Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Things went smoothly for Eren after he introduced Reen to be the "incarnation" of goddess Echidna to Bisha.

Bisha couldn't undo the divine blessing herself. However, she did not dare to lie in front of Reen. She spilled everything about the current situation in the continent of Echidna, allowing Eren to get a clear picture of her world.

Bisha was also truthful about the problems and risks Eren would have to face if he were to visit Echidna as one of the Elder Seeds. The monsters were not quite on friendly terms with the Elder Seeds and potential Elder Seed inheritors.

Bisha told Eren about various prophecies related to the potential inheritor of the Elder Ichor's divine throne. These prophecies were related to various existing Elder Seeds.

One such prophecy claimed that one of the Elder Seeds would be responsible for killing the incarnation of goddess Echidna. That the incarnation would be severed from its original roots and end up hurting the chief monster goddess' divinity.

Eren and Reen looked at each other with blank faces when they heard about this prophecy from Bisha. Eren didn't know that his act of killing Reen would be seen as an act of blasphemy by the monsters on Echidna.

The fact that he resurrected her didn't count because he had also made Echidna sever her ties with Reen so that the latter would be able to retain her personality. If anything, Eren would be seen as a "professional blasphemer" if the monsters in Echidna were to know that he had practically told goddess Echidna not to become a part of his life.

Eren was sure that goddess Echidna herself wouldn't mind that he had turned Reen into an Elder Seed Artifact. She also wouldn't mind that he was making Reen pose as her incarnation in front of her followers or that he had told her to let go of her incarnation. 

However, he couldn't convince the goddess' followers the same way he had convinced Echidna. At least not right away. Not without facing some repercussions in return.

Eren could sense that the goddess' followers on Echidna would be no different than fanatics who would do anything and everything to please her. Even if it meant their definition of appeasement was warped to serve their own interests in some way.

Reen was good at acting the part. However, the trick to let Reen assume the form of the goddess Echidna would only work on someone like Bisha because she was currently in Anfang and trapped inside her chamber by Eren.

Eren doubted the same trick would work on other monsters, especially the priests who would be spiritually aware of Reen's identity as a separate entity from the goddess. It also didn't help that he had already claimed Aleph's divine throne for himself, which made him stand against some forces on Echidna by default.

The discussion took quite a long time to conclude. Bisha provided Eren with the answers he needed to his questions. Of course, there were some things she didn't know or didn't know the whole truth of. However, Eren managed to get a clear picture of Echidna with his talks with Bisha.

***

The night sky had studded itself with countless stars by the time Eren bid adieu to Bisha, promising to return to her in a few days along with Reen. He decided to take a walk through the farmlands, using the trail left behind by the mortal farmers. He was lost in his own thoughts as he walked ahead, his eyes looking at the starry horizon in front of him.

Reen walked beside him silently, enjoying a peaceful walk after what felt like an eternity to her. She didn't want to disturb Eren while he was thinking. However, curiosity was trying to get the best of her. In the end, Eren sensed that Reen was trying to ask him something and provided her with some answers.

"I was just thinking of the pros and cons of visiting Echidna, Reen," Eren said as he walked slowly, the sounds of his footsteps almost non-existent amid the chirping of crickets. He looked at the half-moon above his head and took a deep breath before expounding on his thoughts.

"On one hand, it can allow us to lord over the monsters using your connection with the goddess Echidna. If things pan out the way we want them to, it might allow us to progress steadily with minimum effort. 

While on the other hand, it can make us the target of zealots who are obsessed over their goddess. What if one of them decides that you are to be caged inside a temple to garner faith for their goddess?

I don't know about you. But I don't want to destroy another world just to get you back."

Reen and Eren both chuckled at Eren's attempt to joke about their situation in the past. Both of them had grown stronger after they faced their obstacles head-on. So they found it within them to look back at the past events with a fresh perspective.

"So Labh Salem then?" Reen asked Eren, keen on knowing about his plans. The latter pondered a bit before responding.

"Can't say now. Compared to Echidna, we have less information about Labh Salem." Eren said as he scratched under his right ear before tugging at the earlobe.

"We can trust the authenticity of the information provided to us by Layla and Hettie. But the thing about their information is that it is outdated. It would pose a great threat to us if things have changed drastically there.

I'm probably overthinking things here. But I don't want to take risks after claiming Aleph's divine throne."

Eren had interrogated Layla, Leela, and even Eliza about the information related to Labh Salem. All three of them were witches who had their roots in Salem.

However, they were born and brought up in Anfang. As such, they could only tell Eren what they knew about their homeworld from House Samael's old records.