Several holy bolts rained down on Sun Wukong, who tanked the attacks as if they were nothing. The monkey queen laughed good heartedly and made her staff grow to the size of a centenary tree trunk. However, before she could start wrecking havoc, Luka jumped on top of her with a fire infused blade, ready to strike. She only had the time to raise her weapon to defend herself before the hero hit her.

"Finally! A good fight! I've been craving for it since forever!"

She repeatedly parried the hero's attack with her hand. After a split second, Micaela came up to support him against her, forcing Sun Wukong to split her attention between both opponents. The monkey queen was having difficulty defending herself: Micaela's highly technical style forced her to react extremely fast to keep her guard up, while Luka's savage blows needed a lot of efforts to parry. Furthermore, while she had carefully geared up to protect herself against the angels' signature attacks, her two opponents were using other elements. Furthermore, they seemed too strong mentally to fall for her confusion spells. Fortunately, the other angels were apparently affected and were not attacking.

One of Luka's more savage blow made her lose her step, allowing Micaela to pass through her guard and hit her directly. While the small attack barely left a small trail on her, Sun Wukong yelped in surprise and jumped back. The very next second, she spawned two copies of herself. Each one charged at Luka and Micaela. She then summoned two more again which started to wreck the buildings around her. She tried repeating her spell another time when a small talisman landed on her, and absolutely wrecked the earth around her up and down with a localized quake, stopping her repeated cloning technique.

Eden looked at the source of the talisman and could see Yao on the roof. The kitsune had another one in her paw and seemed fully focused on what the monkey queen was doing. When she saw a building being razed, she realized that none of the other angels had really reacted to the intrusion, not even her.

"FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR GODDESS, STAND UP AND FIGHT! WE WILL NOT LET A MONSTER BE BETTER THAN US!"

It's only when Eden shouted that angels finally started to scramble around. Even if holy attacks were ineffective, they could still support the fight. They started casting enhancement spells after enhancement spells on Micaela and Luka. With the increase in power, both managed to start pushing back the copies of Sun Wukong that were opposing them.

Another copy jumped toward Yao, forcing the kitsune to defend herself against this particular opponent. Her repeated attacks were all dodged by the kitsune who danced around the assaults effortlessly.

"Tch! What an annoying fly!"

"You're the one caught in a storm."

Several gusts of wind came from Yao's fan and destabilized the monkey queen, and before she could react, the kitsune had disappeared from her sight. Sun Wukong reflexively threw her staff back like a boomerang, blocking an attack from behind her. Using her momentum, she flipped around and grabbed her staff back as Yao was carefully dodging the flying, spinning object. She then raised her staff high over the kitsune.

"Dodge this!"

As Sun Wukong struck down, the building under them collapsed. Yao managed to cast a talisman mid fall which connected to the monkey queen. A rain of sharp rock hit her opponent and increased her speed toward the ground, slamming her down full force. Yao then fell on her, sword first, and, in one smooth motion of her fan, finally tore the copy apart. She took a second to fan herself.

"Dodged and removed."

In the meantime, the angels' combined efforts were enough to take down another copy while the real one was now once again under attack from Luka and Micaela.

Sun Wukong kept moving back, preparing to get away as it was clear she had lost that fight. She kicked up a cloud of dust with her staff, and, the next second, she was standing at the edge of the plateau, balancing herself on her polestaff.

"Dear friends. Remember it at the day you almost caught me, the-"

"Grand Lion!"

Luka jumped directly at the base of Sun Wukong's flagpole. The explosive energy produced sent the monkey queen flying while the part of the plateau Luka was on collapsed. As he started falling, he felt a furry limb grab him by his ankle.

"Luka? I would advise you not to do that again."

He turned to see Yao holding him. The fox was using her tails to anchor herself in the wall of the mountain.

They slowly climbed up to see the angels disheartened by the destruction provoked by the fight. Ilias was apathetically sitting on the central plaza, surrounded by the wrecked buildings. The small goddess looked up at the hero.

"This place had always been left alone. And the day you come, Sun Wukong attack with gear resistant to our holy assaults." Her tone wasn't accusing. Just incredibly jaded.

"On the other hand, she also had come prepared when she attacked Heaven in the past."

"I would have done the same." Luka corrected himself as everybody glared at him. "I mean, having a protection against the element the most used by the enemy. And she's serving Black Alice, it would make sense the Chaos Goddess would pull out resources like that for her servants."

"Which means she could be preparing an angel killing group to finish Ilias once and for all."

Eden hostilely looked at Micaela. Still her sister had a point… She got up and kneeled in front of Ilias. "Unfortunately, everything that had been produced by our efforts those last weeks got destroyed by this fight. We will have difficulties getting back, and I fear we may be attacked yet again by monsters, for the sole purpose of killing you."

"Very well. It makes sense." Her words were barely a whisper. "I want to discuss the conditions of our alliance with Luka alone."

"Let's go back to the Pocket Castle then."

At first, nobody had spared a glance at the duo when Luka and Ilias made their way through the Pocket Castle to reach his room. Initially he considered using the royal reunion room, but Ilias had insisted she absolutely didn't want anybody else to hear of their deal, which had the unfortunate effect of raising quite a few eyebrows from those that kept an ear ope,. The issue was further worsened by the fact that the only rooms fitted for this use were the individual bedrooms. Luka had just shrugged it off and humored the goddess while a few whispers already ran through the castle. And so, a few minutes later, he closed the door and Ilias sat down on the hero's bed, not uttering a single sound all the while.

"I'm listening to everything you want. I don't guarantee I will be able to answer all of them but…" The hero scratched his head and sighed. "I want you to know that I really care for you and will do my best to be sure you're always fittingly accommodated. And now everybody, even Tamamo, even Alma Elma are aware that your survival is paramount and won't do anything that could anger you if we ask."

"Because my survival wasn't paramount before?" Her tone was still incredibly downbeat.

"It always was." Luka kneeled in front of her and delicately took her hands. "I just didn't realize how sensible you would be to my friends' thoughtless harassment. I didn't realize how you would feel."

"Because how I feel is important?"

"Yes. How do you feel right now?"

Ilias started tearing up. "…Everybody worshipped me, served me and did everything for me to ask for my protection and my guidance. And then I fell and was treated like a cosmic plaything, became powerless, was teased by one of my oldest enemy, and almost died." She had a small hiccup. "Then… Then I left you, everything you offered and tried leading my own life where I had some time to think about what happened. And you know what I realized?"

In the next moment, the small goddess exploded into crying, wallowing on the shoulder Luka was offering her.

"I deserved this! It's too much to bear, but I deserved this! I nearly destroyed a world because I couldn't bear seeing humans and monsters live happily together and nearly got killed! Then I was offered a second chance and my ego made me do everything to screw it again because I couldn't consider the idea that some monsters would willingly help me! I turned away all the comfort, all the food, all the teachers, all the allies, all the friends and EVERYTHING YOU OFFERED BECAUSE I STILL THOUGHT OF MYSELF AS THE GODDESS OF CREATION WHEN I AM ONLY ONLY THE AVATAR OF EGOISTIC SELFISHNESS!"

Luka gently tapped her on the back. "It's okay, it's okay. You still have a chance to make it work. We still have a chance to make it work."

"Even Lucifina-chan refused to followed me and Micaela-chan left me again…" Ilias continued sobbing for ten minutes, which Luka was all too glad to welcome. She had found herself at the top of the world, and, a few days later, found herself at step one with only the possibility to question everything she had done in her past life. If anything, he sympathized to her plight, at least because of his own responsibility in it.

"Do you… Do you really think that those people are willing to do anything for me after I turned my back on them? After I insulted them?"

"I'll be sure they'll do if we ask. And I'll make sure they do treat you well."

They stood like that in each other's arms for almost half an hour, silently.

"Luka?"

"Yes?"

"I'm afraid. Afraid of what will happen in my future. Afraid of what will happen when I step out of this room."

"Don't worry. I'm here. We're all here to protect you."

Their fear found themselves unfounded. Nobody got to know exactly how that happened, but as soon as the angels came back, every single resident, monster, human and angels alike decided to celebrate this reunion by a feast with the goal to forget any grudges against each other. For this occasion, the cooks had prepared an impressive number of pantagruelic portions, which size only got beaten by the appetite of those that were surrounding them. And just as the angels were done settling back in the Pocket Castle, the party started, and people were throwing themselves at the food, the angels all too happy to fill their sweet tooth after a period of deprivation. Barely a few minutes later, people were mingling and discussing the latest news they heard in the world, as if this last month hadn't seen a schism between monsters and angels living in this place.

While Ilias and Eden were initially shocked by this turn of event, they were soon all too happy to gorge themselves on cakes and other sweet foods after being forced to live an epicurean lifestyle for too long to their own tastes. Even Tamamo had stopped her mourning to join the party and was discussing happily with Alma Elma and her own two lieutenants.

Micaela and Luka also got dumbfounded by this turn of event, but they took the opportunity to enjoy it themselves none the less. As they let themselves getting carried by the ambiance, they realized that an actual break after the events of Grangold was more than welcome. As painful and grueling this chapter of their adventure was, they had to move on, and this feast was a welcome rupture.

"I must say, I never throught it would be that easy." The Grand Noah queen was helping herself to a second serving of cream stew. "We nearly came to blows when she left, and she's already back, all too happy to mingle with everyone."

"Honestly, neither did I. If anything, that's a proof that even an immortal goddess who reigned above the world for thousands of years can change." Micaela was savoring a parfait. "Mind telling us what happened behind those doors of your?" This last sentence was aimed at her nephew, who was currently eating a juicy steak.

"By respect for her, no."

"Mmmh. I see." She clicked her tongue. "Still, you might want to clear that out before someone like, say, the succubus queen, decides to start spreading salacious stories centered on sensual sex."

"Doesn't matter."

"Still, I am a bit concerned about our contact dropping dead like that. I hope that nothing wrong happened to her…"

"On that matter, I can't see or feel Lucifina-chan either. Ilias didn't happen to tell anything about one or the other?"

Luka took a moment to consider what he heard from Ilias and what he knew about the little seraph. Then he remembered his conversation with Lucifina-chan in Grangold.

"I don't think she's the one in danger."

Micaela stared at her nephew in hope of getting a more developed answer, but eventually gave up after a few seconds. She more often than not trusted the judgment of her nephew, and save for a major faux pas, he always had been right. Well, mostly right.

Or at least he always had managed to make everyone come through, which was close enough. She wasn't one to criticize there.

"Not as planned, not as planned…"

Morrigan was worrily walking around, trying to discern the signature of one of her sister amongst the houses in Succubus Village. When Astaroth contacted her a few days ago, she was worried sick of what was happening as she was told to leave the Pocket Castle, not so subtly implying that her life was on the line. Without further instructions, she decided to hide in Pornof. She hated the village of perverts, but it was one of the last place everybody would look for her. She considered Succubus Village for a short moment, as the place wouldn't hesitate to welcome one of their kind, but she felt it was too cliché, and, most of all, it was one of the next destination on the hero's road. Then Astaroth contacted her again and told her they would meet there.

The place itself was completely empty and devoid of life. There was neither a single monster nor a human soul in sight. Most provisions and most of the equipment had been taken as well by the monsters when they left. She had carefully explored every building, using her supernatural senses to try to pick up on any hint as to what was happening and to where everybody left… And yet, she didn't find anything. Not a single note informing her of the inhabitant's fate, not a single trace of magic… They had carefully cleaned everything behind them. At first, she shrugged it off and took it in stride, but when trying to contact her sisters telepathically yielded as much results because of a block, she had started to feel really anxious about the whole ordeal.

"Sisters, what's going on?"

She picked an apple from a tree and started munching on it as she tried to gather her thoughts: They knew that having her build trust with the hero was key to their plan, and telling her to disappear like that would only damage it. It was clear they were no longer relying on it, and instead just wanted her back for her own safety.

She sighed heavily as she looked at her gear: Most of it was high quality equipment, even by her standard. Her magic sword was a weapon the hero had personally gifted her after supporting the Noah lords in their quest for small medals, and her clothes were a bikini mysteriously found in the ruins of Ilias Temple. With her skills slowly growing back to what they were, she felt mostly confident that she could deal with any enemies up to a lone seraph, but the whole clusterfuck she was currently involved in was clouding her mind.

She perked up as she picked a signature trying to conceal itself, hidden behind a building. Reflexively, she took a defensive posture with her sword: If that was one of her sister, she would likely already have announced herself, so the intention of the traveler was dubious at best. She fully turned her senses toward the signature as she tried to identify it…

…And found herself completely blindsided when an arrow of pure light hit her straight in the side. She groaned in pain and tried to look for the source of the attack, but her attention got locked on the being that had tried to conceal itself rushing toward her. She saw a small silhouette expertly wield a sword jump at her, trying to strike her.

"GLANCE ARD!"

The pleasure spell had no effect on the attacker, and soon enough, Morrigan started to clash with her assailant. A second light arrow made its way toward her , but the succubus managed to dodge it. It took her less than the blink of an eye to realize the identity of both of her agressors.

"Wait! WAIT! STOP!"

In a powerful gust of wind, Morrigan managed to push back her opponent who stood back on her feet, undeterred and ready to go.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!" She screamed toward the sky. "LUCIFINA-CHAN! IT'S ME! WE'VE BEEN TO YAMATAI TOGETHER AND YOU EVEN TRIED TO HOOK ME UP WITH LUKA! AND- DON'T INTERRUPT ME YOU PIECE OF TRASH!"

Morrigan dodged a strike from Micaela-Chan who tried to use the moment of inattention from the succubus to attack her. She soon started exchanging blows at an impressive speed with Micaela-Chan, who had roughly the same skill as her. Light arrows started raining on the duo, and while her opponent didn't seem affected by them, Morrigan had to keep moving back to both dodge those arrows and avoid getting hit by the small seraph in front of her.

Her current situation reminded her a bit too much to her taste of the one she put Zion through with the support of the hero back at Mithra's castle. But while she only had two opponents to face now, those had brought equipment specifically to eliminate her and were fully committed to killing her. Did the hero order them? He was certainly too much of a peace lover to order that. Tamamo maybe?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt another arrow hit her in the eye, temporarily blinding her. She raised herself in a serie of powerful flap of her wings, pinning Micaela-Chan on the ground, while she tried to look for Lucifina-Chan. She saw the small angel happily readying another arrow, aiming at her. She charged at her with an elemental boost and managed to cut the seraph across the stomach. A small light covered the wound as her victim instantly meditated to recover.

"Seriously ?! What's wrong with you?! I was just scouting the place ahead!"

Lucifina-Chan didn't answer at first, her expression frozen in an uncanny smile, both psychotic and innocent at the same time. She then happily answered with her eyes closed.

"Luka doesn't want people from another world to live!"

The succubus took a second to reflect on what the seraph meant. "Oh, really? After I accompanied him for so long, he decided to discard me just like that?"

"Nope! I did that on my own!"

Morrigan felt rage rising through her body. She released a powerful war cry as Micaela-Chan once again jumped on her. While Micaela's blows had a surgical precision born from expertise and had the support of Lucifina-chan's rain of light arrows, Morrigan's attack were each imbued with a storm of wind and darkness, giving her an edge in power at the cost of her energy. As dark waves and holy sparkles clashed together in a series of explosion, Morrigan managed to destabilize her opponent and punched Micaela-Chan across the sky with a darkness imbued fist.

She then rushed again at Lucifina-chan, and only noticed her mistake where her sword glanced on her target's head.

The next second, a comet fell from the sky and knocked the succubus straight to the ground. She was then skewered by a rain of light of arrows that lasted several seconds. When the assault stopped, she couldn't even get up and was barely breathing on the ground. Both seraph came back to finish her. Micaela-chan's expression was still that same focused mask she was always wearing, while Lucifina-chan was now wearing a sadistic grin.

"…Really… Why?"

Lucifina-chan leaned closer. She could feel the angel's breath.

"I told you. Because Luka does not want people from other worlds to disturb this one. Because you've been a bad, baaaad girl who deserves to be punished. Because I was wrong and you'd have been a terrible wife for Luka."

The succubus coughed up, spitting blood. "I could still help him. I would have made him enjoy my company. I could and did pleasure him and anyone asking."

Lucifina-chan scoffed. "He can get everyone he wants."

As much as it pained her to hear it, the succubus recognized it. Her family, the residents of the castle… Everyone wanted Luka. Right now, those sessions with him were only small souvenirs, and the mental images she had of bringing in home now if front of her grateful family only looked like far away dreams. In despair, Morrigan raised a trembling, bloodied arm to the sky.

"Sisters…"

Both seraphim raised their weapons above the broken succubus.

"Help…"

Their weapons fell at the same time, removing Morrigan's life from her body once and for all.