The immense straw labyrinth was endless, but the huge female corpse that had been nailed to the pillar had disappeared. Now, sitting on the ground with his back against the pillar, was Shiller, while standing opposite him was a woman dressed lavishly and with a face full of tenderness.
"Don't run away anymore. You will definitely become my child."
Shiller pursed his lips, blood streaming down from his forehead. At this moment, his body bore several wounds pierced by sharp weapons, one of which had the skin completely peeled off from the back of one of his hands.
"Where did you hide that woman? Why won't you let me kill her?" the woman opposite him said, "Was it she who bewitched you? Did she make you loyal to her? But those are all lies. Get up, come to mother..."
Shiller still quietly sat there without speaking, exhibiting only resistance and procrastination.
The woman swiftly moved behind him and said, "You can't delay any longer. I admit your spirit is strong, but I've seen too many tough ones who eventually returned to my embrace. Why not come over, child..."
"Because you don't deserve it."
The air froze at his words, and Shiller finally slightly opened his eyes, his gaze somewhat dazed as he stared at the ground in front of him and said, "You are not the real mother, just a pitiful product of resentment. It is you who should wake up."
The woman's face instantly grew cold. A knife appeared in her hand, and it seemed she intended to swing it at Shiller again.
"You gifted your power to your children, but they betrayed you, filling you with regret and resentment. It made you realize that a generous gift could never set them on the right path, and thus, 'mother' was born."
"In the psychic battlefield, you re-educated them, giving them another chance to be loyal to you, but merely completing the gestation process doesn't make you a mother; you are just a monster born from regret."
"You are the one who's wrong." A nebulous female voice came through, saying, "I rebirthed them, corrected their flawed thoughts, endowed them with great power, made them feel warmth and joy. That is what a mother should do."
"You're just afraid to let go," Shiller's voice, growing weaker yet still clear, said, "You're afraid that once you release the fish back into the sea, they'll never return. You never trusted that they loved you. Why?"
"Because they are always greedy, vile, never satisfied."
"Because educating is always difficult, you don't want to bother teaching, correcting, and changing them. Just find a fishbowl to contain them. You're not a mother; you are merely a kidnapper."
Shiller's voice finally hit rock bottom as the regal woman approached him again with frosty face, her knife penetrating mercilessly into Shiller's shoulder.
But Shiller showed no response, still speaking faintly, "You're riddled with flaws. The Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, was killed by you out of jealousy. You killed your own child, you can't even be fair. How can you claim to be a mother?"
"That was because she shamelessly betrayed me!" the woman said through clenched teeth. "She seduced Hades! He was supposed to be mine!"
"But you let Hades go, not caring that it was he who decided to leave you."
"It was not he, it was Zeus."
"Stupid, utterly foolish," Shiller lightly shook his head and said, "Your lover didn't show up within three seconds of your assault; you should have considered him dead."
"Yet not only did you keep praying to him, but even now you think he had no choice. If I were Hades, I wouldn't choose you either, it severely affects offspring's intelligence."
Another stab, this one deeper, caused Shiller to instinctively twitch, and bubbly blood gushed from his mouth, but he still managed a smile.
"You lack love; you're desperately craving attention. Thus, you hate that the gods of Mount Olympus betrayed you but you still need their love. That's why you conjured this persona, wanting to make up for your regrets without changing anything."
"Even now, you torment me not because I defy you, but because you resent me for letting my eldest son kill your lover, Hades, even though he never loved you. You can't accept that reality; you think you're avenging him, and you're nearly moved by your own actions."
"But he actually never loved you. When my eldest son was killing him, he repeated only Persephone's name, pleading with me to find and avenge his wife's murderer."
"No! Persephone seduced him! So did you! And Zeus! You all conspired to bewitch Hades, making him forget me completely! It's all your fault!"
The woman swung her knife wildly, and Shiller made no move to resist. Watching the man in front of her gradually fade into silence, she slowly dropped the bloodied knife and staggered back several steps, appearing utterly lost.
She could feel that the man's spirit was growing weaker and was nearing death.
The pressure of death could make anyone submit. She decided to try one last time, stepping forward to cradle Shiller's face and said, "Just obey me, and everything can start anew. Come to me, child."
Suddenly, a hand firmly grabbed her wrist, and as the woman looked down, she saw Shiller, his eyes bloodied, staring fixedly at her with an eerie gaze.
"It's you who should come here."
Instantly, a terrifying whirlpool appeared behind Shiller. The woman tried to retreat but was slowed by the pull, and she was swallowed whole by it.
After the two had vanished, a similarly weakened Circe parted the wheat stalks and stepped forward. After confirming that both had disappeared, she wore a triumphant smile.
Hmm, both these lunatics fell. This couldn't be better. Pity it's a disgusting man's body, but well, I'll make do.
Circe took over Shiller's body.
Meanwhile, in a dark, mysterious space, two vast faces both showed stunned expressions. One, chubby like a meticulously drawn young girl's face, said, "Mother's presence has disappeared, could it be..."
The other, wrinkled and furrowing its brows tightly, displayed lines filled with intense malice.
"She won't. She's probably only temporarily trapped."
"Do we continue waiting?"
"I can't sense any connection to her, which is highly unusual. It's possible that Zeus has intervened."
"Could they be using the same trick again?"
"You mean they borrowed God's Power again?"
"What else could block our detection?"
Both faces fell silent for a moment, but soon the elder one tightened his lips and said, "At least we need to bring her back."
"I'll go. As long as I kill the caster, I should be able to bring mother back. I can still feel her lingering presence..."
"Go quickly and return quickly."
As the youthful face vanished, Circe, who was controlling Shiller, found herself waking up in a dark room.
She was still slightly dazed and struggled to control her movements well; through the dim light seeping in from under the door, she saw herself dressed in prison garb.
Where on earth am I? Is this still America?
After Circe got somewhat accustomed to the body, she made a terrifying discovery—the man was an ordinary person.
He lacked superpowers, and his strength was only slightly above average, not exceeding the limits of his species by much.
This meant that an ordinary iron wall over three meters tall could trap her securely, which was exactly the situation she found herself in now.
And if Circe's gaze could penetrate the walls, she would see the exterior of the building, prominently labeled with large letters—"Florence ADX Supermax Prison."
Meanwhile, in the dark room, Circe gradually sensed a familiar force swiftly approaching her.
"Hecate... Hecate is coming... Let me out! Quick, let me out!"
In the top-floor office, Amanda slapped the papers on the desk impatiently and looked at the subordinate who walked in.
"Hmm, the prisoner in room 2206 is causing some trouble..."
"Don't bother about it," Amanda said. "Ignore any noise from that room. I still have to deal with those old folks from the Federal Bureau of Investigation soon; don't disturb me unless it's necessary!"
The subordinate touched his nose and left sheepishly before speaking into the walkie-talkie to the guard, "The boss said, ignore any noise from that room, just pretend you didn't hear anything."
Circe no longer had the strength to change bodies, listening to the increasingly closer laughter of a young girl in the darkness, she trembled and hid in the corner.
The woman who was dragged into the whirlpool by Shiller now found herself in a room with a fireplace, and several faces above her looked similar yet different.
"So this is Hecate? Doesn't look special," said one figure with shoulder-length hair, arms crossed. "That's all the Magic Goddess has?"
The other, an older man, tugged at him then said, "Don't just stand here, we don't have much time left. Professor X is waiting; let's take her to the operating room first."
The woman felt herself being picked up, and just as she started to struggle, she felt a hand touch her eyes.
The touch was incredibly gentle, yet the next second, her eyes were gouged out, and she screamed in agony, only catching the glimpse of an innocent childlike face.
Looking upwards through the thin sky of the Abyss, the High Tower still shone brightly, but many normally active personalities were absent, leaving it somewhat empty.
Greed, with a Black Snake wrapped around his arm, was sitting by the window and discussing with Professor X.
"This ability is indeed very rare; I've never heard of an entity capable of redeveloping personalities. Still, I maintain it's a form of brainwashing, just expressed differently. I might need to contact the subject directly to ascertain the specifics..."
"Yes, we've captured her," said the Black Snake from Greed's arm, startling Professor X who leaned forward for a closer look and then recognized it was Arrogant.
"What happened to you?" he asked, furrowing his brow.
"Just a curse," Arrogant said dismissively. "As soon as that woman dies, I'll be able to change back."
"Why didn't you kill her yourself?" asked Greed.
"It's because Wanda's prediction for her was a grisly death, and I'm too busy with important matters to care about her. Just dragging it out to see if anyone else will fulfill the prediction for me."
"Alright, you would probably have a lot to discuss with Ye Meng Jia De," Greed then turned back to Professor X, "We've captured the subject, and we invited you here to collaborate on the research. After all, we might not be able to unravel the true nature of this ability on our own."
"Oh, Doctor, you're too modest. Where is she? Let's go see her now."