SON OF THE HERO KING

Persephone was neither a good person nor was she gentle by any means. Far from it. She had mellowed out greatly over the years but one only needed to remember that she had managed to tear down the confidence of someone like the Elf Queen to understand just how vicious she could be.

“Poison Princess, huh? A title I have not heard in years. Yet this is not the topic. Lady Echidna, I would like to ask you one question. Do you regret your action?” Persephone’s voice was soft as she forced herself to calm down.

“I do not.”

“Even though your action caused the death of so many innocents?” Persephone asked again.

“In front of the evolution of our species as a whole, all lives are inconsequential. Even my own.”

Persephone closed her mouth. She realized that she was speaking to an unhinged lunatic right now. Trying to reason with such people was nothing but a waste of time.

“If you had a chance to change the past would you do so?”

“Never.” Echidna gave a dismissive snort, filled with utter disdain of the notion itself, “The sealing helped me realize a new understanding of the Soul. Trying to overtake Nuwa’s body made me witness a new world I had never thought was possible. Two souls cohabiting in one body. How marvelous! But more than anything, my sealing led me to him.”

She gave one look at Sol, her eyes glowing with ardent fervor, “I regret nothing. Because all my actions and decisions led me towards the current situation. The result of so many coincidences. Most likely, there will never be any other being like him. Can you even understand how marvelous this is? Soon a new age will be ushered by this man and all of you will be able to partake in that. All of this is thanks to me.”

Her words seemed like the rambling of a madwoman but her eyes showed that her mind was not clouded in the least. “Can you not feel it? All of you are advancing faster than you would have in years. New insights, new chances, new opportunities. All of this is because of one person. Why should I feel regret? In fact, shouldn’t you thank me?”

“You are quite the shameless woman,” Camelia grounded out, but Echidna simply shrugged.

“Hate me, reject me, kill me. Nothing can change reality. As a former Supreme Daughter, you should have a better understanding of Fate than many here. Do you think everything that happened would have done so if his parents were alive, for example?”

Camelia stayed silent. It was not hard to find sense in Echidna’s words. If Blaze and Mars were still alive, there would have been no such thing as fear of rebellion or lack of powerhouse.

Gorfard might have never even thought about rebelling. Camelia herself would have never made a bet with the goddesses. Lupus would not have declared war on them and even the attack of the Wings of Freedom would have been very different since Mars would have been there to fight Nihil.

Sol would not have entered the Phoenix territory without her bet with the goddesses which meant he would not have made a contract with Isis nor could he have a connection with Scheherazade.

The more she thought the more awful her expression became. She felt like she was being fed a rotten egg but she had no way but to eat it even if it disgusted her.

Massaging her forehead, she looked toward her friends and then her companion before finally making her decision.

“Why don’t we each give one punishment to her? I believe this is the best way to slightly satisfy us.” Camelia knew that more discussion with this lunatic was useless. It would only make them feel worse.

Like Persephone, Camelia realized that discussing with someone as crazy as Echidna was nothing but a waste of time.

Theresa nodded and was the first to say what she wanted, “I simply want one thing. She must leave Nuwa’s body. This is my desire.” She trusted Sol. But not so much that she would gamble the life of Nuwa.

“I will separate them.” Sol nodded and Echidna did not protest. At present, trying to occupy Nuwa’s body was useless either way.

Pandora raised her hand, “Since we will make her leave Nuwa’s body. Why not use the body of that vampire? I have already extracted all the information I needed and now she is basically brain dead.”

“Oh?” Sol was indeed interested in the notion. It had only happened a month ago, but it felt like years had passed since the Wings of Freedom had attacked Lustbirg. “I suppose there is a catch…”

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“Obviously.” Pandora glanced toward Persephone and it seemed they had exchanged some sort of information with that glance alone.

“I will use my most potent poison on this body. It will not inflict any pain. But she will need to take an antidote regularly.” Persephone said.

“Also, I will impose a slave seal on that body. One of the most powerful possible. I have always wanted a servant of great renown. What better than having a Supreme Daughter serve me?” Pandora let out a chilling laugh causing Echidna to glare at her.

“Personally. I feel unsatisfied and I am sure many of us feel the same. I wish I could cut you down right here and now and reduce your soul to nothingness. Still, I will not go against Sol’s decision.” Lilith carefully articulated her words before looking at Sol.

“Since she will become a slave. I do not ask for much. I want her to clean the martyr monument in the cemetery. All the tombstones caused by her actions in that war need to be without the slightest dust, for as long as she lives. Obviously, she also needs to clean Mars and Blaze’s tombstones.” Lilith gave the punishment she deemed the most fitting. She knew that the action could not change what had already happened. But this was a small consolation.

Arachne raised her hand, and promptly enunciated her wish, “Destroy all the mana veins in that body, pull out its energy horns, and reduce the core to fragments. Make her a cripple no different from a human who cannot even use mana.” Her hatred was the highest in the place. But she could not go against Sol. Since that was the case, she would make sure that Echidna lived the most miserable life possible.

Until now, Echidna had managed to stay calm. She had to admit that she had not seen this one coming. Her fingers twitched a little, wishing to slap those women to death. The fact that those insects dared to judge her like this was nothing but a great humiliation for Echidna.

Theresa let out a low whistle after listening to Arachne, “As expected of you. I knew you were the most vicious of us.” There was a certain joy in her expression that could not be hidden as she spoke.

Sol scratched his cheek. Truly hell hath no fury like the wrath of a woman scorned.

This punishment was undoubtedly one of the worst possible. From a demigod to a mortal with no mana. He was starting to wonder if this wasn’t a form of torture in itself.

In the end, all eyes fell on Camelia. She was the last to make her wishes known.

“What I want is twofold really.” She smiled, “Give us your Kingdom in its entirety. Nominate Nuwa as the Holy daughter of Gluttony. It should be more than enough.”

Then she looked at Sol. “I also wish to destroy her main body. Let's leave no possibility of her coming back.”

She smiled like a saint but in a way, her words were no less vicious than those of Arachne.

Still, Sol could see that even in the moment when rage thrashed in her heart, her first thought was always to make sure Sol received more advantage.

“Everyone has spoken.”

Sol stood up and gazed at everyone present. His eyes filled with apology toward all the women present, “Because of me all of you made a great compromise. I cannot even imagine how much it must have cost you.”

Sol had coerced them in many ways; by limiting their choices and the way they could punish Echidna and he would not be surprised if they felt some resentment toward him.

Echidna’s knowledge was simply too precious to simply discard. Sol could read Echidna's soul but just having the information without her brilliant mind and thought process was simply useless.

Now that he was a King, her value had lowered slightly but who knew what could happen in the future. At the very least, until he became a god, he had to use everything at his disposal.

At the moment, all they had was pure theory after all and even Sol could not say with 100% certainty that he would become a god.

“So let me list her punishments. One, separate her from Nuwa. Two put her in that vampire’s body. Three, enslave her. Four, poison her. Five, cripple her. Six, make her clean the tombstones. Seven, have her officially nominate Nuwa as her successor. Eight, destroy her true body. Anything else?”

The women looked at each other before shaking their heads but Camelia stopped for a short moment before raising her hand.

“I forgot to add. I believe none of us ever stopped you from adding anyone to the harem. At the end of the day, it’s your decision. But… Not her. Never, Ever touch her. I beg you.”

Camelia could accept almost anyone. But if he was to add Echidna to the harem, she had the feeling that she would go crazy. She could not force Sol to listen to her nor did she wish to try. But she hoped that he would be willing to listen to this earnest request.

Sol was startled but he simply gave a wry smile, “I had no intention in the first place.”

Sol loved crazy women. But not that crazy. Furthermore, sleeping with the murderer of his parents would have been too messed up, even for him. He already knew how this would negatively impact his harem and was not about to bring that upon himself.

If he wanted, he could have simply explained what was happening and his deal with the twin goddesses. But Sol felt like this would be a cop-out. Because, deal or no deal, Echidna was simply too precious to sacrifice. They needed to use her as much as possible. Even if the goddesses said nothing, Sol would have made sure to keep Echidna alive.

Camelia let out a sigh of relief and so did the others. They had not thought about it before Camelia brought the situation up. But indeed, they would have rioted if Sol decided to have some physical relationship with Echidna.

Echidna observed everything that was happening in silence. She had no intention to beg for leniency.

She could see bleak days ahead of her. Wealth, power, authority. She would lose everything she had.

But, the most important was that she had managed to keep her life and as long as she was alive… she could observe Sol’s ascension to godhood.

Nothing else mattered.

For this sole goal, she was ready to sacrifice everything. Even herself. In a heartbeat.