There once existed a Witch.
She took the form of child, since she was indeed, just a naive child compared to her other... witch friends. The childish mind of this said witch made her do many irresponsible and irrational decisions, which usually ended up in the form of humans in jigsaw puzzle pieces.
She was the ultimate judge and jury, and a godlike figure to the people of Libra.
Her name... was Typhon.
And 400 years after her drowning... she has returned.
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A white burst of light exploded in front of my eyes as I heard laughter resonate through the halls, and when the light faded, a young girl tumbled into my arms.
"Yippee!" Typhon said with glee. "N/N, I'm back! Thank you so much for helping me come back! You know, when Dona was being mean to us, I wanted to pay her back after she bullied us! Speaking of which, where is Dona?"
Typhon's eyes eventually landed on Omega, and an 'aha!' sounded through her mouth. "Dona, your new form is soooo cute! Shame you can't use your original body to return..."
"Typhon. I'm glad you have successfully returned as well. Anyways, shouldn't you thank me for doing so? I've sensed that you wanted to come back to the living world to experience for quite a while now, right?"
"Hmph. You can say bye-bye to that due to your threatening. Speaking of which..."
Typhon walked up to Omega and pulled her arm back, before firmly grabbing her arm. A small shock fell upon Typhon's face when nothing happened.
"EH? Dona, aren't you a bad guy? How are you not falling apart?"
"Ah... you don't have your authority, Typhon." Echidna chuckled as Typhon looked like her brain short circuited.
"Wait... then where is my authority?"
"If you're looking for it... Y/N has it."
"Eyyy?" Typhon immediately jumped on me and begged me with teary eyes, but I obviously would not give her the power to continuously break people.
"You know what... I'll give you a copy." I said as I recreated another Pride Witch Factor, before inserting it into Typhon's body.
A strange aura flooded out of Typhon, and she smiled as she thought she got her power back. Immediately, she touched Omega again, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Eh? EEEEH?" Omega suddenly started laughing, and she fell to the ground, rolling in laughter and pain.
"N/N?! What's happening?"
"Well, instead of people breaking, I changed it into tickling sensations. The more severe your crimes are, the intensity and duration of the tickling increases."
I snickered at Omega, who was still dying from uncontrollable tickling by unknown forces. However, her soul was definitely fine, considering she literally hopped out of her vessel to tell me to stop.
"Y/N.... how could you do this to your contractor...?"
"Well, you did say that we shouldn't purposely cause harm for each other. I didn't expect Typhon to just straight up tackle you and choose you as her first target, so..."
"Ugh... but still..."
"Hahaha! Typhon's plan is complete! Okay, N/N, let's leave this place and go to the sunny skies where you were!"
Agreeing with Typhon, I hoisted Omega onto my shoulders, and carried her out while Typhon walked with the new shoes I prepared for her.
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I had to dig a different way out, since randomly appearing at the entrance of the Water Gate City's City Hall with a suspicious child would draw too much attention. So, I went back using our original route, and filled the ground with bricks and dirt and stone before I destroyed the diamond barrier I set up earlier.
When I returned to the vicinity of the shelter, I did not expect to see the sight that was presented before my eyes.
There were approximately a hundred people ready for combat, with their head arguing with Anastasia and Subaru.
"Where is he? You can't just expect us to show up and prank us like this! We answer to him, not some royal candidates who think they own this place!" The man at the front yelled, and I immediately recognized my bald and tattooed friend.
"I told you, he said he needed to go somewhere! I don't-" Subaru was going to shout more back, but noticed me approaching. "Y/N! Explain to these knuckleheads that our battle is over!"
"Hello, Manfred. How have you been?" I said as I greeted the young representative of the Libra, who immediately bowed.
"Boss! I heard from Doltero that you needed assistance in fighting off the Witch Cult, since you even sent a dragon to come carry us! So we rushed over as fast as we can, but this boy keeps on telling we're not needed!"
"Well..." I sighed and scratched my head nervously. "The battle is indeed over, unfortunately."
"WHAT? Then what did we do all that flying for?"
"Okay, before you get mad, you should all get some rest. Considering the battle is over, I'll make this a vacation for you guys, alright?"
Men from the Balance cheered to a certain extent, while Manfred sighed in exasperation. "You know, Boss, you're even more annoying than our leader."
"Don't go saying that..." I patted him on the back as I suddenly remembered that since they came, there was something to show them.
"Hold up, Libra! I have something to announce!" I yelled as the warriors nodded and stood near the shelter, putting me, who was on top of the stairs, on some kind of makeshift stage.
"Now, as you know... the promise I made around a year ago... that has been fulfilled."
Numerous gasps were heard around the crowd, while Subaru and Anastasia looked confused at what my deal with a crime organization might've been.
"Typhon, come out."
Upon hearing my words, the young resurrected Witch of Pride bounced out of the shadows, landing in front of me along with Omega. Subaru, who was behind me, widened his eyes in disbelief.
"Y/N, you...!"
"Introduce yourself, Typhon." I said to the watching members of Libra, who listened closely to find out the reason why I'm making such a big deal out of a little girl.
"Hello, everyone! You may not know me, but my name is Typhon, the Witch of Pride!"
Now that I looked back on it, announcing a child as a Witch was quite a bad idea, even if the streets around us was empty except for the Libra members and our Royal Selection Camp people.
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"All hail to the One Who Judges!"
The Libra made their own little space while they surrounded Typhon, worshipping her like the Witch Cult revering Satella. Seriously, if not for the new information on the Sin Archbishops, I would've mistaken the Libra for one of the Witch Cult's sub-sections.
"So... Y/N. Mind explaining why you brought ANOTHER witch of sin back from the dead?"
Subaru berated me with questions that I was forced to answer with Beatrice literally aiming an El Minya at me. Omega, who thought this was a good time to bail, left me to deal with the furious duo alone while she tried to organize the Libra people to not get too chaotic. Speaking of the Libra, even Manfred was devoted to worshipping Typhon. Huh, I never thought that he was someone who would bow so easily. Maybe the leader of Libra had some type of way to identify if the Witch of Pride was real or not?
"Stop spacing out, Y/N. Don't make us force the answer out of you." Subaru said as Beatrice invoked a Vita, increasing the force of gravity upon myself. Sighing, I casted a Murak to counter the spell, and nodded.
"To put it in simpler terms, Typhon was near, and I thought this would've been a great chance."
"A great chance to what, exactly?"
"To fulfill my promise to the witches."
"The Witches of Sin? They're inhumane creatures that are not negotiable! Their way of thinking is so twisted that they would willingly sacrifice anyone for their ideals!"
"But their ideals are not bad, are they?"
"That's... true. But the way they execute them is not okay at all!"
"Calm down, Subaru. Typhon can't do anything but tickle anyone by just touching them, and I've made sure that she couldn't kill anyone. Besides, haven't you noticed that Omega is more nice recently? If it was up to her former self, she would not support me in the battle against Gluttony and even use all her power to the point where she could've been seriously injured, and instead just watch on the sidelines. This is proof, Subaru, that their ideals could be modified and changed for the better. And if I do that, wouldn't that be beneficial to us all?"
"Considering that your point is correct, how would you make sure they don't turn against you, and they're hiding their true intentions?"
"Subaru, you're forgetting something here. Although the Witches of Sin are all powerful monsters, in the end, they're human. And the reason they have an authority is because that they have one true desire. All we have to do is help them to fulfill that desire, and they'll be yours. I see this as an absolute win-win for both sides."
"Y/N... I understand where you're coming from, but if you happen to lose yourself one day... I'll personally come to stop you."
"Feel free to do so. After all, I just want this world to roll onto a better path than it was supposed to be."
I say this, but Subaru, to be honest, I would like to see you try.
Sloth. Greed. Wrath. Pride.
If you think you can take me on, then so be it. If you think that you want to stop my continued resurrection of witches, go ahead.
Just know that I'll do my best to achieve my ideals, and make this world better. I don't expect you to understand completely, since you were a character of a story. But the moment I get added to this timeline... it's my story.
Unbeknownst to my thoughts, Subaru nodded and left after his declaration. Beatrice followed suit, and she deactivated her Minya arrows. Letting out a sigh, I leaned back on the couch.
Is what I'm hoping to achieve wrong?
Is it too hard to accept for the people of this world, and maybe, even for Subaru?
I just... hope that they could see the other side of the witches. The one that they weren't shown, completely opposite from the stereotypes given to them.
The crying faces, the innocent laughs, the twisted minds.
Those things can be fixed. And once they are, they'll not be the naive, destructive 'witches' and 'monsters' they're branded as.
If even the most scheming one of them, Echidna, can eventually reform, then so can the rest of them. Including Satella.
They are people who needs to be saved, not to be abandoned. It's precisely because they were abandoned, did they then end up in their current state. Nobody, absolutely nobody, why? Why has no one ever reached out to see what those girls' troubles may be?
Putting aside their status as a witch, a 'monster' with immense miasma, did not a single soul want to check up on them? Not even try?
I guess... that's my wrath, in a way of sorts.
Then again, would I have even wondered about saving witches like them, if I dropped into this world without any prior knowledge?
Would I?
That thought makes me sick of myself.
However, I was born into this world, cursed and blessed with the knowledge I had. And since I have not knowledge, I will do what I can to achieve my goals now. There is no need to worry about the 'what ifs'. Focus on the future of your current status quo. Because only then, can you escape your fear of what might have happened.
Stand up.
Face it.
The legacy I will leave... the achievements I shall acquire...
I can do it. Not just because I have power or knowledge, but because of my sheer will.
That... is my pride.
Realizing my sins and virtues, I came face to face with my contractor, probably my most trusted individual that exists in this world.
"Hm? Were you thinking about something hard, Y/N? You know being deep in thought is good, but don't ignore me, okay?"
"Gotcha, Omega. You're seriously as cute as ever, Chid-chan."
Yeah, I made the right decision.
Now, let's go achieve what we want and have to achieve.
By each other's side.