"I advise you not to do this," Fang Li suddenly spoke, uttering these words.
Hearing these words, Hecate was momentarily taken aback.
"Why?" Sydonay, who was already displeased with the situation, now, with Fang Li's words, added a somewhat mocking tone. "Are you afraid?"
"Rest assured, Hecate's assimilation won't harm the subject," Bel Peol reminded with good intentions. "Hecate can accommodate any object, possessing the trait of assimilation and fusion. Once you assimilate with Hecate, everything about you will belong to Hecate."
Hearing this, Fang Li replied indifferently, "I know and that's why I said it's better not to do it."
Fang Li's almost indifferent demeanor made Bel Peol raise her brow, causing her to fall into a momentary silence, seemingly contemplating the meaning behind Fang Li's words.
Even Hecate lifted her gaze, looking at Fang Li, and spoke softly.
"Why?"
Hecate's inquiry only earned a more indifferent response.
"If you want to contain everything about me, your container is just too small."
This statement immediately widened the eyes of Trinity.
"Ha!" Sydonay burst into laughter as if he found it amusing. "This is the first time I've heard Hecate being criticized for having a container that's too small. It's truly hilarious!"
Bel Peol also chuckled, though not as openly as Sydonay, but her indifference was evident.
Only Hecate, in her emotionless voice, softly said, "I can contain nearly infinite Power of Existence. The size of the container theoretically has no limits. So, your statement has no basis."
Fang Li lowered his head, looking at the girl whose height only reached his waist, and calmly spoke.
"Perhaps your container's size is infinite, but you, yourself, are finite."
"If you want to contain everything about me, you won't be able to."
Hecate fell silent.
Not only Hecate, but even Sydonay and Bel Peol fell into silence, furrowing their brows tightly.
There was no way around it. Although they didn't agree with Fang Li's statement, his calm and almost unnatural attitude raised suspicions.
Could it be that Fang Li also had some reliance?
Just as Sydonay and Bel Peol were contemplating this, Hecate was already making the first move.
"I am infinite, and nothing can fill my body."
Hecate's voice sounded as if echoing from a distant place, carrying a hint of emptiness.
"So, my inner self is also empty, never being filled."
This was Hecate.
As a container theoretically capable of accommodating infinite Power of Existence, Hecate had never been filled, possessing only a perpetually unsatisfied inner self and body.
Therefore, Fang Li's words did not resonate with Hecate.
An existence that could not be contained had never been seen by Hecate.
Because the scale Hecate could accommodate was infinite.
"You are just a human, after all."
Hecate's voice echoed faintly.
"With your words, you cannot fill me."
As she finished speaking, a resounding explosion occurred, and flames ignited on Hecate's body.
These flames were azure.
Untouched by any impurities, the utterly pure azure flames seemed immaculate.
Her entire body was ablaze with these flames as Hecate slowly closed her eyes.
The azure flames on her body began to expand.
In the end, both Fang Li and Hecate were enveloped by the flames.
...
At this moment, Hecate could feel the presence of an entity slowly flowing into her body.
Hecate was a container.
Therefore, when assimilating with external entities, rather than saying it was assimilation, it was more like absorption.
Turning external entities into fillers, injecting them into her body as a container.
This was Hecate's assimilation.
In this situation, anything assimilated by Hecate would have its entirety become Hecate's possession.
Memories.
Longings.
Inner self.
Essence.
And even existence.
Now, Hecate was gradually gaining possession of everything about Fang Li, absorbing the entity "Fang Li" into her body as a container.
As Hecate had said, being a container, her scale was infinite.
Given this, everything about a mere human couldn't possibly fill Hecate.
However, at the very moment Hecate assimilated Fang Li, she discovered something.
She found herself in a place.
A place within an endless ocean.
"A black... ocean?"
Hecate was stunned.
Indeed.
The ocean unfolding before her eyes wasn't the usual azure blue associated with common sense. Instead, it was black.
It was profoundly deep and purely black.
"Where is this?"
Hecate was at a loss.
Shortly afterward, Hecate realized.
"This is his soul."
Naturally, the soul was also a subject of assimilation for Hecate.
Thus, this boundless ocean was slowly injected into Hecate's body.
"BOOM—!"
The entire black sea suddenly trembled, generating waves that surged toward Hecate.
Shortly afterward, Hecate saw it.
She saw what was within the waves.
She saw the records of this ocean.
"BOOM—!"
The entire tumultuous sea surged, creating violent waves that caused the water to churn around Hecate. With Hecate at its center, it gradually formed into a massive vortex.
However, this was no ordinary ocean.
The water in this ocean was not ordinary seawater.
In each drop of that water, every droplet held records of something.
Death.
Natural death.
Death by illness.
Death by poison.
Death by fire.
Death by starvation.
Death by violence.
Human death.
Animal death.
Plant death.
All things death were recorded in this vast ocean.
Hecate was assimilating this kind of ocean.
Therefore, at this moment, countless deaths flowed into Hecate's inner self, injecting into her body.
"—!"
Hecate emitted a silent scream.
Enduring various deaths, even the death of all things, Hecate felt everything that death itself brought.
That was fear.
That was despair.
The reason Fang Li could endure was that these deaths were slowly recorded one by one by his own soul.
However, Hecate, in a single breath, absorbed all deaths that didn't belong to herself.
The result was evident.
"—!"
With a silent scream, Hecate disappeared from this place.
...