Chapter 830
Chapter 830
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 830
Chapter Title: Diagnosis (3)
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Consciousness sinks.
The Soul Witch visible in his field of vision vanishes, and the indoor scenery soon fades into a dark, dim, infinite expanse.
A familiar sensation.
The mental landscape inherent to a witch.
The first gateway of the unimplemented Three Realms—a manifestation of conceptual molds born from magical achievements.
It is AIN.
Nothing surprising about it.
It's a space he enters and exits countless times during his research, after all.
Inside, he could see the countless structures Siu had built.
Shadows rippling like a veil of mist.
A massive loom busily at work, like a weaving machine.
A door and key leading to the Palace of Memory.
Elements gleaming in vivid colors atop a cross-shaped altar.
Strings of contract allowing him to wield his held weapon with perfect freedom.
A great full moon rising alongside a barrier field.
The sea of the Demonic Waves, ceaselessly churning and emitting pulses.
A sacred ring, vast as a particle accelerator and rotating slowly.
Two shattered harps endlessly producing beautiful melodies.
Stairs soaring high into both skies, guiding toward ascension.
Self-generated magics obtained from various witches stand in beautiful balance and harmony.
The equilibrium of that micro-universe emanates from a mysteriously glowing golden fractal.
He'd truly gathered them with thrift and care.
Compared to the past, it wasn't just the quantity—the harmony was on another level.
Through ceaseless research, trials, and brushes with death, Siu's AIN had achieved seamless integration among its magics.
It had reached the point where disparate self-generated magics could link to produce spells of even higher realms.
He was certain he'd thought as much...
Yet when compared to the self he'd gained from his dream with his Master, even this felt somehow lacking.
His standards had risen.
-Rumble rumble rumble!
But there was no time to leisurely indulge in such thoughts.
Suddenly, a deafening roar shook the very bottom of his AIN.
To reiterate, AIN is a conceptual, infinite space.
A "bottom" shouldn't exist in the first place.
But Siu knew.
He knew about the unconscious entity dormant within him—the one he conveniently called the Black Knight.
After suppressing its rampage during the last trial, he hadn't been able to locate the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness no matter how hard he searched.
Now, it had manifested in the form of this "bottom."
"......"
A black space roiling violently, like storm waves crashing on shallow coastal waters.
He felt no desire to approach it carelessly.
From a safe distance, he watched the bottom surging as if eager to devour everything nearby.
He couldn't explain it in detail, but he could intuit it clearly.
His unconscious was straining to cross an endlessly inverted boundary.
'You're no longer needed.'
'I'll kill you and claim that body.'
The ambitions the Black Knight had bared when they clashed during the trial.
Ambitions it still hadn't abandoned...
-Snap!
"Get a hold of yourself."
A sharp snap rang out right in front of him.
Bewildered, he looked around to find the Soul Witch snapping her fingers repeatedly before him, like a hypnotist weaving a trance.
"This place..."
"Examination's over."
"How much time passed?"
"Four hours."
"That long?"
It felt just like returning from an endoscopy under sedation.
A dazed sense that his consciousness had slipped away in an instant.
Looking again, the Soul Witch was drenched in sweat.
The sharp glint around her eyes had given way to exhaustion.
But the corners of her mouth curved softly, as if she'd discovered a fascinating new toy.
"So, what happened?"
"Incredible. You truly are an astonishing existence."
"Was there a problem?"
The door burst open as his Master strode in.
She must have been waiting outside the whole four hours, ear pressed to the door.
Siu dressed hurriedly while eyeing Gretel, who was grinning in an oddly unsettling way.
Something told him this wasn't good...
"The conclusion first: your left arm has been 'eroded.' No wonder no sensation returns no matter what we try. The unconscious inside you is lying in wait for your body and mind.
Quietly building its strength.
That strength's result is your left arm. The lack of sensation means you've already allowed it a tiny breach."
An ominous premonition crept over him.
Her words immediately struck a chord.
"I'm more amazed that you can suppress such a massive unconscious with your surface consciousness."
Gretel giggled, but Siu was in no mood to laugh.
He'd known the Black Knight was after his mind and body.
But knowing it had already succeeded in part bred nothing but anxiety.
"Still not getting it? Fine, let me explain it this way."
Gretel pulled out two sheets of paper, different colors.
One black, the other white.
"This is your unconscious, and this is your surface consciousness. Right now, they're layered like this."
She stacked the papers with the white one on top.
She nicked the corner of the white sheet, revealing a glimpse of the black one beneath.
"Your unconscious is powerful, but it's suppressed for now. It can't wield its full strength and has only stolen sensation in your left arm. The result? The current owner of that body is Shin Siu, chatting with me."
"Right. I follow so far."
"So, what would your unconscious need to reclaim your body?"
"...The white paper gone."
"Exactly. Or more tears. Or this method."
Gretel flipped the stacked papers over.
Now it was completely reversed.
The black sheet fully obscured the white one, leaving it invisible.
An inverted world.
A rebelled consciousness.
An inverted AIN.
The image of the paper flipping evoked memories of the Black Knight's first manifestation during the Bianca battle.
"But that's just a paper analogy. Flipping things that easily isn't simple. Your unconscious is already larger than you, but it'll need far greater power to pull it off."
"Then..."
"Personal opinion: Keter took you on as an apprentice witch."
"...I'd suspected as much."
"No. Keter didn't want you. You're just the shell. A breakwater to hold back that bizarrely developed unconscious's talent until it collapses under its own weight."
He had no words.
He couldn't know what Gretel had seen or understood to say such things.
But the lust stirred by a witch's scent.
The stigma replication triggered by yielding to desire.
The unconscious straining to seize his body.
The pieces fit together all too eerily, sinking into his mind.
"Not much time left. Let's see... just two more kinds. That's how I see it."
"Two kinds?"
"The ways you've obtained your magics. Once two more self-generated magics are added, the black paper will have the strength to flip the white one."
A chill ran down his spine.
Just two.
If Siu had embraced witches indiscriminately under the pretext of strengthening his magic.
If he'd succumbed eagerly to the countless temptations.
Even just copying the magics of Lydia Magnus or Cybele Periwinkle in bed—the paper might already have flipped.
No wonder it had felt off.
There was no such thing as power without a price.
"What happens to me then?"
"How should I know?"
"Can't we remove the unconscious?"
"You think that's possible?"
Gretel answered nonchalantly. Siu, now resolved to stay vigilant, saw it as a silver lining.
In stark contrast, Eloa's face had drained of color in sheer terror.
Soon, her pallid expression twisted into fury.
"I need to see Keter right now."
"Master, calm down. I've tried reaching her several times, but..."
"Do I look like I can calm down?!"
It was all Keter's scheme.
Her beloved disciple might transform into something entirely different.
Eloa bit her lip hard, suppressing her rage and fear.
"Tiferet Duke, calm down first—I've applied a simple treatment. Shin Siu, you have sensation now, right?"
Only then did Siu realize sensation had returned to his left arm.
He could clearly feel himself clenching and unclenching his fist.
"Is it fixed?"
"Fixed? I don't have that kind of skill. At least it won't get worse."
To Siu's puzzled look, Gretel explained.
"Look into your AIN."
Closing his eyes and entering his AIN, he saw the changes.
First, a "bottom" had formed where none had been perceptible before.
And in its center stood a massive door, bound tight in layer upon layer of chains.
"If they touched like paper, erosion could happen anytime. Like your left arm. So I minimized the contact between the two souls and sealed it as a 'door.' Mine's just temporary—use your own magic to lock it down tighter."
"Thank you."
"But keep this in mind. A door makes it easier to guard, but it can also become a passage."
He had no idea how effective Gretel's measure truly was.
But if she'd diagnosed and treated a problem that stumped even Count Kohav and Yebin in one go, her expertise here was trustworthy.
"I'll teach you how to manage the AIN door. You'll be entering Gehenna anyway, so we'll see each other often."
"I'll keep that promise. And thanks to you, I'm alive. I've learned a lot."
With the diagnosis and temporary treatment complete, his lovers gathered once more.
No need to linger, they left the mansion without fanfare, letting Gretel rest.
The unease lingered.
Keter, the greatest witch in history.
Such a witch had schemed against him.
He sensed it was no ordinary matter.
The Prophecy Institution.
A place that revealed witches' futures—and sometimes issued prophecies.
If the Oracle Witch had gone out of her way to deliver a dream revelation, it must have been to show a future of significance.
Pretending all was normal to mask their turmoil, Siu and Eloa headed to their second destination.