"Hecate... was the one who gave birth to the Witches?"
That meant the Witch Queen Kirke was Hecate's daughter!?
I had lost count of how many times I had been blindsided that day. Information I never could have accessed back when I lived as a Saint was flooding into my mind like a fountain.
"Kirke possesses a great deal of my power as the Goddess of Darkness. The fact that she has lived for nearly a thousand years is ample evidence of that."
I had wondered about this before. Witches were created by the Witch Queen Kirke. If that was the case, I had often thought about how the Queen herself had become one.
The answer was the Goddess of Darkness.
"In short, the Witches are beings I brought into existence. They are those who have inherited a portion of my divine power."
The Goddess of Darkness, Hecate, had created the Witch Queen. And that was how Witches were born into this world!
"Having inherited a fraction of my power, Kirke possesses the ability to transform humans into Witches by branding them with a crest. She has continued to multiply their numbers for my sake."
I still found it hard to believe that Hecate had a daughter. As far as I knew, Goddess Selene had no such offspring.
However, to someone like me who possessed knowledge from a previous life in Japan, the idea of a deity having children wasn't all that strange. Japanese and Greek mythologies were full of gods who bore children through all sorts of diverse methods.
"The mechanism by which a branded human becomes a Witch is similar to how a flower that receives my Dark Magic Energy becomes a Mandrake. A Witch's Black Magic is simply an extension of my own power."
I had always thought it was strange. The Black Magic used by the Little Witch was fundamentally different from any other type of magic. Whether it was changing her appearance, manipulating the weather, or flying through the sky—it all felt like a unique, specialized system.
If that was actually a fragment of a goddess's power, it made sense why only Witches could use Black Magic. The same applied to the Witch's crest. I had always found it illogical that Rufe had changed from a human into the race of a Witch just by being branded, but if it was the power of the Goddess of Darkness at work, it finally clicked.
A portion of the power belonging to the Goddess of Darkness—who was capable of spawning monsters—had been passed down to the Witch Queen in the form of Black Magic!
"Allow me to speculate. Kirke was attempting to get her hands on this girl, was she not?"
"............How... did you know that?"
"It seems I hit the mark. That pleases me."
The Witch Queen had been targeting the Little Witch for a long time. If I recalled correctly, the story was that she intended to make Rufe her successor.
"The reason Kirke wanted this girl so badly was to present her to me as an offering. To serve as my physical body."
Hecate, currently possessing the Little Witch, hugged her own frame. She did so with a possessive air, as if the body were already her property.
"Witches exist for the sole purpose of serving as my vessels. They exist only for me."
"Witches... are vessels...?"
"Containers for my advent, if you will. However, the Witches who inherited my power were mostly shams... failed experiments who couldn't even function as vessels. But this girl is different."
Hair as white as snow danced in the air.
"This pure white hair, untainted by any other color, is proof that she has inherited a thick concentration of my power. This brat is worthy of serving as my body."
The Witch Queen Kirke used Black Magic to brand human women with the Witch's crest. She had produced Witches one after another, all to create a vessel for Hecate. She had been gathering humans who could serve as containers for the Goddess of Darkness to use at her whim.
That was the truth of the Witches. They were beings created for Hecate's sake.
"For certain reasons, I have not yet fully regained my true strength. Therefore, I require a vessel to act in my stead."
I had assumed the Witch Queen Kirke was the sole culprit behind Rufe being turned into a Witch, but that wasn't the whole story. Rufe had become a Witch because this Goddess of Darkness, Hecate, desired a body of her own. It was all so she could be turned into a vessel and forced to surrender her body to a goddess...
"To think... that Rufe was turned into a Witch... just so her body could be stolen by a goddess...!"
Anger surged within me, nearly overwhelming my reason. I glared at Hecate, but she didn't seem to care in the slightest. Instead, she turned a delighted smile toward me.
"Oh, creating Witches wasn't solely for the sake of obtaining a vessel. It was also to increase the number of pawns I could use to slaughter Saints—and to get back at Selene."
At those words, everything fell into place. The reason Witches relentlessly targeted Saints was because of the ancient dispute between Hecate and Selene.
"That woman Selene joined hands with humans, produced Saints, and established the Church. I thought it would be quite amusing to take the humans she holds so dear, turn them into Witches, and make them my kin. It is a source of endless delight for me."
It seemed Hecate simply wanted to harass Goddess Selene. For that reason alone, she had transformed humans into Witches. I couldn't even guess how many people had fallen victim to Witch Hunts carried out by their own kind because of her spite.
"Watching humans become Witches was a pleasure. But to witness a success story where a monster—my child—devoured a Saint, assimilated with her, and snatched away the Power of Light bestowed by Selene... one truly does learn new things if they live long enough. I am deeply moved."
"………………"
Hecate had seen through the fact that I was a Plant Monster possessing a Saint's Power. However, she was making one major mistake.
It was true that the flower monster had devoured Saint Iris. However, the consciousness controlling this Alraune was that of the former Saint, Iris, not the monster. While it was true that the monster had absorbed the Saint's Power and grown stronger, that wasn't the whole story. Because I, Iris, had been eaten by the monster, our bodies had assimilated, and I had become the Alraune.
This Alraune’s mind belonged to me, the former Saint Iris. Hecate was misinterpreting the situation. My body had become that of a monster, but I intended to keep my heart that of a Saint. And as a Saint serving Goddess Selene, I was an enemy of the Demon Race.
In other words, Hecate and I were originally enemies.
"All Beings of Magic are as family to me. You, as an Alraune, are also one of my daughters. Therefore, you shall lend me your strength."
"...I did think that maybe I could get along with you, Hecate-sama."
I supposed Hecate, as a goddess of the Demon Race, was an enemy to humanity. But I was no longer human myself. To an extent, I thought it might be fine to be on decent terms with her. As a monster, she didn't seem like an entirely terrible person to me.
But—
"No matter what, I am taking Rufe's body back!"
I would reclaim the Little Witch's body from Hecate. That was my absolute priority. Until her safety was guaranteed, I couldn't possibly be friendly with Hecate.
"To defy a goddess... you are a disgrace to all monsters. I will not tolerate this."
She sounded angry, but for some reason, Hecate only voiced her displeasure without taking action. Despite my provocations, she didn't launch an attack to eliminate me. As I suspected, she hadn't yet achieved complete control over the Little Witch's body.
—How could I get Rufe back?
Hecate had mentioned that she lacked her full strength. If that was the case, what would happen if I drained away every bit of her remaining power? She might revert to being the Little Witch!
It was worth a try.
"Hecate-sama, you said it yourself, didn't you? That I have completely mastered the Spirit Power."
"I did, but such a thing as Spirit Power is of no use against me."
"In that case, why don't you have a taste?"
"Hmm?"
Hecate-sama looked at me as if she didn't understand. I decided to show her firsthand. I would show her the Spirit Power I had inherited from Big Sister Dryades!
"The Alraune's flower... it's returning to its original color... You repelled my power!?"
The flower blooming on my head shifted from the white Hecate had dyed it back to its original crimson. The Dark Magic Energy Hecate had given me had enhanced my potential as a monster, and by mixing with the Power of Light, my strength had evolved to a higher stage.
But that wasn't all. By absorbing Big Sister Dryades, I now carried the power of a spirit within me.
"I am a deity. Even the Spirit Power of a Dryades is meaningless to me."
"You won't know that until you try, will you?"
Even after becoming an Alraune clad in Dark Magic Energy, it didn't mean my other powers had vanished. If anything, the Dark Magic should have strengthened techniques intended to harm an opponent!
Vines coiled tightly around Hecate's frame. Even so, she maintained a composed, arrogant smile.
"There is no way a mere Spirit Technique could ever harm me."
"Then I won't hold back—'Energy Drain'!"
This was the Spirit Magic, Energy Drain, used by the Dryades. I used my vines to begin sucking the dark power out of Hecate.
"W-What...? My power is being drained!?"
Hecate was visibly shaken. This meant the technique was effective. Just as I thought—if I drained her magic energy, her possession might break!
"Gunu... my magic is vanishing so rapidly... My precious vessel that I finally secured...!"
"I'm taking every last drop of it!"
I didn't care if she was the Goddess of Darkness or the mother of all Witches. That body belonged to Rufe. And I was taking it back!
Next time: Succession of Power.