"Gone? What do you mean gone?"
Roswaal was having trouble understanding Aqua's words.
"Normally, as long as someone dies and isn't revived, reborn, or completely destroyed, I can find their soul and put it back in their body."
Aqua said, gesturing with her hands.
This was a little beyond Roswaal's understanding, but Satou Kazuma knew that Aqua could indeed do that sort of thing.
"But I can't find Echidna's soul, you know? Did she revive herself or something!"
Hearing Aqua's words, Satou Kazuma fell into thought.
Echidna revived herself?
That shouldn't be.
If she could do that, she should have done it a long time ago.
Why wait until the trials were over and the Sanctuary was freed?
But after Emilia's trial ended, Echidna disappeared.
That woman is definitely up to something!
Satou Kazuma's brain was working fast.
Suddenly, he realized something—
If it wasn't revival or rebirth, there was another possibility.
That Echidna had moved her soul into another body, like taking over.
The reason she hadn't left the Dream Castle before was because the Sanctuary's barrier hadn't been broken, and the body she'd chosen couldn't leave this place.
In other words, Echidna must still be in the Sanctuary.
We can't let that woman escape?!
The beautiful dream you promised me hasn't come true yet, how can I let you sneak away?
Satou Kazuma turned to look at Aqua, who was also looking serious and frowning.
"Useless goddess, what are you doing?"
"I'm thinking too, alright!"
"It's unbelievable to hear those words coming from your mouth!"
"Because Echidna can make me sake to drink!"
"I see. So do you have any idea?"
When it came to anything related to sake, Aqua was unusually motivated.
"I think she might have moved her soul somewhere else... Kazuma, why are you looking at me like that?"
At that moment, Satou Kazuma's face was filled with shock, his eyes wide as he stared at Aqua.
"I, I didn't think that such reliable words could come out of your mouth, useless goddess?"
"You're going to be punished by the heavens!"
Satou Kazuma ignored Aqua's anger and turned to look at Roswaal:
"Roswaal, please gather everyone in the Sanctuary. I have a feeling that the useless witch might be hiding among them."
"Um... wait a moment, Kazuma-sama, what did you say just now?"
"I said Echidna. You must have heard something else. There's no time to lose, go quickly!"
.....
Soon after, everyone in the Sanctuary was brought before Satou Kazuma and the others.
Looking at the dense crowd of people in front of him, Satou Kazuma frowned.
All the residents of the Sanctuary were demi-humans.
But he wasn't concerned about them. He was concerned about the countless small girls lined up next to the residents.
They all had the same face as Bilma, as if they were copied and pasted.
"Hey, hey, what's going on here?"
Satou Kazuma turned and asked.
"They're all clones based on the original, just like me."
Meyer said slowly.
Next to her were two identical clones.
Ryuzu and Meyer.
Then Meyer told Satou Kazuma the whole story.
They were all clones of Ryuzu's original body.
The original was called Ryuzu Meyer, a half-elf girl who had been adopted by Echidna. She was close to Beatrice, which was why Beatrice's heart wavered when she first saw Bilma.
The Sanctuary was originally a shelter that Echidna wanted to create. After she created the Sanctuary, she was always looking for a core to act as the center. Only with a core could the Sanctuary's barrier be activated.
And Ryuzu's mana had a high affinity with the Sanctuary, so she was the perfect choice to be the core of the Sanctuary's barrier.
To save the Sanctuary from a crisis at the time, Ryuzu volunteered to be sealed in the magic crystal, using her body as the core, continuing to this day.
It could be said that everything in the Sanctuary relied on Ryuzu's original body to function.
The other Ryuzu clones were a product of Echidna's research on immortality. She hoped to achieve eternal life by transferring souls to new containers. Unfortunately, Echidna died before the experiment was completed, leaving only these clones living in the Sanctuary.
"Mother created us in the beginning, and only four of us were given personality and names to manage the other Ryuzus—there should have been one before us, but she's no longer here."
Meyer said slowly.
Hearing Meyer words, Roswaal's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he whispered in a voice that only he could hear.
"Sphinx..."
Roswaal knew of the existence of the first clone.
The Demi-Human War was caused by her, a truly terrible incident.
She was the first test subject for Echidna's soul transfer.
But it failed.
Sphinx's mana wasn't enough to hold all of Echidna's soul. In the end, she only inherited the cold part of Echidna's personality as the Witch of Greed, and even more so.
She wouldn't hesitate to use any means to achieve her goals, even killing her own people as test subjects. The entire Demi-Human War was even one of her experiments.
Even if Sphinx was Echidna's creation, and even had a part of Echidna's soul, in Roswaal's eyes, she could never become his teacher.
But Sphinx should have died in the Demi-Human War.
Should have...
While Roswaal was thinking, Satou Kazuma was looking at Ryuzu's clones with a complicated expression.
He was just about to speak when he was interrupted by Beatrice:
"Bakazuma, if you're going to bring up boring young girl topics again, then please just shut your mouth!"
"That's, that's not what I was going to say!"
Satou Kazuma said,
"I was just saying, since these clones were originally Echidna's containers for soul transfer, I have a feeling that she might have mixed in among them—Meyer-chan, is the number of these clones correct?"
Meyer, was Satou Kazuma's counterattack against the nickname the other gave him.
"Meyer-chan... you little brat, are you calling me Meyer-chan?"
A look of disbelief flashed in Meyer's eyes, but she quickly replied,
"The number is correct."
"Then could the useless witch be hiding among them?"
Satou Kazuma looked around thoughtfully, then asked again,
"Meyer-chan, you just said that there should be four people in charge of management, why do I only see three of you now?"
"There's also Omega, but because she violated the Sanctuary's rules, she was stripped of her qualification as an observer and can only act with the other clones..."
At the same time, among the countless Ryuzu clones, a pair of eyes were watching Satou Kazuma and Aqua with great vigilance.
"As expected, not having a body for hundreds of years makes it hard to adjust to anything."
The voice belonged to Echidna.
At this moment, she had taken over Omega's body, using it as her body to reappear in the world.
Ten years ago, she had already injected a part of her soul into this body, and then gradually injected more, slowly turning it into her own.
Because the clones were also half-elves, Echidna couldn't leave the Sanctuary even if she controlled this body.
But with the barrier released, Echidna could also leave.
Although Echidna knew that Aqua had the ability to revive the dead, Echidna wasn't planning on being revived obediently.
After all, she knew that the current herself wasn't the 'true her'.
What's more, Echidna didn't want to stay by Aqua's side.
She might lose her life.
But even so, Echidna still had an incredibly strong curiosity about Satou Kazuma and Aqua, a strong desire that had never existed before and was enough to destroy the world.
Echidna planned to act discreetly later on, secretly observing everything about Satou Kazuma.
She had planned to sneak away from the Sanctuary while everyone's attention was on her corpse, but Echidna, who had been in a soul state for a long time, was still a little unaccustomed to this body. Not to mention running, even walking was a bit difficult. If she continued to run, she would definitely be discovered, so Echidna planned to mix in with the other Ryuzu clones first, and then look for an opportunity to leave after she completely adjusted to the way this body moved.
But...
"Being in a soul state for a long time means I don't have enough control over my body. I just fell, and it hurts!"
Echidna complained softly.
"It's all your fault for being so engrossed in yourself, Dona. You're still such a child, I can't rely on you at all."
Just then, Typhon's voice rang in her ears.
Echidna lowered her head and looked at her chest, where a string of magic stone necklaces was hanging.
The souls of the other sin archbishops were inside.
"Although I don't want to be called a child, I'm speechless..."
Echidna sighed and complained.
She had used Ryuzu's clone body and had also become a child.
"Dona Dona can't even run away? That's so funny! And after becoming a child, your breasts seem to be even smaller, right?"
"Shut up, aren't yours smaller than mine!"
"I was still a young girl when I died, there's still room to grow, as long as I eat my fill every day! Unlike Dona Dona, who has already reached the end of her development, right?"
"D, don't, that, Daphne, chan... Echidna, chan, is, isn't small, not small, right."
Camilla's timid, stuttering voice also appeared in Echidna's ears.
"Enough, enough!"
Echidna sighed, trying to block out the voices in her head.
She just needed to hide herself now, pretending to be an ordinary clone.
Once she found an opportunity, she would run away quickly.
That way, she could safely 'observe'.
If she stayed next to someone like Aqua... it would be too dangerous.
Maybe some part of her body would be crushed—, maybe her soul would be destroyed.
But my disguise should be perfect, right?
Just as Echidna was thinking this, she suddenly noticed a pair of eyes staring intently at her, almost touching her face. She was so startled that she screamed subconsciously and took several steps back.
Satou Kazuma was standing in front of her.
Did this man discover me?
No, he shouldn't have, I shouldn't have revealed any flaws before!
But it was too late now. The other clones had no emotions or personality, but she had acted subconsciously out of surprise, which had already exposed her.
Luckily, her identity was Shima, who had a personality.
She'd just have to play along a little.
"Kazu-chan, why did you scare me?"
Echidna smiled awkwardly. She had heard Meyer and the others call Satou Kazuma that, so she imitated their tone.
Although their personalities were different, they were pretty much the same.
"Hey, hey, useless witch, is that you?"
Satou Kazuma said slowly to Echidna.
Echidna was incredibly shocked at this moment.
Satou Kazuma recognized her?
That couldn't be, right?
Did he have some hidden ability?
No, maybe he was just trying to trick me!
Echidna thought, then pretended not to know anything:
"Kazu-chan, I don't know what you're talking about?"
"You want to say that you're not Echidna? If that's the case, then prove it to me."
A meaningful smile appeared on Satou Kazuma's face,
"Say my words again, Echidna is a useless witch."
"You!"
The veins on Echidna's forehead bulged, but at this moment, she could only bite the bullet and say:
"Echidna is a useless witch..."
The anger in her heart had reached its peak.
"Wow! Kazuma, she actually said it! How shameless!"
Aqua was also looking at Echidna with a shocked expression.
"Dona actually admitted that she's useless!"
Typhon complained again in Echidna's mind.
Echidna took a deep breath, she felt like she was suffocating.
That should be enough to pass, right?
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore, useless witch. Even an idiot like Aqua can see through your disguise at a glance."
"You're going to be punished by the heavens, Kazuma."
"I, I don't know what you're talking about..."
Echidna couldn't understand at all where she had been exposed. She should have even hidden her witch aura by now.
"Did you look in the mirror after you transferred your soul?"
Looking at her trying to continue pretending, Satou Kazuma sighed.