Darkness helped the two girls climb up and onto level ground. Kazuma first stared at Wiz. There wasn't much left of her clothing. He could see she had purple panties and her thicc thighs were on full display. A lot of her chest was also peeking out through gashes and tears. Wiz clearly noticed him staring as she began to shift from foot to foot and cover herself. By comparison, Aqua was in pristine condition, she even had her favorite scarf wrapped around her neck. And while Wiz was looking severely shaken, the annoying one was all smiles somehow. That just pissed him off and made him want to boot her ass off the ledge and back down the crater. What then came spewing out of her mouth only made him wish he were wearing heavier boots.

"Oh, Kazuma, you and your friends must have just arrived. Figures you'd show up after all the hard work was done. I guess you're wanting to thank me, huh?"

"Thank you?!"

"You're welcome!"

He took a step towards her and lined up his kick.

"What happened here? How did you manage to survive?" Darkness rushed forward and inadvertently got in his way.

"Oh," Aqua crossed her arms and looked ever so pleased with herself. "Well, me and my party just happened to be here when they sounded the alarm because the Destroyer was approaching."

"The guild asked all the adventurers to fight to try and save the city, or at least buy time for the people to escape," Wiz added.

"That's right! So, I immediately stepped forward and guaranteed that in my name and the name of the Axis Church I'd stop the Destroyer and save the city. And in exchange everyone would have to worship me and join the church."

"Uhm, Aqua? No one actually agreed to-"

"Yes, they did! And since I saved Axel everyone here needs to convert!"

"You saved Axel?" Kazuma waved an arm about at all the destruction and fires that were still burning. "Does this look like its been saved?"

"Huh? I never said there might not be some collateral damage. Wait, why are you, oowww!"

It was the single most satisfying kick in Kazuma's life.

XXX

After Darkness helped carry Aqua back up out of the crater, they heard the rest of the story.

Aqua's party, being by far the strongest, had led the way. The plan was to somehow lower the Destroyer's magical defenses in order to let Mitsurugi and the other close combat types to attack it directly. It turned out Wiz knew how to cast explosion. (Cue five minutes of Megumin excitedly trying to get Wiz to be explosion buddies with her.) Somehow, they succeeded in breaking through the defenses. Mitsurugi wielding Gram was then able to successfully chop off all eight of the Destroyer's legs, crippling it and bringing it to a stop short of the city. Everyone had cheered and started to celebrate when the self-destruct warning sounded.

Aqua had immediately screamed and started running for her life. The others all followed her example. She survived the explosion because she was a goddess, and her scarf was a divine artifact that granted her additional protection. Wiz just happened to be lucky enough to be in front of her as she ran and got partially shielded from the blast. Everyone else though…

"It's fine," Aqua said cheerfully. "I'm a goddess so I can totally resurrect everyone!"

"That's right!" Megumin said. "I remember your team members all talked about that."

"But I thought resurrection required you to have the body," Darkness said.

"Oh, that won't be a problem so long as we find the pieces."

"Pieces?" Kazuma asked nervously.

"That's right," Aqua replied. "So long as I have even a tiny scrap, I can bring them back, no problem at all."

Hearing that, a thought occurred to Kazuma, but now was not the time to bring it up.

"I'm so sorry," Wiz hung her head. "I have teleportation magic. If I'd only had any mana left, I think I could have sent the Destroyer somewhere else. If I could have somehow gotten some life energy from someone maybe…"

Aqua burst into laughter. "What are you talking about? Drain Touch is an undead ability only vampires and liches can use. You're not a vampire or lich, are you?"

"N… No! Of course not!" Wiz waved her hands in front of her to emphasize her answer.

Seeing this Kazuma's eyes widened. Aqua and the others just accepted it without a second thought.

"Well then, let's go find those body parts!"

XXX

To Kazuma's great surprise it turned out Aqua was actually telling the truth about being to bring people back to life with just a remnant of their body. She even had a spell that helped locate said bits. Kazuma, Darkness, Megumin, and Wiz all help her gather the pieces together and Aqua promptly brought the person back to the same shape they were at the moment of death.

Just naked.

The explosion had destroyed everyone's clothing, weapons, and other effects. So, when Aqua brought them back they would suddenly be standing there confused and a bit chilly. There were a whole lot of cute girls in the guild so Kazuma got to get an eyeful. The best part was no one could blame him for staring as he'd only been helping bring them back after all. Even better, since no one had any spare clothes and they still needed help finding the others, the girls had to help in the search while remaining stark naked. It was one of the many, many times he'd longed to have a smart phone with him, or even just a digital camera.

Of course, all the guys were also brought back in their birthday suits. That was a lot less fun. Especially as some of the guys had been feeling very… excited in the moments of their deaths. And that state of excitement was obvious for all to see. In particular, seeing Mohawk guy at full attention made Kazuma feel just a tad inadequate as a man.

More and more of the people who'd been killed were brought back until a red headed girl named Anna gave a joyous shout and came running up to Aqua holding a magical sword.

"I found Gram! And look! Two fingers are still connected to the hilt! Now you can bring Mitsurugi back."

The announcement caused the horde of naked adventurers to cheer and gather around Aqua.

"Oh goody," Kazuma said with a roll of his eyes.

Darkness heard him and shook a finger. "Kazuma, I know you have issues with the man, but please, he's a fellow adventurer and gave his life to stop the Destroyer. At the very least he deserves your respect."

"I guess," Kazuma muttered. But no way will I ever like that ass.

Aqua took the sword from Anna and placed it on the ground in front of her, fingers still attached.

"All right everyone! As soon as I bring him back give him the welcome a hero deserves!" She gave a dramatic wave of her hand. "Resurrection!"

As soon as the spell was cast the person would just appear before her. Everyone had sucked in their breaths to give a single cheer as soon as Mitsurugi was back among the living.

But nothing happened.

"Huh?" Aqua stood there with a blank expression.

"Hey! Why didn't he come back? What did you do wrong this time?" Anna demanded.

"Why do you always blame me for everything?" Aqua snapped.

"Because it's always your fault!"

Kazuma immediately liked this red head. She was clearly very intelligent and had good sense.

"Just give me a second." Aqua took a deep breath and then once again waved her arm. "Resurrection."

Again, nothing happened.

"Have you run out of mana?" Someone in the crowd suggested.

"Goddesses don't run out of mana!" She started to wave both arms about. "Resurrection! Resurrection! Resurrection!"

Nothing happened. Anna began to glare and there were whispers going through the naked crowd. Aqua was starting to look uncomfortable.

"Just… just give me a bit to sort this out. Contact," Aqua stared down at the sword and then started talking to it.

"Hey, Mitsurugi? Can you hear me? I'm bringing you back. There should be a magical door there. All you have to do is step through it and..." Aqua paused. "What do you mean you're not allowed?!" She paused again. "You're only allowed to go to this world once because you were originally born on Earth? And now you're going to be reborn there? That's stupid who told you that?"

Everyone was staring uncomfortably. From the looks on the faces of Anna and a lot of others they obviously thought she was either losing her mind or this was all just some kind of act. Kazuma alone understood what was going on here, and as he watched he had a grin stretching from ear to ear. After a moment she started talking again.

"Yeah, this is Aqua. Who is this?" Aqua looked unhappy. "Rista? Why are you working afterlife assignment? Shouldn't you be peeking in on the men's bathhouse or something?" Aqua looked even more unhappy. "I don't care if it's temporary! You need to send Mitsurugi back here right this second! You're making me look bad in front of a whole bunch of mortals!" Aqua gasped. "I'm not stupid! You're stupid! I don't care about the rules you empty-headed blonde-haired bimbo just- Hello? Hello? Did you just hang up on me?! That is so rude!"

Aqua tried to reconnect but wasn't able to speak to either Mitsurugi or this Rista person again. When she eventually gave up Aqua had to stare at over a hundred faces that were looking more and more upset.

"Uhm, so there's a slight problem."

Without a word, Anna punched her right in the nose.

Kazuma thought he might be in love.

XXX

One week later

Life in Axel has settled down into a 'new normal.' Most of the city had actually survived the blast intact. The fact Axel had survived at all and that the mobile apocalypse was gone was seen by many as a genuine miracle. This however was very cold comfort to the hundred who had lost everything and no longer had homes to return to. The city was also faced with the massive cost of not just rebuilding the homes and businesses that were gone but rebuilding a huge section of the wall.

And along with the good news about the Destroyer, there was also the tragic loss of the Hero Mitsurugi. Many people had really started to believe he might be the one to eventually stop the Devil King. His death caused a sense of mourning that pretty much cancelled out any celebration there might have been.

The atmosphere in the adventurer's guild was also pretty mixed. On the one hand, they were alive when every single one of them should have been dead. They had saved (most of) Axel along with their guild. They had a lot to be proud of. On the other hand, all of them had died. As Kazuma knew firsthand that could be kind of traumatic. They had also all lost their personal equipment, weapons, shields, wands, staffs, armor, robes, scrolls, clothes, and purses. A handful had lost their homes too.

This included Kazuma. The cottage he'd lived in since the cabbage hunt had been in the blast zone and was gone. Luckily, he'd kept most of his money on account in the guild, so financially he was still fine. Wiz's shop and the printers had also survived, so Satou Industries LLC was still intact.

Given this mix of both success and loss the mood in the guild hall was rather subdued. There was no better example of this than a certain blue haired priestess who was sitting alone at a table in the corner drowning her sorrows. Aqua had gotten the lion's share of the credit for defeating the Destroyer and saving Axel. But she was also receiving most of the blame for the destruction that had happened and for failing to bring back Mitsurugi. It didn't help that she refused to take any responsibility for that and kept blaming a blonde bimbo named Rista. The consensus in the guild was that Aqua had screwed up the resurrection and invented this 'Rista' to try and shift the blame. No one was attacking her or saying anything to her face, as they were grateful that she'd saved them, but she was unhappy that people weren't all singing her praises.

Anna, and the other members of Aqua's party were all long gone. As soon as they'd reclothed and reequipped themselves, they'd booted Aqua out of the party and abandoned her. It turned out that without Mitsurugi and the others she didn't have much money on her. She'd sent a message to Alcanretia demanding funds. Being a saint, she expected the Axis Church to spoil her rotten. Meanwhile, the local adventurers donated enough eris to provide her a room and all the food and booze she wanted. (Does it need to be said Kazuma wasn't one of these charitable souls?) Aqua had decided to just hang out in Axel until she got her proper due.

Kazuma and his party were in the guild hall having lunch when a caravan arrived from the capital. In strode a young woman in a blue and gold uniform with a delightfully short skirt. Trailing behind her were a dozen royal knights in full plate armor.

"My name is Sena and I am an official of the kingdom. Could someone please notify the Axis priestess known as Aqua that I have business with her."