When Hathor entered the room alongside Sol, both Persephone and Lilith’s gazes immediately focused on her.
They had already felt her presence a few moments before but seeing her in her presence was completely different.
Even though she seemed sloppy and slovenly in appearance, her depth was like a calm and still sea stretching as far as the horizon could see.
The moment the three powerhouses gathered in the same room, the same thought went through their mind at the same time.
‘Can I beat her?’
Hathor shivered a little when she felt Lilith's gaze on her.
‘Just what is that?’
As phoenixes, the thing they feared the less was death. They could simply come back to life stronger and still fight.
It was nearly impossible to completely put an end to a phoenix even if the difference in power was wide.
But facing Lilith, all Hathor could do was grimace. Her instincts were screaming at her that this thing could kill her permanently if she underestimated her.
As for the green-haired woman, Hathor felt like their fight would be very tedious. If Hathor was like a deep sea, Persephone was like a tree whose roots could burrow even to the center of the earth if necessary.
It was crazy but in terms of pure life, Persephone was clearly stronger than even the children of Yggdrasil. She even briefly wondered if the woman had dryad or elf blood in her.
“Haha~Humans are really scary.”
Hathor gulped once again from her gourd as she whistled.
It was no joke.
“Then again I can’t really say that you are humans either.”
One was a witch and the other was…What was she?
Hathor fought her instinctive disgust as she observed Lilith. After all, from her perspective, Lilith’s existence was even worse than a necromancer. After all, while Necromancer was against the natural cycle. They were still part of it, albeit loosely. Undead could not be created without a soul and strong resentment.
But that thing…
It was something unnatural. Something that should not exist. An artificial existence created by a madman.
Her instances were telling her to stop. To not participate in helping that thing stay alive any longer. It would be an insult to everything that was pure and holy.
“Hello, I am Hathor. I will be your doctor.”
To those instincts, Hathor only had three words.
‘Go fuck yourself.’
That thing…That person was someone she had accepted to save, so she would do it no matter what.
She was too strong to let something like ‘instincts’ control her thought process about who and who she should like or hate.
Either way, a patient was a patient. Her personal thoughts never mattered the moment she decided to save her.
“I am Lilith, the guardian, and Lustburg.”
Lilith did not introduce herself as queen. She had never liked that title and in her mind, the moment Sol came back, her duty was finished.
“Persephone. A witch.”
Persephone didn’t bother saying that she was one of the four witches. She knew that her title would not matter to a divine beast.
As a faction, the witches were not weaker than any average Divine beast faction. In fact, she could argue that if they were compared, they would be in the upper strata. But for divine beasts, witches were nothing more than the servant of Asmodeus.
Both Lilith and Persephone's greetings were simple but the atmosphere became considerably warmer.
Persephone knew about the revulsion Divine Beasts would feel in Lilith’s presence. This was why she had already warned Lilith. If a divine beast didn’t outwardly scowl at her or outright attack her after the first meeting, then it was a person worth befriending.
Sol had stayed silent as he felt the three woman gauge each other, now that it was done, it was time to go to more important matters.
“Can you inspect her body?”
“Sure thing. But, she would have to let me circulate my mana in her body.”
It went without saying how dangerous letting someone else pour mana into your body could be. It was like giving that person hold over your life and death.
But she had no choice. Hathor couldn’t simply come and use nirvana and bam, everything would be good. It was a process far more complicated and even then she would need some time to come up with a proper plan.
As naturally suspicious as she was, there was no way Lilith would accept such a thing. At least that was so in normal circumstances.
Now though, she was already at death's door. This change of circumstances made her more daring.
“Well, you are a fast one.”
Looking as Lilith stretched her hand without care. Hathor grinned and approached Lilith before holding her hand.
“I am sorry if my expression doesn’t look right. Just an advice, but never step foot in the Astral realm.”
Hathor didn’t hide her psychological condition as she held Lilith's hand and even joked about it.
“Then again, if they know you are related to the Dragon Emperor, I am sure they won’t dare to even think of attacking you.”
“Dragon Emperor?”
Sol coughed a little to hide his embarrassment, “I will explain everything later.”
Hathor laughed mischievously while she slowly began to infuse mana in Lilith’s body.
Lilith had never felt so comfortable. Feeling a foreign mana in her body was a little weird at first but as it flew and circulated her body, she almost released a moan of relief.
She might have not shown it, but her body was in no way a stable state. The exterior was fine, but the interior was a complete wreck.
The laughter on Hathor's face slowly vanished as it was released with a frown and even complete astonishment.
A few minutes later, as Hathor inspected Lilith, she couldn’t help but sigh…
“Well… Should I say that it’s even more fucked up than I thought it would be?”
Sol was sad to realize that he was not even surprised after hearing that statement from her.
“How bad is it?”
“How bad? Hah…” Hathor released a harsh laugh, “Her being alive currently is a miracle. How the hell are you not dead?”
Hathor was indeed in complete disbelief. No matter which angle she looked at it, Lilith should be dead.
There were so many parts of her body that was not even functioning properly that it wasn’t funny. Her body wasn’t just a wreck, it was like a thousand or hundreds thousand piece puzzle with many broken and lost pieces.
She then gazed at Persephone, “I can feel the power of time on her body. I guess there is a second doctor? The three of us need to discuss this. This is really way more difficult than I thought.”
“What is the problem exactly.”
Hathor wasn’t bothered by Sol’s question, she needed to get her thought out herself in order to better organize the situation in her mind.
“Her body isn’t just dying. It’s devouring itself. But I guess you should already know that. So you have two options, “
She stopped addressing Sol and went back to Lilith, after all, the choice would be hers, “Right now, I can simply use nirvana on you. Your body will come back to your most optimal state. Basically your peak. But you would be doomed of being unable to fight for long. As the more you fight, the faster you will come back to your current situation.”
She sighed, “Honestly I would advise you to take this option. You are a King rank. Despite your situation, if you don’t use your power, you should be able to live for a few more decades or even a century. I believe it isn’t bad for a mortal.
Who knows, you might even be able to become a demigod and completely change your situation.”
Hathor truly believed that this was the safest option and the one that should be taken. The talk about becoming a demigod was of course just lip service.
The transcendence itself needed power. Even if by some mighty luck she obtained the occasion, she would kill herself by trying to become a demigod.
Still, nothing was impossible. Furthermore, she had Sol. Perhaps in the future, Sol could find a better way.
Lilith though was completely unfazed, “Since you gave me a safe option, I believe there is a more risky one.”
Hathor sighed, “Sometimes I wonder why I even bother giving two options when it’s clear they will always choose the risky path.”
She began to drink heavily. The alcohol did nothing to her mind, but the placebo effect helped her calm down.
“Second option is to play the goddess like whoever created you. We use Nirvana, not to resurrect you, but to slowly rebuild and optimize your body.”
The distaste as she said this was clear.
"This is a very risky option. For one, we would need a blueprint of how your body should look like. We would need a child or a sibling in the same situation as you but not…You know? Dying? Without someone like that, it would honestly take weeks to come up with a plan. But it isn’t much of a problem as I can simply go to the Astral realm and prepare.
"Secondly, I would need to understand and study your biology more deeply as the slightest mistake would mean death. Most likely perpetual.
"There are also many small complications that might appear as we do. But the most problematic thing is. When we are done you would basically be a new creature. A new race. Not even speaking about what that might do to your mind, there is one little problem we can't really ignore."
She pointed towards the sky, "What would the big bosses above think about that? I don't know for you, but I don't wish to be smithed down by an angry goddess."
