Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Between the Lines 3===

She wanted to change.

It could be a good person, a bad person, a rich person, a poor person, a popular person, or a hated person for all she cared.

She simply wanted to become someone other than who she was here and now.

That was all.

That was Susannia Evans’s one and only desire.

She had intentionally turned away from the colors she liked and made frequent and wild changes in her hair and fashion choices. She had even tried plastic surgery on several occasions. She had also attended seminars that claimed they would change your personality.

She had changed herself inside and out, but none of it had satisfied her.

There was a hole inside her she wanted to erase, but it had remained with her to the very end.

“I am sorry.”

Her shadow changed shape.

The tearful and gloomy woman it formed did nothing but apologized without end.

“I am sorry, I am so very sorry. And all because I needed your help.”

She was Persephone, Greek God of Death.

She had technically been the goddess of spring, but she had gained that new attribute after Hades, Ruler of the Underworld, had taken her away. After spending too long in the underworld while also possessing the breath of spring, she had gained the ultimate regeneration that surpassed even Crystal Magic.

It was the worst possible curse for Susannia who wanted nothing more than to change or be changed.

If she received plastic surgery or even burned or sliced up her face, it would always return to normal, so she could never ever escape being “herself”. No matter how hard she tried to distance herself from it, she would be dragged right back to it like she was wearing a collar with a rubber band attached.

She had felt resentment.

She had half cursed it.

But none of it had been directed at her constantly crying shadow. Persephone was a deity who had always been toyed with by fate, so Susannia’s anger was directed at the fate that continued to torment her so.

“Don’t worry. It doesn’t really matter.”

“…? What do you mean???”

“There is still hope. I actually have high hopes for that Crystal Magic and Grimnoah.”

“You mustn’t interact with the enemy. Building any kind of emotional attachment will only lead to suffering down the road.”

“I don’t mean it like that.” Susannia smiled a little. “It isn’t on my level, but Crystal Magic has an excellent healing and regeneration power, right? And there are hundreds of them. …The error rate might be higher for them, so they might happen across some environment or circumstances where the healing or regeneration doesn’t work. Wouldn’t that be some must-have data? Then I can be freed from this rubber band of regeneration and finally escape being ‘me’. Nee hee hee.”

“I am so sorry. What I most want is for you to stop hurting yourself. I am so sorry. And I am supposed to be the one supporting you.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” said the woman without even a pause. But instead of being dismissive, it sounded like this was something so obvious to her it did not require any time to think. “This difference in opinion only happened because you’re still worried for me after so long, and that does make me happy, you know? No matter what end result it might lead to.”

Susannia and Persephone observed the Ocean Crystal Magic Academy from the outside until they finally arrived at a certain conclusion.

With an excellent regenerative ability, removing foreign objects from the body became difficult.

Especially toxins.

Something as simple as preventing bleeding did not allow the toxins out of the body. The system meant to repair their body would run in vain until their stomach and blood vessels were properly cleaned out, so they would end up in a repeating loop of needless crystallizations across their body.

For Crystal Magicians, it was hard to tell how much of a substance would be helpful versus harmful, so they apparently had to be very careful when taking medicines.

But what if you took that in the opposite direction?

Susannia only had to drive a wedge into her own body. If she could fill her body with artificial objects, machines, and components to intentionally trigger metal poisoning and rejection, her loathsome regeneration would be unable to keep up. She would make it spin its wheels so much it could not handle larger changes such as plastic surgery.

Susannia smiled and bowed in prayer toward her shadow that was still sobbing.

“Thank you.”

And she addressed her nemeses who had also reminded her what it meant to be alive.

“Thank you so much, Grimnoah.”

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