In the cramped hospital room stood a giant cocoon formed from countless layers of satin.
They had seen this kind of spherical cocoon many times before, but unlike the pure white ones of the past, this one was mixed with black they had never seen before, displaying zebra-like black-and-white patterns.
SpiCa was inside that?
And what was all this darkness filling it?
Achernar frowned and asked:
"What is this for?"
"SpiCa's magic can only 'suppress' the growth of the Witch Persona. There's a limit to that, after all. Think about when she became a Witch..."
The Witch Persona could no longer be suppressed?
"Then what is she planning to do now? Separate them? Where would she even find a Base Body to separate into? Why didn't she ask us for help with something like this?"
Liuzi shook her head.
"Don't get worked up. She wants that child to reconcile with herself and fuse with her."
"...Merge?"
Considering Sophia's situation, it was not impossible.
"With her personality, where she trusts no one, would she really let a ticking time bomb stay inside her body and merge with it?"
"SpiCa has changed. No matter what... she would still trust the personality she raised herself..."
So that was why they called it raising a child.
Had she been treating that Witch Persona as her child?
"Whew—"
Aldebaran whistled as she stepped forward and personally examined SpiCa's condition.
"Mi-chan, do you know what this newly born personality is?"
"What do you mean by that...?"
"You've always called a Witch's personality a Witch Persona, right? But actually, they're version upgrades, patches—a brand-new version compatible with both light and darkness."
"Wouldn't a system upgrade require deleting all the old files?"
Aldebaran turned around and glanced at Liuzi again.
"They weren't deleted, were they? The old files