"..."
"That's the way it is, this is the course of the three wars. After that, companies began large-scale surveillance, brainwashing, and control of Witches, forcing them to serve themselves. The companies developed by leaps and bounds in the century after the war! Until now. The world has thus transitioned from the era of Witches to the era of companies. As for the history before that, even the highest-level archives are vague. Your era has become fragments and delusions in the records, unknown to people."
"If I meet that Eve Anak, I will kill her."
"She's long been gone, suffering through 140 years, never speaking a word afterward, spending her remaining life in a sealed bio-chamber at the behest of Gillian. The companies were also afraid that such a powerful Reality Manipulator might destroy the world."
"She had it coming... what, in your eyes, are 'Witches' like now?"
"Hard to say. They possess their own abilities and labor for the companies, bound by more constraints than humans. But as for the 'Miracle' you just performed, I have never heard of such a thing."
"Miracles are the powers bestowed upon us by the gods and the Mystics, actually one of the two important weapons of a Witch. If today's Witches cannot use Miracles, it implies that gods no longer favor Witches, ah, this is also a reason for everyone's failure, isn't it? Without the help of gods, humans could indeed achieve a reversal of dominance."
"Gods? I've heard that there were indeed many churches spread across the world, but during the Witch Wars, the companies methodically demolished them, and now not one remains."
"To eradicate them completely like this..." Farosa said coldly, "Do you know that the power of Witches comes from gods?"
"I seem to have heard that in ancient times, numerous mighty Witches were innumerable and even worshipped as gods."
"Yes, but that was just the vain imagination of humans. In reality, nothing can go beyond the arrangements of gods... Among us, the strong and opinionated 'Witch Council' once thought that gathering the most powerful Witches would allow them to lord over others, and now they too have encountered a very embarrassing fate, alas, their downfall is a relief to me. However, this is only temporary; humans have taken advantage of the gods' absence. If gods could return, all tricks would be exposed."
"Since the advent of the corporate era, there haven't been many Witches who could reach the powers of the previous era; they are all under surveillance by the Corporate Alliance."
"Losing the source of power, as it should be." Farosa murmured, "Without churches, I also cannot ask the gods for help to reclaim my lost power."
She looked at her own hands; Xu Yang knew she felt dejected because she could no longer use her great Magic Power.
"The greater changes are yet to come—as I have said, most modern Witches work for companies."
"You keep talking about companies, the company's, what exactly is a company?"
"What we call a company refers to the various large conglomerates that control the world."
"I don't understand."
Explaining the intricacies of modern society to her would take so much time. Xu Yang felt helpless.
"I'm going to make you a modernized Witch." Xu Yang said.
"What?"
"It means to keep up with the times."
"Well... what is the situation like for those Witches working at companies?"
"Their circumstances are as humans, in some ways even worse. Once Witches are discovered, they are quickly reclaimed and allocated by various companies, with the strongest companies having the most Witches. Witches are tied to companies from birth to death, and companies, fearing their loss of control, regulate them a hundred times more strictly than humans."
"A nauseating world." Farosa said, "Oh, don't the 'companies' go around capturing and slaughtering Witch babies in large numbers? If it were me, I'd do it that way, kill all the Witch infants and chop them up the moment they show up."
"Why are your thoughts so extreme, collecting infants and such..."
"I was just speaking off the cuff." Farosa showed a cute smile.
"During the previous Witch Wars, many Witches were born on the side of the companies, serving the companies, advancing because of choosing sides. There are also some giant enterprises run by Witch entrepreneurs, like the Scarlet Reconstruction Company in Agave Continent, now managed by a Witch family, specializing in the development of implants used to torment employees, if implanted in you, they can monitor whether you are thinking of serving the company or daydreaming."
"Sounds like a villain, I like it."
"These high-ranking Witches have maintained the bottom line of Witch survival conditions to a certain extent. And even if some companies do this, other companies will secretly keep Witches to boost their own power, after all, Witches are a special existence that can change the course of history."
"Alright, hearing that my kin's fate is so tragic after my collapse, I need some time to digest this." Farosa sighed.
For her, this world was no longer the one she knew.
After eating well and drinking enough, the pain seemed to have subsided somewhat. Xu Yang stood up, ready to take action.
"What did you do before?" he asked.
Farosa paused for a while before saying:
"I was a servant of the gods." she said, "You understand, gods bestow power upon Witches, and Witches also have a duty to serve. I swept the floors in the church, interpreted scriptures for the villagers, and occasionally drove away Gnomes that came into the fields, scattering Dragons and Trolls."
All mythical creatures, long extinct, unfamiliar to Xu Yang.
"Do you have any hope of regaining your Magic Power?"
"I have never heard of such a binding curse; I must ask the gods to release me from this seal I'm under."
"It's not a binding curse, it's an Anti-Witch Weapon," Xu Yang said, "I'm not too clear on it either."