep breath, and her expression became incredibly serious again.
However, her eyes seemed to have changed, becoming more determined than before.
"Puck, please wait for me a little bit, I will definitely come to find you."
Emilia's face showed a smile, and at the same time, she let go of the hand holding the crystal pendant.
The contract, cancelled.
"Lia, you can stand on your own now."
Emilia seemed to hear Puck's voice ringing in her ears.
As the seal ended, Emilia could feel some memories flooding into her mind.
Echidna looked at Emilia, remained silent for a moment, and then sighed.
"Then, let the trial begin."
The surrounding scene changed, and Emilia's past was also shown.
Geuse and Fortuna were like adoptive parents to Emilia.
They had been living a happy life in the great forest.
Until one day, two people broke into their lives.
Greed Archbishop Regulus.
And the Vainglory Witch Pandora.
In the end, Geuse used the Sloth Factor to protect the people around him, but because of Pandora's power, he mistakenly killed Fortuna, causing a mental breakdown, and was eventually brainwashed by Pandora, becoming the Sloth Archbishop.
Emilia's power went out of control and froze everything around her. Even Pandora was helpless and eventually chose to seal Emilia's memory.
This is one of the reasons why Emilia couldn't remember her past.
And later, Puck added another layer of seal to the contract in order to prevent Emilia from remembering these painful memories.
"The trial is over, you can choose to leave on your own."
Echidna said slowly, and then her figure disappeared, leaving only a huge door in the City of Dreams.
This is the door back to the real world.
"That Pandora, you can tell that she's not a good person!"
Aqua said angrily.
Satou Kazuma fell into thought.
He strongly agreed with Aqua's views.
Compared to Satella, Pandora was more like the final BOSS.
Geuse and Satella's situations were similar.
Although the compatibility between the witch factor and the body was indeed not good, Geuse actually became Petelgeuse step by step under Pandora's brainwashing.
Then could Satella's rampage into the Witch of Envy also be related to Pandora?
Satou Kazuma was a little unsure. He had to find Pandora to get the answer.
"But where did that useless witch go? Can she still go outside the City of Dreams?"
Satou Kazuma was a little puzzled.
"Aqua-sama! Kazuma-sama! Let's go out!"
"Yeah."
Passing through the door left by Echidna, Satou Kazuma and the others had returned to the real world.
"Huh, the door here is open?"
Emilia pointed to somewhere inside the building. A huge door had appeared where it should have been locked.
They immediately walked in.
It was a wide, enclosed space.
And a crystal coffin was set in the middle.
The dead Echidna lay quietly in the crystal coffin. Her body hadn't rotted at all, as if she was just asleep.
But...
"Strange?"
Satou Kazuma frowned, looking at Echidna,
"The useless witch in here seems to be a few years older?"
"I don't see any difference? No, there seems to be a little difference."
Aqua scratched her head and watched carefully for a long time.
"Bakazuma, are you okay?"
At this moment, Beatrice and the others also rushed here in a hurry.
Just now, they saw the light of the ruins disappearing from outside, so they knew that the trial was over, and they didn't have to worry about the danger of not having the qualifications.
"We have successfully completed it."
Satou Kazuma said to Beatrice.
"Bakazuma, really!"
After Beatrice confirmed that Satou Kazuma was okay, she turned to look at the crystal coffin next to her,
"Mother, long time no see..."
"Teacher..."
Roswaal slowly walked to the crystal coffin, his gaze focused on Echidna's face, as if countless emotions had poured up in an instant.
He quickly adjusted his emotions, and then turned to look at Aqua:
"Aqua-sama, may I ask...can you do it? Revive the teacher?"
Beatrice next to her was also holding her breath, looking at Aqua.
"Of course! This is a piece of cake for this goddess!"
Aqua proudly puffed out her chest and walked to the crystal coffin, reaching out her hand.
A holy light emerged.
Beatrice and Roswaal's hearts were full of anticipation.
But at this moment, Aqua stopped her action.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong, Aqua-sama?"
Roswaal quickly stepped forward to ask.
"The soul and the body are not quite matched."
Aqua replied.
"What do you mean?"
"It means that this person's soul shouldn't be in this body, no, no, it's that the soul isn't complete! Although it can still be revived, the revived person will also have a lot of differences in personality. It's my first time encountering this situation."
"In that case, the Echidna here is different from the one I saw in the City of Dreams."
Satou Kazuma replied.
"Some differences? May I ask what your teacher looked like?"
Roswaal's tone became a little hurried.
"Talent goddess, I'm counting on you, you always carry paper and pens with you, right?"
"Leave it to me!"
Then Aqua took out paper and pen and began to draw, like a camera, drawing what she had seen before.
Obviously, the Echidna in the picture was a little younger than the one lying in the coffin now.
Roswaal looked at the drawing on the paper with a serious expression. After a long silence, he nodded in sudden realization:
"I see, I understand."
"Understand what?"
"Teacher once researched a method of transferring souls. She chose mana as a container, and I chose blood - the teacher's experiment seemed to have failed at the time, but it didn't actually fail. It was because the storage capacity of mana as a container was too small, so the copied soul was not complete enough, and the teacher had to abandon a part of it."
"Then do you want to continue the revival?"
"The revived person won't be the real teacher. We must find the remnants of that soul."
"Oh, then there's nothing for me to do here—huh, strange?"
Aqua tilted her head in confusion,
"Why is the soul gone now?"