"This is why humans need my guidance. I go missing for 30 years and things like… this spring up."

Luka could only agree as the town of Pornof was fully in sight. From afar, the village was no different from any of the hamlets that were dotting the world. And then the inhabitants appeared from their house. Most of them in underwear, without a hint of shame. This was a chapter the hero definitely wanted to forget. If they didn't actually need the iron and the confirmation, he would have definitively not even considered coming here. Unfortunately, the White Rabbit wasn't at the southern Tartarus, and they needed iron to train Papi, the young dragon smith. It was clear the lagomorph was railroading them in going to this unfortunate village first.

"Can't we just skip the town and go straight to the mine? I feel like I am not the only one who will club someone by the end of our stay."

Luka nodded. If Sonya and Ilias were looking reluctant to go to the town, Eden was emitting a downright murderous aura. Even at this distance, he could see that several villagers had come to ogle the seraph's naked form shamelessly.

"I only do it for the sake of Ilias." If words could murder, half the villagers would have dropped dead on the spot.

"And I only do it because of Luka's word on the matter. Her eyes shrinked. "You better not lead us on a pointless chase."

The hero sighed. "Trust me. We won't stay any longer than we need. First, let's go to the inn."

The group started making its way through the town. At first, they tried to ignore the villagers that kept coming to watch them from afar, but they were getting more numerous with each step they made. Luckily, none of them tried stepping closer for the moment nor did someone say particularly anything stupid. Luka did not want a repeat of the events in the slums. They managed to reach the inn without issue. Of course, the only information they got there was that the White Rabbit was last seen near the southern Tartarus. Luka sighed.

Why is she playing those games on us? I know following the real story is important, but does it include forcing us to go through every single step like that? At least, none of those perverts are doing anything more than ogling.

As soon as he opened the door, he was greeted by the all too familiar sight of the infamous panty sensei. The man in his underwear checked the naked seraph fast, but his eyes ended up wandering toward the small Goddess.

"Can I have your panties?"

Suddenly, a bolt came from the sky and struck the perverted idiot on the ground. The village fell silent, save for Eden who was snarling. The crowd scattered back as the gawkers went back to their home.

"We shall never see this pervert again!"

It's better if they don't know I already recruited him. I still wonder why I did though…

A bit later, they reached the smith without further incident. Of course, they only got the information on where to search for iron.

The gathering in itself happened without issues. The group even managed to let Ilias train against a few random monsters. However, each time they fled or passed out, the small goddess wanted to push it further and exterminate them. While Eden was approving, Sonya and Luka kept repeating her that this would risk attracting further attention and accelerate the spread of chaosization, which would reduce the odds of her getting her abilities and her stature back. The fear of being stuck in this form beat her hatred of monsters, and she eventually relented. When the blacksmith accepted the ore, Sonya sighed in relief. They were finally out of this haven of perverts.

"Great, I really hope we're done dealing with perverts. Anything is better than staying in this village of oversexed, useless idiots. If I ever have to deal with one of them ever again, that will be too soon."

Ilias nodded. "I agree. No reason can bring me back in this village ever again."

Her seraph approved. "It seems even human women don't want anything to do with those perverts. Truly, only monsters would enjoy such debauchery."

"Actually, even monsters don't want to stay around those guys."

Ilas raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that, mister hero?"

"I asked them."

I better not say that I got a lecture on the matter from Morrigan, of all people.

Ilias sneered. "Oh, please, like any monster would actually refuse men who offer themselves to their depravation."

Luka gestured around. "Take a look around. There are only a few bunny girls in the village. And an unfortunate harpy, but that one does not count. If you were right, there would be monsters everywhere getting it on."

Ilias pondered the situation for a few seconds. "Mmmh, you're right, maybe monsters actually have higher standards than what I think." She shook her head. "Listen to me, thinking those abominations can be better than my creations. I'm sure if you release a few of those shameless harlots of succubi in this village, and you'd end up with every last villager sucked dry."

The hero didn't want to fight this point with the goddess, as the latter just had shown a sign that her mindset toward monsters could evolve, but that in the meantime she still considered them lower lifeforms.

Not long after, they were in sight of the research encampment near the entrance of Tartarus. Between the tents, the guards and the scholars, they could see a familiar figure from afar.

"I'm late! I'm late!"

An arrow flew by her head. She ignored the projectile and jumped straight down the hole.

"Weeeeh!"

Luka stared at Ilias, who was still posing after her shot. "What?"

"You know that she's not hostile? Also there are some of your fellow scholars in that area. Last, killing her doesn't work. Trust me, we tried."

Ilias shrugged. The team made her way to the chasm and looked at its depths. "So this is a Tartarus. Do we have to go down? This reminds me of hell. I am half expecting a certain gluttonous abomination to come out of there."

"Unfortunatly yes, we don't have any choice, we have to follow the White Rabbit, remembers. And no, there's not a giant snake waiting for you at the bottom of this hole."

Not this one anyway.

Eventually, Luka started going down the ladder, followed by Eden, then by Ilias, and finally, Sonya. As the group made his way down, Luka took a look up to check on his team mates, and his face reddened as he was greeted with a sight of Eden's private parts. Luckily, the seraph hadn't noticed anything.

We really have to convince her to put on more clothes. I wonder why she keeps walking around naked when she's facing succubi and monsters who incapacitate people through sex? You'd think that angels would be using armors that are difficult to remove.

Eventually, they reached the bottom of the ladder and were greeted by the sight of Tartarus. Grim metallic floors and walls with a few broken cell doors was all he could see around him. There were also large traces of blood on the floor, which probably came from the more unfortunate explorers.

I forgot how much Tartarus sucked.

As the group started making his way through the labyrinth, several monsters started appearing. One of them looked like a misshapen woman into a dress, while another was a cyclopean white robot with green hair that had both arms stuck together behind her.

"Class 1 cross-world contact detected. Engage and eliminate."

The declaration came from the woman in a dress. As they started stepping toward the group, they got easily wiped out by a slash from Luka's sword, but even if they proved no trouble, the hero was still slightly disturbed by the encounter. Ilias stepped forward, looking at the remains.

"Apoptosis… I see, this is the phenomenon that affects women that lived in areas affected by chaosization. They're turned into this to prevent further cross universe contact."

Sonya joined the duo. "I wished they would leave us alone. They're just… uncanny…"

Ilias shrugged. "As I said, their mission is to stop world cross contact. We're trying to cross between worlds. They're the white cells to an immune system we're trying to infect with our presence. They're not even sentient."

"Actually they are."

The goddess turned to her priestess. "They're just following an unconscious dogma. They. Don't. Think."

"We recruited several of them. You might have seen them at the castle."

Eden nodded positively. "Surely, you must have ignored them as they're on the same level as those other filthy monsters."

Ilias nodded and continued forward. She realized the less that the more she talked, the more there was a risk she would appear as ignorant or narrow minded on the matter. The group soon forgot the discussion ever happened in the first place. A few apoptosis tried to stop the group, and got turned into experience for the Goddess for the trouble. After several minutes of wandering around, they reached an out of place yet familiar large stone door. Ilias stopped, but Luka kept walking toward the door and opened it without a second thought.

"Wait… You know what this is, right?" The small goddess was shocked at what just happened.

"A door leading to another dimension?"

"Something that even I, a goddess, can't open! And yet you casually strolled through it! How is that even possible?"

"Because I am the chosen one."

Oops. I don't think that was the best answer.

Ilias look at Luka wide eyed. "There's no reason you should be able to open this door. "She looked back at the mysteriously opened way. "Where is Promestein when we need her? She would have been able to find out what and understand how you work." She then shrugged. "Of course, she would probably have needed to dissect you alive, but that would have been a priced I would have gladly paid to maybe get the ability myself."

Luka sighed and went through the way, followed by his childhood friend and the remainder of his team.

"Why we keep doing this? Even know, it just feels so uncomfortable…"

On the other side, they were greeted by the sights of the ruins of Remina tainted by chaos. Ilias started wandering in the middle of the town, unaware of the dressed apoptosis that slowly crept behind her with a claw held ready to strike. The offending monster got destroyed by a spear of light in a heartbeat.

"Please, I beg you Ilias, stay close to Eden who will protect you!"

When the small goddess turned, the seraph was kneeling in front of her. Luka looked at the scene from afar.

And I thought I wad devoted to others... Her goddess, right and never wrong.

In the silent, surreal ambiance, a muffled noise could be heard from a building, as if someone was moving stuff around and only taking break to eat.

"Let's get Nuruko and leave."

"Who?"

After a short one sided battle, Luka had re-recruited the strange purple monster made of tentacles that was the spirit of chaos. The latter did everything to keep herself stuck to him, but Sonya somehow managed to convince her that he'll come to see her at the Pocket Castle soon.

After leaving the ruins and walking through a dirt path in the middle of the void, they finally reached the rune that would bring them to the other world. Their first sight was one of a desolate place. There was no sign of the usual, lush scenery in the midst of the devastation.

"What is this place? It just looks like where we come from, but completely torn apart."

Just as Ilias ended her sentence, the White Rabbit popped up from the ground.

"Tadaaa!" She took a flirtatious coy pause and leaned toward the goddess. "Here's a little game. Can you guess where we are?" She then turned towar Luka. "And you, can you guess why I brought you here?"

Ilias answered before Luka could say anything.

"We're where Tartarus is located on Ilias continent on another world."

"And you brought us here because this discovery also happened in the true history."

"Bravo to the goddess of light! And for you…" She proceeded to pull out a red card from one of her pocket. "Buzz! Wrong! There was no Tartarus in the real history."

"So why did we…" The realization suddenly hit him. "You forced us to stay on the same path because deviating too much from what I did in the past would trigger someone who is watching."

She nodded positively frantically. "That, and because the little one here forgot what there is on this side." She pointed at Ilias. "A small picture can be worth a long speech. I also wanted you to keep a little something in mind for your future choice. You know, the big one?"

"I don't really care for-" Ilias's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, what do you mean forgot? And what's that about a choice? And about someone watching?"

The White Rabbit chuckled. "Oops, it looks like I said too much. Well, toodle doo!"

"Wait, get back here!"

The White Rabbit had already disappeared in the ground. Ilias turned toward the other member of her party with an angry expression.

"What did she meant with all that?"

The White Rabbit reappeared. "Oh, yeah, don't forget the locals hate treading on raw soils. You may be powerful enough to deal with them right now, but you still have Ilias to protect, soo… keep on the road!"

Ilias scoffed. "It sounds like angels, they would certainly help her goddess in this predicament."

"Really? Even after your encounter with Zion, you don't think they would call you an usurper and attack you to dare present yourself as their Goddess?"

Ilias scowled. "You're right, now about what I forgot…"

"See you next time!"

The White Rabbit disappeared once and for all. Ilias stared at Luka, who seemed as lost as her.

"I'm not sure myself what she meant with all that, and I don't want to alarm anyone until I get the whole truth from her."

And, most of all, now is definitively not the time.

"Well, good luck with that!" Ilias started walking toward the location of the village by going through the fields. Luka called out to her.

"Wait! We have to stay on the road!"

Ilias continued without turning back. "I want to see those angels for myself! If they are indeed hostile, you will be more than able to deal with them."

Just as she ended her sentence, an angel appeared. Her grand, naked form was sitting on a throne made of large red snakes.

"Principality Nagael! I am your Goddess Ilias! I demand your support to get me out of this predicament!"

The angel's eyes narrowed.

"Usurper… Stay still so I can punish you…"

Two snakes slowly undulated toward the panicking small goddess. A wind blade cut them mid section, but they regenerated as they pulled back. The three other party members put themselves between her and the attacker. Eden materialized a spear and pointed it accusingly at the other angel, while Luka raised his sword at the ready.

"Satisfied with your test?"

Nagael stared at the new offenders. Wordlessly, she started attacking the party with her snakes. The group reacted and swinged their weapons at the appendage, cutting, bludgeoning and impaling the attacking limbs.

"Spiral Fire!"

"Earth Fissure Wave!"

"World Ending Slash!"

The combined attacks made short work of the principality. She ended up disappearing in a beam of light after sustaining several wounds. Ilias was almost about to cry.

"Why did we give her snakes? I hate snakes."

Eden kneeled in front of her goddess. "I am sorry Ilias, I will personally kill anyone who will dare considering harming you."

Luka motionned toward the road. Silently, the group got back on his way. After a while, they finally reached the ruins of Ilias village.

Eden and Ilias looked around in shock. The town Ilias had seen at the beginning of her adventure was reduced to rubble. There was not a single sign of life.

"What in Heaven happened… Is this the work of monsters?"

"Those damnable wretches must be punished!"

Luka silently made his way through the ruined buildings with Sonya, ignoring the comments from the two angels as well as the bitter irony of the situation.

I hoped we'd never see that again. I'm starting to wonder if choosing to go through this once more was a good idea.

Eventually he reached the graveyard and stopped in front of one of the numerous cross. The only one that differentiated it from the others from afar was the small journal lying in front of it. He took it from the ground. A minute later, the remainder of the group arrived. He gave the journal to Ilias who opened it by reflex, and started reading it half mumbling. When she finished the book, she looked at the name written on the cross as the realization hit her.

"A world where I carried my reconstruction plan, unopposed…"

Sonya raised an eyebrow. "Wait, this is the result of one of your plan?"

Ilias raised her hand defensively while smiling awkwardly. "It's nothing really important actually. A small, minor project, just forget it."

Sonya stared menacingly at the small goddess. "No! If this is the result of your action, we should really talk about it now!"

Her field of vision was suddenly filled with the sight of an angry Eden. "How dare you threaten your goddess? As a priestess of her temple, you should be unconditionally in her service!" She then pointed accusingly toward the hero. "Besides, he also has much to answer for!"

Luka took a harpy feather from his bag. "I think we should go back at the castle for that. Unless you want to keep them company, of course." He gestured toward the graves that were filling the place.

Everyone nodded negatively. Each of them felt like they have overstayed their welcome in this world.

"Then let's get out of here." He threw the harpy feather in the air, teleporting the group away.