Chapitre 2232: Gathering Information : Losing Patience

Embracing her historically revised title, Shion set out to determine who was truly responsible for the state of affairs between humans and nonhumans. She wanted to understand what had gone wrong during her absence, and, if possible, set humanity on a less destructive course.

Believing answers could be found in the Capital, Shion ventured forth with the intention of enrolling herself into the Witch's Court. To her surprise, the organization had been abolished a few years after her retirement as an Adventurer. The daughter of her chosen successor ended up getting entangled with the firstborn son of the third generation King of Ashbourne.

Shortly after the couple's romance was discovered, the Witch's Court was accused of conspiring to seize power from the monarchy. History had literally been rewritten to make it so that the Witch's Court was a direct offshoot of the Holy Church. Historians pointed to the fact that Shion had once been a Saintess, and, instead of faithfully recounting her exploits during the 'Phoenix Rebellion', the revised history purported that she had agreed to become the Apostle of the Demon Lord of Cinders in exchange for an immortal body.

Following the revelation that the Witch's Court had been conspiring to overthrow the monarchy, the general public immediately turned on them. Those tasked with the responsibility of enforcing the law were rarely appreciated by the people expected to follow them. The moment they had an excuse to retaliate, mobs began to form with the purpose of hunting down and executing anyone affiliated with the 'Dark Arts'.

Though it was possible for even a simple villager to learn magic, those with a genuine talent for it were approximately one in ten thousand. People hated the notion that some people were simply born better than them, so, similar to when the Holy Church was in charge, people with an affinity for magic were accused of being the spawn of demons. They were mercilessly hunted down until the only forms of magic allowed to be practiced were Alchemy and Light Magic.

The most ridiculous thing about these 'Witch Hunts' was that the offspring between humans and demons were incapable of using magic. They had longer lifespans and stronger bodies, but, due to the incompatibilities between a human's and a demon's magic veins, their direct descendants were wholly incapable of using magic. There were exceptions, of course, but the vast majority of hybrids ended up crippling themselves in their attempts to master even the simplest of spells. Their limbs would, quite literally, explode.

Simply put, referring to magically inclined humans as demonspawn was just a convenient excuse to allow average humans to vent their inferiority complex unto the more exceptional members of their species. It was similar to older and more physically inclined children would bully and abuse children that showed greater intelligence than them. They knew their path was severely limited compared to those that delved in books and sought a higher education so they would beat and harass others on the grounds that their victims believed themselves to be better than them. In truth, they just had an inferiority complex.

Since gaining information through the Witch's Court was impossible, Shion disguised herself as a maid in order to sneak into the castle and gain access to its library. Her [Stealth] skill had long since reached the MAX Rank, so, even if people entered the library alongside her, they would completely ignore her unless she willfully drew their attention.

Unfortunately, while the Royal Library contained many rare books, it was no longer the primary repository of knowledge within the Kingdom. Most of the important documents were kept in secure locations, so, without any kind of status or clearance, Shion was left with no choice but to gain intel the old-fashioned way.

After sneaking into the Bureau of Registry and fabricating an identity for herself, Shion divided her time between educating herself and increasing her infamy as the Witch of Chaos. This may sound like a waste of time, but, after spending more than a hundred years learning from dragons, Shion had gained an appreciation for knowledge and proper education. If she could go back in time to the point when she assisted in the foundation of the Ashbourne Kingdom, the reforms she would have focused on more than any other were education.

With rumors of the Witch of Chaos's return spreading like wildfire, opinions were divided between those who resented the current system and those who supported it. Many outright discredited her existence, but, once the military police began implementing martial law in the areas where she was active, it became apparent that the Royal Family was treating the rumors seriously.

Around the time of her second year in the Royal Academy, Shion decided to throw a wrench in the Kingdom's war machine by assassinating the Prime Minister and every Military Officer above the Rank of Captain. She also began airing out the dirty laundry of various politicians and merchants, so, while many resented the Witch of Chaos for ruining their 'peaceful' lives, it couldn't be denied that Shion was living up to her title.

Graduating with Highest Honors from the most prestigious academy in the so-called civilized world, it wasn't long before Shion found herself in a Secretarial position serving the House of Lords.

As the name implied, the House of Lords was the Supreme Legislative Body serving the Ashbourne Royal Family. They were charged with drafting, passing, appending, and annulling the various laws that dictated how citizens of the Ashbourne Kingdom lived. With the obvious exception of the King, the representatives of the House of Lords were the highest-ranking officials in the entire Kingdom.

In the beginning, Shion was fully intent on accumulating information and slowly purging the more corrupt elements of the House of Lords. Even during her tenure as Supreme Justice, she had never harbored the desire to rule over others. Thus, while she was determined to try and 'fix' things, she had no interest in waging a one-woman war on yet another Kingdom.

After more than two hundred years of existence, Shion was honestly tired of dealing with the affairs of humans. If the Ashbourne Kingdom wasn't her own creation, she wouldn't even bother trying to fix things. She would have just let the Dragons lay waste to them as they had done a total of sixteen times in the past.

As innovative as humans were, their burgeoning technology was no match for Dragons that could annihilate the peaks of mountains with a single breath attack.

Unfortunately, at least for the people of the Ashbourne Kingdom, Shion had only been a Secretary for eleven days when one of the Lords threatened to obstruct her career path if she didn't agree to enter into a sexual relationship with him. This completely derailed her plans, so, as a reward for the inconvenience he had caused her, Shion ended up burning the man's insides from the waist down. He ultimately survived the ordeal, but, even with access to the most proficient healers in the entire Kingdom, he would never recover the function of his legs or the little sausage between them.

With her identity all but exposed, Shion disappeared for a few days before informing one of the state-sponsored media groups that she would begin investigating and executing members of the Nobility until they came to their senses and ceased their expansionist ways. As an added kicker, she mandated that all industrialization efforts would cease until the companies backing them financed methods to properly dispose of hazardous waste products. She had seen what happens to worlds that prioritized products over the health of the environment, so, while she was taking action to fix one problem, Shion figured she may as well address others.

For reasons Shion couldn't even begin to fathom, neither the Nobility nor the people in charge of various industrialization efforts took her warning seriously. The King even made a public statement declaring that the Kingdom would never submit to the demands of a 'terrorist with a god complex'. In response, Shion's next warning was accompanied by the severely charred remains of the King.

Similar to when Shion had opposed the Holy Church, those in power were quick to backpedal when they felt their lives were in danger. They were the type that looked down on others, but, when push came to shove, they were generally the most cowardly individuals within any given society.

Though a few of the more brazen individuals attempted to conspire against her behind the scenes, Shion undermined all of their efforts by simply refusing to acknowledge their attempts to entice or bait her into a compromise. Instead, she would issue ultimatums, and, if they refused to abide, she would simply kill them. Was this tyrannical? Certainly. Shion simply didn't care.

Over the course of a seven-year period, Shion effectively ground humanity's progress to a stop. Her actions had crippled the economy, and, as a result, unemployment increased from around 16.9% to a startling 83.5%. The only people able to operate in their previous capacity were farmers and a few people with specialized trades. In essence, Shion had forced the Ashbourne Kingdom to revert back to the medieval period until they could sort themselves out.

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of people absolutely loathed Shion. They blamed her for ruining their lives, but, considering they were okay with their Kingdom laying waste to virtually every other civilization, Shion didn't particularly care what they had to say. She didn't like classifying people in such a way but the average person was a brainless sheep whose only purpose in life was to pursue their personalized version of happiness and reproduce.

When times were tough, the average person would put their nose to the grindstone and work hard to ensure their survival. When things became peaceful, however, they quickly became complacent and began complaining about every little inconvenience until someone came along to pacify them with some new and exciting product to make their lives easier. Those that provided such products would eventually become wealthy, and, shortly thereafter, the people they sold to would begin to covet their wealth. This contributed to a cycle of greed and envy that invariably led to conflict, and, as a result, suffering for those who simply wanted to live in peace.

So long as humans prioritized their individual happiness and coveted the success of others, such cycles would never cease. Thus, whenever Shion heard people insulting or ridiculing her while she was walking around in disguise, she never so much as flinched. She knew what she was doing was wrong, in the grand scheme of things, it was the much lesser of two evils.

What Shion didn't expect, even though she had once fought alongside one, was the birth of a Hero chosen by the Gods. Unlike the Heroes that had come before, however, this one was a woman with a near-perfect immunity to magic. As for her mission? What else could it be other than eliminating the 'evil' Witch of Chaos and restoring peace to the 'world' of Gisele?

When Shion first learned about the crowning of a new Hero, she didn't actually believe her ears. As the 'creator' of the world that had effectively become her private purgatory, Shion knew better than anyone the conditions to create a Hero. It used a tremendous amount of magical energy and one of the Artifacts belonging to the original Hero as a catalyst.

Prior to her 'retirement', Shion had gathered each and every Artifact that could have been used to produce a Hero. The Ashbourne Kingdom had also gone out of their way to kill off the majority of magic users so she couldn't fathom how they were able to produce a Hero out of thin air.

Eager to learn the truth, Shion returned to the Capital before promptly invading the Royal Castle. There, she found a young woman with excessively pink hair and star-shaped pupils living in one of the rooms typically reserved for members of the Royal Family.

While the woman's appearance stood out like a monster in the middle of a town square, the thing that caught Shion's attention was the device the girl was typing on. It was different from the kind she was familiar with, but, even at a glance, Shion could tell the highly accessorized device was a smartphone...

...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'I wonder what Shion's alignment would be...?','That so-called Lord royally fucked up...','*Surprised Pikachu face*')

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Chapitre 2233: Frustration

Realizing that the pink-haired Hero must have come from a different world, Shion approached her with the intention of preventing future conflicts between them. What she didn't expect was that the girl, named Margaret, had been warned by the Gods not to fall for her 'tricks'.

Though they ended up battling it out and destroying a section of the Royal Castle, Margaret ended up revealing quite a bit before, during, and after the altercation. She was an excessively bubbly girl, and, as a result, Shion was able to learn that the Gods in charge of governing Gilese had apparently labeled her as an agent of the Gods of Chaos. This was the true reason she had been labeled as the Witch of Chaos. The fourth-generation King of Ashbourne had been given an oracle labeling her as such.

According to Margaret, the God responsible for Shion's reincarnation existed in a higher plane than the Gods in charge of overseeing Gilese. He had chosen her, not to be a boon on the world, but to set it on a path towards destruction. This was apparently an event that had already transpired in the relatively near future, so, in an effort to prevent the world's destruction, Margaret was 'summoned' to dispose of or seal her away.

Unfortunately for the Gods governing Gilese, Shion's Immortality was of a higher grade than the Blessings they were capable of giving out. Margaret was also inexperienced, so, while her attacks, reminiscent of a magical girl's, were capable of causing immense damage, they were more of an inconvenience than an actual threat to Shion. After all, even with various Blessings, Margaret was revealed to only be around Level 100 in Shion's eyes. As for Shion herself, she had exceeded Level 900 prior to leaving the mountains.

If Shion had so desired, killing Margaret would have been a simple task to accomplish. Instead, she handily defeated her before advising the fourteen-year-old Heroine to learn more about the world and the tragedies wrought by humanity. On that note, she promised she would never willfully seek to destroy the world before departing the Capital and returning to the mountains.

To her credit, Margaret did actually look into the activities of humans over the past hundred or so years. As for Shion, she sought out an audience with the King of Dragons, but, much as it had been during her stay in the mountains, her request was denied.

Though the majority of Gilese's inhabitants were unaware of it, Shion knew the reason the Dragons had been stationed in the mountains. They were the Guardians of the Gate connecting the Mortal World of Gilese to the Heavenly Realm of Celestia. The King of Dragons, Tiamaulis, was a Level 9999 Dragon comparable in size to a mountain range. He was the last line of defense preventing beings from the mortal world from trespassing the Realms beyond.

Having learned the 'truth' of her reincarnation, Shion wished to meet with Tiamaulis and have him act as an intermediary between her and the Gods. If her existence was detrimental to the continued existence of the world, she saw no reason for her to stay in it. Since the Gods clearly had the means to summon people from other worlds, Shion refused to believe they lacked the means to send her back. Maybe not to her original world, but someplace where she could live out the remainder of her immortal life in peace.

What Shion didn't know, at least at the time, was that the Gods responsible for overseeing Gilese simply lacked the authority to overrule the decision of a higher-ranking God. Had they been able to, they would have expelled her from their world the moment they took notice of her existence. Instead, they were forced to observe as every decision she made irreversibly altered the course of fate in an increasingly destructive manner. Things had gotten a little better when she retired to the mountains, but, even then, the day of Gilese's reckoning was forever drawing closer.

Though she was frustrated by the Dragons' refusal, Shion didn't allow it to ruin the kinship she had developed with the majestic and wise creatures. She knew they were only fulfilling their sacred duty, so, in the weeks following Margaret's summoning, Shion divided her time between scouting out the territory of the Demons and reminding those on the human side that a novice Hero wasn't going to prevent her from killing them if they acted out of line.

During this period, Shion crossed paths with Margaret on numerous occasions, but, much like their first encounter, the fight was remarkably one-sided. Margaret was growing stronger at a ridiculous rate, but, refusing to simply let herself be sealed away, Shion began investigating other methods to transfer between worlds.

Since it was impossible for her to defeat Tiamaulis and trespass the Realm of Celestia, Shion set her sights on the other end of the spectrum. People already viewed her as a being of chaos, so, instead of seeking absolution, Shion decided she may as well attempt to enter the Netherworld. From what she had learned from the Dragons, it wasn't actually a world filled with fire and brimstone. Rather, it was an entire universe filled with innumerable worlds, an endless variety of magical creatures, and a number of remarkably powerful beings known as Overlords.

According to the Dragon Elders, the power of an Overlord could be increased without limits. More importantly, virtually anyone could become an Overlord so long as they were able to seize the title from another.

Having learned the 'truth' of her reincarnation, Shion was determined to seek out the God that had manipulated her for his own ends. She basically had an eternity's worth of time to track him down and seek revenge, but, fearing it was only a matter of time before she broke down and tried to seal herself, Shion decided she may as well get a jump start on reaching her objective.

Fortunately, as could be expected, the Demons located on the Eastern side of the Continent were aware of several means to, at the very least, make contact with those residing in the Netherworld. Many of the magical creatures they utilized during the war were actually summoned from various regions of the Netherworld, so, as long as she could deconstruct and make a 'reverse' summoning formation, Shion reasoned that she would eventually be able to escape Gilese and make a home for herself in a world far beyond the planet that had become her prison.

To her surprise, it didn't take long for Shion to figure out how to send objects to the Netherworld. The existing spell already possessed the ability to transmit magical energy and blood sacrifices to beings on the other side, and, according to the Demonic entities she had made contact with, there were actually a ton of Witches that had managed to enter the Netherworld via selling their souls or dedicating their bodies to high-ranking Demons.

Shion was fully prepared to do the same, but, the moment she attempted to sign the contract, her blood simply evaporated from its surface. Her Immortality was the variety that always reverted her body back to its original state, so, even if she slit her wrists or sliced her own neck, the blood would invariably retract as her wounds disappeared.

Simply put, Shion was unable to sign a contract with the vast majority of Demons located in the Netherworld. Her only option was to seek out even higher-ranking Demons, but, upon learning of her circumstances, they asked for a lot more than just her Soul. They wanted things like absolute loyalty, eternal obedience, and, in quite a number of cases, marriage. Beings that could transform and change the shape of their body were uncommon even in the Netherworld, so, as a reasonably attractive woman even in her true form, many wanted Shion to become their eternally loyal bride.

With the goal of becoming an Overlord and seeking vengeance against the God the had wronged her, Shion was unwilling to pledge absolute obedience until the end of time. She hadn't even had sex since the death of Roland so the notion of servicing some inhuman monster for the rest of her days made Shion sick to her stomach.

After summoning and failing to reach an agreement with more than a hundred Demons, Shion temporarily shelved the idea of entering the Netherworld. Margaret had been delving into some of the more dangerous Dungeons and gathering allies from across the Western side of the Continent. She was still nowhere near Shion's Level, but, as the latter had experienced whilst fighting alongside Roland, numerical superiority and teamwork could easily bridge the gap between individuals.

Though many of her allies had started off between the Levels of 35-50, Margaret managed to raise the average Level of her Party to around 200 in less than a year. With the typical S-Rank Adventurer being around Level 100, it wasn't an exaggeration to say her Party was well on its way to becoming a legendary team of Adventurers.

Having tried and failed to reason with Margaret on numerous occasions, Shion approached the Party of seven with the intention of settling things once and for all. When Margaret once again refused to abandon her mission, Shion ended up wiping out the entire group. Immediately after that, she returned to the Royal Capital, burned down the Castle, and killed all but the youngest Princess, a four-year-old girl named Amalia.

Believing her actions had bought her ample time to achieve her objective, Shion was genuinely surprised when she awoke the next day to find Margaret and her Party alive and well. For a very brief period of time, she believed she may have imagined the entire incident. This notion quickly changed when she encountered Margaret.

Though their meetings would invariably result in conflict, Margaret was generally a very bubbly and outgoing young woman. She always wore a radiant smile, and, every now and then, she would even ask if Shion wanted to meet up to discuss their past lives together.

When Shion went to meet up with Margaret after her extremely realistic 'dream', the latter had no smile to give. In its place, an uncharacteristically serious expression had replaced her usual vigor, as, in anticipation of the Level and skill gap between them, the Gods had given Margaret the ability to 'reset' the day whenever she was killed, sealed, or crippled. In other words, even if Shion killed her, she would simply 'respawn'. To make matters exponentially worse, her stats would increase by 1% every time she died.

Upon realizing that Shion was more than willing to kill both her and her friends, all of Margaret's goodwill had dried up. She was still the same bubbly girl around others, but, whenever she met Shion, she would immediately do everything in her power to try and defeat her. Shion made an effort to apologize and atone, but, no matter what she said or did, Margaret no longer believed anything she had to say.

With Margaret's Party growing stronger with each passing day, Shion began to resent the Gods governing Gisele just as much as the God that had reincarnated her. She had demonstrated her willingness to compromise but they were fully committed to sealing her away. In their eyes, Shion was effectively a cancerous tumor that was impossible to remove. Thus, before she could lead the world to ruin, they intended to make her benign.

In a last-ditch effort to resolve things peacefully, Shion departed the Central Continent and headed North towards the vast, frozen wasteland occupied by the Dwarves. She reasoned that things would eventually calm down if she simply wasn't there to pose a threat. Instead, nearly five years after her departure, Shion awoke one morning to the sound of Explosion Magic being unleashed on her tiny cottage. Margaret's Party had received an oracle from the Gods and tracked her more than 6900km just to pick a fight...

...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Newbie Hero vs Veteran Witch...','Immortality is a curse...','Now that's just cheating...')

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