Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 118 - 22 The Witch in Agony

Chapter 118: Chapter 22 The Witch in Agony

In the north foothills of Fire Island, there’s a winding stretch of headlands.

Medea stood in the shallows, her delicate feet sinking into the fine, soft, white sand as waves splashed against her fair calves.

Even in the cold seawater, the burst of her Flame Ability wouldn’t reach dangerous high temperatures in a short time.

Aske cautiously touched her face, then recoiled like a bolt of lightning.

Medea just felt a buzz in her brain, as if an endless tide of negative emotions surged up.

This time, her consciousness didn’t fall into a coma as it did during previous bursts, yet some memories sealed deep within her mind resurfaced in her brain.

"Do you understand?" a female voice asked in her mind.

"So... that’s how it is," Medea replied.

"Next, leave it to me," said the female voice.

In front of Aske, Medea, standing in the water, began to burn.

Flames rose from her feet, the seawater unable to quench them.

The reaction between water and fire released a scorching white vapor and smoke.

"Hehehe..." Medea, with her head hung low, let out a hysterical laughter.

"Who are you?" Aske was certain that the person before him wasn’t Medea herself.

It must be her so-called alternate personality.

"Medea." She lifted her head with a strange smile, parting her hair to reveal eyes that seemed to blaze with peculiar flames, "You see, I am Medea."

"I thought you’d take a new name for yourself after your personality split," Aske said indifferently.

"You’re mistaken, I’m not her alternate personality." Her lips twisted into a sinister smile, like that of a devil, "I am just her..."

"...dark side."

"Dark side?" Aske asked.

The flames surrounding Medea grew even more fierce, boiling the water around her, and Aske was forced to step back onto a rock.

"Do you know?" Medea tilted her head to look at him, "The Main Sequence for a normal Enchanting Demon Bloodline should be Desire."

"But me, from the moment I was born, my Main Sequence has always been Flames."

"From your birth." Aske frowned, "You were born a Transcendent?"

"Yes." Medea twirled a strand of her crimson hair with her finger, "A Transcendent of Flame V."

"Magic Potions of any Sequence only go up to IV," Aske pointed out.

"No, it’s not a Magic Potion." Medea sneered, seeming bored, "So, even you only have such an understanding of power?"

"I understand," Aske said gravely, "It’s Purgatory."

"Your birth has been tainted by the Purgatory Will."

"Huh?" Medea fixed her gaze on him, "You know of the Purgatory Will? Then do you know the origin of the Purgatory Will?"

"Pain," Aske responded, "The essence of the Netherworld is sorrow, of the Abyss is despair."

"And the essence of Purgatory is pain."

"Ah..." Medea seemed to sigh, "Indeed, among many emotions, only the most intense negative ones can sink to the bottom of the Subconscious Ocean."

"The Netherworld, Purgatory, and the Abyss are planes formed from the accumulation of massive negative emotions that have sunk to the depths over time."

Aske pondered this.

The various aspects of the three major planes had already been thoroughly explored by forum players. These planes, made of negative emotions, occasionally collide and overlap with the Main Plane.

For instance, when the Netherworld descends, the Night Watchmen speak of it as a Mutant event, while players refer to it as a random plot instance.

Of course, overlapping doesn’t always lead to mutants.

Sometimes, the three great planes might just brush against the Main Plane, leaking a trace of their essence.

This trace of essence could give rise to intelligence and turn into strange and terrifying monsters;

it could also transform into cursed items, possessing special Extraordinary Abilities and strong negative effects;

or it might attach to a human, resulting in an enhancement of Extraordinary Powers and extreme personality traits.

On a very small chance, these essences might attach themselves to just-born NPCs or newly created player accounts, which players call "contamination."

Contamination can be both good and bad. The good part is that it bestows a High Sequence Extraordinary Ability.

For example, before he crossed over, he knew a team player who used an account contaminated by the Abyss called "Abyss’ Son," born at Lv.5 with the ability of Shadow V, whereas the highest level attainable through regular use of Shadow Potion was only IV.

The guy’s nickname was Shadow King, ridiculously strong in the absence of light, able to exert 300% fighting capability.

The side effect was that when exposed to direct light, he would receive a negative status called "Depression," with a 60% reduction in Reaction Speed.

As a result, the entire team’s strategy was built around him, creating dark environments artificially, earning the nickname "The Blind Team."

Because during their live broadcasts, the screen would often suddenly go dark, forcing the director to switch frantically to night vision mode.

To counter this, opposing teams had to use things like flashbangs and light-related Sequence Abilities, and then suddenly in night vision mode, a bright light blinded the audience...

"Purgatory Will contamination led you to be born with the Extraordinary Ability of Flame V," Aske said gravely, "What’s the side effect?"

"It’s me," Medea said with a smile.

"A split personality?" Aske asked.

That doesn’t seem like a side effect, does it?

No, it’s pain," Medea smiled beautifully, but her smile contained a sadistic pleasure, "I can draw power from pain, and only from pain."

Aske understood what she meant: probably when the enemies around her were injured, she could gain some type of buff. If not injured for a while, her flame damage would be pathetically low.

"What about androphobia?" Aske asked.

"That’s her nightmare, the source of her prolonged suffering," Medea said with a laugh, "she is in constant pain because of how her mother was humiliated, and just happens to have an innate ability to draw power from suffering. Her continuous pain kept increasing her Flame Ability, far exceeding her Spirituality’s tolerance."

"Therefore, she had no choice but to seal these memories to avoid being consumed by the flames of inner torment one day. And I am a fragment of her personality, deliberately split off to house these memories and control the flames."

Aske: ...

Willing to endure and even enjoy the pain? Isn’t that just... that?!

So, what Medea did was separate the S&M parts of her personality along with the fear of men, giving rise to a split personality, and sealed it all together with those memories.

Thus, the main personality didn’t have to bear the discomfort of pain, while the split personality took pleasure in it and could continuously draw energy from the pain...

Medea, you’re quite the vixen!

Such cunning tactics, it’s just like a textbook for Mind Ability Users.

No wonder she was so strong after she burst, the Heaven Mountain instance from the foothill to the summit, her Flame Ability seemingly inexhaustible, who knows how much pain and emotion she had absorbed from childhood to reach such intensity.

"So to say," Aske nodded, "She doesn’t have to worry about conflicts between her main and split personalities because this was all part of her plan."

"Yes," Medea’s split personality said with a smile, "She also sealed the memories concerning me, which is why she doesn’t remember my existence now, but..."

"But what?" Aske asked.

"But I really want to see you, Aske," the split personality said eagerly, her eyes burning with fervor as if to etch him in her irises, "Hehe... It’s the very first time she’s been around a man for so long since she was little..."

"If I remember correctly, you should be the part of her personality that extremely hates men." Aske said cautiously.

"That’s right, your very existence is utterly revolting to me," the split personality revealed a ferocious smile, "Your voice pricks my nerves every time you speak. Your breath feels filthy, and just by standing in front of me, you cause me nearly unbearable pain..."

"And all this suffering, and you personally..."

"Bring me so much pleasure..." Her cheeks flushed scarlet, her gaze growing increasingly hazy.