"What kind of sophistry is this?" Aiden frowned upon hearing this. "Melinda, Melissa... aren't they just other identities of yours?"
Is this like the legendary 'Capturing Zhou Shuren has nothing to do with me, Lu Xun'? Or 'You want to capture Xu Xian, but my name is Xu Hanwen'?
(TN: Reference to Lu Xun, a famous Chinese writer who used multiple pseudonyms, including Zhou Shuren. Xu Xian and Xu Hanwen are names associated with the male protagonist in the Legend of the White Snake.)
In Aiden's eyes, these identities were merely masks worn by this "Goddess of Conspiracy" before him.
"They really can't be considered the same person as me. If Melissa used Authority power to create someone with the same thoughts as you, would you acknowledge that person as yourself?" Mephilia countered calmly.
"I certainly wouldn't acknowledge it, but don't try to twist the concept with me. Actively creating an avatar of yourself inherently means you have to take responsibility for that avatar's future actions, right?" Aiden also retorted. "Speaking of which, with such an ability, you should be able to create thousands, even tens of thousands of avatars. Could it be that corners of this world are filled with numerous 'Mephilias' causing trouble everywhere?"
"Don't speak of me like some kind of spreading bacteria. I don't randomly create 'another self'," Mephilia said while moving a chess piece. "Based on my understanding of 'myself,' if I were just a mortal, I would definitely try everything possible to seize the Authority from the main body."
"That sounds quite reasonable," Aiden agreed with this statement. "So that's why you split off the 'Desire' Authority?"
Mephilia is usually full of schemes; the avatars she creates would naturally be the same. Makes sense.
"Splitting off an Authority is a very troublesome matter. For another individual to digest the Authority, they must undergo the ascension ritual again. But only then would the other 'me' be willing to do the same things as me on equal footing, and then reunite with me as one at the appropriate time," Mephilia replied.
"So does that mean Melissa is actually Melinda?" Aiden asked.
"Not exactly. Strictly speaking, Melinda is already dead. Melissa... using your terms, is my second-generation avatar. In a way, she can only be considered Melinda's successor. Melinda provoked the Dominator of 'Death,' and her physical body was destroyed directly. Although she left behind measures for resurrection, they also failed, only leaving the Authority within a mortal's remains. That one, acting on a whim, messed up Death's plans. While amusing, it also brought me considerable trouble."
"What trouble?" Aiden pressed.
He actually had an idea about Melinda's end.
Melinda ultimately tried to resurrect using the Nameless Witch's body, but the Nameless Witch, after entrusting everything to her successor, seemed to have left the Sabbath Forest and committed suicide, thereby preventing Melinda's resurrection.
Presumably, Melinda's Authority, along with the spiritual fragments that failed to completely corrupt and resurrect through the Nameless Witch, remained within the Nameless Witch's corpse, eventually being recovered by the then "Goddess of Conspiracy."
"The conflict between Melinda and Death ultimately resulted in mutual destruction. Melinda's desperate final struggle corrupted Death's spirit, while Death killed Melinda's body and exhausted his strength to banish her soul," Mephilia answered.
"Banish?"
"He banished Melinda's soul to the Underworld. The Underworld controlled by the Dominator of 'Death' is on a different level from mere criminals using 'Death' Authority power. It's a vast pasture for souls, passed down through generations of the Authority, accumulating tens of thousands of dead killed by the 'Death' Dominator. This Underworld can even extend beyond the world, sporadically summoning souls of the dead from other worlds. Although Melinda left behind spiritual fragments for resurrection before dying and even transferred her Authority away, most of her soul was still trapped in the Underworld," Mephilia paused here. "Although I eventually recovered Melinda's Authority, I didn't ultimately retrieve her complete memories. To find her soul, I had no choice but to find a way to infiltrate the Underworld of the 'Death' Authority."
"Was it necessary to go that far?" Aiden was somewhat puzzled. "After recovering the 'Desire' Authority, you could have just created the next avatar."
"But then, I wouldn't be able to obtain Melinda's memories," Mephilia smiled. "After Melinda's resurrection failed, her memories remained solely within her banished soul."
"You died once just to retrieve an avatar's memories?" Aiden was astonished.
The Underworld created by Death should only be accessible to the dead.
"Basically, every Dominator of an 'Authority' has means to transcend life and death. It wasn't particularly difficult for me. My Authority power allows the spirit to completely detach from the body, existing like a ghost created by necromancy. Finding a way to infiltrate the Underworld took me a very long time," Mephilia replied nonchalantly. "I abandoned my living body, found a way to sneak into the Underworld controlled by Death, and only then did I recover Melinda's soul and retrieve her memories. All in all, it took me over a hundred years—but it was very important to me. You should remember what I've always been pursuing, right?"
"Authorities and pleasure?" Aiden seemed to understand slightly. "Splitting off another self is for collecting Authorities more efficiently while also seeking fun everywhere?"
"You're starting to understand me. How gratifying," Mephilia laughed heartily.
"Forgive my inability to understand. Provoking Death and ultimately getting yourself killed... that's just playing with fire and getting burned, isn't it?" Aiden shook his head. "You were just cleaning up another version of yourself's mess."
"But there were gains too. It was precisely the experience of infiltrating the Underworld that allowed me to find a channel to summon souls from another world," Mephilia stared into Aiden's eyes. "That's how you had the opportunity to come to this world."
"Well, thank you very much then," Aiden replied in a flat tone.
"Furthermore, during the process of seeking a way into the Underworld, I had brief contact with the coven that worshipped Death. It was then that the humans in that coven learned of the existence of another Dominator."
"The Blood Moon Cult? I see. That man learned of your existence within the coven, which is why he directly led the humans in the coven to switch allegiance to you," Aiden picked up on Mephilia's hint.
"Correct. That man found the sacrifice, allowing me, having lost my body, to descend into this current vessel. As for what happened afterward... you should be relatively familiar with it."
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