"Let’s do what we must," Xu Yang said.
"Get ready," Farosa rose to her feet, "I’ll save them from their suffering."
Xu Yang stepped outside the room, using the Digital Mind to control the equipment in the Divine Palace, rerouting its resources to external facilities to mitigate the damage caused by the sudden drop in computational power.
Shortly after, a gray flash swept through the room, and in almost an instant, Xisheng Shrine lost the "supercomputer matrix" in its mainframe room.
The subsidiary machines of the Hundred-eyes Demon fell into a state of crash and standby. Ordinary computers were unable to support the vast resources required by artificial intelligence; Xisheng Shrine’s system’s computing power plummeted, dropping in an instant to 40% of its original capacity. The data-processing capabilities of most terminals within the shrine substantially declined, their performance unprecedentedly reduced.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but he heard a few long sighs coming from the data center, marking the end of a century of agony.
Xu Yang returned to the mainframe room, only to see every black wall, every jar stuffed with fragments of torn brain matter.
The colorful Farosa bloomed amidst the blood-stained shards.
She lay on her Rainbow Cloak, cradling a bloody jar in her arms.
"It’s all over," she said.
Xu Yang saw that about 10 jars had been preserved.
"Only they still cling to the mortal world, longing to be reborn by me," Farosa spoke, "Now, the computers have slowed down, haven’t they?"
"It doesn’t matter, we can develop, manufacture, and buy equipment ourselves," Xu Yang whispered, "Then there’s the Hundred-eyes Demon’s parent body. If we negotiate with it about the topic of freedom, it might lend its mainframe room to us."
"Hmm," Farosa stared into space, "At least..."
"What do you see?" Xu Yang sat beside her, grasping her cold hand.
"I see their souls ascending to the Star Vault," Farosa said softly, "They smile at me, thanking me for completely freeing them from their prolonged torment. They call me ’mother’, they stretch their souls’ limbs, swimming through the air, smiling at me as they move. They’ve forgotten how to walk and run for so long, unable to distinguish colors and scents. Like fish they glide, but none of that matters now; they no longer need their vessels, they’re free."
Xu Yang lay down; he couldn’t see anything, only the smell of blood and burnt circuits filled his nose.
But one thing was certain, the witches once buried deep underground were now closer to the sky than anyone else.
"To become the Witch Goddess, I must bind myself to the concept of the witches," Farosa extended her hand as if she could touch the souls in the air, "Before, I felt isolated and distant. Now, I’m becoming ever more entwined with the fate of the entire witch species. I must prove myself worthy of this identity and ultimately become one with it."
"...By the way, Honma Noriko left us a message, she threatened us," Xu Yang looked at the dark ceiling, "Her consciousness has left the witch body and transcribed into the machine."
"So she underwent the Witch Transformation Ceremony merely to improve her physical condition, with the ultimate goal to achieve this form of ’Ascension’?"
"Yes, her original human form was ageing and frail, but now it can be modified."
"If we intercept the consciousness data, can we transfer Honma Noriko back into her original body?" Farosa questioned.
"We can, with the right modifications... Her original body is probably still preserved, at least as a keepsake."
Farosa nodded slightly.
"How could she escape her identity as a ’witch’? That’s a great blessing given by the Witch Goddess," Farosa said, "I will capture Honma Noriko’s consciousness back, stuff it in, put her severed head into a jar, and seal it in the black wall. My path is so clear, everything that began because of me will end because of me."