Gelon. The kingdom of the free. It was known for being one of the last refuges of peace during the Great War. It had declared neutrality when the war began, taking neither Ilias nor Alipheese's side. It had been standing long before then, back when people did not have to live in constant fear of an attack from a hungry monster or punishment from an angel.

A week before Luka arrived, the royal family announced that they would be allowing monsters into the city. They already had some monsters in the streets, but they were just refugees from the war. Now they were officially allowing them residence, which turned out to be a huge blunder. Only a few days after the monsters arrived, problems had already begun. In just three days, two hundred and forty young males had been killed, all found dried up or dead from overexertion.

Strangely, the king made no comment on the matter, but some guards reported seeing a beautiful golden kitsune enter his chambers some nights. Rumours began to spread that the king had been seduced and was being controlled by monsters, and that is why he did nothing to stop his people from being butchered. These rumours were more or less confirmed when the kitsune revealed her identity in a speech heard by most of the population of Gelon.

She then proceeded to rape the king to death in front of the crowd, then his wife... and then she moved on to his two young children. Needless to say, panic immediately spread. The crowd had ran away in a panic, unaware of the hundreds of monsters now turning on them. The estimated causality count was around 6,000 people, or almost eighty percent of the entire population.

Luka was now looking at the evidence of said destruction. Bodies littered the streets; bones were piled along the walls of the destroyed houses. He was not here out of some morbid curiosity, as he had already seen all this before. He was passing through to get to whatever awaited him in the Noah region. Undine was his first priority, and he was not far from her spring now.

"It's unbelievable," Omori said. The Scylla had continued to accompany the hero since they met at Safina. Luka was glad to have someone to talk to along the way, even if he would probably have to protect her if they got into a fight.

"I know. I can't believe Tamamo would ever do something like this..." Luka said sadly. He always knew the kitsune as a mischievous young girl, whose body didn't match her mind. She was kind, and she was one of his dearest friends now. She was also responsible for educating his children, a task she was very familiar with. After all, she had raised eight different Alices, and Neris was her ninth.

"Huh? Do you know her or something?" Omori asked. The hero suddenly recoiled as he realised his mistake. He would have to be more careful with what he says from now on, even around Omori.

"N-no. I just mean that I can't believe anyone would do something like this."

"Hmm, you should know by now that the world isn't all sugar and rainbows. The Ilias continent must've been a nice place if you turned out like this."

"Well, it was certainly better than here. And I know that, but seeing it in person is completely different."

"Yeah, this makes Safina look like a walk in the park..." Omori said as she carefully manoeuvred around the scattered bones. Eventually, the pair reached their destination, and before them was a house that Luka just barely recognised. It had only been a week since he was last there, but it had already degraded even further. The hero looked upon Luna's old home, which still had some blood mixed in with the rubble of the now collapsed interior.

Haah... Of course. Just my luck. The inside is completely caved in. Well, there wasn't much chance of finding anything there anyway. Still, it's where I first appeared; it could've had something hinting at a way to get home... Well, better just move on to Undine for now.

"Let's keep going, Omori; Undine's cave shouldn't be far now," Luka said, trying his best to smile. Omori simply nodded her head, and the two then headed out of the ruins of the kingdom. They passed the old palace, and Luka noticed a lock of golden fur. Deciding there was no point leaving it there, he took it. Other than that, the trek to Undines Spring, or Taboo Spring, as the locals called it, at least in Luka's time, was uneventful.

Upon arriving at the spring, Omori noticed the lack of any life. This worried Luka, who then proceeded to dive in headfirst to check it out for himself. The cave was much smaller than it had been in his time, and it was far less livable. It was still clean, but there were no spaces for slimes to sleep or do any day-to-day tasks. Erubuite had once mentioned that expanding the cave took years of effort, with them all working together to dissolve the rock and move it outside. Luka looked into the eerily silent cave. Deciding that Undine must be elsewhere, he left.

Damn, Undine isn't here. Well, it makes sense. As far as I can tell, the Noah region is pretty clean. There would be no reason for them to hide here. It seems there is little human activity; if I had to guess, I'd say the pollution levels are even lower than in the modern day.

After explaining the situation to Omori, they moved out. Luka looked at the map he bought along the way, which showed them the only large civilization in the region, Yamatai. The village would take a while to get to, but he could get more information on Undine's location there. It will be a problem if the spirit is hiding, it'll make finding her much more difficult.

As the two walked along the dirt path, they failed to notice a certain cat-like monster tailing them.

Tezcatlipoca continued to prance around the treetops that made up the Noah region. She leapt from one to another with a cat-like ability. She was careful not to make too much noise, as that could alert the two she was trailing. She was not following the pair out of malice or an order from an ancestor; no, she was simply curious. She had never been a part of the monster's military anyway. Bloodshed was never really her thing, unless it was that damn bird, of course.

But really, why are they here? There's nothing here to visit besides Yamatai, and that's not exactly a tourist attraction.

Tezcatlipoca scoffed as she remembered the town of Tamamo No Mae. She was never welcome there in the first place, and the way they treated the livestock...

Anyway, the Scylla looks pretty normal to me, probably from the Safina Sea. But the boy—why is his scent so strange? It's not a bad smell, but, for some reason, it reminded her of an angel.

Deciding it would be best to investigate further, she continued her tracking of the boy's and monster's scent. She initially thought the two to be master and slave but noticed that the boy did not smell of a Scylla. Rather from what she could tell, he carried almost the exact same scent as Alipheese's... Was he somehow related to her? She would have to find out later. She hoped she would get a chance when the two decided to take a break.

And only a few hours later they did. The two had set up camp at a very impressive speed. In only a few minutes, the camp was complete, and they were sitting around a fire. The two were talking to each other as the boy was cooking. When the smell of the cooking reached the Yoma's nose, she very nearly jumped straight for it.

It's just my luck that he decided to make fish... and salmon at that...

Tezcatlipoca's stomach growled. She looked upon the feast that could be hers if she just made a leap for it now. But that would obviously alert them to her presence... Well, even if they did start fighting over it, she was confident it would be an easy victory. And after she was done feasting on the fish, she could feast on the other food there...

A smile crossed her face as she made up her mind. She had surrendered to her appetite very easily. When the boy lifted one of the fish up to give to the Scylla she jumped for it, snatching it out of his hands. Luka simply watched as the fish he had bought earlier and just cooked was devoured by this cat thing out of nowhere.

"Wh-What the hell? Who are you!?" Omori said, surprised by the cat's sudden appearance. The cat simply stared at the two as she finished her meal.

"I'm Tezcatlipoca, Nya! You should be honoured to be in my presence!" Tezcatlipoca said proudly. She took a haughty pose and was clearly waiting for something.

"Te-Tezcatlipoca? You're one of the ancient gods!" Omori said, shocked, before 'kneeling' before her. Being a Scylla made the action slightly difficult, meanwhile, Luka simply looked at the intruder with a slightly annoyed expression.

"Hey! We paid for that! If you wanted some, you should've asked first!" Luka said, giving out to the large cat.

She's just like that Nekomata I met here in the past... Are all cats like this? Well, she actually looks a bit more like a jaguar now that I think about it. Omori said she was an ancient god, Like sphinx. Is she that strong? And just where did she come from anyway?

"Shut up! No human gets to speak to Nya like that!" The cat said. Luka sighed and sat back down. He motioned for the cat to sit beside him, which, after a few moments of contemplation, she did. Omori also sat back while Luka took some more fish from the fire.

"Look, there's enough for all of us, alright?" Luka said as he offered another, larger fish to the hungry monster. She slowly took it from him, a drastic change from when she snatched it out of his hands before.

"...Thanks, Nya.."

Nya? She's said that like, four times already. She's kind of forcing it...

"Excuse me, Miss Ancient God. Why are you here? Surely it's not just for food?" Omori asked respectfully. Tezcatlipoca scoffed and spoke while still eating.

"Of course, Nya-ot. I was just prancing around like usual, looking for some food to eat, making plans on how to burn that damn burn alive, et cetera." Tezcatlipoca cheerfully admitted,

"All of a sudden, I see two strangers walking around. I was going to just walk by and leave you be, but then I noticed the scent of Alipheese herself! And it was coming from you." She said, while pointing an accusing finger at the hero "Explain! Why does the scent of a Fateburn cling to you?"

Damn it! I forgot about that. Of course, after years of... being so intimate with each other, our scents would combine. Alice even said that she did it on purpose sometimes, as a way to mark me as hers...

"H-How do you know that? I've never even seen a Fateburn before!"

Well, not here, at least.

"You're obviously just confused or something!"

"Don't be a fool! I am one of the legendary ancients! People worship me! And I'm the strongest cat-Yoma ever! With my incredible sense of smell, I could smell even the faintest of scents!" The cat then sat up, dropping a fish bone on the grass. "And the scent of someone like our Lord Alipheese is all over you!"

Wait, how come nobody else has picked that up? Does she really have that good a sense of smell? Surely, Tamamo would've been able to smell it... Unless the smell of the corpse's got in the way...

"I... uhh..." Luka stammered, trying to think of something to say.

"Oh! I know why! I had somewhat recently fought one of the Lilith sisters, and I had been near Tamamo No Mae herself. Since they were so close to Alipheese, maybe they carried her scent. I must've picked it up while I was fighting them." Luka explained.

"Wh-What!? Did you fight the children of an ancestor? Which one? And why were you near that fox? Nya"

She's really forcing it now...

Luka explained the earlier events: His fight with Morrigan and his encounter with Tamamo, and he briefly mentioned his escapade with Lucifina, which shocked the ancient god. After a few more minutes of the two explaining what happened there, the cat seemed to accept it.

"Hmm. I see. You fought Lucifina as well; that explains that faint angel scent I got from you. Well, good job on taking down one of those Lilith Sister bitches! They're nearly as annoying as that damn bird!" Tezcatlipoca exclaimed. Luka gave her another fish, which helped her calm down. Luka had now given up half of his own share to the cat, much to his annoyance. It was a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things, anyway.

For a few minutes, they each simply rested by the fire, making some small talk about their past. The cat god explained how she was not really a god, not like Ilias or Alipheese, at least. It was simply a name given to great monsters who were worshipped by humans and other monsters.

She was one of the few that existed. Apparently, Sphinx, along with a Harpy-Lamia-type monster named Quetzalcoatl, whom the cat described with a deep hatred. The two had a long rivalry before this and it looked like it would continue far into the future. Eventually, the food ran dry, and a few moments of awkward silence ensued before Tezcatlipoca spoke.

"Well, thanks for the food, I guess, Nya." Tezcatlipoca said solemnly: "Oh! What's your names, Nya?" She asked.

"My name is Luka. I'm a hero." Tezcatlipoca scowled, "-But not of Ilias. I don't follow her." The cat looked surprised for a second before accepting it and moving on to the Scylla next to her.

"And you? What's your name, Nya?"

"Omori. I was born in the western sea, and eventually, I moved to the land. I lived in a small village in the north of Safina, and as we explained earlier, the Morning Star attacked. I and him might be the only survivors, besides Lady Hiruko."

"Nya! Got it! Well, I'll be going. See you Luka, Omori." The Jaguar-Yoma then left the scene, leaving Luka still surprised by the monster's behaviour.

Huh, what a weird girl. Well, whatever, at least she wasn't hostile. But she did say she had been following me for quite a while. How could I not sense her? I really need to get Undine...

Luka continued to think about where the spirit might be. Deciding it was best to ask the people who knew her best, he started to talk to the spirits.

Sylph, Gnome? Do you know where Undine is?

"Hm? Oh, hey Luka! It's about time you asked us!" Sylph cheerfully announced, "She used to hang out at a lake deep inside the forest. It was called 'Taboo Spring'. But... We already went there, didn't we..."

"..." Gnome looked at the spirit of wind, then at Luka. The spirit was clearly trying to say something.

"Oh! That's right!" The spirit of wind suddenly started smiling, happy with whatever Gnome just told her. "She also goes into the sea sometimes! The eastern one that is. She hangs around there with her fish friends and whatnot." Sylph said, "Thanks for the save Gnomey! Without yo-" Sylph was suddenly interrupted with a smack. Luka sighed as he watched the two play. It seems some things never change.

Luka talked a bit more with Omori before resigning himself to sleep. Tomorrow he would search the sea for Undine. If she wasn't there, he would just have to move on to Salamander.

"Well, I guess I could. I don't mind." Omori said.

Luka was happy to hear that she would help him with this. There was simply no other way he could get to Undine. It's not like he could hold his breath for that long. He missed the days when he could stay underwater for nearly an hour thanks to Undine. His mastery of the spirit of water and wind gave him control of his oxygen use and heart rate, allowing him to conserve much more oxygen than normal. He missed those days of training in the spring near the Monster Lord's castle.

"Thanks, Omori! Heh, I'd be lost without you!" Luka said as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, unaware of the small blush that appeared on the Scylla's face.

"Sh-Shut up! Just get going already!" Omori said as she pushed Luka into the water. The boy hero lost his balance and promptly fell in, before being surrounded by a light. Just like the orb of guidance, it allowed him to breathe, although the ball was a fair bit smaller. He probably had less time than before, but it should be more than enough to get down there and back.

Luka was glad that taking Omori along was the right choice. For one, she didn't ever try to sexually assault him, a surprisingly rare thing for women in his life. Secondly, she was someone to talk to, and she also gave him some insight into the world itself and how people live in it. Everything he heard from her only encouraged him to end this war even more. Thirdly, she was pretty useful. She had helped him just now with her water magic, a skill almost all Scyllas have, but she also helped him before with navigating this land.

He had also heard of what Remina was like from her, and it was apparently a pretty nice place. Monsters and humans lived hand in hand; although monsters did have more rights and privileges than the humans, but it was much better for humans than other monster cities. She said this was because Saja had helped run the city from time to time, and she was not a fan of excessive cruelty.

Luka began to swim down to the seafloor. Thankfully, he was fast enough to get there quite quickly. Luka passed many sea creatures as he swam. He saw sea anemones and mermaids in some places, some of which gave him a strange look. They shrugged it off and continued on their way. Luka was happy that no monster had tried to attack him so far. As he got closer to the seafloor, Luka noticed a lump of bright blue slime.

Before he could get a closer look, the slime moved under the sand. Luka swore that he could see a red eye in the slime for a second. He thought it looked similar to Erubuite, but shrugged it off. Erubuite would've definitely mentioned it if she were alive during the Great Monster Wars.

After finally reaching the seafloor, Luka looked around for any sign of the spirit. After some more swimming, Luka looked around the dark space that made up the bottom of the ocean. He then noticed a Dagon girl who looked nearly the exact same as the one who attacked him in the northern sea.

"Excuse me..." The girl simply looked at Luka, puzzled. She probably isn't used to seeing humans down here. "Do you know where Undine is?" Luka asked.

The Dagon girl put a hand up to her chin for a few seconds before answering, "Undine... Oh yeah! I've seen her. She's around a hundred metres that way." She pointed north of where they were, towards a cave in the wall of the sea.

"Thanks," Luka said as he began to swim towards the cave. The Dagon girl watched as the boy left, she had never seen a human before. Were they all as delicious-looking as him?

Once Luka got into the cave, he noted that there was a pocket of air inside. Luka surfaced and noted that the cave itself was faintly glowing. There were bioluminescent plants growing along the cave wall, and Luka thought it was actually quite cosy. It was also slightly larger than he expected, with the cave itself having a diameter of ten metres. Luka climbed out of the water and shook the water off of himself.

"Who are you?" A sensuous, calming voice asked. Luka recognised it as Undine, the spirit of water, and his old friend.

"Undine. So you are here." Luka said, "I'm glad. I've been looking for you for a while now," He said with a smile. The Spirit of Water revealed herself. She looked just like she always did, and Luka was glad to see it.

"I see you've contracted with Gnome and Sylph. Impressive, human. Now answer my question," Undine demanded.

"My name is Luka. I'm a hero, but not of Ilias. I came from the Ilias continent but soon realised that Ilias's teachings were wrong. I believe that humans, monsters, and angels can all live together in peace," Luka said with a serious expression. Undine was going to ridicule the boy for his naiveté but decided against it. He was clearly very serious, and perhaps he was right. Even if he's not, he's at least fighting for something good—something worth it. Undine smiled for a second before going back to her neutral expression.

"Hmm. I see, I suppose you're here to form a contract with me too, then?" Undine asked. It had been a good few years since she last contracted with a human—no, even spoke with one. She had been hiding under these waters, away from the war. The same war that killed so many of her kind was the war she and the other spirits despised. Now she waited here, like a coward, until it was over. And now a purple-haired boy showed up out of nowhere and said he would end it? Undine's heart was happy at the sight, and subconsciously, she clung to the young human. She found it hard to believe there was still good in the world, but here was her proof.

"Yes, so do you want to fight me? I'd prefer if we didn't..."

"So would I, but rules are rules. It would be unfair to other human candidates if I just allowed you to contract without testing your skill first," Undine said. Luka nodded and drew Angel Halo. Undine looked at the sword with surprise for a few seconds, but decided she could ask about it later. She started the fight immediately, throwing a wall of acidic slime towards the hero. Luka summoned both the power of the wind and the earth at the same time and jumped around the wall of slime. He then jumped towards the slime-mermaid monster.

"Aqua pentagon!" A shield of water and slime appeared, stopping Luka's sword in its tracks.

Damn. This again. I could use Flash Kill and break it, but I can't let anyone know I'm half-angel. I'll just have to use brute force.

Luka, confident with his plan, moved forward. Summoning the power of the earth into his sword, he jumped. Upon landing, he slashed with all his might at the spell. The shield of water shook but did not break. Luka attacked for a while longer while dodging any attacks Undine launched at him. Eventually, it shattered, and Luka pulled his sword back for one of his strongest techniques.

"Death sword, chaos star!" Luka shouted as he slashed multiple times at Undine. The spirit could not evade the blows and took them head-on. She was flung into the wall of the cave, which left a small crack in the rock. She stood up, and Luka prepared to continue fighting, but the spirit put her hand up, signalling surrender.

"I surrender. I'm impressed, young one. You win; I will contract with you." Undine smiled, offering Luka her hand. Luka took it and watched as the spirit glowed slightly, and then entered his body. The familiar and calming feeling of water embraced him. With this, he felt a little more confident, and more complete.

"Yaaaay! Deeny! It's been so long! Do you wanna play with me and Gnomey? We can build sandcastles, or-" A gargling sound interrupted the cheerful spirit. Undine sighed and started to speak.

"Normally I would explain how to use my power, but you seem very familiar with it already. Why is that?" Undine asked. Luka gave her the same explanation he gave Gnome, saying that he practised with lesser spirits and the like.

"Hmph. I have a feeling there's more to it than that, and I can tell you're not being fully honest with me... But it matters little, I can tell your conviction is real, and I will support that. Though I do want to find out the truth eventually," Undine explained. Luka was happy that the spirit was respecting his privacy, a rare thing for him.

"Now, Salamanders next, I assume," Undine said, sighing upon hearing the name.

"Yaaay! Mandy's next!" Sylph exclaimed, buzzing around Luka's mind. Luka sighed and focused back on his surroundings. He slowly got back into the water and swam back to the surface. Upon reaching the beach he had left, he noticed a certain bored Scylla who had been waiting.

"Hey, Omori. Guess what! I found Undine!" Luka said happily as he shook the water off, his hair draped along his head. Omori watched as he dried himself, a blush appearing on her face.

After he was finished, Luka and Omori began walking away from the beach, unaware of the monster watching them from the water.

"I'm telling you! He cheated!" Morrigan shouted like a pouting child.

"Doesn't matter. You lost to a human. A human, Morrigan," Lilith said. She had been doing damage control ever since news of the event escaped. Apparently, Morrigan had been tricked by a young human boy, and then beaten in a fight afterwards. She was lucky she only got sealed, but it was still a bad look for monsters. Their mother, Minagi, did not care much about it, but the other ancestors, their 'aunts' did. It was unacceptable that a human could ever beat a monster. Lilith and Astaroth agreed, and both reprimanded their younger sister for her foolishness.

"I know... But please! I'll get revenge! Just unseal me!" Morrigan whined. Lilith sighed and looked at her sister.

"It will take a lot of energy to do that... After we're done unsealing you, bring some men to us as repayment."

"Bu-But I'm hungry too!"

"Too bad."

"Argh! Fine!"

Lilith and Astaroth began channelling their energy into their sister. After a large amount had been given to her, she began to glow, eventually returning to her normal form.

"Finally!" Morrigan said upon returning. After a bit more talking between the sisters, Morrigan left to gather the men for them. Lilith and Astaroth continued to talk about recent events in the world while they were harvesting energy from them. After they were done, a pile of dried-up corpses was thrown to the ground, and the three flew off.

"So, we're all going to take him down together?"

"That's the plan," Astaroth said. Restoring their reputation was imperative, and taking down this 'hero' was the only way to do it. The three began to search for the hero, starting where they were most likely to find his trace: Port Natalia, where Morrigan had last seen him.