Who is the Mastermind Behind the Scenes?

This 'strength' had nothing to do with the numerical gap between evolved beings and transmigrators.

It was simply a feeling that the witches' battles must be incredibly intense.

After all, while the casualty ratio seemed impressive, achieving such results against a literal sea of people was no easy feat.

Especially when there was an internal rebellion involved.

"Any more specific battle reports?"

"Yeah, brother. Every time a witch falls, the others fight like hell to reclaim their companion's body."

"That’s interesting. They won't abandon anyone, even in death?"

"No, no. I think it might have to do with the witches' blood."

"Blood?"

"Right. For some reason, these invaders collect the blood after killing a witch; I've seen it several times. But the witches seem to know something, so they fight desperately to take back even the collected blood."

"...What's that about?"

"What kind of logic are these invaders and traitors using?"

"God knows."

"As an insider, let me tell you. The reason these guys want witch blood is that they think it’s like ancient blood—something that can be used to craft evolution items. That's why so many transmigrators are charging into the Abandoned Land one after another."

"Wait, my linguistics isn't great. Can I request a translation?"

"No way anyone is stupid enough to believe that crap."

"Evolution items? From the blood of evolved beings?"

"If that's the case, aren't the Titans and Elves in danger too?"

"No, that shouldn't happen. Word is it's because the witches won the top three rewards in the last competition, which led to a sublimation of their life tier, giving them the same attributes as ancient blood."

"This talk... why does it sound so much like the nonsense a church would use to brainwash people?"

"It does. It really does."

"Speaking of which, the Pure Original Sect loves pulling stunts like this. Could they be the ones behind this?"

"The Pure Original Sect? Tsk, so those originalists are fanning the flames from the shadows. That explains it."

As people discussed, the topic eventually drifted.

Although the Witch race's private territory was being attacked for such a laughable reason, there was something else that chilled them even more.

And that was the resurgence of the originalists.

As mentioned before, this group was a bunch of fanatical racist terrorists who wanted to overthrow the Federation and return Blue Star to the past.

The crimes they had committed were far from minor.

Successfully making everyone in the world hate them over the course of several hundred years was a feat in itself.

So, compared to the mere Witch race, they were more interested in learning about the Pure Original Sect.

And so...

The World Channel, which had been heatedly discussing the battle, immediately shifted its focus to the Pure Original Sect and the originalists.

"How are you feeling? Any better?"

That evening, Erika walked into the tree house carrying food.

The tree house was currently filled with witches who had been turned into dolls; the only living person was Lucia, who had only recently been brought back to life.

Given the scene, the sight of these witch dolls under the glow of the magic lanterns was a bit eerie.

But they were all witches, and they had all experienced death, so Lucia wasn't afraid in the least.

After all, she had already been resurrected, while these witches were just waiting their turn.

In a sense, they were the same.

"Much better. I just still find it hard to accept."

At the thought of being backstabbed, an inexplicable, wicked fire burned in Lucia's heart.

Moreover, because of this death, her body had undergone fundamental changes.

There were now two things in her chest: a Soul Crystal and magic circuits.

Specifically, the ring of magic circuits around the Soul Crystal had ruined her once fair, flawless, art-like skin.

She had discovered this out of boredom after waking up.

To be honest, she had given herself a fright when she first saw it.

"Who on earth came up with the idea of placing a Soul Crystal over the wound to connect it to the magic circuits?" Lucia grumbled.

"It was Nightingale."

Erika handed over the porridge and some side dishes.

"...That sounds exactly like something she would do."

Upon hearing it was Nightingale the Lantern Witch, even Lucia the Moonlight Witch lost her temper.

Among the members of the Witch Group, medical students like Nightingale were extremely rare.

She had even invented many medical spells, making her the absolute authority on healing.

But!

Lucia still felt that placing the Soul Crystal directly over the wound was a bad idea.

Or rather, was it even necessary?

"It’s so that anyone who has died once will clearly remember, no matter how many years pass, exactly how they were killed by their own stupidity."

Just as Lucia was expressing her disapproval with a look of confusion, Nightingale walked into the room wearing a white lab coat.

Following behind her were [Toy Witch] Katie and [Summoning Witch] Martha.

"Died from my own stupidity, huh? That's a harsh way of putting it." Lucia rolled her eyes at her.

"What, is it not true?"

Nightingale gave Lucia a disinterested glance and walked past her.

"No, you're right. I really was a fool."

Thinking about how she had tried to build a good relationship with the person who wanted to kill her, Lucia could only laugh at herself.

As expected, she needed to follow the example of other witches and live alone as much as possible.

While that might reduce communication...

As someone who researched the moon, these inefficient interactions were truly optional.

In fact, the idea of no one disturbing her research and experiments was actually quite wonderful.

The three witches who had entered didn't stop in front of Lucia but walked straight to the center of the tree hollow.

Lucia watched as Martha took a metal plate out of a card.

Although Lucia wasn't very familiar with magic circles, having studied some basic knowledge, she could tell from the patterns on the metal plate that it was likely a summoning circle.

This metal plate had been crafted from the alloy of a teleportation circle after they had reclaimed it.

After all, the strength of other materials couldn't support the resurrection of so many people.

Martha stepped onto the metal plate after setting it down.

Just as it had with Lucia, a blue light flared up. Then, Erika and Katie used Soul Siphon to turn the invisible souls in the air into Soul Crystals, one by one.

Then, Nightingale began her operation.

So this is how I was resurrected...

Watching Nightingale perform the entire, complex resurrection surgery, Lucia finally realized just how much trouble her revival had been.