Hello again, everyone.

I got nothing worthy of note to say, so let's just proceed with the chapter.

See you again in the afterword.


[X][X][X]


Whoosh...

A dark portal appeared inside the guest bedroom where Lily and Alice stayed. Soon enough, several familiar people came out from the portal, and Lily, who was still not wearing any piece of her armor, welcomed them as they walked in.

"Welcome back, Ryu-san, Hikaru-san, Rose-san, and second Rose-san...! Eh, what?"

Lily was startled seeing that there was seemingly a second Rose among the group. Alice, who at first was still curled under the blanket, quickly peeked her head out from the blanket and got up into a sitting position on the bed.

"Okay... what crazy thing happened again back there...?"

Alice rolled her eyes as she asked the question, and then she fell back into lying down on the bed. Ryu put one hand behind his head, being a little confused on what to say next.

"I guess, first thing first, is introduction. Lily, Alice, meet Guardian. Guardian, meet Lily and Alice"

Lily quickly approached Guardian and shook hands with her.

"I'm Lily! Nice to meet you, Guardian-san!"

"Uhh, yeah. Nice to meet you too, I guess"

Right after the short exchange, someone else came out from the portal. This time, it was Ainz. Lily immediately greeted him as he came out.

"Welcome home, Papa!"

Guardian, not knowing about the relation between Lily and Ainz yet, rolled her eyes.

"Well, call me speechless. Did you just say 'Papa'?"

"She is indeed my daughter, though not in your normal sense"

Ainz's intervening answer was spoken in a straight tone. Nobody could tell whether it was his genuine stoicism or his inability to convey expression thanks to being undead.

"I see. Alright then"

"I need to take care of a few things and will get back to you all in an hour or two. Make yourselves at home until then"

After saying that, Ainz turned around and walked back into the portal which quickly dissipated after he vanished from view. Guardian let out a sigh and quickly sat down on the nearest chair.

"Whew, finally can relax a bit"

Meanwhile, Rose just quietly walked to the vacant bed of the room and let herself fall onto it. She didn't say any word, and that confused both Lily and Alice, the latter of whom immediately got back up into sitting position on her bed and asked.

"So, Guardian isn't it? Who are you, and why do you look like Rose?"

Hearing Alice's question, Guardian looked at Ryu and Hikaru before speaking.

"Could one of you answer for me, please? I've told my story twice over it's getting old"

Ryu was then the first to answer Guardian's request. He approached Alice as he spoke to her.

"I guess it's on me then. So... would you prefer a short answer or long answer?"

"Just make it short"

"Alright. Well... Rose is Guardian's clone"

There was a few seconds of silence as Alice tried to process Ryu's short answer, and then she began speaking in response.

"...I guess I need more explanation after all, because when I heard the word 'clone' the first thing that came to mind was an ability to create a short-lived copy of yourself to deceive your opponent in some way"

"Okay, if we speak in terms you're more familiar with..."

Ryu glanced at Rose, who was lying face down on the other bed. She didn't show any reaction, and so Ryu continued speaking.

"Rose is mana gaining sentience and taking Guardian's form. Meru is also mana gaining sentience on her own some time after"

Alice just froze up hearing Ryu's words. Her mouth went agape while her eyes were still straight and half-closed like her usual.

"...Seriously?"

Alice turned her head looking at Rose, who still remained unmoving on the other bed. She then let out a sigh and once again fell back into a lying position on her bed.

"Today I got suddenly assigned to investigate something, then we all got wiped by a dragon. Now you just told me that Rose is actually a sentient mana taking form of that girl over there. What's next? She is the Falz Angel we saw over the ocean?"

Ryu knew that the last point Alice said was merely a form of lashing out and not intended to be serious, but he couldn't help chuckling because it was true, all by chance.

"Actually, that is true. The Falz Angel back then was really Guardian"

Alice was once again unresponsive after hearing Ryu's words. It took her ten seconds until she spoke again.

"I just... can't take any more of this. You are all crazy people dealing with crazy things"

Ryu couldn't say anything. Alice's response to what had just been revealed to her was actually quite normal. Not everybody could stay calm after dealing with what had been happening within this single day.

"I know it's hard to digest everything. Just rest up for now"

Alice didn't respond to Ryu's words. He then sat down on another chair near Guardian while letting out a sigh.

"Hey, I'm wondering... was the dragon Alice mentioned... Apostolo Dragon?"

"Ah, yes. It really got us good. I actually wondered why, according to Alice, it just suddenly ran away before finishing us off"

"When did that happen?"

"Just an hour or two before I met you"

Guardian was briefly silent before she spoke again.

"I guess I saved your lives by chance"

"Huh?"

"Apostolo Dragon is highly attracted to Dark Blast. At that time, I used it to get out of some trouble I had gotten into. Then just some time later it teleported in"

"Wow, I guess we owe you one. Thank you"

Responding to Ryu's words, Guardian waved her hand as a sign of refusal.

"Nah, don't mention it. In fact, I should thank you"

"What? Why?"

"The Apostolo Dragon was already badly injured when it came, so we could kill it rather easily. Otherwise, the collateral damage would have been much worse and we wouldn't have come out of the battle unscathed"

"I see. By the way, did you say 'we'?"

"Yeah, I had help from two local fighters. Both human, and they are quite strong"

"I see"

Guardian leaned on her chair and folded her arms before she spoke again.

"I'm actually curious on how your group could damage the Apostolo Dragon that much"

"Ah..."

Ryu glanced at Hikaru after hearing Guardian's question, and then he began speaking again.

"Hikaru did most of the damage, thanks to her mysterious power"

"Hmm? What kind of power?"

Ryu looked at Hikaru once again.

"Would you show her?"

Hikaru just nodded, then she pulled her Briste Insignia from her photon inventory and put it on the table right next to Guardian.

"This is Briste Insignia. When released, it somehow gives her access to unknown, strong Photon Arts"

Guardian took a good look at the katana, seemingly curious about it.

"I don't remember this katana being in ARKS database. Now I'm intrigued. What kind of Photon Art, by the way?"

"I took note of some names she sometimes shouted but always failed to remember for some reason. Let's see..."

Ryu opened his photon interface, and a few seconds later he resumed speaking.

"Folter Zeit, Rose Schwert, Wolkenkratzer, Schmetterling"

"W-Wait wait wait! What?"

Guardian was visibly surprised, suddenly standing up from her chair with her hands straight on the table.

"Eh, what's wrong?"

Guardian didn't immediately respond to Ryu's question. Instead, she looked at Hikaru and asked a question.

"What is your class?"

"Uhh, I'm Braver Hunter"

Hikaru was a little startled by the sudden question, but she still answered. Hearing her answer, Guardian sat down again with a little sigh.

"Impossible..."

"Would you explain, please? I don't think anyone would like being left in the dark for too long"

"Ah, yes. Sorry about that. The truth is, all the names you just said were the katana Photon Arts supposedly exclusive to Phantom class"

Ryu didn't look surprised hearing Guardian's words. He just leaned on his chair and folded his arms.

"So basically, activating Briste Insignia allows Hikaru to use the Photon Art of your class... Interesting"

Guardian tilted her head a little, looking slightly confused.

"You don't look surprised"

"I kinda had a suspicion because I once asked Xiao to analyze it. He said that this katana can transcend dimensions, and now that I know there is a different dimension where ARKS exists..."

"You could put two and two together. I see"

Nobody said anything for the next couple seconds, but then Guardian spoke again while looking at Lily.

"By the way, Lily. If you don't mind, could you tell me more about yourself, and what exactly are you to your father?"

"Sure, Guardian-san! Papa created me to serve Ryu-san, and that's what I have been doing ever since then!"

"Created...? Like... with magic?"

"I don't know. When I woke up for the first time, all I knew was my lifelong duty to serve Ryu-san"

"Yeah, definitely magic"

"Magic or not, I love him very much!"

Lily spoke her words in excitement, which really showed her cheerful personality. With such a distinct personality, nobody would think that she was actually a magical construct living to serve Ryu as technically a slave.

"Heh, you sure are lively. Hmm..."

Guardian seemed to be thinking briefly, then she looked at Ryu and began speaking.

"Don't you think that this makes Lily the same as Rose to some extent?"

Ryu put his hand on his chin, doing a thinking gesture.

"If you put it like that, you have a point. But... let's not talk too much about it"

"Yeah, you're right. Magic creation or not, they are living persons"

Ryu nodded, and then he stood up from the chair looking at Rose who was still lying face-down on the bed.

"Hey, Rose. You alright over there? Need to talk or something?"

"Just... leave me alone for now"

Rose spoke without moving, resulting in her voice muffled by the bed. Ryu couldn't help being concerned about her, but he decided to comply and left her alone for the time being.

About one hour later, a dark portal appeared in the room and someone familiar came out of it. It was none other than Ainz.

"Welcome back, Papa!"

"Ah yes, thank you for the warm welcome"

Ainz gently patted Lily's head as he spoke, and Lily was clearly very happy to receive it. He then turned his head to look at Rose and Alice, who at this point were in a mildly better mental state than before after having some good snacks, courtesy of the maid stationed there.

"I am glad that both of you seem to be better than when I saw you the last time"

Rose put her hands on her hip and began speaking in response.

"Heh, while it is still hard for me to accept the fact, I can't just sulk forever"

Alice, who was sitting on a chair facing a dining table, didn't say any word. She just let out a small sigh with her nose, while looking down on the table surface.

"Nevertheless, I want all of you to come with me"

Ainz then went back into the dark portal which was still open. Everybody looked at each other, giving either a nod or a shrug as a response, and they all eventually followed Ainz into the portal. At the other side of the portal, Ryu could recognize the room as the armory of Nazarick, where Lily had received her new armor back then.

It didn't take long for Ryu to recognize Lily's armor among all the other stuffs in the room. Ainz walked to the armor set, and with a single wave of his hand the entire armor set floated to Lily.

"It was damaged quite badly, but it did its job well protecting you. It is now as good as new once again, so put them on"

"Woah, thank you, Papa!"

Lily then quickly put on the armor set, taking only two minutes total because of the magical convenience it had like the greaves strapping by themselves once Lily inserted her legs. In the end, Lily was back to her fully armored self, but she looked confused, turning her head left and right looking for something before speaking to Ainz.

"Where are my swords?"

"Ah, regarding that..."

Ainz waved his hand once more, and an ornate chest floated from the back of the room and landed near Lily's feet. The chest was relatively thin and long, which was the common shape of a chest containing a sword.

"Open it"

Lily nodded hearing Ainz's words, then she crouched down and opened the chest. Everybody, she included, was astonished seeing what was contained within the chest.

The chest contained a pair of swords which were not the swords Lily previously had. The grip of the swords were black with golden ornate handguard, while the blades were shining, as if they were made of solid energy instead of physical material. If one stared at the blades for a while, they would notice that those blades gradually changed their colors on a looping sequence.

"W-What are these?"

"Your new weapon. I just thought that with the possible adversaries to come, you could use more power"

"Huh? But..."

"Oh, there is no need to be concerned about your flight spell. Those swords have an enchantment which makes them always count for any equipped set effect, among other things they have"

"No, I mean... aren't these valuable?"

"Yes, they are valuable indeed. I took them from the deepest depth of this tomb where the heritage of my comrades are kept. Those swords were one of them, bearing the name Starlight Wings"

"I... I can't accept these, Papa! I don't deserve..."

"Lily, I am not giving them to you. I am lending them, so you will survive and return them to me in the future. Now take them"

Nobody said anything in response. Lily, still being hesitant, slowly took one of the two swords and raised it. She then moved to a more open space in the room and tried a few light swings.

"Umm, Papa. How do I sheathe this sword if there is no scabbard for it?"

"Command it to sheathe with your mind"

"Huh, okay..."

Lily then looked at the sword she was holding, and within an instant the sword she was holding disappeared from her hand, and the same applied to the sword left in the chest. Both of them then immediately reappeared floating right behind her back facing down at an outward side angle, making them look like a pair of thin wings.

"Huh?"

Lily turned around to take a look, but the swords maintained their position behind her back. She reached her hands behind to take them, which was easy thanks to the way they were positioned, and sported a battle stance. She then glanced at both swords, and both of them teleported back to the standby position behind her back again.

"You can also command them to unsheathe. Try it out"

After hearing Ainz's words, Lily nodded and within a second both swords behind her back teleported into the grasp of her hands.

"Wow..."

Lily expressed her astonishment with just one word, and then the swords teleported back into standby position.

"Why are you lending these to me, Papa?"

"There are powerful adversaries from another world, and you walk along with the people who battle those threats at the frontlines. I am lending you the weapon to protect you, and by extension, protect this home of mine as well. In any case, I expect you to make a good use of the-"

Ainz's speech was cut short because suddenly Lily hugged him again.

"I will, Papa. Thank you"

"Hmm..."

Ainz caressed Lily on her back briefly before she released her hug. He then walked over to the rest of the group who had been silently watching the unfolding event. He stopped right in front of Alice.

"Tell me... do you feel powerless?"

Alice's eyes briefly went wide, then she hung her head without saying a word. Seeing this, Ryu began speaking out of reflex.

"Ainz-dono, I don't think that's-"

Ainz raised his hand towards Ryu, cutting the speech short. While still looking at Alice, he began speaking again.

"You have been walking along these other people for a while and you have seen a number of things, all of which were likely beyond what you could have ever imagined. What do you feel after experiencing all those?"

Alice was silent for a few seconds before she finally began speaking without raising her head.

"...You wouldn't understand"

"Hmm?"

"You would never understand!"

Alice suddenly shouted straight at Ainz, her eyes looking directly at his while beginning to leak tears.

"All of you are so crazy powerful you could destroy a city... hell, an entire kingdom instantly on a whim! None of you will ever understand the feeling of being ordinary and weak with no hope of fighting back should any of you someday get into a bad mood and decide to destroy a kingdom or two! How can I- How can anybody ever sleep in peace knowing all that!?"

Alice lashed out at Ainz, and once she was done she heavily panted with tears running down her cheeks. Ryu was stunned seeing Alice suddenly explode like that, and he was silently glad that none of Ainz's subordinates were in the room. So far, Ryu believed that Ainz was a fairly reasonable person, but if any of his subordinates had been here, especially Albedo, it wouldn't be far off to assume that they would cut her head off in the middle of her lashing out.

"Alice... contrary to what you believe, I do understand"

Ainz briefly took a breath before he resumed speaking.

"A long, long time ago, before I became what I am now, I was merely a weak and pitiful being. Oppressed by those in power, I never had any choice besides working myself to the bone like a slave. To them, I was merely a disposable tool which they could discard on a whim"

Ainz let out a sigh and went silent for a few seconds before speaking again. Everybody else were listening while feeling a sense of disbelief that such a powerful one like him had a past like that.

"I will not go into details about my journey to become what I am now. My point is, I fully understand the feeling of being powerless. But I will tell you just one thing..."

Ainz lowered his head a bit and turned around, facing away from everyone other than Lily who was still in the middle of the room. His head was then raised as he walked forward, and he began speaking while gazing into the ceiling ahead of him.

"I was not alone. I had comrades, friends who had better lives than me, and also those who had worse. We all walked together, fought together, and worked together, until we achieved all this wealth and power you see before you. Now, look around you. You also have friends, no?"

As he spoke, Ainz turned around again, facing the group once more. Hearing his speech, Alice slowly turned her head, looking around her. As their eyes met, the others in the group nodded, including Guardian whom she had just met one hour before.

"I will be honest with you. Currently you are the weakest of the bunch, with a large margin while at it. But nobody knows if it will stay that way forever. It likely sounds implausible to you, but I myself back then never expected to reach the height where I am now. But speaking of which..."

Ainz looked at Ryu briefly, and then he asked a question.

"Have you ever thought about lending her one of your reserve weapons if you have any? Should be a lot better than her own weapon, no?"

Ryu folded his arms before responding to the question.

"I actually have lent her one once, but upon testing out, her own magic spells didn't get that much stronger, and while her Photon Tech became comparable to mine, her mana got significantly drained with just one cast. We decided that it was not worth it, and so she stayed with her staff"

"I see, it seems people outside ARKS are incompatible with ARKS weapons, even though they are interestingly compatible with Photon Arts and Photon Techs. Hmm..."

Ainz put his hand on his chin, seemingly thinking for a brief moment, then he conjured a small dark portal to which he inserted his hand, and then he pulled something out. From its shape, anybody would easily recognize it as a magic staff like Alice's weapon, but made from dark grey metal with several decorative gold accents.

Ainz made a light throwing gesture, and the staff gently floated right to Alice, who caught it with bewildered expression.

"While it will not bring you up to par with the others, it will at least provide some boost to your power, along with a few convenient effects"

Alice didn't say any word. She just observed the staff, still with bewildered expression.

"Do not get me wrong. I am merely lending it to you, like I was lending the Starlight Wings to Lily. I expect you to return it to me in the future"

"I see... Thank you, for your patronage"

Alice's face mellowed as she said that while averting her eyes. Ainz walked forward to the group once again, and began speaking to Ryu.

"Unfortunately, I have to consider the investigation job cancelled because your team was wiped out in the middle of it. I do not wish for you to try again either, with the space dragon you faced still lurking out there"

"Ah, speaking of which, we just found out that Guardian has killed the dragon"

Right after Ryu said his words, Guardian quickly spoke to add her information.

"But I need to inform that a new one will eventually be born in its place sooner or later"

Ainz folded his arms after hearing Guardian's information. He was briefly silent before he resumed speaking.

"I see, but nevertheless, I no longer wish to investigate that area any further. Therefore I would like to ask a question. What is your plan after this?"

Ryu folded his arms as well and went into a thinking gesture briefly.

"I only could think of going back to E-Rantel and stay on guard for possible Darker attacks like before"

"Hmm... what about you, Guardian? Do you wish to go along with them, or do you have a different plan?"

Guardian put her hands on her hip while looking down, seemingly thinking about something.

"My mission objective is to stay with Rose until extraction is available, but I can't just walk along them without raising questions from the locals, can I?"

"You have a point. While Ryu probably can handwave it by saying that you are twins, raising suspicion is inevitable. You may stay here in Nazarick as my guest if you wish"

"Ah, no. I have something else to do, now that I've found Rose and she is with people I can trust"

"What is it if I may inquire?"

"Before I met all of you, I caused a misunderstanding which somehow made myself be regarded as some kind of god by the people. I believe I need to clear it before it spirals out of control"

"I see. I will not stop you, but I believe you should not go alone. You never know what kind of trouble may befall you, and how much difference can be made by simply having company"

Ainz then looked at Ryu before he resumed speaking.

"Ryu, do you think you can split your team to accompany her?"

"Well, yeah I guess. Might need a minute to decide who goes with who, though"

"That is natural. What do you think, Guardian?"

Guardian raised her shoulders after hearing Ainz's words, clearly shrugging.

"Works for me, do as you wish"

"Good. But before you go, I want to make sure that you know where you are going"

Hearing Ainz's words, Guardian opened her photon interface and displayed a map. Ryu could recognize the map fairly easily because he had one saved in his photon interface as well, though Guardian's map seemed to cover further to the south. Ainz walked to approach Guardian, seemingly interested as he leaned over to take a closer look at the map.

"I have saved the coordinates of the place. It is... here"

A blinking dot appeared at one section of the map right after Guardian spoke. Ainz closely observed the location of the blinking dot, putting his hand on his chin.

"Hmm... I believe that is the capital of Slane Theocracy. Are you saying that the people of that country now regard you as their god?"

"To be specific, only a bunch of people inside their palace. But since this includes their head of country, I feel the need to do this"

Ainz seemed to freeze up hearing what Guardian had just said. Ryu also couldn't help feeling somewhat astonished hearing that Guardian somehow essentially now had an entire country under her control, though he believed that Guardian made the right decision to clear up the misunderstanding.

"Slane Theocracy, huh?"

Suddenly, Alice spoke out. Ryu then immediately responded out of reflex.

"What about it?"

"If we're going to split up, Hikaru shouldn't go with Guardian"

"Huh, why?"

Right after Ryu asked, it was Ainz who immediately spoke.

"Alice is correct there. From the information I have gathered so far, the people of Slane Theocracy highly believe in human supremacy. They have strong bias against demihumans"

Ainz didn't speak further than that, but Ryu fully understood what both Alice and Ainz meant. It was a fact that Hikaru was a Deuman, and at first glance people would commonly assume that she was a demihuman, or even a demon. Bringing her to Slane Theocracy would unnecessarily bring about some complications.

"A racist country eh..."

Hikaru let out a sigh as she said that. Alice quickly spoke out seeing this.

"I know it's hard for you, but their policy was what made them one of the very few countries around which were older than two hundred years. Most, if not all the demihumans on this planet, consider humans as no more than slaves at best, food at worst"

Hearing what Alice had just said, Ryu remembered a past experience which he actually didn't want to remember. He decided to speak out anyway, since he felt that Hikaru needed to know more about the other side of the perspective.

"Hikaru, there's something I haven't told you yet. A couple months ago, I had a job quest to raid a bandit hideout. We later found out that the bandits held a sacred fox beast captive, and Lily stayed there on guard while the group proceeded with the raid. We all meant well for the fox beast, but the beast and the foxmen who worshipped it..."

Ryu was silent for a few seconds and let out a sigh before he resumed speaking.

"In return, they kidnapped her and intended to feed her to the sacred beast. I saved her at the literal last second, and then one foxman said it to my face that humans were no more than food for them when I confronted them about it"

Ryu clenched his fist as he was speaking.

"And so I killed all of them out of rage. Heh... maybe I could have just escaped, but I committed genocide instead. I don't know what got into me"

Right after Ryu finished speaking, Ainz quickly spoke up.

"Ryu, I believe there is something that needs clarification. The way you just worded it sounds like you went on a rampage murdering every foxman. But what you did was just a Photon Blast, no?"

"Ah, yes. But the fact still doesn't change that I killed them all. There could have been some, or even more among them, who actually didn't share the same view but remained silent out of fear"

"The deed has already been done, Ryu. There is no use being constantly upset about it"

At this point, Alice cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. It worked, so she began speaking again.

"Anyway, the countries around here are surrounded by largely hostile demihuman nations, and Slane Theocracy is the one which plays a large part in keeping them at bay. In fact, the kingdom south of Baharuth Empire, the Dragon Kingdom, has been constantly harassed by demihumans of Beastman Country, raiding the people for food. Or I should say... abducting and then eating the people. Slane Theocracy has been periodically sending military aid for them, though naturally with a price tag. Also, one more thing"

Alice briefly stopped to catch her breath, which prompted Ainz to give her a glass of water like back then with Guardian. She hesitated for a second, but then she drank the water anyway.

"Thank you. Now, there is no definite proof about this, but it is suspected that two hundred years ago, after the defeat of Evil Deities, it was Slane Theocracy which established the system which helped humanity to recover from the aftermath, and that system became what is now known as Adventurer's Guild"

"I see. Alright, I get your point"

Hikaru said that while nodding slightly. Meanwhile, Ainz took the glass of water back as Alice returned it to him.

"Alice, you are surprisingly knowledgeable about this. I am honestly impressed, because there were a few points that even I did not know yet"

"I was just speaking from the notes left by my foster father. It was him who was knowledgeable"

Alice spoke with her head down, seemingly not feeling happy about the fact that the knowledge was not from her own.

"That is where you are mistaken. It does not matter whether you got information by yourself or from someone else. What matters is that you knew something that we didn't, and you proceeded to pass the useful information to us. Now you see, power is not all about how much destruction you can cause. Knowledge is also power, a power which can shape people, cities, and even nations. That is the reason I collect all the knowledge I can get my hands on. Nobody ever knows when even the smallest bit of information could decide the outcome between life and death, poverty and prosperity, or war and peace"

Alice's facial expression gradually showed astonishment as Ainz spoke. After he was done speaking, she glanced left and right to the others. Ryu just smiled slightly and nodded when their eyes met, acknowledging the point Ainz brought. Seemingly not paying much heed, Ainz spoke to Ryu.

"Now, have you decided on your divisions?"

Ryu nodded. He had been thinking about it ever since Alice brought her point up.

"I and Lily will go with Guardian. Hikaru, Rose, and Alice will go back to E-Rantel"

"I see. When will you go?"

"Right now if possible. How about you all?"

Ryu looked around to see the others of his group, and all of them nodded. Ainz nodded too, and he raised his hand to conjure the portal they all were already familiar with. This time, he conjured two at once side by side.

"This portal leads to the forest near E-Rantel, and the other leads to the spot where Guardian encountered my subordinates. It should be closer to Slane Theocracy from there"

The group then divided into two according to their objectives, and they stood in front of their respective portals.

"Be careful out there, oniichan"

"Yeah, I will. E-Rantel has been relatively peaceful, so you can just relax there"

"Hey, don't jinx it!"

Hikaru pouted after hearing Ryu's words, and Ryu just laughed a little seeing his sister's antics. At this point, Alice seemed to realize something, and then she quickly approached Guardian.

"Please take this"

Alice spoke as she took her Flight Necklace off and handed it to Guardian, who looked confused. Alice noticed the confusion and quickly spoke again.

"Ryu will explain"

"Oh, alright. Thank you, Alice"

"Just call me Liz"

Alice smiled as she said it, and she returned to her portal side. After a little goodbye gestures to each other, everyone walked into their respective portals.

When Ryu arrived at the other side of the portal, what he saw first was the familiar spot where his team had fought against the Apostolo Dragon. Signs of devastation were naturally still there, since not even half a day had passed.

Guardian was the last to come out of the portal, which immediately disappeared after she was through.

"So, what is this necklace?"

"The necklace allows you to use this planet's flight magic"

"Oh, neat. How do I use it?"

Guardian asked the question as she put on the necklace around her neck.

"Channel photon into it, but don't-"

WHOOOSH!

Guardian was suddenly launched vertically upwards at high speed. Ryu facepalmed with a sigh seeing this very familiar scene.

"Go get her... again"

"Alright, Ryu-san!"

Lily immediately used her [Valkyrian Flight] spell and flew up to get Guardian. Less than a minute later, she came back down carrying Guardian princess-carry style just like before.

"Like original, like clone"

Ryu let out a small laugh as he said that, although compared to Rose, Guardian seemed to be calmer with what had just happened to her, still sporting a straight face as Lily put her down.

"Well, that was kinda embarrassing. Did this happen to Rose too?"

"Exactly the same"

After exchanging some more laughs, Ryu gave Guardian a crash course on how to control the flight magic, which Guardian picked up very quickly. After a few bouts of test flights, Guardian opened her photon interface to check the map.

"The flight magic is nice, but the maximum speed is too slow. If we go there using it, it will take hours"

"Really? So how are we going to go there?"

Guardian just grinned right after hearing Ryu's question, and then she was engulfed in a red aura, coming out as the Falz Angel form Ryu remembered flying over the ocean back then.

"Hop on"

Ryu was startled hearing the short speech because it sounded exactly like Luther.

"Yeah, my voice becomes Luther's while in this form. So, hop on?"

Ryu and Lily looked at each other, exchanged a nod, and they both hopped onto the back of the Falz Angel.

"Ready?"

"Yeah, I guess"

Ryu held on tight on whatever he could get a good grip on. If Guardian said that [Fly] was too slow, this Falz Angel form of her would very likely be a whole lot faster. While he wouldn't be in danger in the case he fell, that would be an unnecessary waste of time.

"Then, off we go!"

WHOOOOOSH!

Guardian blasted off to the sky, carrying Ryu and Lily along with her. Ryu felt a degree of curiosity because he once again was about to visit a country he had never been before. He hoped that there would be nothing wrong happening, both for this group and the other group.


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

The party was split up once again, each division having its own objective. A new arc is dawning while the canonical story of Volume 9 is taking place. What kind of events will unfold?

See you again later.