· · · · · · ·

Had she been able to see in this shrouded sea, he'd be dead already. Too bad for the astral static. And the pissed off earth spirit. And her failing astral body. And her lack of telepathic assistance of dragons with teleportation powers. And everything else. Luna had a bad day again.

After mowing down lesser demons, dodging Dynast and Dalphin, and a failed attempt at going without breath entirely, she had caught a glimpse of Xelloss. Someone had gotten to him before Luna and ripped up part of his face and chest, the damage making him slow. He'd come right at her, but not slowly enough for her to land a blow. That made him reconsider and split altogether. She'd have fired after him if Vrabazard hadn't crashed into the ocean.

The god's physical form mutated with every move. Luna had a moment's regret that she'd suggested Lyos infect him, because he went after aquatic devils in search of Dalphin while ignoring Shabranigdu. Luna tried her best to ignore him while searching for her ever fleeing target.

Xelloss tried shooting for the island, but Luna cut him off every time, leaving his only route back into the chaos.

"I'm sure you can guess I'm here for payback," she said in her dragon voice. "There's not a lot of priests that I can stand and you took one of the few acceptable. What'd you think I'd do?"

He knelt down on the seabed and tried writing something in the sand.

As if she'd humor him now. Bursting ahead, she fanned her power to blind him before the strike. Still he caught her blow. The next second he slipped away.

For some reason he didn't withdraw to the astral plane. He broke away, but turned to face her only a few dozen meters away. For what she could tell from his eyes and emotions, he was ... frustrated?

It didn't add up. Did he plan to try to secret or scheme his way out? Fleeing seemed better, but ... he didn't hate her all that much. Why?

Shouldn't have paused. A shockwave tore through the ocean, Xelloss vanished and the water boiled. She only barely shielded herself against the heat and then had to spend a few seconds healing her body.

Xelloss almost was gone from her sight, but she didn't pursue. Vrabazard was nearby, yet she hadn't sensed him.

Luna rose up through the sea, just enough to look through the surface.

Barreling from the island came a thing not too unlike her own astral body. Oozing miasma and malgrowing as it moved, half a skeletal dragon whose ribcage surrounded a red core.

It saw her too and changed directions.

Of course it wanted to pick a fight with her. Something had to drive home how bad her day hadn't been.

It barreled right at her. That second spent deciding where to go was too long.

Darkness closed around her, veins and black feathers turning to scales, encasing half her astral body. Tendrils formed walls that bled glowing blood.

A darkened version of Valgarv's human formed emerged, still attached to the carcass by strings of flesh.

"There you are," he said with a mad grin. "It's time for closure."

"Really? I was trying to do my own closure thingy here. Now Xelloss got away."

"No, it's far more than your petty wrath," he said. Every time he spoke, the red light pulsed. She recognized it now. His real body was behind the human form, centered around the demonsblood talisman.

He looked to be gearing up for dramatic final words, but something cut right near Luna's astral body. The magic's grip loosened just enough for Luna to break free. She caught a glimpse of Xelloss shooting into another direction. Weird, but no time to consider.

The thing hesitated when Luna and Xelloss went in different directions, then opted for chasing Luna.

Her human body began to run out of air, begging her to rise and breathe. She ignored the instinct, pushed on as fast as she could. Deeper, closer to earth. The seabed was cracked and devastated from the ancient battle, many small enough lines to hide in.

The monster closed in.

"You'll wish you didn't come back!" he bellowed.

Evil speech, yada yada, so evil. She had better things to do than respond, like escaping.

She dove into the canyon. The thing couldn't keep up with her, but Xelloss did.

Okay, that was peculiar. Why would he follow her? He wasn't the type to care whether he got to personally kill her. Curiosity didn't have fear to temper it and she slowed down.

He grabbed her shoulder and she tore one of his arms off, but he just held on with the other hand. Just a second before he let go and something got pulled off of.

The sea felt a little more alive and Luna moved faster. Her flow improved and now someone screamed over it.

"Please don't kill Xelloss!" Panic, some indignation and a touch of despair like only Filia could.

"~ I swear, if you keep haunting me from the grave, I'm going to hell just to kick your ass. ~"

"For goodness sake, miss Luna. I am no more dead than I am dating Xelloss. We had a cat's cradle of a scheme that would've gone much easier if certain people hadn't locked us out of Elmegiddo. Now stop trying to kill him!"

This was either elaborate haunting, or that explained why Valganigdu just came barreling back to attack random people at sea.

"~Just to be clear, what was the big angry mutaty red blob that just tried to kill us?~"

Another telepathic voice tuned in, probably Ragrairyos. "~Valgarv ate the talisman and merged with one of the hosts. We have the other one contained and the tower secured, this one is now out for vengeance. It targets both you and Xelloss. Be careful.~"

"~Wonderful. I guess I'm gonna pick up the litter. Teleport in whenever, explanation later. ~"

Xelloss had kept at a distance now, weary of her. Luna made a peace sign first, then shot over, grabbing him along.

Ragrairyos was back and apparently sane, so Luna was ready to risk the surface.

Xelloss caught on and locked his arm up hers, letting himself be pulled. They broke the surface into the hot air.

Vrabazard had left the entire area covered with steam. Where was the island?

"Xelloss, where—"

The water exploded below them. Luna barreled to her left, but it followed right after them, shredding the steam's cover.

No sight of helpful gods, she had no idea where the island was. Xelloss tightened his grip and tried pulling her entirely onto the astral plane. Failing that, he warped space. They reappeared a little further in the steam, just enough for Luna to breathe again.

Barely could she looked around, or their enemy solidified around them in a mess of rotting flesh and black feathers. It reminded her too much of herself.

Before she knew it, Xelloss had vanished. Her flow broke and the first trickle of unwanted emotions came. She latched onto the rage, anything better than fear.

Valgarv reformed before her again. "Thought you'd get away?"

Don't be afraid, help would come soon. She found her grip on anger and better yet, her reasoning. "I though you only went for me cause I was here. Shouldn't you be fleeing from Vrabazard and the gods, or something?"

"No, I have other business. She ruined everything," Valgarv said. "So now I'm going to ruin her."

"Are we talking about Lina, Filia, Claire or Lucifer?" Luna asked, voice steadying. "It's hard to tell with your arbitrary blame code."

He paused before he said, "All of them, and you."

The more power she used to keep her body shielded, the less she could dissolve all the feelings that would undo her. Nowhere to flow to. Fear could be many things, nails digging through nerves, knives through the throat, hooks anchoring the mind. Here and now, it was nothing but hooks He has a whole devil king to work on her holy sense, and she knew all the ways he was to be feared.

She needed something, anything. A weakness. She jammed a hand into the dark mass, sending out her own rotten holiness, trying to pry open a soul gate. Instead, she found a trace of holiness ... her own, that he'd stolen in Sailoon.

"What do you want?" she forced out, because he'd respond.

"In case I can't destroy your soul, I bet Filia will visit you in hell," he said. "You can pass this message for Lina : Stars die, the world stagnates until nothing moves anymore. The game was never meant to last and this world is no exception. Lucifer wins in the end. You're the reason why. And you can add for Filia that she's right about mothers dying all the time. She only lasted because she never was a real mother."

"Duly ignored," Luna said.

"Oh, you will pass it on," he said. "You're not good enough to spare anyone."

Claws grew from the walls all around. Just when they crashed down around her, she pulled back her stolen power through them. They broke apart and she shot at the nearest weakness. Cold seawater rushed in, working against her escape. The gap closed around her before she could get out.

No, she couldn't go down like this. Fear urged her to defend. She hardened her astral body into full dragon shape, pumped all energy into the skull and blasted ahead. The cold water reached her again, but the gap grew shut much swifter. Like sinking in slime, the devil pulled her back in.

All around her, power pressed down on her. She couldn't fire again even if she wanted to.

In the suffocating darkness, she didn't see the change, but she felt it. One dark thing cut through the other. Only when the dim blue light shone did the black lightning blade stand out.

It cut straight through the wall of flesh behind him, making way for a golden light and air. Luna didn't remember passing the surface.

An orange and magenta blur shot up past her, landing on blue dragon coils.

Lina landed next to her spouses, but for the life of her Luna had no idea what that thing on the astral plane was. Lina's astral body both blended in and stood out like she was the only thing that mattered. Both Luna's sight fell lost on her, shifting and weighing, unsure what all that ... nothing ... gold ... she could lose herself in it ...

"Hey, sister. Guess what? I went to see this world and four more. Am I enough of a wise adult for you now?"

Old mental reflexes tried to rile Luna up to hate that tone, to lash out at the insolence, but no emotion came to drive her. Just a vague amusement at how literal Lina had taken it. "So, how was it? Took souvenirs?"

That seemed to floor Lina for a good three seconds. "What's wrong with you, sis?"

Luna shrugged, pointing a claw at the red blob below them. "Bad dinner."

"Hey Lina, is that really your sister?" Naga said. "She doesn't look like you."

"Pretty sure," Lina said. "Unless the real Luna looked in a certain mirror. Who knows, maybe it can duplicate Siephied pieces."

"I get it now, that's why you and her don't get along!" Gourry said. "It must be hard living with a dragon sister when you repulse dragons so much."

"Gourry, you've met her before ..." Lina groaned. "She's just —"

An inhuman screech broke through the air. A glimmer of memory hit Luna — dying dragons sounded like this.

"Never mind. Let's go smite Valgarv for once and for all," Lina said.

"Hohohohohohohohooo! Indeed, and this time I will make sure you do it right!" Naga shouted as she flew by, straight at the core of the monster below.

"Naga, no!" Lina cried and forgot Luna with that.

"See ya later," Gourry told Luna with a smile, before jumping into the fray.

Well, that happened. Not only had Lina just casually saved her, she was apparently really the Apostle, and winning, and Luna had no control over anything.

"Xelloss is somewhere to our north, go fish him up," Ragrairyos said before dematerializing. A second later she threw herself at the monstrosity.

Grabbing Xelloss along while they were both down there was fine, but now she was in the cold air, the boiling sea didn't seem so appealing anymore. She had been skipping breathing rather long, she didn't want that to be a permanent thing. On the other side, she didn't want reigning in an irritated Zelas to be a permanent thing either. She'd be pissed off to learn Xelloss was on her side all along, only for him to die here.

So, she took a dive again.

Xelloss had run into trouble with the devil armies. While Dalphin was nowhere to be seen, Dynast was dumb enough to have stayed, yet bright enough to understand that Shabranigdu attacking Xelloss meant something. He hadn't caught him yet, but was very close.

Luna was only about Xelloss's power, there was no way she could defeat a devil monarch. Outsmarting them was another thing.

Her usual dragon projection was maybe twenty meters wide. With some effort, she blew that up to a hundred meter right as she dropped behind Dynast.

Tempting as saying boo was, Luna kept it with a roar. Dynast spun around, staring right into the face of Siephied. He startled so hard that his projection faltered. Luna took his blind moment to shoot past and grab Xelloss. He's taken that same moment to blast away some devils in his path south.

Luna was just a little faster now he'd taken more damage, so she had to lead. Dropping full dragon form for her human self with wings and tentacles, she swam more than propelled. Xelloss held onto one of her tendrils and scared off lesser devils, but Dynast was soon on their trail.

Building power sent a shockwave; he prepared to fire. Luna struggled to the surface as fast as she could, but it took too long.

She needed help. Desperate for options, she cried out on the astral plane.

Right as the shredding power caught up with them, a massive force broke through the surface.

Rather than being torn, a golden glow surrounded them, followed by the rush of wind in her face.

A dragon's arm hooked around them, and she found herself on a dragon flying belly op.

A familiar snout bent over. "Thank goodness, you're alive!"

Filia, exactly as alive as she'd said.

"Wasn't goodness," Luna said. "Just me and the clown."

They were somewhere high in the sky, the peak of the island was just barely visible over the edge of Filia's wing.

Luna let go of Xelloss, he could lean against Filia's other arm. That movement revealed his damage.

"What happened? Miss Luna, did you—"

"Hey, he was like this when I got there," Luna said, patting him on the edge of a cut off shoulder. "Other than the arm, I took that off."

The look Filia gave her prompted her to add, "Before your message, which you have yet to explain. Especially that." She pointed at the battle behind them.

"Xelloss and I conspired so we could fool Dalphin so we could kidnap Valgarv and rewrite him with miss Lina." It sounded rehearsed. "We had success. He came here, opened the portal and miss Lina returned, but he got away."

"Oh, I get it now. It all makes sense. I finally rediscovered out how to be properly drunk and I'm in a wine cellar, dreaming," Luna said. It wasn't entirely a mock.

"I'd send the memories to you, but I can't reach you properly," Filia said. "Something clutters your soul gate."

Xelloss snapped his fingers for attention, then traced letters on Filia's neck.

"What? He says you're possessed by Zelas's power," Filia said. "That's why you're leaking darkness? What on earth were you thinking, striking a pledge with her?"

"I don't think I did, I just ... oh."

Xelloss had pulled something away before. The leash had been invisible this time.

A low, double roar thundered through them.

The struggle drew nearer to the island. The devil king's power had half woken, its target the island again. A form almost like an ancient dragon grew out of a needlepoint, thrashing and empty on the astral plane. One last effort, but Lina cut through again. It left Shabranigdu visible only for a glimpse before the coils of the Aqualord blocked it from sight. The water swallowed them right after.

Watching epic battles from the sidelines made them rather less epic, but they drew attention.

Vrabazard rushed closer, boiling the waters in his efforts to burn the remaining devils. Now he had a new target.

"Filia, let's do something about Vrabazard," Luna said.

"Right," Filia said, careened right at the burning god. Xelloss didn't feel confident about that, but couldn't complain. Whatever spell blocked his speech was a godsend.

Filia flew straight at the god, who slowed his approach. The once smooth head had been reduced to half a writhing mass, now growing serpents of fire and shell.

Even so ill, he towered over them like they couldn't matter less. If he recognized them was unsure, but the burst of fire he threatened to shoot at them made it clear he saw enemies. Filia just barely teleported out of the way.

They reappeared right above his head, tumbling down at him.

Filia transformed and held her hand out to Xelloss, who lend her darkness for a shield. Just in time, as the flames encased them.

They landed on the dragon's head, where Luna lodged her wings and spikes into the hard scales. Filia stamped her foot down, testing before she opened a life law circle. Without ceremony, Luna stuck her hand down, held the circle in place and found the traces of the godly voice. Cue for Filia to close her eyes and focus.

Luna should have noticed more of what transpired between the god and the dragon. Last time she had been close to a god memories had poured out, now nothing happened. Most she could tell was that Vrabazard abruptly stopped trashing when Filia cringed.

The fire around them lessened, but not due to peace yet. Vrabazard now had something to rage at, right at it. Luna only felt a trickle of it. Seething, whispers, tearing. Vrabazard knew Luna had cursed him, and knew his priestess of before. He wanted answers, blocked from the world by Luna's and Lyos poison so he pushed at Filia.

Filia stifled a scream. In response to Xelloss's alarmed look, Luna said, "He's trying to read our minds. Don't worry."

Well, our wasn't quite right. Vrabazard couldn't get into Luna's mind due to the dark pollution. Block out gods was really easy, it turned out, if you were willing to swallow some poison. The flip side was being blind to a lot. All she could tell of the conversation was Filia shifting through a range of emotions.

When Vrabazard calmed, the fire vanished and Filia relaxed. That didn't last long. Vrabazard spun away to join the struggle with Valganigdu.

With a last ditch, Filia teleported them to the island. Along with the golden glow, she dropped her dragon form.

The cold and silence hit Luna like a brick. It sunk in. Filia wasn't dead, they weren't about to lose the war, the island was in their control. Her day was actually much better than she had assumed.

Her lungs were also filled with water. She buckled over, coughing until it was all out. Filia's hand hit her on the back a few times.

Luna let her forehead rest against the grains of sand and took in the sound of waves. Tremors of the battle strung over the astral plane, but it was far enough to be safe. She looked up without needing to flee.

Filia sat at her side, one knee on the ground and one hand on Luna's back. "Do you need help healing?"

Luna shook her head.

Filia was a mess. Fading astral chains floated around her and the odd white and terracotta dress she wore had scorch marks, but that was nothing compared to her emotions. As immediate terror subsided, she had devastation left. Relief only barely stayed at the front.

Xelloss sat on her other side, leaning heavily on his arms. He was a mess too, but less so emotionally and more physically. Whether it was the closeness or not seeing him as enemy anymore, his injuries nauseated her now. Something about the way his otherwise so human self broke at the edges of the jaw into ragged black and green. Traces of a red curse lines everything.

Filia pushed him up a little and reached for the gaping wound, no doubt intent to try fixing it.

"Stop that." Filia froze as Zelas shifted before them. "You wouldn't know what to do."

Zelas shoved Filia aside with her leg, clearing the space to warp Xelloss away with her.

"Well, that was rude," Luna blurted. Her human voice was hoarse, so she said the next thing with projection. "I take she didn't like your plan."

"I'm sure it's the lecture I gave her. Among other things, I accused her of being a bad mother."

Luna gave her a thumbs up. "Saves me the trouble."

"Well, I better get to work. I'm pretty sure we're winning, but that just means there's a lot of clean up to do.

That might be right. To battle to the north had moved back in the air.

Vrabazard and Ragrairyos retreated from their prey, but stayed at a certain distance of each other. Between them was a glowing red point, shielded by projected wings. Together they carried it to the island, where the water moved in a vortex near the shore.

Lina stood atop of Ragrairyos's head like she would on an animal mount, while her wife had taken a similar position on the other god. Gourry hung off a tail fin, complaining about everyone but him being able to fly.

All the while that the gods and Lina casting a complex spell to keep the host alive and contained in the water, Filia refused to look. She healed injuries of her own, then did the same of the surviving soldiers who made it to the shore. Jillas appeared at one point, met up with her and cried. He got a hug, and did go to the sealed host, but said nothing.

After a while, Filia even managed to force smiles for those she helped.

Luna did her own healing, which wasn't as easy as it should be. She didn't so much restore herself as patch up — now she really felt being drenched with devil energy. Maybe she should have accepted help, but she didn't really want anyone meddling anymore with her soul.

It wouldn't hurt to be somewhere warmer though. Not wanting to navigate the tunnels, she just climbed up the broken walls and sat against the rock there. It still had the heat of whatever had busted it, and the divine magic in the stone could be leeched on.

Having nowhere else to go, Luna stayed there.

Eventually Lina came in, heard before she was seen.

"Now, we're going to make sure the white deities send me all my loot," Lina declared. "Before Volphied figures out how to take over the connection."

"Our loot," Naga shouted.

"I'm the Chosen One. They gave it to me, deities to apostle!"

"Don't you dare, Lina! It was a team effort!"

"What was?" Gourry eloquently put in.

It went on like that. She didn't even notice Luna.

When Lina didn't pay attention to Luna, her behavior was so different. Cheerful, boasting, carefree, bickering with her lovers like life depended on it, and not a care for the mess she left in her trail. Luna had long resented her messy attitude, but now she only saw a weird kind of happiness.

· · · · · · ·

Post war clean up took a while. By evening Lina had gathered her loot (and had it registered as hers by Zephyria law), the holy tribes had rearranged their world view again (oh my, the apostle of chaos is so rude and tiny) and Zelas had regained her psychological footing (and so avoided Luna like the plague).

Naga on a megaphone announced a meeting in the central hall, for which the platform was fancied up as a stage. Lina called it a press conference, where she was to explain things and then people would be allowed to ask questions. She got herself a podium, which she shared with Gourry and contended with Naga, who wouldn't relinquish her megaphone.

Luna didn't join them in the hall, just stayed where she was. The echo carried sound and she could see quite well with projected eyes.

Even with the considerably more space occupying Naga next to her, Lina was the center without trying. Luna tried remembering whether she had always been that way, or whether it was an result of seeing whatever uncanny abomination she had become on the astral plane.

With boasting glee, Lina recounted her adventures. Luna had never really seen her talk about her stories, but it was a little like when she wrote letters to their parents.

Lina had visited another world through the Temple of Chronos, where she encountered a clone or brainwashed form of Xelloss. This one intended to destroy the world until his Red World memories were implanted, after which he had instantly sabotaged his own plan. That was enough for Lina to believe that Zelas and Xelloss meant it when they claimed to want to exist.

Three years ago, Zelas and Laust had tested Lina to see whether she really was an expression of Chaos, some sort of extension of the will of the Lord of Nightmares, or at least favored by her. Lina wouldn't talk about what happened during her casting of the Giga Slave exactly, but she had retained her memory this time, and regained that she had lost the prior time it overtook her. Lina was very secretive about that time too, until Gourry assumed she'd forgotten and explained it had been a make out session.

Lina desperately tried to kill that topic by breaching the miserable state of the Black World, which launched her into the worlds she had visited. Volphied and Dugradigdu still existed in a way in the Black World, albeit vastly reduced in power. Lina had only gotten one talisman here before being forced to move on. At the time she hadn't realized yet what Volphied was up to.

The Blue World was a bizarre dystopia covered in sparkles that Lina seemed eager to avoid talking about, probably because it was when the polyamorous romance took off. Clueless Gourry dropped a lot of embarrassing details and Naga pretending to have been on top of the game the entire time. Also, its Phied and Igdu were both despots. They'd failed to get blue talismans at all.

The White World was their brightest adventure, and silliest. A world with barely any magic, but a more or less benevolent duo of Phied and Igdu who had spread their magic out a lot. Lina had gotten both talismans here, but was tight lipped about the payment. Gourry and Naga were tight lipped too. Gourry just said he liked he'd been able to fly and Naga went on at length about how she'd been the queen of a vampire court and it was sad for her subjects to lose her, but alas, home had called.

All that done, Lina admitted that she had only taken Zelas's offer because she was curious about the other worlds. She hadn't put any stake in what back then, she had considered wild and ridiculous plans. Small things had first started to change her mind. The L theme naming for hosts of any power persisted across the worlds. The Phieds and Igdus told stories of other apostles and their strange effects. Cosmic destiny of fate had become plausible. All this Lina said in a clear and proud voice, but Luna recognized small twitches that betrayed her unease.

Contrary to that, Zelas was more at ease than Luna had ever seen her. She sat by in artistrocrat form in a divan she had brought, smoking and smirking the entire time. A more or less healed Xelloss sat crosslegged before her, mismatched as he sipped tea. With them were a flock of surviving pack members. Dilgear was among them, cheering along with the others when Lina confirmed the apostle thing.

It had to be good to hear for them, because Zelas had been grasping at straws before. To Luna everything still felt like straws, albeit the kind that can set the barn on fire.

Dragons and elves asking questions took almost as long as Lina's explanation. Part of this was her elaborate answers, part of it new ways to worry about the future. It devolved into the conflicting interests between the god clan and wolf pack, not helped by Valwin, Rangort and Ragrairyos all having different opinions.

Luna grew bored with it soon, but didn't have the inertia to do anything else.

Near the end, a small surprise happened. Xelloss shifted over to her.

"Looking swell there," Luna said. "Snackbar's down, unfortunately."

"I'm not here for snacks, actually," he said. "It seems we had a rather unfortunate misunderstanding and I would like to ascertain where we stand."

"So I wasn't supposed to understand you murdering my friend as you murdering my friend? Funny, I was given a different impression."

"Ah well, I suppose there were a few misunderstandings too much," he said. "My liege wasn't supposed to get an existential crisis out of this. It was quite unforseen."

"Y'do realize she's terrified of the Lord of Nightmares, right?"

"We all are," Xelloss said, eyes opening. "Don't use that name in vain."

Luna pressed her lips together, searching for the right word. "Maybe horrified is a better word. Anyway, that doesn't say anything about us. So you didn't actually kill her. I guess I could have taken five seconds to read what you scribbled in the sand. Shit happens. Let's never talk about it again."

"Yes, what would we talk about?" After a few uneasy seconds, he asked, "What was my liege like when we were gone?"

"Most of her time in aristrocrat mode, sometimes wolfing out to smash things, tortured a bunch of people without eating, and drifted around the machine's power cores a lot. Now for more important things. Did you and Filia really make out or was that a trick too?"

"A trick," Xelloss said, closing his eyes now.

"What about the closeted wild duck sex?"

It was amazing how quickly Xelloss could revert from serious to ridiculous.

"This really isn't all that important, now is it? Didn't we just agree not to talk about misunderstandings?"

"Ask my little sister how likely I am to drop anything," Luna said.

"I've heard stories, but I've also heard you're trying to not be like those stories anymore," he said. "Anyway, miss Filia said she'd like to speak to you. She'll be at your room soon."

That was something to do at least. Luna went to her room and didn't have to wait long.

Filia had changed into something more typical to her, both a dress and her expression. Almost her casual business day determination.

"Hello, miss Luna. Please follow me." She took Luna's arm and pulled her along.

"Filia, the hell you doing?"

"The hell says the woman who tied me to a chair for an intervention. Well, my reasons are better than yours : you are astrally poisoned. I'm going to get it out."

"By Zephyrian law, you are not allowed to force anyone into medical care against their will," Luna said, and quietly regretted having promised to try being not a total dick. It'd be so easy to twist her arm and leave. She was sure she could do something about the poisoning herself ... why hadn't she, anyway?

"Oh, I remember that rant. There's a caveat : if the person is somehow mentally impaired from making that decision, someone else has to. You are currently incapable of feeling fear for yourself and you're quasi-possessed by a demon lord."

"Okay, fine, bring on the exorcism."

That was a fair point, and Luna didn't feel like arguing. It'd be good for her goals if she was pure again.

Filia brought her to one of the shore caves, which required going through a long tunnel and two teleportation jumps.

This cave was partially flooded, but the rocks jutting from the water were large enough to sit on. Filia had already arranged for some cushions. Luna plopped down and let Filia do the work.

The water glowed ethereal blue as Filia brushed her tail over it. Circles spun open on the surface and above on the ceiling, illuminating the cave with holy nature. A little bit overflow, maybe. Then again, Luna couldn't tell what was needed for exorcism. She couldn't even tell how she herself stuck together.

Luna lay down on her stomach so she could run a hand through the water, pull at its magic while her wings manifested above her — it felt like a way to open up. Filia sat next to her and made a small noise of approval. Another holy circle opened, now between Luna's wings.

Filia hummed as she worked, a sad song that Luna couldn't place. She didn't see anything, but felt the touch of her fingers. Pull, cut, loosen. Swift, sharp, and cutting. Luna hated that she cringed.

"Sorry, I expected it to be more resilient," Filia said.

"How so? You ever did this before?"

Filia continued more carefully. "A few days ago with Xelloss. He wandered onto the dream plane and I had to untangle him. I'm using some things I learned from that so I don't have to cast indirect spells. Let me tell you, devils are made out of filth all the way through. As are you right now."

"Any reason we're alone here?" Luna asked.

"The sea's magic helps, but this cave is because I have to say something," Filia said.

"Okay, shoot."

"I'm sorry that I lied to you about our plot. If Rangort hadn't been trying to get into your mind, I would have told you in a beat."

"Apology accepted, and point acknowledged. You know, I bet I would have spent the entire time trying not to laugh my ass off."

It was okay because she didn't feel anger right now. She had no idea what her response would be if she hadn't. Hey, trying to hide deicide while my friend here gets herself murdered by a demon because of some ridiculously convoluted scheme. Not exactly every day matter.

"Still ... I chose on base of Rangort not being allowed to know, moreso than Zelas. Maybe we could have found a way to keep that god out, ... some excuse why we'd involve you and others in this scheme, yet won't let Rangort poke around in our heads. And now it turns out that miss Orun's been able to keep sensitive information from Valwin all along."

Still not angry. It amazed Luna how much room for extra thoughts there were now; Orun for example had years of experience with holy flow and mental identity because she and Lyos had prepared for someone trying to possess him again. Not something Luna would know how to do.

"Meh, I'll see about that once we fix Vrabazard. If it turns out you could've done better, you owe me."

"I'll prepare a contract," Filia said, more lightly than she felt. "Not that it will matter much. I'm probably wrong about you too. I've been wrong about everyone stronger than me."

Filia's magic faltered, she balled her fists and tried to clam down her conflict. Luna sat up and revealed her eyes. "Even Lina?"

"That's the worst. As I know miss Lina, she would never sell out anyone. Now she agrees to a plan that will see three gods sacrificed. Maybe she would sacrifice you too."

"The gods don't care to live," Luna said. "They just care to preserve existence and that requires life. If there's a way to do that that involves them ceasing to exist, they would do it in a heartbeat. They just don't trust anyone but themselves to help the world. Lina doesn't sell out much, and myself ... ha, what's left of me anyway?"

"Miss Luna, I don't know you like this either."

"The other gods will murder us, and I might murder anyone in my way, there's murder all over the place. Why do you still care for little things like honesty?"

"Someone has to because it's one of the things that are needed for people to live together." Luna could practically hear all the cut off ex priestess rethoric behind it. Because the Most Venerable One says so. Because it is Right. She still wanted there to be a right in this world.

"Living together is overrated," Luna said. "Take that from someone who lived with an unbalanced devil for a few weeks, and we're not talking your clown here. I'm gonna bet you that Zelas created him to be so hard to anger exactly cause she lost herself to anger a few times too many."

"I believe it," she said. "And I hope that you being his replacements won't last now."

Luna waved that off. "Don't worry about that. I don't have a Valgarv thing for her, I know she's filth."

"I'm glad to hear that, because it's best if you can leave her behind you."

"Really? That's it? Y'know he came after me to make you pay, right? That can't be all you have to say."

"It is," Filia said. "It has to be."

Luna shrugged. "Fine. The clown off limits too, or are you gonna explain what the hell happened?"

"It was all part of a scheme to fool Zelas so that—"

"Not that. I wanna how you're putting up with being the dog."

"What? No, it was my idea! I planned it extensively with miss Claire, mister Jillas and miss Leyunso before we even got him involved."

"So you chose to hand over control. What'd he do with it? Do I have to pry you off of another demon or what?"

"Honestly, you are in no position to complain! I am prying demonic energy out of your soul right now! Who's having a demon problem? Look, Xelloss was an asshole a few times, but he's good enough at keeping his exact word, so I gave him a washlist of demands. He's, well, put in an effort."

"Right. Great effort. How well did he do with, say, the brutal way I saw him kill you?"

"Badly! He decided in the middle of the thing that he didn't like the dialogue we planned. Can you believe it? We'd gone over it multiple times and he managed all the corny and ridiculous acts we did on the island, but right then he tries to argue! While doing something as tacky as making it look like he ripped my heart out!"

Filia did an admirable job at sounding as casually offended as she would have under normal circumstances. However, the emotions surrounding her were those of mourning and loss and aimless, repressed anger.

All tactical reasons aside, Filia had nestled herself into a reason to suffer with this plot. Imagine a dragon asking the demon meant to kill her kind to please, murder her for a game. Who could tell whether she didn't ask to be killed one time too many? Not Filia. She might draw a line for Xelloss and even Valgarv now, but she was awful at drawing those lines for herself when it came to things that really mattered. Rather like how after a while, Luna didn't need to close the lines around Dilgear, he did it himself.

The kind of indignation, self directed or to others, that always bubbled up when anyone even seemed critical of Luna's action was missing now. That left Luna with a rather clear view of her own past actions. Life was full of lines, or rather laws, personalized to suit herself.

That had been intentional but never considered. Zelas might not have intended to domesticate Luna, but the results were the same : Luna's lines had been changed without her even seeing what was wrong. It might be so for Filia too, and Xelloss, well, he came with built in lines that bend at the whim of Zelas.

Luna sat up. "All jokes about the act aside, what are you to each other now?"

(What am I in this world?)

"Allies, for now."

"Right, and I'm having a stable relationship with the furball. Spill the truth, Filia. We're counting compromise today, and how much shits you give for your enemy, and which of your lines for others did he cross?"

"I don't know," she said, throwing up her hands. "He's still horrible. He treated it like bargaining, like business, when miss Amelia and the others asked for more intell to save lives — it didn't even bother him. And yet, it's almost like he's genuinely considerate. What am I supposed to make of someone like that?"

Luna would say roll with it, but that's what Filia had been doing already. The real question was probably about some transcendental spiritual thing. Luna's answer to spirituality was that it could hike its fake ass to hell, but that wouldn't be the answer to Filia. Besides, Luna didn't wanna find out later some spiritual nonsense was the reason Filia was good at the magic stuff she'd just done, and come off looking like a fool.

Now, Luna did know plenty about every day power play.

She stuck up a finger and said, "Simple measurements are best. Draw lines, start small : are you safe from him? Whether that's stuff like killing you or ignoring the closed door."

(Nobody's safe from Lucifer.)

"Only for as long as our pact stands and he needs fusion magic for something," Filia said without missing a beat.

Luna snapped her fingers. "Good, so that's temporary allies. Next one : how screwed are you when he becomes your enemy again?"

Filia didn't need to answer that, she poured out a most enticing mixture of poisons.

"You forgave him again, didn't you?" she said. Without anger, all she could do was find it funny. "You moron. Once we start fighting over who gets to rule the world, Zelas won't hesitate to turn him against you."

"I'm ready for it."

"Are you also gonna be ready for him being okay with it? He'll be happy to serve her."

"Oh, I know that," Filia said, every bit of bitterness wrung from her voice. Like she's gone beyond acceptance and considered it a simple fact. "You know, we gave the false Val a soul. He was real at last, just so I could ask him to risk his life. He didn't make it, we couldn't risk Shabranigdu getting loose. If I can go through with that, then I can and I will fight a devil if the world needs me to. I guess you're right. I'm not safe. For what it's worth, I have a few open cases with Zelas, nor did I forget that Xelloss didn't put in an effort until he had something to gain from it."

Holy hell. If that was the cause of how Filia felt now, Luna was both wrong and right about Filia burying herself into suffering. She hadn't seen any tiny Val run around, so he hadn't made it. Valgarv's taunt about her not being a real mother made sense now; it wasn't rubbing in that she'd fallen for a trick, but that she'd failed to protect her child.

"Good," Luna said, because she didn't have anything better to say.

"And that goes for you too, miss Luna," she added softly.

Couldn't argue with that. A stone cold silence fell, which Luna let last.

The stars had moved along before Filia drew the last curse magic out of her soul.

"You know, you still owe me an explanation on how exactly you fooled me," Luna said once she sat up. "First though, I bet there's some devil armies up north that haven't gotten the message. How about I go kill them, then I'll get the juicy details."

"You should talk to your sister first, miss Luna."

"Nah. I don't think there's gonna be a good time for that soon, or later."

Filia didn't say anything, so Luna stood up and walked away. She was almost at the narrow path up when Filia spoke again.

"You know, I disappointed myself and you too."

Luna stopped walking. Filia still stood at the edge of the water, looking out at the sea. "When we first trapped him, I was in control. I was as sure as you were when you reached me. Val and Valgarv were two very different people to me and that made it easier, but when he arrived here ... he did something else. I had hope. For a moment I believed I should ask Lina to give that one a soul too. You know, with you and Xelloss and Zelas and unruly customers and wayward heroes, I'm at no loss for raging words. It never really happened with him. He got another chance to tear me down and I was the one apologizing in the end."

"That lead to your kid dying?"

"No. If doing something different was the problem, I could work on myself. This was just my weakness with no point."

"I know that feeling," Luna said. "Come on, don't stay here alone. I bet you can help restoring Sailoon or something."

Filia didn't say anything, but she did follow.

( It's not good enough. )

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