Chapter 550 Asaho's Dark History

Asaha is a student of the god Yomi... and is even regarded as a direct disciple?

Doesn't that mean that Ma Zao is actually the junior sister of the ill-fated one?

Xiaowan and I looked at each other, an incredulous feeling spreading through our hearts.

Thinking back to the historical flashback scene at the Humanitarian Affairs headquarters site, when I first met Yomi, I could tell that he was very familiar with Asahi's tone and even said something about "remembering past favors." I never expected that Asahi was actually his capable assistant in the past.

“I remember that Ma Zao wasn’t a Blessed Brother,” I said. “So, not all the monks at the Evangelical Fellowship are Blessed Brothers?”

“The monks at the Evangelical Fellowship can be broadly divided into blessed and unblessed categories, with the former making up the majority,” said Number Seven. “First, the Evangelical Fellowship selects qualified individuals from among the external survivors and recruits them into its ranks. For those with high qualifications, they are provided with a complete, rich, and long-term systematic monastic education to help them thrive. These promising individuals will become the officers and high-ranking members of the Evangelical Fellowship in the future, and Asahi is one such example.”

"As for the majority of those with mediocre talent, the Gospel Institute will try to transform them into blessed monks. The advantage of this path is that it is quick and can grant powerful strength in a very short time; the disadvantage is that those who fail will become karmic demons, and it will be very difficult for them to continue to grow in the future. Without any fortuitous encounters, they will be unable to make any further breakthroughs... To be honest, I am this type."

“The survivors who wander outside cannot receive systematic monastic education. If they want to become monks, they can only rely on luck and risk their lives to become blessed monks. Moreover, almost all the monks in the Gospel Academy that they can come into contact with are blessed monks. Naturally, they will assume that all the monks in the Gospel Academy are blessed monks.”

I then posed a question: "Asahisa has a constitution that attracts strange calamities, drawing countless disasters to Fukuin. This is even more severe in this apocalyptic afterlife... And is Fukuin willing to cultivate her even so?"

"She possessed unparalleled talent that couldn't be concealed even with such a significant flaw," Number Seven said nostalgically. "However, in the early days, before she fully revealed her genius, there were indeed many doubts surrounding her. Her friends and teammates all died under the calamities she summoned, and she herself always managed to survive. For a time, she was even suspected of being a deranged killer who secretly murdered her friends and teammates."

"However, Huang Quan took a strange interest in Ma Zao's jinxed constitution. Perhaps it was because Huang Quan had a scholarly side; he may have sensed some earth-shattering secret from this inconceivable phenomenon and developed a strong interest in studying it."

"After receiving educational resources from Huang Quan, Asaha grew rapidly. The various calamities brought to her by her jinx constitution may have also become the material for tempering her. Just like the protagonist of some classic adventure stories, in my perception of time, she transformed into a demigod of Fukuinin in less than a year."

"If things go smoothly as everyone expects, perhaps another 'Asahisa Gospel House' will appear in the future. Of course... the premise is that Asahisa can become a god, and becoming a god is not so easy. Although so many people thought she had a chance to become the fourth god, becoming a god is an impossible possibility. It is beyond the realm of talent or lack thereof. Even so, the fact that she was highly regarded at the time is still undeniable."

"Therefore, no one expected that she would actually betray the Evangelical Fellowship."

Xiao Wan read aloud, "—Is it because of the Gospel House's human extinction plan?"

“Judging from her subsequent actions, this is the only possible reason,” Number Seven said. “As far as I know, she did not oppose the plan at first… or rather, she had no way to oppose it. For a period of time, she was even an executor in the preparatory stage of the plan, eliminating a considerable number of survivors in the afterlife.”

"For her, who has forgotten all her past and has no relatives or friends, the Gospel Academy is a home that has taken her in, Huang Quan is a kind teacher who has nurtured her despite the bad reviews of others, and the Human Extinction Plan is a noble cause that implies saving the world and the human race."

"In the fervent environment of the Gospel Institute, which fully supports both God and humanity, she felt something was amiss and could only submit to the prevailing sentiment. In fact, the plan itself was drafted and filed by her mentor, Huang Quan, and submitted to Yama, the Lord of the Gospel Institute."

"After all, she has a kind heart and must have raised a lot of objections. But how could a child like her, who is clumsy with words and easily fooled, and who becomes speechless when you play the emotional card, possibly be a match for an evil old fox like Huang Quan?"

"In the end, she was even tricked into doing dirty work. Did she really believe that nonsense that 'if she does it herself, she can find a chance to go easy on them, but if someone else does it, it will only be more horrific'? It's ridiculous..."

Towards the end, Number Seven's tone became somewhat sarcastic and familiar. Originally, she was describing Asahi with a detached and objective attitude, but now it seemed as if she had inadvertently revealed the attitude of an acquaintance or friend.

Then, as if realizing that her attitude was too familiar, she coughed twice under the gazes of me and Xiaowan.

So that's where the title "Gospel Witch" comes from.

When I first heard this title, I thought it was very dark and cool. I thought that the past Asaha was some kind of deep and mysterious villain, maybe a completely different character from the current Asaha. But now that I hear it, isn't this exactly the silly Asaha we know now?

If memory is the most important element in distinguishing personalities, then the past Asahi and the present Asahi are probably indeed two different personalities. However, I still have a fond impression of the "past Asahi" described by Number Seven.

Number Seven paused for a moment, then continued, "In short... after that, she probably reached her limit of pressure and finally couldn't bear it anymore, or perhaps she finally had an epiphany and figured things out, so she launched an open rebellion against the Gospel House. Later, she even turned around and attacked other enforcers, and gathered a group of survivors to try to build a righteous force to resist the Gospel House's massacre..."

"However, that small force soon fell apart. The reason is easy to imagine—if they stayed with Asa, those weak survivors, most of whom were not even monks, would soon die at the hands of the various strange creatures attracted by the power of the jinx; and without Asa, they would be completely unable to face the infighting of the Gospel Institute."

"After a series of messy conflicts, Asaha ended up being abandoned by everyone, and her whereabouts became unknown."

It was a terrible, rushed ending, but it was to be expected. Knowing Asahi as I do, it would be a miracle if she managed to build her own power base successfully.

I also understood the meaning of what Huang Quan said to Asaho in the historical flashback scene.

Even though Asahina was opposing Evangelion's plan to exterminate humanity, she certainly wanted to stop the apocalypse; however, from Yomi's perspective, her actions were undoubtedly counterproductive.

After that, Asahi must have been utterly dejected, and to prevent herself from spreading her misfortune to the other survivors, she would certainly have remained alone. The dangers of being alone in the "apocalyptic era" have been repeatedly emphasized. Furthermore, her grief-stricken state would likely have exacerbated the spread of madness, causing her to rapidly lose herself.

She hasn't become a demon under these circumstances, probably thanks to her power of return. Even so, she still lost far too many memories, eventually losing even the ability to recall where she came from or where she was going, becoming a "wandering ghost" wandering in the afterlife.

Then, by chance, this thirteen-year-old girl met another girl who was even younger than herself.

The two children relied on each other until another accident separated them.

Then came the story of Asaha coming to the modern world and meeting me.

It all started here.

(End of this chapter)