"Damn, have I been doxxed?"
The moment Hel saw Niv and the others, that thought immediately popped into her head.
But she quickly came to her senses.
'All the clones I created use one-way channels. I can perceive everything my clones experience, but they can't access any information from my main body. Because of that, no one can break through the firewall of my soul-network architecture to read my memories. Which means Imshi absolutely cannot know about Niv and the others. Yet this scene contradicts that rule—so there's only one possible explanation.'
Hel calmly watched as Niv and the others were executed one by one. She watched the beak-masked knight ignite the firewood beside her. She watched the flames slowly engulf her, feeling the bone-searing pain.
A smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"This illusion is really convincing. But why is it that you're the only one missing from it, Imshi?"
After she spoke, nothing changed.
Only the crackling of the flames remained, along with the unbearable burning sensation.
Even the noise outside the fire disappeared, as if this world now contained only Hel and the flames before her.
*'Just as I thought. It's simply corrupted magic infused with "despair" attributes, forcing me to recall past experiences and emotions, forming a new illusion.
But since this illusion is generated by my own mind, without my permission, even Imshi can't pass through the soul network to enter it.
At least that's one small blessing—I didn't get fully doxxed.'*
Hel shook her head.
With a single thought, everything around her began to crumble—the thorns on her body, the distant flames, all of it disintegrated.
When she came back to her senses, she was once again standing in the thorn forest.
The fire beside the cross was still burning. The people below were still wearing their eerie smiles.
Imshi was still standing there, looking up at her with that signature fake grin.
"So? Did you feel despair?"
Hel rubbed her head. Without another word, death battle-energy wrapped around her body.
Then, without hesitation, she threw a punch straight at Imshi's annoyingly smug face.
As expected, her fist passed straight through Imshi's body without resistance.
It was as if Imshi herself was just another illusion.
"An illusion too, huh? So where's your real body? Don't tell me it's the one being burned on the cross up there."
"Why don't you guess?"
Imshi smiled brightly at Hel, then shut her mouth as if genuinely waiting for an answer.
Hel pulled back her fist, stared at her for a moment, and muttered:
"You're insane."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Imshi looked genuinely pleased for a second, then her expression snapped back into that familiar fake smile.
"I didn't expect you to see through my magic so easily—or to escape from it so quickly.
But you must have experienced that pain. So, what's your answer?"
Instead of replying directly, Hel changed the subject.
"Undead Possession is a basic, yet complex spell.
Ordinary necromancers simply attach part of their soul to an undead creature. Their soul-network management is practically nonexistent. So if you catch the undead, you can trace the 'signal' straight back to the caster.
But a skilled necromancer encrypts that network in every possible way—both incoming and outgoing signals."
Hel paused, then looked Imshi straight in the eye.
"And someone like me, who holds the Authority of Death, builds an even more secure soul network.
Not only can no information be traced back to me through my clones, but even the data they send me gets purified through multiple layers of firewalls.
So ordinary corruption-type mages can't trap me in illusions at all.
Unless that person has an extremely deep understanding of the soul.
And aside from myself, there's only one person I can think of who meets that standard."
Hel took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes briefly, and confirmed her suspicion.
"Especially with the traces of Death-Soul Authority in this spell…
That makes me even more certain.
Isn't that right, Death-Soul Witch?"
Hel knew quite a bit about the witches under her command.
Within the Death lineage of the Nether faction, there was one main god and six subordinate gods—and the Death-Soul Witch was one of those sub-god witches.
Yet to Hel's surprise, Imshi's expression didn't change at all.
She simply kept smiling.
"Who knows? Maybe I really am the Death-Soul Witch. Maybe I'm also one of the Seven Kings of the Church of Supremacy.
That would explain why I invited you to join us, wouldn't it?"
"Now I'm even less convinced."
Hel stared at her intently, searching for any change in her expression.
But Imshi's face never wavered from that fake smile.
"You might be connected to the Death-Soul Witch, but it's unlikely you're actually one of the Seven Kings.
Because while you claim you're inviting me to join the Church of Supremacy, your real goal is to trap me here so you can go steal the Healing Witch."
"Figures you'd see through me. They say the Death Witch, Nether, is an arrogant upstart, but you feel very different in person.
Could it be that some ancient monster has possessed Nether's body?"
Imshi openly admitted her true intentions.
But the more she observed Hel, the stranger her expression became.
"You don't seem worried at all. Almost like your goal was never the Healing Witch in the first place.
So why are you here? For that old man in the Church? For the Chui-de royal family? Or for me?
Don't tell me—you actually predicted I'd show up?"
Imshi exaggerated her movements, her expression becoming more theatrical, like a clown performing on stage.
Then, in the next instant, her face went cold.
She stared directly into Hel's eyes and said, slowly and clearly:
"So…you're connected to the Disease Witch."