Mages and Divine Beings have never had a relationship of dominance, but one of symbiosis, with mages at most being able to take advantage of a Divine Being’s favors. And even that advantage is based on the premise of the Divine Being having been well fed (the Legendary Chefs feeding it around the clock without breaks) and wanting to expand its own boundaries voluntarily.
Yet Diya had been with Ash for so long that if he had a bunch of Legendary Mages as a battery pack, she would have noticed. Since she hadn’t, it meant Ash didn’t have any power to drive the Divine Being, or if he did, it was as minimal as a drop in the bucket.
Nevertheless, the Divine Being still provided him with services custom-made for him, assembling a team for him every night, preparing the sports car, readying the map—his own parents could not do more. There was only one explanation for this: the Divine Being was wholeheartedly at his service, even exerting itself to gather energy to subsidize his upbringing.
At that moment, Diya recalled the ’Observer Divine Being’ who looked almost identical to Ash, as well as the Sword Maiden’s mention that the Observer might be a strong reincarnated being who had lost his memory, leading her to a new speculation: Ash’s Divine Being might have been summoned by himself in the past.
Even a Technique Spirit that was autonomously summoned would share many characteristics with its Mage, not to mention a Divine Being—it wouldn’t be surprising if they looked exactly alike. Only such a bond could explain why the Divine Being was so protective of Ash.
But that Divine Being had also hidden much from Ash, such as my true identity!
Ash touched her cheek gently with the back of his hand, feeling her warmth, "Have you really come back?"
Not only has Liss come back, but so have I.
Diya’s lips moved slightly. There was so much she wanted to tell Ash, to tell him she was the Witch, to tell him that Liss was actually my sister, to tell him that I am not the little girl... but she couldn’t say a thing.
—Secret Keeping Authority.
While the Concept Avatar isolated her from the Divine Being, it also lay between her and Ash. The more she wanted to spill her secrets, the tighter the chains became, and the stronger the power of keeping secrets grew.
It was truly such a thing, to have the one she loved so close, yet her heart couldn’t get any closer at all. Like the mermaid in the fairy tale who lost her voice, nobody could hear her true feelings.
Facing Ash’s expectant gaze, Diya bit her lower lip, her eyes turning red as tears welled up, and though she took a deep breath, they spilled over. She stood up from the throne and threw her arms around his neck, sobbing, "I’ve come back."
In that moment, Diya couldn’t hold back anymore, burying herself in his arms and weeping softly, heart-wrenching and helpless. She had thought she could fool Fate by escaping from the Tower, but in the end, she found she was still in that Tower; she had never been able to escape Fate, nor would she obtain what she desired.
From the moment she used ’Liss’ as an identity to deceive Ash, the groundwork for tragedy had already been laid. The night she pleaded with Ash to save her sister Nina was her last chance to confess, but she had given up.
Because she didn’t want to be just Ash’s Liss, because she hoped to reconcile with Ash after reverting to her true self, because she thought explaining would be too complicated... but in the end, she was just afraid.
Afraid that Ash would despise her for the deception, so she kept running from it. In that regard, she was just like Liss—a child waiting to be picked up, passively waiting for Ash to find out on his own, and presumptuously believing she would be forgiven.
So when Lissdia said goodbye to Ash for them, she didn’t reveal the truth about Diya and the others, letting Ash believe that ’Liss’ and ’Lissdia’ were all there was from the beginning to the end.
Lissdia unquestionably had good intentions—firstly, Ash wasn’t even aware of Diya’s existence, and due to the Reverse Sun Technique Spirit’s origin, their bodies remained ’Little Girl Liss’ rather than ’Young Lissdia.’ To abruptly tell him, "Your daughter’s soul contains several young girls who like you," would only confuse him unnecessarily; secondly, by then, they had already decided to sacrifice themselves for Ash, and under that lofty ideology, they felt that keeping their feelings unknown and making silent sacrifices was somehow more romantic and touching.
Like an Angel in a fairy tale, spreading their wings to protect you in silence.
It was because of these fears, hesitations, deceptions, sacrifices, and romantic notions that Diya’s heart harbored this secret she desperately wanted to reveal yet kept buried deep within the glacier, until the arrival of the Secret Avatar, when it blossomed into a hundred thousand roses, trapping the Gospel Divine Being inside.
This was the real reason why Diya was crying.
Not because she hadn’t spoken before, nor because the Concept Avatar prevented her from speaking, but because she must forever keep that secret.
Once the secret was exposed, the power of Secret Keeping Authority would become ineffective, and the awakened Divine Being would engulf her soul until she became a vessel named Diya, unable to meet with Ash or the Observer again.
So she must not only keep the secret, but also prevent Ash from discovering the slightest hint, or else the effect of Secret Keeping Authority would diminish. She had to weave a vast web to keep both Ash and the Observer blinded within it.
She had to maintain the form of a little girl.
She had to keep the changes in the Technique Spirit a secret.
She couldn’t let Ash know she was the Witch.
She couldn’t let Ash know that Liss had sisters.
She couldn’t let Ash know that someone he didn’t recognize, didn’t know of, and had never even seen had been saved by him many times over.