Key:

Text

"Speaking, or in-text quote"

'Thoughts'

Additional Emphasis

Year 16 AL, Soulbeat

"What are you up to, Micaela?"

Just before Luka's reaching out to Heaven, while Micaela was working on the boy's ring and Alice was downstairs fuming for somewhat unfounded reasonings, Ilias watched the process from high above in Heaven with great interest.

"Fixing Luka's seal. The one Lucifina gave to him seems to not be sufficient for his needs."

The Goddess of Light looked on from her marble throne as Micaela ambled over to her desk across the room. Ilias grinned at the sight, enjoying her little half-lie about not being able to Micaela causing the Goddess a small amount of personal amusement. Ilias could see Micaela to an extent, but only if she was within a certain range of Luka. Outside his little bubble of Light, however, things started to get much too fuzzy.

'Of course, I could find her if I so chose to, but I'll let her believe she's safe for now. It'll make the eventual punishment she gets when everything is said and done all the sweeter.' Ilias thought, happily sitting back as her Former Daughter fell right into place in Ilias's plans.

Luka coming to Enrika had not been a part of Ilias's vision originally. In fact, she hadn't wanted Luka to have any contact with Micaela at all. However, considering the current circumstances with Luka's instability, it had become a necessary evil.

"I suppose I can allow for that, but... Hmm?"

Ilias paused her magnificent acting endeavor with Micaela as she started to sense how Luka's power was filling Micaela's bedroom. The Goddess of Light peered over to the boy resting on the Fallen Angel's bed, her bright blue eyes lighting up in surprise as she found that Luka's soul seemed to be growing brighter.

"Oh... that's quite interesting..."

Ilias cut off her connection with Micaela with that final comment, her attention now fully on her Prophet. The Goddess of Light leaned forward on her throne as she gazed into the small portal she had before her in the swath of golden clouds.

Indeed, the aura of his soul was steadily brightening as it flowed throughout Micaela's room. The only comparable sight to this would be how the sun's rays grew more intense as it rose above the horizon. Even from all the way up in Heaven, Ilias could feel the warmth radiating off of his power.

'It's almost as if his energy is continuously growing, like a perpetual star inside of his very soul.' Ilias thought, an entranced look growing on her face. The way it moved around in the air was unlike anything she had seen before. The Goddess herself couldn't believe it was possible, as any other soul was trapped to stay with the body until death.

Yet, although still tied to his body, the boy's soul was moving about freely as if it didn't have such a restriction. Then, something even more curious started to occur. Ilias observed as Luka folded his hands together over his chest, the act causing all of his Magic to converge back to him. Upon doing so, the illumination of his soul shone even more spectacularly.

Ilias felt her heart skip as his soul flared, his Light becoming almost too much for even her to perceive. Despite this intensity, the blonde-haired Goddess kept her gaze locked onto the sight with a bit too much enthusiasm.

"A-Astounding..." Ilias shivered, an odd and sudden quiver assaulting the Goddess, eliciting a very pleased giggle to come from her lips. "...And I thought it was perfect before. This is greater than I could've fantasized!" She proclaimed. The Goddess felt herself in a haze as she watched Luka's soul from above, a very familiar feeling building in her core. Something she found herself feeling more and more as she had more contact with the boy...

Ilias squirmed in her seat, a very questionable grin forming on her face as she peered down at Luka. "Yes, as I had seen from the start. A soul that's almost too good for this World, the soul of My Prophet..." Ilias stopped mid-sentence, suddenly becoming alarmed as something happened that even she couldn't have predicted.

Luka's soul reached out to Heaven itself.

In an instant, she could see and feel his presence all around her throne room, the energy coming in like a light fog over a lake. "H-How..." She started, watching it ebb and flow all around her. It danced around her in the air like leaves in the wind, twisting and turning as it went. His soul drew nearer, circling around Ilias, who stood from her throne to watch the spectacle. Then, she heard it.

Thump Thump

"Oh..." Ilias whispered to herself, watching as the aura pulsed. His soul's Light grew brighter with each vibration. "...It's almost like a heartbeat." She muttered to herself, the Goddess finding this phenomenon more and more interesting by the second.

Thump Thump

Ilias gasped, feeling the vibration course through her body. Her bright blue eyes followed the aura as it went, the sight gaining her curiosity more and more. The Goddess felt drawn to it, like a moth to flame. Slowly, compulsively, Ilias began to raise a hand up to touch Luka's soul. She shook as his pure white aura was well within range now, drawing closer to her hand until the two finally met...

Thump Thump

...And then...

Thump Thump

...Euphoria.

In the bottom level of Heaven, the common Angels were trooping amongst themselves, attending to their Heavenly duties. Whether it be making prayer, honing their combat skills, or simply cleaning the tall marble buildings and monuments to Ilias, they all played their part in keeping Heaven Holy.

Well, when any of that is actually needed, anyway.

At the moment, the day had been as usual in the realm of the Ninth Order. This Level of Heaven pretty well ran itself most days, albeit with some intermingling with the Archangels from time to time with varying degrees of pleasantness depending on who that Archangel was.

For instance, absolutely no Angel wanted to do a round of sparring with someone like Archangel Ranael, who seemed to have a penchant for injuring as many Angels as possible within a single training period. But someone like Chamael or Valkyrie was enjoyable enough, despite the wide gap in experience and power being very evident in those instances.

Other than the Archangels, the Seraph Eden was commonly seen as she involved herself fairly often with the Common Angels but any other Higher Level Angel was usually only seen on the passing by. So, all-in-all, it was pretty common for the Angels to simply buzz around like drones, conversing about the will of Ilias and the state of the World below. However, today would prove to turn quite unusual as they all began to converge to a single place in their slice of Heaven...

In the middle of the Ninth Level, was the largest Temple of Ilias yet to be conceived. The Temple's towering pearl-white walls dwarfed all of the buildings around it by several hundred meters and the multiple stained-glass windows glowed majestically as the glow of Heaven reflected off of them. Each one held the same image of Ilias herself in prayer, her hands clasped over her chest.

The inside was much the same compared to its Earth-bound counterparts, with dark blue and bright gold as the main color scheme for the carpeting, seats, and draperies. However, the one and most significant difference was the circular layout of the Prayer Hall.

Instead of being faced towards one "end", the seating booths all faced a lone, elevated marble pedestal in the middle of the Temple's boundless Prayer Hall. The seating was innumerable, stretching from ground level up to nearly the ceiling of the Holy building. However, due to a certain Angel Killer's actions five hundred years ago, over half of these seats sat empty.

Quickly, more and more of the mostly blonde-haired Angels filed in, their excited chatter filling the House of Ilias. The reason for this was because it was nearly time for the Midday Mass.

"O Midday Mass, how I love thee! "

"I cannot wait, I think that I will pray before our Mass Prayer today!"

"Is it bad for me to pray for Eden to speed it along today? Her last sermon took over an hour..."

In just a few minutes, a third of the Prayer Hall had already filled up with excited Angels bubbling about. Very soon, all the ones who were able to attend would be present and along with them would soon come the most involved Higher Order Angel: Ilias's right hand in Heaven, Eden always put it upon herself to lead Midday Mass...

...Nobody had actually told the Seraph to do this, she had simply taken the idea of Sunday Mass that the Humans had and designated for there to be one for Angels as well. Of course, being the one to come up with this idea made it to where she was the one to lead it.

Every. Single. Day.

In the Seraph's own words: "Sunday Mass alone was simply not enough for the Goddess!"

Most of the Angels above the Ninth Level, barring a few in the Archangel group, did not bother attending any of these aside from the Sunday Mass. However, the Ninth Level almost always had as many common Angels as possible in attendance. Whether it be from their relatively young age still making them excited for every Prayer possible, or if it was the fact that many of them held similarly enthusiastic faith compared to Eden, most of them would rush to go be congregated by the Third Seraph.

Speaking of, as the Prayer Hall had almost been filled by all Angel's possible, Eden finally arrived.

The sage-haired Seraph fluttered down from the golden clouds above, a serene smile on her face. "Ahhh, another day, another wonderful Midday Mass!" The Third Seraph exclaimed, all of her wings fluttering beautifully in the lofty air of the Heavenly realm. She landed in front of the large marble steps leading up to the Temple, the common Angels still filing in giving the Seraph a wide berth.

As opposed to those of the Higher Orders of Angels, the Common Angels actually quite enjoyed being around Eden. In a way, their overall dogmatic and intense belief was very similar to the Seraph's, as they believed in and followed the Commandments without question. Aside from the errant few, like a certain Angel of Love who was currently in the process of being reincarnated.

Eden strode up the steps with purpose, her extra-large Mass robes cascading down behind her like a river of silk. She made a point to wave and greet every Angel she made eye contact with, an act that slowed her down just a tad, as almost every Angel sought to do the same with her.

"Greeting, Eden!" A smiling blonde-haired soldier exclaimed while Eden walked by.

Eden beamed back at her, "Hello... erm... You!" She said, not really knowing any of them by name, even though she had the most interaction with them out of any Heavenly being.

Although, it really doesn't help things much when they all run around with mostly the same appearance aside from the odd Angel here and there. That, and most of their names rhyme as well, which makes it even more difficult.

'I that one's name was either Adreil or Agiel... or was it... Amitiel...?' Eden shook off the thought, it didn't really matter that much. It was more important for them to know her than the other way around.

Eden entered the inner sanctum of the otherworldly Prayer Hall with her head held high, her gaze running over those Angels in attendance. They fell silent as Eden climbed the small circular steps leading to the polished and pristine pedestal she used to conduct her sermon.

Gripping the smooth, slanted top of the podium, Eden raised her arms up into the air. "Greetings, my Sisters in arms! It is, once again, time for the Midday Mass!" The Congregation applauded, only going silent once Eden held out a single hand. The Seraph smiled, "But first, a couple words from the teachings of our Great Goddess of Heavenly, Unwavering Light, Ilias!" The awaiting Mass of mostly blonde-haired, with some green-haired, Angels watched as Edem bent down and reached into a cubby on the inside of the pedestal.

From inside, the Sage-haired Seraph pulled out a large and ancient-looking book with a dark blue leather cover. The dark-colored cover was offset by a sinuous array of golden embroidery that surrounded a similarly golden title:

Writ of Heaven:

Ilias's Holy Wisdoms

Eden lovingly held the book close to her chest before depositing it onto the pedestal in earnest. She ran her hand across the rough exterior with a large smile. "My Sisters, before we participated in today's Mass Prayer, I would love to talk to you about one of my favorite sections of the Writ of Heaven." The Seraph opened up the book carefully, the somewhat faded brown-ish papers crinkling loudly in complaint at the movement.

With practiced poise, the Third Seraph started fanning through the pages. "It is in Chapter Number Three: The Gospel of Light, Verse Number Fifteen. And it reads as such..." Eden sighed, flipping to the page in question just as she finished listening off the designation of the quote she was about to recite. She lightly coughed, clearing her throat of any unwanted blockage. Then she began to recite.

"...And so the Goddess of Light said to her Daughters: "Follow my Light and my Light alone, for it has NO equal, NO better. The Light of Mine erodes away the Dark and brings forth a World of Ataraxia, of Truly Exalted Splendor that could NEVER be replicated by Another!"

Eden beamed as she raised her gaze up to the Angels listening intently to her words, latching onto the word of Ilias. The joy in the Seraph's heart rose for this is what she truly excelled at. This is where she shined the greatest. For nobody enjoyed telling the word of the Goddess more than she did. After all, Eden had been present to record almost every single one of these Wisdoms personally.

Yes, every single one of these paragraphs had been written by Eden herself. Sure, Micaela may have upheld order with her unwavering command and Lucifina upheld spirit with her fierceness, but Eden had remained steadfast in making sure that all Angels could have supreme knowledge of the Goddess's will and words.

The only regret Eden ever had about this, was the fact that she wasn't born first. Even now, she often wondered how much of Ilias's early Wisdoms that she missed...

Turning to look at all of those in attendance, the Sage-haired Seraphim saw as many of the faces of the Angels looked on with adulation, though some of them seemed a bit worried.

Eden frowned, knowing the reason for some of the Angel's hesitance. Truth be told, despite Eden's unshakable belief in her Goddess, even the Seraph herself often lamented how far away their goal seemed. For millions upon millions of years their War against Monsterkind had been waged, and it seemed as if there was no true end in sight. It was sometimes difficult even for her to keep morale up, as the blight of Darkness never ceased in its trudging on. Just then, Eden smiled, an idea coming to her.

She started flipping towards the back of the book. As she went, the pages eventually became less faded, and their color became whiter. With a pained look, she passed by a large section of hastily torn-out pages before she eventually got to the very end of the written catalog of Ilias. These most recently written pages started a section of the Writ of Heaven that Eden was the most excited to finish.

"But fret not, my Sisters, let me tell of you the most neoteric section of Ilias's Wisdoms!" The Seraph leaned forward onto the pedestal, running her gaze upon the clergy before continuing. "The Wisdom partaking to the one to finally save this World, to take it back from the jaws of evil!" Eden proclaimed with hands raised high once more.

The Sage-haired Seraph could feel the Angel's excitement grow, their mostly bright blue eyes lighting up in collective anticipation. They all knew who Eden was referring to. The Third Great Seraph slid a finger down the pristine-white pages, a giddy giggle coming from her mouth as she read the title of the most recently penned Wisdom. "Chapter Three Hundred Thirty-Three: Birth of Our Holy Prophet, Verse One..." Eden heard as those in attendance started to clamor, their suspense growing in the air.

However, Eden had to pause for more than just dramatic effect as she felt something else in the air.

It felt like the certain kind of tug that one would feel upon being watched. Which was odd, considering the fact that Eden already had an entire congregation that had been watching her for a couple of minutes now. Although, this was different. It felt like a presence that was not supposed to be there...

The Seraph peered around the Prayer Hall, finding only the eagerly awaiting forms of the Common Angels around her. Eden hummed in thought, 'Must be my imagination.' She thought before continuing to read.

"...Then, on a Truly Blessed day, a Miracle was sent from the Stars to Purify this World. A Boy with a Sinless Heart and a Soul of Pure Light! The One and Only Prophet of Ilias, Luka..."

Eden paused again, the nagging feeling of an unknown presence growing greater once again. This time, however, she could actually feel the air changing. The Seraph twitched, the atmosphere becoming strangely warm. The Angel's in the Temple seemed to feel this sensation too, as they began buzzing about themselves about the rising heat.

Their humming grew into an uproar as suddenly, the Light of the golden clouds that formed the floor of the Temple started to flicker. Eden gasped at the sight, having never seen such a thing before happen in Heaven. Eden shakily lifted her hands up to the panicking congregation in an attempt to calm them down, "Don't worry, my Sisters! I-I'm sure that there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for-"

"Hello."

Eden froze silent, as did all of the Angels inside Heaven's Temple of Ilias. For the Prophet that they had just been speaking of, spoke to them.

Micaela jolted from her seat as she felt something run through her mind. It was faint, but it felt like Luka. She glanced back at the boy resting on her bed to question, but nearly jumped a second time as she saw the state he was in. She could visibly see the sweat pouring off of his forehead, and his formerly pale skin was nearly glowing red now.

'Damn it, it's happening faster than I thought.' The First Seraph lamented, forcing her attention back to the ring now. So far, she had been able to fix most of the crack with her own Magic, but the task was tedious and tiring. Micaela's own forehead had become covered in a layer of sweat from the effort of repairing Luka's seal. Bit by bit, the crack began to disappear as she held her trembling hands out towards the ring before her.

Micaela's arms started to sore, the strain of using her Magic whilst trying to mask it at the same time becoming physically taxing on the Fallen Angel. 'Focus, Micaela. Just a bit more...' She pushed harder, her bright blue eyes flaring as the final remnants of the crack in the ring slowly faded away. '... There, it's done!' She thought, finally able to drop her pain-stricken arms.

The blonde-haired woman's breaths came out in short, labored spurts as she willed herself to her feet, grabbing the now-fixed ring as she did. She turned away from the wooden desk, fiercely clutching her wooden cane as she all but limped toward her nephew. "Luka, it's finished..." She said, nearing the bed as quickly as she could. However, the boy did not call back.

Then, she really took notice of what he was doing.

Before, because of her quick glancing back, she hadn't quite seen what he was doing. But now, she could see that the boy had his hands folded over his chest as if praying. Micaela sped up her steps, reaching the bedside within a couple seconds. "Luka!" She exclaimed, but again he did not answer. Seeing no other polite way of continuing, Micaela took his left hand and forced it up, sliding the silver band over his left pointer finger. The effect was immediate.

Luka's eyes flew open, his pale blue gaze searching the ceiling for a moment before locking onto Micaela. "O-Oh, hi Micaela..." He looked over his hand, still clutched in her own. Still lying down, the boy tilted his head as he noticed that his ring was back on. "...Ah, did you..." He paused, not entirely certain what the older woman had actually done. Swiftly, she came up with a haphazard explanation.

"I helped stabilize your Magic, it was..." She stopped to think for a moment, "...It wasn't dispersing through your body properly, as it was all locking up in your left arm, which is why you were having so much pain there. But all is well now, I believe." Luka smiled as he sat up and stared down at the arm in question. The redness and burning were still there a bit, but it was going down steadily by the moment.

"Wow, thank you, Micaela. I was wondering why that was giving me so much issue..." He looked up to Micaela but his thankful look very quickly became worried as he noticed how ragged the woman looked now. "...Hey, are you alright? You're all red and sweaty."

The older woman stammered a bit, trying to figure out a good enough answer for the strain she was under. Eventually, she found it when she thought back to Lucifina, Luka's Mother. It felt a bit tasteless to borrow her sister's affliction as an explanation, but it would have to do. "A-Ah, you see, Luka..." She shuffled to the side beside the boy, mostly because her legs felt like they were about to fall underneath her. "...I have an illness similar to what your Mother had. It causes great strain on my body."

Immediately, Luka's pale blue eyes darkened, a great sadness coming to his gaze. He looked down at the woman's wooden cane, now understanding why she had it. "I see..." He closed his mouth, the idea of talking becoming very difficult all of a sudden. Luka had seen what his Mother's sickness had done to her. She'd never told him, but he always knew in the back of his mind that the pain was slowly eating away at her as the years went by. He could tell that much in the way she moved around like a woman ten times her age.

Micaela's face scrunched up into a weak wince at the sight of her nephew's downcast face. She felt bad to remind the boy of his Mother, but it wasn't completely a lie. From her knowledge, Lucifina had become weakened over time because of her sealing away her powers, something that she remained stubborn about never unsealing.

Micaela, on the other hand, had never fully sealed her powers. She just masked them. However, after helping her younger sister attack Heaven, the First Great Seraph found herself having trouble as well.

At first, there hadn't been any noticeable issue, but after a couple of years, Micaela found that she seemed to be getting weaker. The Fallen Angel had not figured out why this was the case but she had taken steps to mitigate the side effects. One such step taken was the wooden cane she used to walk. Micaela placed a hand on Luka, "Don't let that bother you, Luka. I've managed my illness just fine for a while now."

The young Hero looked up to his Aunt, a half-hearted smile coming to his face as he responded, "I-I know. I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a bit too worrying. It's just..." He trailed off, breaking eye contact to stare down at his hands. "...Even if I don't really know you that well, you still feel like family to me..."

Micaela frowned, she felt such joy at him somehow subconsciously knowing the true nature of their relationship, but she also felt intensely bitter because of Ilias forbidding the Former Seraph from revealing this fact to Luka. Micaela brushed an errant lock of hair out of her face as she leaned closer to him. "Well, as I had said before, I was very close to your parents. So, if nothing else, you are family to me."

Luka met her gaze once more, his pale blue eyes looking deep into her own. He felt conflicted. On one hand, he felt a strong desire to embrace this woman. But on the other hand, the idea of doing such a thing to someone he's only met twice seemed a bit personal, even for him...

...Micaela grunted in shock, her wide eyes looking down as Luka wrapped his arms around her tightly, his face buried in her side. The Fallen Angel's arms were held out and away from him for a moment, the woman herself not completely used to such physical affection. But slowly, she allowed herself to return the gesture, her arms cradling him gingerly. At the back of her mind, Micaela wondered why Ilias had yet to say anything about this, as it was almost certainly too familiar for her to be doing.

But truthfully, she didn't care.

After a silent few moments, Luka released Micaela. His face was flushed, and he couldn't face her, but a small smile shone on his face. "I'm s-sorry," He said, "It... just felt right." Micaela moved to stand, pushing herself up with both hands.

"No need to apologize. I did not mind it..." She turned as she stood, "...Though I suppose that you may want to get going on your journey, now. That, and I'm sure that your friend down there has probably gotten impatient by now."

Luka stood with her as he replied, "Yeah, just let me try that technique of your's again first." Micaela nodded, standing back as he took up position in front of her bedroom door. The purple-haired Hero clasped his hands in front of his chest while Micaela looked on with her eyes steeled for any noticeable issues.

"Shield of Heaven."

After being uttered, the same white-colored translucent dome appeared around Luka. Micaela was still a bit confused as to why his usage of the shield was colored differently from her own, but she was happy nonetheless to see that the form was much more stable this time. Indeed, the walls of the barrier were shaped perfectly and there were no random bursts of energy going off inside the dome this time either.

Luka grinned, "Hey, I'm not feeling any pain at all, Micaela! Whatever you did really worked!" The First Seraph smiled warmly as Luka dropped the spell.

"That's good to hear, you seem to be doing a lot better now compared to the first time. Now that technique should serve you well." Micaela said, walking closer to the boy. She stopped, her expression suddenly flipping and becoming more serious. "Be sure to remember the two things I told you about Shield of Heaven..."

Luka looked up at her intently as she raised a finger. "...It isn't infallible, so a strong enough attack will break it." She raised a second finger. "And it isn't a one-way barrier, so don't try launching attacks from the inside. Understand?"

Luka nodded vigorously, "Yes, I understand..." He shuffled from foot to foot, "...Well, I should be going now. Got a long journey ahead of me." Micaela stared at him for a moment, looking over the boy with somber eyes. It was almost funny how much he resembled his parents. Obviously, the purple hair was a dead giveaway to his lineage and relation to Marcellus, but the softness of his face and eyes showed much of Lucifina as well.

'Lucifina...'

Micaela sighed, shaking away the thought. The First Seraph still had no idea how to even approach that particular issue. For all Micaela knew, getting Lucifina out of the Sealed Sinner's Prison was outside of her own means. The act of sending someone there surely took a titanic amount of power and reversing the process certainly took at least the same amount. '...I know Ilias has taken another Angel out of there once before, but however she did it is beyond my knowledge.'

"Hey, Micaela? You're doing that staring-off-into-space thing again." The Fallen Angel broke away from her thoughts, her gaze focusing back on her concerned nephew. The First Seraph forced a small smile on her face, "Oh, nothing Luka. Just lost in my thoughts once again. Here, it's about time to see you off, I think..."

One step at a time. As much as it pained Micaela to think, Lucifina will have to be on the backburner for now. Right now, all that mattered was trying to do what she could to help Luka.

Alice's fingers drummed on the table as she sat there, impatiently waiting for Luka to return.

Sitting before her was a now-empty plate of what used to be strawberry scones.

Of course, the disguised Lamia hadn't enjoyed eating them, it hadn't been a lie when she claimed that they were awful. Well, maybe awful was a bit strong, but she had most definitely had eaten better in the past. However, they were edible, and Alice was hungry, so it was a worthy enough sacrifice for her indomitable appetite. But now the pathetic pastries were gone, and the Monster Lord's hunger had not gone away yet.

'What the Hell is taking them so long? What type of family technique needs so much time?' Alice grumbled in her mind. She raised a black-gloved hand to her forehead, rubbing her temples to fight back the headache starting to form.

It was true that, perhaps, Alice was being a bit moodier than usual. But she couldn't help it. Ever since they had gotten to Enrika, it felt as though a thousand warning bells were going off in her head. The Monster presence she felt, the sudden and suspicious disappearance of it right after, the way Luka was acting, and that woman.

Something was wrong with that Micaela character, Alice just knew it. The blonde woman had a weird energy about her, something that struck Alice as strange from the start. And for some reason, it was extremely irritating. That, and the nerve of the woman to start telling her, the Monster Lord herself, how to keep proper etiquette! She knew very well what manners were, but that wasn't quite the reason why she was there.

'To lecture me on such a thing, when you can't even make proper scones! The gall!' Alice thought, her golden eyes glaring at the crumbs left behind on the small plate. 'At least Luka's tea was good, that's been the only culinary grace I've been given today...' The disguised Lamia paused at the thought, her finger running around the rim of the currently empty glass before her.

That was another oddity. That morning, the Ama-Ama Dango had tasted awful compared to the first time she had eaten it, which made no sense at all to her. How could it taste divine one day, then awful the other? And it wasn't just the dumpling, the Happiness Honey itself had tasted bland, as if all its sweetness had been sucked out completely. '...Well, they had seemed to rush it. Those Humans at the Sutherlands probably just botched the whole thing trying to get it done fast.'

Satisfied with her own answer, Alice reclined in her chair as the sound of a door opening resounded from the upper floor. She lazily moved her eyes from the plate to the hallway holding the staircase. With the passing of a few more seconds, Alice could hear Luka talking.

"...And thanks for showing me that, Micaela. I'm feeling a lot better now." The creaking of the wooden stairs sounded out as the two started descending the steps. "It's funny, I think that it kind of helped me loosen up some, too. Before, I was feeling so tense." Alice couldn't stop herself from lifting an eyebrow at his words, and she began listening a bit closer as Micaela replied to him.

"That's why it's good to practice, it can keep you from getting too pent up, so to speak. I'd help show you a couple more times, but I know you need to be on your way." The pair came into view soon after, and Alice's gaze became much more suspicious upon seeing them. Luka, for his part, seemed to have been sweating as his forehead was shining in the light coming through the kitchen window. In fact, it looked as if Micaela had been sweating, too...

...That, combined with the particular wording of their conversation, was making the disguised Lamia a lot more suspicious of what type of "technique" Micaela was showing the boy upstairs...

Luka looked over to Alice, noticing her somewhat perturbed expression. Misinterpreting her distress, he raised up a hand playfully. "I know Alice, I know. I'm ready to go, now. If we're quick, we should be able to reach Iliasport at a good time." Alice silently looked between the two, now noticing the light red tint the pair's skin seemed to have. A telltale skin of physical exertion. Alice frowned, her mind connecting the dots in a very different way than what actually happened.

"As long as you're done having your fun." She nearly spat, causing the boy to flinch some. "I wouldn't wish to hold you up." Micaela looked at Alice in confusion, before peering down at Luka who seemed equally as confused by his traveling partner's behavior. "Well," The blonde woman began, "I'll see you two out, then..."

The trio's walk to Micaela's front door was short and quiet, an awkward air hanging around them now. Luka silently grabbed his stuff, not-so-subtly giving Alice a sideways glance as he did. His white-haired traveling partner gave no indication of noticing his worrying and continued forward, brashly pushing open Micaela's front door and striding out without any fanfare.

The First Seraph watched with concern as Luka followed Alice outside. She could tell that there was a growing tension coming from the girl, but she couldn't for the life of herself understand why that would be. 'Were the scones really that awful?' Micaela thought to herself, halfway believing that her somewhat fumbled baking job was actually the source of the other girl's displeasure.

Once the whole trio had made it outside, Luka turned to face Micaela one last time. He looked up to the First Seraph with a bittersweet gaze. The purple-haired boy didn't necessarily want to leave so quickly, but he did have a journey to continue.

Micaela met his gaze with similar feelings. Being his only currently available family, she felt a responsibility to keep him safe. However, it seemed as if she wouldn't be able to do that much. 'At the very least, Shield of Heaven should help keep him safe...' It was a seemingly small consolation, and it didn't help her feel that much better, but it was the best she could hope for at the moment.

Alice, naturally, just stood by Luka's side with an uninterested look on her face. Which, in a way, was an upgrade from how she appeared before.

"I suppose this is goodbye, then. I wish you luck on your... quest." Micaela said, the idea of her nephew traveling across the World to fight the Monster Lord leaving an unsavory taste in her mouth. She had wanted to ask the boy about his intentions, but without being able to tell how closely Ilias was listening, she didn't want to possibly endanger Luka.

The young Hero nodded, "Thank you, Micaela. I'll do my best!" He proclaimed, halfway lifting a fist into the air as he did. The Fallen Angel noticed that Alice's gaze had morphed from disinterest to something more conflicted, an observation that caused Micaela to take a small pause before refocusing on Luka. She smiled down at him, "Just make sure to come visit when you're done, alright?"

Quite suddenly, Luka's look of determination faltered as he dropped his fist. "...Yeah, I'll try to do that..." Micaela frowned at the swift change of demeanor, but the boy continued before she could question it. "...Alright, let's get going, Alice. Goodbye, Micaela." He said with half-hearted energy.

With little fanfare, the odd duo turned away from Micaela and started leaving her behind. "Goodbye... my nephew..." Micaela whispered to herself, her bright blue eyes watching the retreating form of her nephew, her only reachable living family, walk away and out of her life for the foreseeable future. There was so much more the First Seraph needed to say, so much she wanted to do.

But that would have to wait until next time.

After a couple more minutes, the silhouettes of Luka and Alice disappeared from sight, leaving the Fallen Angel mostly alone. She gave a somewhat undignified groan, releasing the excess nervous energy from her body. 'Maybe I should take the rest of the day off for once...' She thought, remembering with a bit of embarrassment how Luka had almost seen what she was reading. 'Good thing he didn't, that would be very difficult to explain.'

Luka and Alice walked in silence, the pair having not said much since departing from the small village. To Luka's dismay, Alice seemed to be all the more upset, her strides not slowing in the least even though they could no longer see the village. He wanted to say something, but he wasn't exactly sure what to say. After all, as far as he knew, he hadn't done anything to make her mad.

'Come to think of it, that happens more often than not.' He thought, thinking back to how he had an uncanny ability to make the disguised Lamia upset over seemingly unknown reasons. He let out a small breath, resigning himself to the fact that more likely than not, he'll find out pretty soon what that is. In the meantime, Luka took a look around his surroundings, seeing as the small collection of trees fell away into the small field of grass before Enrika's entrance.

In the near distance, Luka saw the large and low-hanging tree standing tall and proud in the middle of the clearing. He looked at it with a bemused look in his eyes as, even with reuniting with Michaela and remembering this landmark, he still felt the nagging sense that there was something he was still missing. Not quite as important as Micaela, but something more unassuming? Or rather, something more typical.

The young Hero's own description of it didn't help much, but there was another memory buried in there. A fragment that had been missing before. 'Let's see...' He thought as he retraced his own steps in his memory. '...My Mother burnt soup... somehow... So, my Father brought us here to wait.' He scanned the grass, before eyeing a small stick in the grass, much like the one his own Father had given him when he was here last.

Luka continued closer to the tree, Alice still huffily stomping forward ahead of him. He continued to run through every detail of that day, 'My Father fell asleep after a while, and I drew in the dirt to pass the time.' He was within a meter of the tree, seeing the small patch of dirt surrounding the tree in question. He examined the tree again, but while it pulled at his mind the same as before, it didn't give him any answers.'

"Hmmm..." He hummed, now determined to figure out the small piece of a long-forgotten puzzle. He glanced down in the dirt once again, thinking back to what he was drawing. "...I drew my name right around here." He mumbled, poking the dirt lightly with the small stick. He furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, the ordinary detail jutting out to him for some reason.

"Why did I do that?" He asked nobody in particular. It wasn't some super strange thing, Luka figured that most kids would draw or spell in the dirt as a pastime, but he felt as though he wouldn't do it for simply no reason at all. Mirroring his movements from when he was a toddler, Luka spelled out his name in the dirt.

"L-U-K-A!" He quietly exclaimed with each passing letter. However, this did not give him any answer, either. "Eh, guess that's not it eith-" He stopped talking to himself as he heard the tall grass in front of him rustle. He lifted his gaze up, peering into the underbrush ahead of himself. He shuffled a bit, his boots scrunching up the dirt a bit as he did.

Then, suddenly, it all came back to him.

The nearly-four-year-old Luka listened to the soft sound of his Father sleeping away behind him and the breeze blowing around him feeling his ears. He twiddled the small twig in his hands a bit, feeling the bumps and knots in its form as he drew endless curves in the dirt. The boy's large blue eyes followed his own movements to a tee, everything else falling away as he ended up revolving around with his own movement.

Rustle Rustle

Luka paused, hearing something moving around in the field of grass beside him. He looked as far as he could into it, but could not find the source of the noise. He felt a small pang of worry, looking back to the tree his Father was sleeping against. He thought about going to wake him up, but more rustling brought his attention back to the grass.

He flinched a bit, seeing that now the source of the sound was standing right before him.

Instead of an animal, there was a girl. She stood about a half-head taller than him and had a head of white hair that fell just below her cheeks. He tilted his head a bit, finding the color of her hair to be a bit of an oddity. She tilted her head in the same direction, her dull brown eyes following his own. Luka hummed quietly as he noticed that her ears seemed to be pointed.

From her shoulders hung a mid-sized green dress, a cute little gold trim outlining its bottom edge. The bottom of her clothing billowed around her knees as another soft burst of wind blew through. He looked back up to the girl's face, her eyes watching him as intently as he was her.

"Hey..." She said, putting her hands on her hips. "...You're a Human!" She exclaimed as if just realizing this.

Luka became confused at his proclamation, not quite understanding her comment as he didn't realize that she was not Human. So he just nodded in agreement. The girl walked up to him, the movement making him realize that she wasn't wearing any shoes, either.

The girl looked down at the ground, noticing the boy's drawings. "Ohh, you're good at that..." She lifted her brown-eyed gaze to him once more. "...What's you're name? Mine's Lona!" Luka suddenly became very nervous, he wasn't very used to talking to other people, especially other kids. He never got to play with other kids back home, since their parents always avoided his family.

Luka opened his mouth to give Lona his name, but no words came out.

Lona blinked at his wordless display, "You do know your name, right?" Luka frowned, of course he knew his name. He just couldn't say it. After a moment more of trying to force his tongue to speak, he thought of a way to get around actually speaking. The young boy shuffled until he was facing parallel to the girl and began to draw in the dirt. Lona watched him move, her eyes lightening up when she realized what he was doing.

"L...U...K...A..." Lona said out loud as moved, "...Oh, Luka! That's your name?" She asked, gaining a vigorous nod from the purple-haired boy.

She grinned, "Well, Luka, do you wanna-"

"MARCELLUS!" A voice yelled out, the same one that had been panicking with his Mother earlier.

Luka turned to the sound of the voice, hearing Lona give a small "Eep!" of surprise. Then, he heard his Father give a great snort as he jerked awake.

"Uh-Huh, what!?" His Father exclaimed, looking all around in a tired haze. The man stood up, pushing off the tree as he ascended. Luka looked at his Father in alarm before turning back to where Lona had been standing. He frowned as just barely caught the sight of her green dress disappearing into the grass...

Luka stared into the grass, much like he had thirteen years ago. Except, this time, there was no retreating figure of a small Elf girl.

Just grass.

'So, that's how we knew each other?' Luka thought, 'No wonder I only vaguely recognized her, I hadn't really known her for longer than a couple minutes.' It was strange to think that he'd met the Elf so long ago, right there where he stood. It did make him wonder if he and the girl could've been friends if their interaction had been just a bit longer.

She would've been his first friend, too.

"Hey, are you coming or are you going to keep staring at dirt!?" Alice's voice nagged at him, pulling Luka from his musing. He looked over to the disguised Lamia, who seemed to be pretty well at her wit's end at this point. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" He yelled, jogging over to his traveling partner before she completely lost her cool.

Alice groaned loudly, no attempts being made to hide her displeasure. "Ugh, just keep moving! Remember that you still owe me for this; especially when I never even got good food out of it!"

Luka frowned at her comment, "It wasn't all that bad, Alice. We didn't get the best food in the World. But it was about average, at least. That," He said, lifting a finger. "And I really like that technique Micaela showed me."

Alice's anger seemed to bubble over at his statement, "Oh, I'm sure." Luka felt absolutely bewildered at the icy remark, watching in silence as Alice stomped ahead once more, toward the forest surrounding Enrika.

Luka stared at his white-haired friend as she neared the forest. The poor Hero, still not realizing how egregious Alice's misunderstanding of the technique was, called out to her. "Well, it kinda hurt the first time. But Micaela seemed to think I was performing much better the second time around!" Alice said nothing in response, her golden-eyed glare nearly burning holes through the forest in front of her.

The leaves of the isolated tree in the grass field behind Luka and Alice shook, a small pair of awfully familiar brown eyes watching them enter the forest to exit Enrika for good.

Once they had disappeared into the thicket, the small - and now thankfully clothed - body of the sealed Lona dropped from the tree, scampering off into the grass to follow.

So Luka's Magic has been re-sealed and stabilized, no more arm pain every time he has a fight now. To put it in perspective, the ring was actively cracking open just to hold in his power before. Thanks to Micaela, this will no longer be the case. So his Magic won't be harming his body for a while.

As you may be able to tell from the opening to this Chapter, things are about to get more interesting with Ilias and Heaven. The downward spiral for the Goddess of Light will be going into a complete nosedive as she starts to become more depraved.

So that'll be fun.

Also, expect for Luka's interactions with Angels to get much more prominent as we go on. As this won't be the only instance of him talking to Heaven. Which will yet another layer onto everything going on in this insane little story of mine.

Deadinside378: Most definitely. The more they interact with him, the more they start to consider him as someone as important as Ilias herself. That is, after all, part of why I introduced Ilias's Six Commandments to Angels all the way back in Chapter 1. And Commandment Number 4 will be most definitely called into question, as Luka himself slowly becomes the titular "False Idol".

Guest: Oh we're still somewhat tame with Ilias here, things will just keep on getting worse. As for her relationship with Heinrich, I'll say that it was a lot different than her relationship with Luka. Which is something I'll dive into as we see Heinrich more and more often.

Guest: Probably not, as for while Luka's bloodline technically does have Monster in it, in this story Luka himself does not. He only has Human and Angel blood. There's a very significant storyline reason for this, but I can't reveal that just now.

espioll: Yeah, the next time Alice and Micaela see each other, things will be quite awkward.

Basically, Ilias doesn't see Micaela as a threat because she believes that Luka will easily be able to cut down anyone who stands in Ilias's way. But That's only as long as Luka keeps "following" her.

Luka's call to Heaven, in essence, was a prayer from him to all the Angels in Heaven. So it was powerful, but not quite enough to kill him. Though it brought him very close to harming himself. Which is why Micaela's save with the seal was so timely.

And I wanted to give Luka something more in terms of protecting himself. Shield of Heaven and Meditation will be two very important spells as we go on. In fact, Shield of Heaven is going to play a very important part to the climax of this story. So keep that in the back of your mind.