It's been far too long since the last update. As fluffy and cute as the last chapter was, it can't stem the want for a new chapter forever, right? Nanael is still sad and lonely, which is unacceptable!

By the way, as Nyx gets more development, I'd like to point out that her story will likely be the darkest out of all of the girls. Let's be honest here, she gets violated by a tentacle monster on a regular basis, and I'm not just going to cut that out of her character as if it never existed. If anything, it'll be a great catalyst for some Church x Nyx stuff later. Now I'll never be super explicit about the kind of thing Funikura does with her, but don't expect me to dodge around it either, alright?

"So, this is it, huh?"

Church and Nanael stood together, peeking into the open mouth of a cave that led into the mine Ymir wanted investigated. Nanael was looking in with a grimace, which didn't go unnoticed by Church.

"You don't look too happy about the idea of going in, Nanael."

The angel subconsciously rubbed the base of her handicapped wing. "Well I'm not really fond of small places. The one good wing I do have gets kinda cramped, and I can't really fly around in a cave..."

Church nodded in understanding, hefting his borrowed crossbow in both arms. "I guess that makes sense. If you'll be uncomfortable down there, I won't force you to come. Do you want to stay here?"

The angel in question folded her arms and gave Church a strange look that he couldn't accurately interpret. "I thought you said you wanted me to come with you?"

"I do. But I also don't want to make you do anything that's going to be unpleasant for you. I wanted to do this together with you, but not at the cost of your comfort."

There was a slight upturn of Nanael's lips, barely perceptible even to someone like Church. "Well it's not like I'm claustrophobic or anything: I'll be fine, let's go! With how easily you get lonely, I can't really let you go in alone, now can I?"

Church offered a much larger, much more obvious smile in return, not taking any offense at the label Nanael had given him just recently. "No, no you can't."

He continued to smile even as he entered the cave ahead of Nanael. Even the smallest genuine smile from Nanael felt like a huge achievement to him. He knew from personal experience how hard it was to get a real smile out of someone so used to faking it.

As the two of them proceeded further into the cave and further away from the entrance, the light from outside faded, and it occurred to Church that he had neglected to bring a torch. He was about to apologize to Nanael and tell her that they'd have to leave to get a lamp or something, but before he could make any comment at all, Church noticed that there was a faint blue glow emanating from behind him. He turned to face Nanael and see what this strange light was, and he was surprised to find that the source was Nanael herself. Her wings were glowing with a calming, warm blue light, lighting the cave around her a few feet and framing her own body in light and shadow.

Nanael must have caught him staring at her wings, because she immediately scowled. She hated it when people focused on her wings. "What are you staring at?"

Lost in the ambient wonder that he was sure was gripping him with an unnatural yet not unpleasant force, Church could only vocalize exactly what he was thinking, and haltingly at that. The glow that drove away the darkness of the cave was just so enthralling, he couldn't even muster the power to say anything beyond the surface of his thoughts.

"S-sorry... it's just... your wings are beautiful."

With that very unexpected reply, Nanael blushed, shrinking in on herself a little, as if she could hide her embarrassment that way. "O-oh...?"

Still lost in the nigh intoxicating light, Church didn't notice that he had flustered his companion at all. He found it hard to even focus on anything else beyond the warmth of her azure glimmer. "Man, this glow is so warm..."

This was the first time anyone had ever praised the beauty of Nanael's wings, and the angel was practically frozen in place as her mind tried to process the immense happiness she was feeling. She did not even think it was possible for someone to like her wings, being so abundantly flawed as they were.

"I...uhm...it's not r-really...s-so great..."

Still in a stupor from the effects of heavenly light on his mortal frame, Church was about to tell Nanael that her wings were far more than great, when a loud crash of metal on stone echoed throughout the tunnels of the cave. This outside influence finally shook Church from his awestruck focus, but before he even though to question the interruption he instead questioned what had just happened.

Now that he was out of it he was sure he had almost been in some sort of trance just now. But even looking at the blue light of Nanael wings now, he didn't feel compelled to lose himself in those feathers. Sure, they were still gorgeous, but the draw was nowhere near as powerful now as it had been just a few moments ago. Why this was the case eluded him entirely, but there really wasn't any time to dwell on it.

Now that the moment was lost between them, Nanael peered down the dark cavern, her bright green eyes unable to discern anything at all. "What do you think that was?"

Church would have normally been at the very least slightly concerned, but with a weapon he could actually use in his hands, he was held back no longer. For the first time in this world, he was confident in his ability to fight. "I think that was fair warning that there's someone else here besides us. Bandits most likely."

"Hopefully not bandits like that ape Leina was traveling with..."

"Leina?"

Nanael shrugged, clearly not caring much for the memory. "She was some super idealistic and naive blonde chick who ditched her family for adventure or something."

"I get the feeling I've heard that description before..."

The teal haired angel cocked an eyebrow at him, pretty sure that she had never seen Church even in passing during her brief foray on earth with Leina, but decided against saying anything more about it. It was better to focus on the task at hand. "So, do you want me to lead the way then?"

Her companion nodded his affirmation to her. "If you don't mind. Guess this is one solved predicament we owe entirely to you."

Such a comment was nowhere near as uplifting as the one about her wings, but Nanael was at least glad that she was being of some use, and was actually being acknowledged for that usefulness. Still, the fact that she was doing what any torch or lamp could do was not very gratifying. "Yep, follow the over-glorified lamp..."

Church frowned heavily at her as she took the lead. "Hey, don't say things like that. I'm serious Nanael, I'm glad you're here. Don't underestimate yourself so much."

Nanael didn't look too convinced or affected by Church's words, but she was honestly glad he had said them, their negligible effect notwithstanding. "I was only joking Church. C'mon, let's go."

Unable to tell exactly how Nanael had received his comment, Church decided that of all the girls he had ever met, Nanael was one of the most difficult to read. She was constantly laughing or smiling, but so many of them were fake, it was hard to tell when she was genuinely pleased or content. After all, it was not easy to tell if an expression of joy was truly heartfelt or not, even if you knew how to look beneath the surface.

Church enjoyed bringing happiness to others, but with Nanael it was not easy. She was a person with deep-seated bitterness and sorrow, bred through years of loneliness and rejection. When it came to building bridges or walls, Nanael had practically built an entire fortress around herself, in a futile effort to defend herself against the scorn and the hatred arrayed against her. But what person could erect an impenetrable defense? There was no such thing. No amount of walls stopped more pain from coming, and it definitely didn't do anything about the pain that had spurred the erection of those walls in the first place.

In that sense, Church couldn't relate to his angelic companion. He'd never been put down to the extent she had. Not that Church knew how much criticism she had endured in life, but even in the small number of exchanges they had thus far, Church was finding it more and more obvious just how Nanael felt about herself. It was a simple matter to draw out her bitterness. All it took was a compliment or two she found herself incapable of believing.

That said Church still didn't think himself in the right position to offer his devotion. He admittedly didn't know Nanael very well at all. Yet he already knew the most important thing about her, which was the fact that she did not think herself important at all. It was an unusual situation, to already get someone without spending that much time with them.

But Church did not consider her lack of confidence in her own worth to be her identity. That was a symptom of a heaven that was apparently full of assholes. That needed to be rectified so he could learn all the things about Nanael that actually mattered. The stuff that made her who she was, which was of course all the things she thought were worthless.

Church hoped he could make some gains towards their relationship today so he could eventually have enough clout as a friend to help tend to her wounds. He wanted to help, but he knew it was a sensitive subject. He had to do this right if he were going to do it at all.

Consumed by his thoughts, Church didn't realize that Nanael had stopped until he got a face-full of feathers. Though he was reeling from the surprise, Church noted that not only were Nanael's wings immensely beautiful, but also incredibly soft and warm.

Nanael cocked an eyebrow at the man behind her as he stumbled backwards, having walked face first into her good wing. He recovered quickly enough, but his face was marked by embarrassment nevertheless, though Nanael couldn't help but feel that his blush was caused more by his thoughts than his mistake. Not wanting to escalate the awkwardness of the situation, Nanael ignored Church's blunder and instead pointed to the thing that had made her stop.

Bathed in the faint glow of Nanael's wings, the duo looked upon a side passage held up by wooden beams. There were lumps of broken stone all around it, and as far as the light allowed them to see, a rail was visible, though the rail cart that accompanied it was not. The echoes of labor could be faintly heard from somewhere within. Church glanced down the tunnel.

"This must be the mine Ymir was talking about."

"Did she mention that it was going to be occupied?"

Church hefted his crossbow and grinned at her. "Yes, she did. That's why I brought this."

Nanael jabbed a thumb back at her glowing wings. "Well I don't think we'll be able to sneak around. Do you want me to stay here?"

"No way. There'll be no need to sneak around if I have you there to help me. I mean seriously, you're an angel."

Said angel smiled, but her thoughts quickly turned sour. So this is the real reason he asked me to come along. He just needed someone to beat the bad guys for him...

"Yeah, of course... a bunch of thugs are no match for an angel..."

Something in her tone or expression immediately tipped Church off. "I get the feeling we have a misunderstanding here."

"Don't. There's no misunderstanding, you're just paranoid."

"Really... so you aren't thinking that the only reason I brought you along was to be my muscle right now?"

Seeing as how he was exactly right, Nanael so no reason to deny the charge. "Isn't it? Unless you brought me along for a light?"

Church honestly seemed offended that he was being considered that shallow. "That is not the reason I asked you to come with me."

"Real convincing."

Deciding against arguing, Church stepped forward to make eye contact with his companion, matching his sapphire blue to her shocking bright green. "Stay here. I'll go ahead and do what I came for. Then we can head back out together. Alright?"

Nanael's anger quickly faded at this. Her sole purpose here couldn't be solely as a weapon if Church were willing to handle the entire situation without her aid. She admitted to herself that maybe she was being unreasonable, searching for hidden meanings that weren't there. But it was so hard to imagine that someone had anything good to say about her or do with her that wasn't laden with ulterior motives.

Her anger defeated, Nanael shook her head. "No, it's fine... I'll come with you. I'm sorry, that wasn't fair of me."

Church smiled, happy to have resolved the conflict so soon. Still, he got the feeling he should try to differentiate himself from whatever assumptions Nanael felt the need to make. "Look Nanael, I get that... well, maybe your relationships haven't worked out great for the most part, but I'd like to think of us as friends. Or at least, two people who could be friends, if you want."

An immediate reply from Nanael was not forthcoming. But she didn't seem to be outright rejecting the notion. Needless to say, past experience had proved that putting her faith in the kindness of others only led to her getting hurt. Hachiel had literally been the only exception in her life thus far. "I... I don't know. I'll think about it."

This answer hurt a little, if only because it made it clear that Nanael did not quite consider them friends yet, but before Church could make any response at all, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from down the mine, the sound gradually getting closer. He and Nanael both peered down the tunnel, Church stuffing his crossbow into the nook of his shoulder. "I think they know we're here..."

Nanael had half a mind to take the blame since it was probably her ambient light that had given them away, but ultimately she decided to leave the fault unclaimed. She got blamed for enough as it was, so there was no reason to take it if Church didn't care to give it.

That being the case the pair didn't exchange any further words as the possibly hostile individual approaching them came out of the darkness beyond Nanael's light, bearing its own light in the form of a young man with a lamp in his hands. He looked all around average, with stringy black hair and grey eyes. His rugged face was smudged with coal, and he had a pick axe resting on his shoulder.

The man eyed Nanael and Church in front of him, to his credit not looking too surprised to see a glowing angel before him. "Can I help you fine folks?"

Church lowered his crossbow, having not met the type of individual he was expecting. "Uh... well we were coming here to investigate the mine... what exactly are you doing here? You don't look like any kind of bandit I've ever seen."

"Bandit? Now where'd you go getting an idea like that? My name's Ross, from Fenril village on the other side of the mountain. Who're you?"

Church and Nanael exchanged a glance, and Church decided to speak for both of them. "I'm Church, I'm uh... a mercenary on a job for someone is Bosk. This is my partner Nanael."

"You're partner's an angel? She's mighty funny looking, what with her w-"

Church cut Ross off before he could go too far with his words and either do damage or get himself killed. "Yes, Nanael is an angel. I think that'd be obvious: I mean, when have you ever met a human girl this beautiful?"

Any of Nanael's bubbling anger immediately dissipated as her expression melted into embarrassment. Was there no end to Church's praise for her? Then again, she wasn't dumb enough to miss the fact that he was actively attempting to intervene on Ross' behalf.

If Ross noticed that he had almost made a terrible mistake, there was no sign of it. He smiled wide and bright, completely oblivious to his faux paus. "Well, I can't argue with you there, Sir. She is a mighty pretty young lady. Which brings me to the question: what are folks like you doing this deep in the mountain? You don't look like miners of any sort."

Nanael was slightly less miffed at Ross by this point, but still left the explanation to Church. "My client is a dwarven woman whose kinsmen used to run this place. She sent me here to see if there was anything of value left, though at this point I can assume you've beaten us to the punch."

"Well me and some of the other villagers from Fenril have been mining coal out of this place for months now, but there were a few crates of weird ore lying around when we got here. We haven't needed it for anything, so it's still there, if you want to check it out."

"Sounds good. Can you lead the way?"

"Of course, follow me."

Ross turned on his heel and retreated back down the tunnel he had come from, lighting the way with his lamp. Church and Nanael followed a few steps behind, both glad that things had gone so smoothly, but also a little disappointed that they had not had the chance to fight anyone. Church wanted to test his skill with the crossbow Ymir had lent him, and Nanael wanted to show off just a bit. Anything to get more praise out of the man beside her. She knew a lot of it was groundless flattery, but she still liked hearing it.

Because of Ross's proximity to them, the two companions remained quiet as they followed the miner, not willing to speak of anything remotely personal in his presence. It wasn't until the tunnel narrowed into an even smaller space than before that anything was said at all. With the walls and ceiling of the mine getting closer, Nanael was forced to fold her large left wing to keep it from buffeting the sides. Church also noticed that the close proximity of all this stone was causing Nanael to breathe a little quicker than usual.

"Nanael, are you alright?"

The blue-haired angel glanced nervously at the suffocating walls around her. "N-not really... I kinda lied earlier, I'm really not any good with tight spaces like this..."

Church didn't find the idea of Nanael being claustrophobic all that surprising. She was a person used to being able to fly and soar through the air, albeit awkwardly, and there was nothing but open space up there. Flying was just as important to an angel as walking was to a mortal, and just like a human would freak out if they were unable to walk, an angel would freak out if they were unable to fly.

At least somewhat understanding her feelings, Church took the initiative and grabbed onto Nanael's hand as they continued to walk, just hoping he wasn't overstepping his boundaries. "Don't worry about it. This place has been a mine for decades. It's obviously pretty stable. Just close your eyes and think of something relaxing."

Taking some comfort in his words, Nanael followed Church's advice and closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of his hand on hers, instead of the imposing walls all around her. Surprisingly, it was not as hard as she had thought it would be. It was easy to get lost in her own thoughts as she focused on the warmth of his hands, of the comfort just holding him seemed to provide. Nanael had never interacted with someone like this before, but she found that she liked it a lot.

Lost in thought, it wasn't long before Nanael found Church calling her name, letting her know that they had arrived at the mine itself, which was fortunately a rather large chamber, and not some tunnel crowded with carts and sweaty workers.

Opening her eyes and reluctantly releasing Church's hand, Nanael found that the chamber itself actually had a rather high ceiling, and many floors of catwalks for the miners to move around higher levels. If she wanted to, she could have flown around in here, even though her movement still would have been limited.

Ross pointed towards several boxed crates stacked in the corner. "That there was here before we even got started with our own little operation. We checked them to see what was inside, but it's just some strange ore we couldn't make use of. Besides, we figured someone would come back for it eventually, and it just wasn't right to take their hard work, so we left it alone. You're free to take it if you want."

Church moved over to the crates, undoing one of the lids to peek inside. It was full of chunks of reddish brown ore. With enough imagination, he could see how this could be turned into the crimson weapons Ymir sold...

"So you're really OK with us taking this? You don't want anything in return for it?"

"No siree, it's all yours. That metal is too tough for us to work with anyway. The methods we use for regular iron won't work on it. We tried a bit when we first found it, but it was useless. It's only taking space, so you'd even be doing us a favor by taking it. You're going to need something to carry it in though, it's hella heavy."

Hearing this, Nanael walked over to the crates, kicking one of them with her foot. With a nod to herself, she bent down and lifted two of the things with ease. There were only four crates to begin with, so this was pretty great overall. "If we stack them, I can probably carry all four of these. I'll just need you to make sure I don't run into anything Church. I won't be able to see anything with these crates in my face."

"I can do that. But are you sure? We could probably find something to push them on..."

Nanael placed the two crates down so she could stack the two remaining ones on top of them, before lifting all four of them once again. "It's fine. Strength is my only good point, so I might as well make use of it."

Church frowned at her as he wondered if he would be strong enough to carry at least one of the boxes himself. At this point in their relationship, he didn't like hearing Nanael degrade herself anymore than he he did someone else. In fact, hearing Nanael talk about herself in such a way was far more painful than hearing a stranger do the same.

"I'd hardly call that your only good point Nanael. I don't know about you, but from a guy's point of view, beauty is definitely a good point. Don't sell yourself so short. By the way, let me see if I can carry one of those."

Hiding a smile behind the crates in her arms, Nanael allowed Church to take one of the crates, though he nearly fell straight to the floor with it. "Jesus, this thing is ridiculous! How much does this weigh!?"

Amused by his efforts, Nanael couldn't old back a smirk as she took the crate back from Church. "Too much for you, apparently."

"Excuse me for not being as amazing."

Nanael peered around the edge of the crates so she could see the chamber's exit. She walked towards it, her movement hardly impeded at all by the immense weight in her arms. "Well the sooner we're out of here the better I'll feel, so let's get going. Lead the way."

Church gave a brief wave to Ross before following Nanael to the exit, moving in front of her so she could see some part of him to follow. "Whatever you do, don't trip, Nanael. I'd hate to be crushed by those things."

"Well what kind of pack mule would I be if I did something like that? Don't worry about it."

"Please don't say things like that, Nanael. Seriously."

The angel cocked an eyebrow at him, despite the fact that Church wouldn't be able to see it from where he was. "What? It was just a joke..."

"Well it wasn't funny in the least."

Carefully following Church down the tunnel as she avoided bumping her cargo into the walls or ceiling, Nanael tried to get a good look at his expression, though she couldn't really manage. "Why do you care if I make fun of myself or not?"

"There's a huge difference between making fun of yourself and actually believing the things you're saying. You're doing the latter."

Nanael was a bit conflicted, not knowing how to respond to Church's words. On one hand she was glad that he was trying to deny her worthless nature, but on her more childish side, she felt like Church didn't have any right to tell her what she should and shouldn't believe.

"I don't see how what I believe about myself is any of your business."

"Look, I get that we just met pretty recently and all, but if we are going to be friends one day soon, I can't just let you keep on believing all of this crap about-"

Church was unable to finish his sentence, as a loud crack from the stone walls around him cut him off. "What the hell?"

Unfortunately the cracking was not just a sound, as the walls themselves began to crumble. Even the floor beneath the duo began to break apart. There was hardly any time to react at all as the entire floor fell out from beneath their feet, opening up into a great chasm below that was clearly not a natural formation. Nanael's first thought was to simply fly back up, but she quickly remembered that Church could not do the same.

Dropping the crates in her arms, Nanael instead caught Church before he fell too far out of her reach. She would have simply carried them both back to the top of the chasm, but the ceiling was collapsing as well, the rubble forcing Nanael downwards. There was nothing she could do except fall and cover the fragile human in her arms as the two of them descended to the bottom of the mountain in what was most certainly a trap.

Funikura was greatly displeased. For the first time in a long time, he was not the sole target of Nyx's adoration, and that did not sit well with the twisted staff. Said brunette was standing in front of a mirror in the inn room she had rented, the top of her crimson dress pulled down to her waist so she could examine the slowly healing wounds Elina had left on her side a few weeks ago.

Besides Funikura, she was alone in her room, so Nyx was not embarrassed to be showing off her generous breasts, even if it was only to herself. In fact, she was probably more focused on them than on the bandages around her abdomen.

I wonder if he prefers them large? Most men do, but maybe he's the kind that's into smaller breasts? I hope not, there's nothing I can do to make myself smaller...

While Funikura would have usually been enticed by a half-nude Nyx, the knowledge that she was busy examining herself only to judge her attractiveness for the sake of a man infuriated the demon. His strength persisted only as long as his host still believed him to be her only salvation. For her to find faith in another being would only be detrimental to Funikura's own survival.

Fortunately Nyx was just a little too far away from Funikura for him to snatch up the woman with his tentacles and punish her for even thinking about pleasing someone else besides him. The grotesque staff was stuck on the bed as Nyx examined herself across the room. Under normal circumstances she would have never been more than a few feet away from Funikura, but ever since she had met that man in Alabaster Town...

Deciding that there was nothing she could do to change the size of her breasts regardless of Church's liking of them, Nyx turned her attention to the bandage around her stomach. She gave it a few tender pokes, testing the pain the wound still emitted, and found that it was unfortunately sore even now. The slash she had received from Elina's clawed gauntlet had not healed quite yet, but still, at least it wouldn't scar. With Funikura's power supplementing her, Nyx's wounds never scarred. They didn't heal any faster than usual, but at least they left no trace when they were gone, for which she was grateful, especially now that she had a man on her mind.

I'm glad that none of these injuries are going to leave permanent marks. He doesn't seem like the kind of man who finds scars attractive...

As if it was reading her mind, Funikura growled at its wielder, causing Nyx to turn and face the staff with a look of confusion. "What's wrong?"

Funikura sent a heated glare the woman's way, doing it's best to stare directly into Nyx's one exposed emerald eye.

"Oh, I've been neglecting you haven't I? I'm so sorry Master..."

Covering her curvaceous body with her lovely crimson dress once more, Nyx moved towards Funikura and picked it up, cradling it close to her. Whether or not she had found a new target of admiration in the man she had met that day, she still held the monstrous staff in high esteem, at least as far as the creature itself knew.

Funikura briefly contemplated violating the woman now that she was close enough to do so, but decided against it after a few gentle strokes from Nyx's slender fingers. After all, what would be the point of punishing her now, when she was doing what she was supposed to? To punish her now would be like kicking a puppy whose mistake was an hour past. She would not understand why he was mad at her, and that would defeat the purpose of the punishment, aside from the pleasure of using her body as he pleased.

No, he'd wait until Nyx was deluding herself with fantasies over that man again, and then he would ravage her so badly that she would never dare think of anyone but her master again.

One of the many less-known abilities of angels was to sense when another angel was in trouble. It was because of this ability that Hachiel hovered above Bosk, trying to locate the smithy Church had gone to earlier that day. She had been entertaining the young children of the village when she sensed some sort of danger to her partner Nanael, and was now trying to figure out where she was so she could go and help her.

Hachiel knew that her friend had gone along with Church somewhere earlier that day, but did not know where, so she had to ask someone who might, and the only people she could think of was the two blacksmiths Church had talked with earlier.

Finally spotting the building she was looking for, Hachiel descended to the ground, finding a short blonde girl with slightly pointed ears squabbling with an insanely busty woman over the proper method for smelting multiple ores together.

Not at all interested in that, for once Hachiel pushed her politeness aside and interrupted the two conversationalists. "Excuse me! Did either of you speak with a man in a red jacket today!?"

While Ymir would have been a little upset at being so rudely interrupted, she could tell that this new arrival was very concerned about something, and so forgave her for the interruption.

"Yeah, he was here earlier: asked Cattleya if she could set up a transportation job back to Vance territory. Any reason an angel like you wants to know?"

Hachiel disregarded the question asked of her, simply glad that she might be able to find her endangered friends. "He may be in trouble. Please, do you know where he is now? Did he tell you anything when he visited earlier today?"

The mention of trouble caused a modicum of concern to cross Ymir's face. It's not like she knew Church all that well, but he was a nice enough fellow, so she didn't want anything too terrible to befall him. "I asked him to do a favor for me that had a bit of risk involved. Why, what happened?"

"An angel companion of mine went with him, and I sensed that she was in mild danger. Even a small threat to an angel would be very dangerous for a human, so I need to know where you sent him!"

Ymir frowned, wondering if Church had run into some trouble at the mine. "I sent him to an abandoned dwarven mine not that far from here. Let me get my axe and I'll go there with you."

While not displeased with the idea, Hachiel couldn't help but wonder why aid was being offered at all. "There's really no need, if you can just tell me where this mine is..."

Ymir shouted back at her as she retreated further into the shop. "Nonsense! I'm the one who sent him away on that errand, so if he's in trouble because of it, I have to take responsibility! I'm the Iron Princess, I can't just cast the blame aside!"

It did not take long for Ymir to return to the front of the shop with an axe well over twice her size. "Well then, let's get going!"

Certain that there was no dissuading the dwarf from her course of action, Hachiel scooped the small woman up in her arms, heavy axe and all. There was no time to waste with walking.

Naturally, a dwarf like Ymir, who was far more used to being underground than in the air, didn't take this too terribly well. "W-w-what the hell are you doing?!"

"There is absolutely no time to waste! We have to get there as quickly as possible!"

While she agreed, Ymir was still displeased with the notion of flying. But it made no difference, because her disgruntled protests did nothing to stop Hachiel's ascent into the skies.

Church awoke to a wall of fluffy bluish-white hanging over his head. It did not take him too long to realize that this was Nanael's wing covering him, but what did surprise Church were the splotches of crimson spattered across the usually pristine feathers. Immediately concerned for his companion, Church gently reached out and brushed the marred surface of Nanael's wing, causing it to twitch and pull away from him as Nanael realized he was awake.

"Geez, I was beginning to think you were actually dead. Don't scare me like that."

Casting his gaze around, Church found that he and Nanael were at the bottom of some sort of pit, surrounded by rubble and debris from their fall. He must have lost consciousness on impact...

"Nanael, are you alright? Your wing..."

The blue-haired angel glanced at her bloodied wing, not at all alarmed or worried about it. "Church, that blood isn't mine. A fall like this is nowhere near enough to make an angel bleed. The worst injury I have is this."

Nanael pointed to a very slight bruise on her bare shoulder, before pointing at Church's face. "The blood on my wing is from your face."

Church reached his hand up to feel around for any damage, only to find that his scalp was bleeding quite profusely, dirtying his hair and his clothes. A head wound was worrisome, but he'd deal with it in a moment. "What happened? There's no way the whole tunnel collapsing into a chasm was a natural thing."

"It was probably a trap, set by those guys in the mine. I knew I shouldn't have trusted them..."

Church checked the rest of his person for any injuries, glad to find nothing beyond bruises and scrapes. "Well I trusted that Ross guy too, so I'm no better. Damn, I was way too naive..."

The asymmetrical angel folded her arms as the situation made a particular notion clear to her. "Yep, it just never pays to trust the nice guys..."

Church immediately caught on to what Nanael was implying, and naturally he was not happy with it. "Are you going to find every excuse to not give me a chance at all?"

Nanael wasn't exactly turning on her own claim from those words alone. "You ever hear of 'never try, never fail?' Past experience has proven that trusting people is a one way trip to being everyone's laughingstock."

"But only with other angels."

For the life of her, Nanael couldn't discern what she was supposed to imply out of that sentence. "What?"

Certain he was onto something, Church pressed forward eagerly. "You've been mocked and slandered by other angels because they're 'perfect' and you aren't, right?"

"Thanks for spelling out the obvious. As if you couldn't figure that out without saying it."

Church decided against offense since he understood Nanael's irritability. "Just hear me out. You're not perfect, and that gets you the scorn of your angelic peers. But I'm just human. I'm far from perfect. And I definitely don't hold you or anyone to some standard of flawlessness. I don't care that you're not perfect. Why would I?"

While Church's words were kind of blunt, Nanael had to admit that he kind of did have a point. And a pretty good one at that. It was exactly as she had figured earlier that day. If Church cared only to consider her as an imperfect person who happened to be an angel, rather than an angel that was not a perfect person, then there was nothing for him to look down on. If he really didn't care about her being an angel so much as just being a person to connect with, then there was no risk of getting hurt.

But that was a lot of 'if.' It certainly didn't mean that Church couldn't wind up hurting her. It didn't mean that he wouldn't learn more about her and then decide that she deserved all the mockery and disdain. But it was less likely. He was just human, far from the perfection of nearly every other angel. He had his own flaws, his own shortcomings, and as he himself had said, he could hardly expect his friends to be perfect when he was not.

Seeing that she was seriously contemplating what he had said, Church decided to drive it home. "You've never been friends with a human right? I can't say that we never mess up, but when it comes down to it nothing is stronger than the loyalty between best friends. Because absolute loyalty to the point of foolishness is far from perfect."

Nanael actually found herself smiling. It was just so strange that this man's entire pitch for why she should have some faith in him was the fact that he was not without fault or flaw. It seemed to be a weird selling point, but one that Nanael found herself wholly attracted to.

Still, her trust in other people had only ever paid off on other time, and needless to say that was far from a good indicator of probability. Truth be told she was willing to consider this, but she didn't have an answer right this second.

"I...I'll think about it. I'll have an answer for you, just not now. I need time."

Church was about to say that he would give her all the time she wanted, but at that moment a sizzling sound from above attracted the attention of the pit's occupants. They both looked up, only to see several bombs fall from the darkness above. These were no small bombs either, but the kind used to blast away tons of rock in mining procedures.

Church and Nanael scrambled behind any cover they could find, doing their best to shield each other from the blasts as they echoed about the small space. Apparently time was not something they had to spare at the moment.

I kinda wanted to finish all of the Bosk arc in one go, but it's just not happening at this point. The chapter would be far too long to be enjoyable, so I'll try to finish it up next time.

So, since we haven't done this in a while, tell me: which relationship do you support most right now, whether or not Church has interacted with that girl or not?