"Gorgon!"
Anna raised her head, looking straight at Gorgon, and called out loudly.
Yet for Gorgon, that single call struck like a violent shock.
"Don't call me… Don't call me… Don't use that name to call me!"
Gorgon recoiled as though she had seen a demon or devil, retreating endlessly, not daring to approach Anna.
No—she did not even want to see Anna.
"Get away from me! Disappear! You are not allowed to appear before me!"
Gorgon screamed like a madwoman.
Anna was not surprised at all.
After all—
"You don't dare look at me? You don't dare face me? Or have you already lost the ability to see me at all?"
Anna stepped forward.
"Does looking at me force you to recall so many forgotten things, so many memories you don't want to remember?"
That was why Gorgon could not bear to look at Anna.
Because those memories were everything she had cast away—her abandoned past.
"Do you remember, back on that island, how even though you were endlessly disturbed by countless would-be heroes, you never wavered from your wish to simply live peacefully with your sisters?"
"Do you remember the fear of one day going mad, of harming those you cherished?"
"Have you already forgotten that from beginning to end, we never once thought of revenge—we only wanted to live quietly until the very end?"
"After you devoured our sisters, you fell completely, refusing to acknowledge your sins—wasn't that so?"
"Answer me, Gorgon!"
Anna's every question was directed at the goddess before her—but also at herself.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!!!!!"
Unable to bear it, Gorgon clutched her ears, covering her head, screaming in madness.
But Anna did not stop.
"We are allowed hatred—because we were victims."
"We are allowed anger—because we were wronged."
"But our hatred, our anger, must never leave that island."
"The only ones we should have sought revenge upon were the humans who disturbed our lives, and the goddess who cursed us."
Anna looked directly at Gorgon, ignoring the enormous difference in size, walking step by determined step toward her.
"But from the moment you—I—we devoured our sisters and began killing aimlessly, we were no longer goddesses. We became nothing but monsters. Nothing but demons. Nothing but murderers."
"You would use revenge as an excuse to cover your sins?"
"If that is the case, then I will never allow you to keep killing, Gorgon!"
By now Anna was shouting outright.
Her voice carried both anger and sorrow.
But whether anger or sorrow, it was all directed at herself.
Anna was telling Gorgon that their emotions should be turned inward—toward themselves—not outward at others.
Unfortunately, Gorgon could no longer listen.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up!?"
Gorgon roared.
"Am I wrong?"
"Am I not allowed revenge?"
"What sin did I commit? Why was I cursed? Why was I turned into a monster? Why did humans never stop coming to kill me?"
"Even if I could not be a goddess, even if I was nothing but an incomplete being compared to my sisters, I had no regrets. As long as I could live with them, exiled to that invisible island, I was satisfied. I wanted nothing more, I hoped for nothing more!"
"But why—when I was content with that—why was I still treated as a monster? Why did humans insist on believing I would harm them and come to kill me one after another? If I had not been forced to clash with them, how could I have gone mad?"
"It was humanity's fault, the gods' fault—the world's fault!"
"If so, what is wrong with me taking revenge on everything!?"
"You are Medusa, aren't you? You are me, aren't you? If you are me, then how can you not understand my feelings!?"
Gorgon's voice was filled with sorrow, like weeping.
It was an emotion she had long lost.
As a monster already fallen, that sorrow had been replaced, long ago, with endless hatred and fury.
In any other situation, Gorgon could never have shown such feelings.
But now, confronted by herself—by the past she had abandoned—those emotions were inevitably drawn out.
At this, Anna finally stopped walking.
Rozen silently watched her.
Gorgon only clutched her head tighter, writhing in pain.
And on Anna's face appeared a smile—one deeply sorrowful.
"I understand. I know how you feel."
Anna spoke softly.
"Things worth cherishing are few. Finding satisfaction is simple. And yet—even so—when those are still taken away, how can we not hate? How can we not rage?"
Anna's words drew silence from everyone. Their expressions grew complicated.
Because from Anna's—Medusa's—perspective, she truly had everything stolen from her without cause, suffered endless persecution, and met a tragic end. It was far too unreasonable.
In such injustice, who would not go mad?
At least, Rozen thought, if it had been him, he too would have sought revenge.
Perhaps—that was why Anna despised humanity.
She hated them, partly to keep her distance, and partly because she could not forgive them.
But—
"This time, in manifesting, I finally understood—not all humans see me as a monster."
Anna's voice grew gentle.
"There was someone who told me—he felt pity for Medusa, sympathy for her, and even admired her for staining her hands with blood if only to protect her sisters."
At those words, everyone's eyes turned toward one person.
Rozen.
He only looked back at Anna.
But Gorgon wavered.
And Anna continued.
"He said Medusa's greatest hatred was not for humanity, but for herself."
"He said Medusa never regretted bloodying her hands—because at least that way she protected her sisters, even if in the end she devoured them herself."
"He said Medusa, who changed from victim into aggressor, whose body and soul became a monster, was the most pitiful of all."
"He said every roar of yours, filled with hatred, was unbearably grating—provoking anger, but also helplessness."
"He said he knew you. Knew me. Knew that we must be suffering, desperate for release. That is why he said Gorgon must be defeated."
Anna raised one hand, clenching it into a fist before her chest.
"He told me—not all humans want to slay us. Not all are ignorant of our struggles. Even if nothing can be changed, many people know we tried. They know our pain. And they pity us. They acknowledge us."
"After hearing such words, can you really remain unmoved?"
"My other self."
Anna's words shook Gorgon as never before. She shook her head, refusing to accept, refusing to understand.
If what Anna said of humanity was true—then would killing them not mean slaughtering even those who understood, even those who cared?
Gorgon was overwhelmed with pain.
Seeing her like this, Anna spoke firmly.
"You were a mistake. You should not exist in this era."
"And so, I will defeat you."
"This is my mission in this manifestation."