Novel Lived
Chapter 1106: Her Answer
Chapter 1106: Her Answer
Maria knew there was something wrong with Arachne, her new evolution wasn't just that, it brought to her a powerful, demonic instinct, that she had tried to suppress this entire time.
That very same instinct that made the undead escape from her and even made the cultivators almost die out of horror, the same presence that made Wu Lieng be reminded of the Calamity that destroyed his home, the Three-Headed Golden Dragon.
It was simply an Aura, but it suppressed everything so much, that only a few could manage to cancel its effects by overlapping them with their own divine auras.
Maria knew that if Arachne continued developing this deadly power, it would only bring her demise, or everyone else's demise.
"Arachne..."
She held her adoptive daughter's hand gently, as she appeared by her side.
Her crimson eyes looked at Arachne's eight eyes, they looked about to cry.
"Tell me what you really want."
"I..."
A simple question was all she really needed. Arachne's little fists tightened up, as she looked back at her mama and hugged her belly.
And Maria quickly felt her warm tears covering her dress.
"I don't want to be a monster..." Arachne started weeping, tears constantly falling from her eight eyes. "I didn't want to be born like this! Please help me, mama...!"
Arachne let it all out, as she started crying like she had never done before.
This was perhaps the first time that Maria ever saw the girl even shedding a tear.
And it was all the emotions she had been bottling up deep inside of her heart.
Since the moment she was born that she didn't want to be a monster.
She didn't feel identified with her kindred, she even felt slightly afraid of them at the beginning.
And as she experienced life with Maria and her family, she realized she didn't want anything else than to be like them.
A family, people...
She didn't want to be a monster at all.
It was a horrible curse given to her when she was just born, without it, she might've been a normal Arachneia, incapable of even recognizing herself as an individual.
But after being born like this, she was given intelligence, a personality, and a sense of self. It was both a curse and a blessing, and one she didn't want to carry anymore.
"Arachne..." Maria felt moved by the girl, hugging her back. "Don't worry... I will heal you, I will take the Sin away, I promise you. Once it's done, you will be a normal girl, or at least, free from it... I don't know if completely normal, haha... But don't worry."
"Mama..." Arachne kept weeping, rubbing her face on Maria's belly. "I love you mama... You're the only person... that ever showed me kindness..."
"Ah dear..." Maria was about to cry too, she hugged he girl, letting her little head rest over her shoulders. "Of course, I love you as your mother... I will always do, don't worry."
She gently kissed her cheek and her little nose, smiling back at Arachne, and cleaning her tears, having eight eyes made her face covered in too many of them.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Eat as much as possible before anything, alright? We'll start once everyone is done. In the meantime, I will begin preparations inside my Soul Scape," Maria said.
"We're doing it in there?" wondered Arachne.
"Yep, it's the safest place I can think of right now," Maria nodded, petting her head. "Nyx, Celes, I'm counting on you two to comfort her for now..."
"Y-Yeah, don't worry about it, mama!" Nyx nodded, her cute tail wagging. "Arachne's my big sis after all!"
"Big sis?" wondered Arachne. "B-But I was mean to Nyx before..."
"It's fine! I a forgive Arachne!" Nyx smiled cutely. "Let's be sisters!"
"N-Nyx..." Arachne nodded. "T-Thank you... I'm so happy..."
She ended being hugged by Nyx too, as Maria's little daughter comforted her.
Maria's little baby was very good at understanding people's emotions and responding accordingly.
"She was so well raised, I'm so proud of her." Maria thought.
"I-I'll do what I can too..." Celes nodded. "At least, we'll try to not let her fall asleep."
"Yeah, if she falls asleep right now, I can't do the ritual, it requires her to stay awake at least until it begins," Maria explained.
"Then we'll also help however we can!" said Fabian. "Hi, I guess we've never really talked properly before..."
"Nice to meet you Arachne!" said Spectra.
"Yeah... Hi," Beery smiled.
"We just have to keep you busy talking, right?" wondered Garon.
"Then it's not that hard!" Nick nodded.
"Thank you everyone..." yawned Arachne. "Aah, it's hard to resist it..."
"Let's keep her busy!" said Nyx. "Hey, Celes, can you splash water into her face too?"
"Eh? I can but is she okay with it?" Celes wondered.
"It's fine, don't worry!" Arachne nodded. "T-Thank you... hmm..." she was slowly drowsily about to close her eyes again.
SPLASH!
However, Celes responded quickly, dropping a bit of very cold water into her face, making her quickly open her eyes wide.
"Ahh! R-Right, no sleep, no sleep... I'll eat while we talkt-then!" Arachne quickly started eating as Maria hurriedly prepared the ritual formation inside her Soul Scape.
She arranged all necessary materials, most of them extracted from her Soul Scape and also
from her Undead army, such as corpses, souls, and fresh blood.
"You're really going to extract a sin from a Calamity?" Tyr started to reprimand her. "Are you crazy, Maria?! Do you think that would even work?"
"I have to try, Tyr!" Maria said. "I know the method, it has to work, I'll make it work!"
"You..." Tyr sighed. "Okay, let me help them... What can I do?"
Tyr sighed, recalling a bit of his past, his fragmented memories coming back the more Maria absorbed new fragments of the evil god.
He also had a little family of his own, a wife and even two children...
The god could relate to Maria's struggles, and how a good parent would do anything for their
kids.
Even if it means having to do the impossible, they wouldn't rest until they did it.
"Thank you, Tyr, really."
Maria and Tyr continued creating the Demonic Ritual Formation.
Slowly, it all came together.
And the Ritual was soon about to begin.