Chapter 4: A landmass veiled in darkness
"The 8th is proving quite interesting"
"Will we need to intervene?"
"No, he will proceed as we have planned. A few detours mean nothing."-? And ?
Things seemed strange when we arrived on Lastation. In the first place the air quality was far worse than in Planeptune (according to IF it was worse than the last time she was here) and when we arrived in the city The place was dark, dreary and depressing. the people seemed absolutely miserable. When I asked if this was normal IF said it was unnatural and the people were acting unlike how they normally would.
The new continent was only partially as the book had stated; 'regal' was not exactly the word I would use to describe it. Being that we had questions in dire need of answering, we went to the guild. only to be kicked out the door for lacking some sort of permit. "that's not normal, right?" I asked. "Definitely not, somethings up, and I don't know what." IF replied with a grimace "What do we do now iffy?" Compa asked. But before she could answer, IF was interrupted by Neptune. "Well obviously we do a bit'a sleuthin'!" I facepalmed at her loud declaration (dammit Neptune, we're in the middle of a well populated city!) "Announce it to the public why don't you." IF responded sarcastically, thinking the same as me.
Despite her obliviousness to our current location, Neptune's idea was a good one. So we did in fact decide to do some 'sleuthin'. For a while our efforts were in vain, but then we checked out the Basilicom. "Heya buddy any idea where we can find Lady Black Heart? Its reaallly important." Neptune asked one of the male staff members. "I don't know and I don't care, now buzz off brat!" the man responded, clearly irritated. (aren't the people of Lastation supposed to worship Lady Black Heart?) after hearing the man's dismissal of the resident goddess we quickly left, not wishing to attract any attention. Along the way we decided to visit a place called 'Passe' as the place advertised food, a fact which got Neptune's attention.
The place's interior was designed like a mix of a restaurant and a bar despite looking like a factory from the outside. As soon as we entered through the doors, we sat down at the bar to order food. The one serving us turned out to be the owner, her name was Chian. After ordering our food, Neptune initiated a conversation with her. "Hey Chian, the people around here are all moody-like, what's up with that?" the owner took a few seconds to think before she replied "that's Avenir's doing I'm afraid, they've been putting so many people out of work that most businesses around here have had to close up. The lack of jobs around here has everyone miserable." (Avenir?) before I could do so myself, IF asked a question. "What's 'Avenir'?". "they're the biggest manufacturing company on Lastation in recent years, they've managed to replace almost all manual labour. thanks to that, many have lost their jobs. There are even rumours of how they've even managed to replace Basilicom staff with their agents."
"What about the monster problem, are they at least taking precautions?" I asked. The city still stood, so they must have done something. "I guess so? I don't know much. They've managed to seize the guild, making it so the only way to do quests is through them. Because of that the people around here can't even become adventurers without being involved with that damn company." she replied. "So, they essentially have a monopoly on everything in Lastation?" IF asked. Chian took a moment before responding. "I'm afraid so. Even my business is suffering because of them. Due to the monopoly they have on most resources, I'm having trouble staying out of the red. It's only due to a friend of mine who works for Avenir that I'm still able to work." (That bad?) "Miss Chian, what about the Goddess? Can't she do something about it?" Compa asked.
"That's the thing, she hasn't. Despite the fact that her people are clearly suffering due to Avenir's actions, she hasn't done anything to help." the owner replied with a grimace. "Wouldn't that be counterintuitive? I thought that the 4 Goddesses were powered by faith, wouldn't that mean that she would do something based on that alone? It's not like the people of Lastation will continue to believe in her if she does nothing to help them." Neptune questioned, shocking us all at her use of vocabulary. "D-did Nep-Nep just say something smart?" Compa asked, saying what the rest of us were thinking. "Say what now? I was just Copying something Zeddy told me." (That explains it, who knew she took my words seriously.)
Ignoring our surprise at Neptune's sudden intelligent speech, Chian continued. "Exactly! That's why I think there's something sinister going on here. The Goddess I know wouldn't let Avenir go as far as they have. Thankfully there's still something that can be done." "And what is that exactly?" I asked. "The Lastation tech expo, whoever wins it gets to meet Lady Black Heart in person. If I can win that, I can tell her directly what's going on here and maybe get some answers." (I'm sensing a 'But' here.) "But thanks to Avenir, I haven't managed to gather the materials needed for my project." (There it is.)
"What about that friend of yours? Couldn't they help you out?" IF asked. Chian sighed before replying. "Nope, he can't gather the materials himself and Avenir isn't exactly going to part with any, especially a fellow competitor in the expo." "What if we were to get them?" Compa suggested, as we all flashed Chian our adventurer cards. "Not a bad idea kid, thanks." with our next plan of action settled, we ironed out the details. The material we were to gather was something called 'mythril' apparently it was a material found in abundance in a specific mine called 'Solsac cave'. Just before we were about to head out however, Chian got a call.
After a few minutes, she placed her phone down and began to explain what exactly the call was about. "That was my associate in Avenir, apparently, he's discovered a research facility that's been having a suspicious number of in and out shipments, and whatever they're shipping Can't be good considering they won't even tell him what it is. My friend isn't the highest on the corporate ladder but something as simple as what is being shipped inside and outside of an Avenir-owned facility shouldn't be something they would normally be secretive about."
Her words got me thinking. On one hand we could investigate the facility ourselves and maybe get an inkling of what the hell Avenir's working on. on the other however, we still had that material to find, and there's a possibility that Avenir could stop what they're doing by the time we were done with Chian's request. (Maybe we could split up? It's not as if the others are helpless, they can handle themselves.) "How about one of us goes to infiltrate the facility while the others go to obtain the mythril?" I suggested.
"How about I-" Before Neptune could potentially suggest she herself go, I interrupted. "No, we need someone responsible, not someone who'd get caught easily due to being loud." she pouted at my explanation but nodded in agreement regardless. Before IF and Compa could volunteer, I spoke up again, "not you two either, while you're a professional IF, you're also well known to the guild, and considering Avenir have control over the one in Lastation, we can't risk you being found out. Compa, you're just not fit for infiltration, not to mention we don't know what's down there, for all we know there could be a strong monster in that facility. And before you mention that you're no pushover, I know. But you're more of a healer than a fighter. I doubt Solsac cave is free of monsters, therefore you'll be needed in case the others get injured."
"But what if you get hurt?" Neptune asked with a slight bit of worry. "I can heal myself, I'll be fine, besides you've seen me fight, do you really think a mere monster could take me out so easily?" I responded. "...no..." she replied. With that taken care of I turned my attention to Suzaku, who was flying behind me. "I need you to go with the others, Goddess' knows IF needs someone else with a level head to deal with the other two." he nodded his head at my order, green eyes filled with determination. "Good boy." I praised, stroking the feathers and scales on the top of his head, making him chirp in happiness at my praise.
Suzaku had grown a bit over the few days since Compa and I found him, he was now too big to perch himself on my shoulder, so he resorted to just flying behind me. Despite being only a few days old he was surprisingly intelligent, able to understand and complete the tasks I gave him. When researching what exactly he was, IF couldn't find any information, even with her access to Guild resources. So even now he remained a mystery.
Once our plan was complete and our next set of actions secured. Our next task was to secure a place to sleep. Conveniently Chian had a few spare rooms, and she was kind enough to let us stay, for a fee of course. being the gentleman i was, I paid for our rooms, reminding myself to go monster hunting at a later date to acquire more funds. after talking a bit more about her business, we found out that Chian was a jack-of-all-trades kind of woman, seeing as her business also covered weapon production. She then went on to explain what she needed the mythril for, she was making a weapon. A sword to be precise, and if everything was to go her way the weapon would be good enough to win the tech expo.
After she was done with her explanation, Chian recommended we rest for the night, as it was getting late. A fact that was hard to properly see for ourselves, considering all the pollution. "Okay Neptune, time for bed." "Awww, do I have to?" "Yes!". With Neptune convinced, we all went to bed.
"Hold on for a sec."
Or at least that was the plan. Before I could go to bed myself, Chian called me over. "You sure you want to go through with this? You're putting yourself in great danger. I won't blame you if you decide not to." I didn't take long to reply. "Yes, it was my idea. Besides all this pollution is unsightly. Hopefully whatever Avenir have in that facility of theirs is enough to incriminate them." she took a moment to process what I said before speaking again, this time with a look of upmost seriousness that contrasted greatly with her earlier look of concern.
"If by any chance you get caught, tell them nothing. If they threaten to torture you, say you were working alone and was just curious on what they were doing. My friend stuck his neck out for me to get that info, I won't risk him getting hurt because you failed to do your part." she was right of course. Whoever her friend was, he took a risk giving us that information. I could not afford to fail. "Of course." I said patting her on the shoulder "I'm not going to fail, I promise." she replied immediately "Thank you." afterwards I left to go to bed myself, I had a big day ahead of me.
/
The next morning was uneventful. We all got up, went downstairs, and had breakfast, which Chian made. Compa, Neptune and IF prepared for their mission before leaving, each giving me a hug before they did so. Suzaku followed quickly after. With just me and Chian in the room, I began to make preparations of my own. "Here, these should help." I looked towards the speaker, then to what her hands were holding. She held a sword and a note. "you'll be needing directions, and a weapon in case things get hairy." I took the offered supplies, giving Chian my thanks afterwards. She went behind her desk and into the factory part of the building before coming back again a few minutes later. "Take this as well, it'll record whatever you find in that damn facility." the device she handed me was a small camera, it had a strap that I could use to attach the device to my body.
looking at the note, the first half was directions to the facility itself while the second half was directions for a way to enter the building unhindered. With the note read, I did a quick once-over before leaving, making sure the sword was strapped to my trousers and the camera was strapped to my shirt. The sword might seem redundant, considering my arsenal, but my usual swords would be overkill on human opponents and weren't exactly inconspicuous. Therefore, a backup weapon could be useful.
The journey to the facility was uneventful, as since I decided to go during the day there was less security, the pollution helping my cause by darkening the area. Once I had reached the facility, I sneaked to the side of the building and re-read the second half of the note Chian gave me. ('Broken vent just big enough for a person to fit through' hmm?) as the note stated, there was a broken vent that I manged to fit through. From there I managed to get myself inside the building and eventually exited the vent and into a lab of sorts.
The lab was as generic as they come, having lab equipment and a few computers. Going to one of the PC's I noticed it was left on, it might have been a little suspicious, but it was an opportunity to learn more about Avenir's possible experiments. Deciding to take the risk, I navigated through the computers' files. And eventually I found something. The folder name was 'Project:Ascension'. looking through the files, I discovered that Avenir, along with producing machines, were experimenting with monsters.
The files suggested that they would make human 'volunteers' consume the flesh of monsters, afterwards injecting them with a serum they called 'Numen Cellulis'. The results they recorded didn't paint a pleasant picture. Most subjects ended up rapidly mutating into mindless monsters themselves, before being terminated and branded a 'failed attempt'. Out of the 13 attempts only one was branded as successful. Looking further into the files there were videos, 13 of them to be exact. Turning on the camera Chian gave me, I started the first video.
"Subject:1. The subject has consumed Fenris meat before being injected with Numen Cellulis. 2 minutes After consuming the meat, subject has complained of stomach pains and auditory hallucinations, but was given the all clear for continued testing. Once the serum was administered, rapid changes occurred in the subject. Rapid hair growth occurred all over the subjects body, other changes include sudden growth of a pair of canine ears and tail. The changes stopped occurring for exactly half an hour before continuing. The subject's body began to produce claws reminiscent of canines on their fingers and toes."
The sight and sounds of the poor subject screaming in pain as the changes occurred was horrifying, the entire ordeal was a crime against nature. What came next however, was even worse.
"After 2 more minutes the subject appeared to become unstable, their body began to exhibit changes that differed greatly from before."
The subjects' skin began to bloat slightly, before sections of it began to burst open. The open wounds spewing a sickly black and yellow liquid. The subjects eyes turned a similar colouration, the iris turning yellow and the sclera pitch black.
"This lasted for 1 minute before the subject dissolved completely into a mass of furred flesh." Even as an incoherent mass, the abomination still moved, making noises that conveyed agony.
"Subject was then deemed a failure and was swiftly terminated." The scientists voice remained monotone throughout the video. Even as another person stepped into frame and shot the subject dead, the scientists showed no emotion.
I quickly clicked off the video after that.
"W-what the fuck." I was disgusted, I was mortified. What they had done was nothing short of monstrous. Despite how I felt however, I continued to click on the next video. I may not like what I saw, but this was evidence of their crimes. Even if I mentally scarred myself in the process, I had to continue.
The rest of the videos were no better. The other subjects all ended the same way as the first, as they mutated into abominations before being killed.
The 13th video however was different. The subject started out the same way, but the mutations didn't go out of control, instead they stabilised after a certain point. Eventually leading to the subject retaining a mostly human form. The 13th subject had consumed the flesh of something called a 'Hannibal' before being administered the serum. The subject quickly began to mutate. twin horns protruded from their forehead, sharp claws grew from their fingers, a scaly shield-like growth appeared on their right arm, and a long scaly tail appeared behind it. The growths were pitch-black with purple highlights.
"Subject 13 has passed out, but mutations have halted. Subject 13 is the first subject to remain stable after mutating. The higher ups have confirmed Subject 13 as a success."
The scientists' voice was as monotone as it began, and the video ended with Subject 13 being dragged off by what I presumed to be a member of staff. I stopped the recording and sat down on the floor, giving myself a moment to process just what the fuck I just witnessed.
After taking a moment, I began to think. (Why would Avenir do this? What do they have to gain?) my head was filled to the brim with questions, so I continued searching through the computer for answers. After scrolling through the files, I eventually came across a folder labelled 'Numen Cellulis synthesis'. Opening the file, I was able to discover just what the serum was made of. The first few ingredients were multiple types of nutrients, vitamins and minerals that the human body would need to survive: protein, glucose, vitamin A, etcetera. the last two ingredients however were unknown to me, two substances called 'Black Blood' and 'Ichor'.
Before I could ponder on what exactly they were, Rex spoke up. ('ichor' the blood of the divine, to use such a substance for something such as this is beyond sickening.) (Blood of the divine...) then it hit me. (Lady Black Heart! the only way for them to get their hands on Ichor would be if they had access to a goddess!) that must have meant that somewhere in this facility lied the goddess of Lastation. Considering that there would be no reason for any of the other three goddesses to be anywhere near the foreign landmass as well as Lady Black Hearts' disappearance, it made sense.
Searching through the computer files yet again, I was able to learn where they were keeping her, as well as what they referred to her as. 'Ichor progenitor' was her designation and she was being kept in research lab 6. with her location now known to me, I began to move.
The hallways of the inside of the facility weren't nearly as guarded as I expected. There were only a scant few guards that I had to deal with myself. Fortunately, the ones I had to deal with seemed to be either new recruits or untrained, because I was able to knock them out fairly easily. The rest of the journey was suspiciously easy, with there being even fewer guards as I got closer and closer to lab 6. (Why? surely Avenir isn't that incompetent?) my question was answered when I arrived near the entrance to where the goddess was being held. Right in front of the entrance to lab 6 was a monster, or rather something that used to be human. It seems Avenir saw fit to use their only successful experiment as a guard. Thankfully I was able to hide behind a corner before the...thing? Was able to see me. This gave me some time to plan my next move.
Avenir put that thing here for a reason, meaning someone or something important must have been in the room behind it. The problem was that Avenir was clearly confident in its ability to guard whatever was in the room behind it, seeing as there was little to no guards on the way here. (This won't be easy) (do you require my aid?) (No, I can handle this. I just need to think of a plan.) considering that accepting Rex's help had consequences last time, I wasn't exactly eager to do so.
The creature blocking my path looked exactly as it had in the video, the physique of a male human with the features and eyes of a monster the likes of which I had hadn't seen since the Kyuubi. Looking straight into its eyes there was an incredibly faint glimmer of what appeared to be the last dregs of the man's humanity. What was left of it appeared to be in immense agony. The rest of its body was idle, standing guard in front of the door to my destination.
From what I could tell, any plan that would involve appealing to whatever was left of the creatures' sentience would prove to be nothing but futile. sneaking past wasn't a valid option either, seeing as the hallway was narrow. Which left only one option.
I had to kill him.
I expected myself to feel disgusted at the thought of ending its life, but I suppose seeing what was done to it and just how much agony it was in, had changed things.
I offered a quick prayer for his salvation. Then I moved, as did it.
I decided quickly to use my regular blades instead of the one Chian provided for me. I had no knowledge of my foe's strength, and underestimating an unknown enemy would be foolish.
My blade caught the surface of the shield-like protrusion on its arm, and I stared at its face. The pain it was clearly in was even more evident up close, but so was its animalistic primal rage at my intrusion. it brought up its clawed left hand in a swiping motion, intent of shredding me to pieces. but I quickly backstepped, avoiding its attack. It let out a snarl of anger before it dashed towards me, thinking quick I tagged the monster, teleported behind it and attempted to slash at its exposed back. This proved futile however, as it swung its tail at me before my attack could land, causing me to be launched into a wall before falling to the ground.
"son...of a bitch."
It hurt, a lot. But I wasn't able to focus on that fact for long, as my foe swiftly turned around to face me and began to quickly close the distance to my current location. Before the beast could get to me, I quickly summoned two more swords and launched them in its direction. My action distracted it long enough for me to gather my bearings and stand back up, ready to continue the fight. To my surprise the monster summoned a javelin of violet flames from its hand before launching the projectile at me.
Fortunately, I managed to block the attack using the flat of sword, causing it to dissipate harmlessly on contact. However, the force behind the attack did cause me to be pushed back a bit. That wasn't the end of it though, because as soon as the attack was dealt with, many more came my way. Numerous violet projectiles were soaring towards me, and in a narrow hallway such as the one I was in, there was no room to dodge. Fortunately, throwing that many attacks at once appeared to be too much for the creature as it took a few seconds to recover. It was during this time period when I acted.
I tagged it once more, teleporting in front of the creature. From there I summoned two blades and stabbed them into the monsters' arms, immobilising it. The humanoid beast tried to struggle, attempting to spew purple flames at me, but it was too late. I had swiftly summoned a third blade and sheathed it within its skull. My foe was finished. As it began to dissipate into black and yellow particles however, a voice rang out.
"Thank...you."
And as soon as it spoke, the voice went silent. My eyes began to sting, and before I knew it, I felt the tears flow down my cheeks. The fight wasn't that difficult, it was far easier than my fight with the Kyuubi. Unlike with the Kyuubi however, my foe wasn't an irredeemable, mindless monster that I needed to slay. But a tortured soul I had to put out of its misery. Something like that wasn't something I could brush off so easily. It took me a few minutes to calm myself down, my silver lining being that his suffering was over and that he could finally rest.
I however, could not. I had a goddess to save. Once I had calmed down, I walked towards the entrance to research lab 6, and opened the door. Revealing the person locked inside.
"What have they done to you..."
Inside the room, in the far back and chained to the wall. Was a tattered-looking young girl. She had long midnight-black hair and was wearing a pale green hospital gown. There were numerous clear, thin and hollow tubes attached to numerous parts of her body that seemed to be drawing a golden-yellow fluid from her being (ichor! Shes a goddess!). Her body looked frail and malnourished. whatever Avenir had done had not been humane.
Not.
At.
All.
The burning rage I felt for Avenir only grew. "..." however, the sudden additional light from the open lab door appeared to awaken the imprisoned girl, and as her eyes began to open, They stared right into mine.
"Who...are...you?" her voice was as weak as she herself looked. I smiled as gently as I could in hopes of easing her worries, before I replied. "I'm here to save you, just give me a moment and you'll be free." I expected her to at least attempt a smile, but she didn't. Instead, she looked at me with melancholy in her eyes. "Don't...don't give me hope." she coughed before continuing. "Others have tried...all of them...failed." my blood went cold at her statement. The poor girl had been through so much. Wishing to restore some semblance of hope, I summoned my wing in an intentionally flashy way. "The others weren't like me." I ended my response with another gentle smile. "Now then, let's get you out of those binds." I summoned one of my blades, and within a few precise and careful slashes she was free. As she fell, but before she could hit the floor, I caught her in my arms. She was light...too light. (You won't be able to leave the way you came in, not with her with you. The girl is way too malnourished to make it out without being a burden to you. Unless you can fight whilst carrying her.)
Rex's words echoed within my mind. (What do I do then?) I asked. (If you can get your hands on something that will give the girl nutrition, you should be able to heal all the damage done to her body.) Rex replied. Looking around I managed to spot a few sets of draws in the room. After walking over to them and gently placing the girl on the ground, I began to sort through them. After a few seconds I came across a few vials containing a green liquid. "What are these?" I ask the goddess. "it's what they... feed me." (Meaning they might be just what we need...but just in case) I opened one of the vials and took a small sip. After noticing nothing different about me after a few seconds. I decided they were safe to use.
After handing the numerous vials to the girl and waiting a few minutes for her to drink them all, I began to chant.
"Luminous wing of the sun god
Shed thine divine feathers
So that all wounded shall be revitalised
Healing feathers!"
Just like when Neptune and IF were injured, quills of light detached themselves from my wing. Before coming into contact with the previously imprisoned girls' body, and completely healing her. The extra nutrition provided to her had the additional effect of restoring her body to a healthy state. Her once frail body looking much stronger.
"What the-" she looked surprised at her rejuvenated body, almost swearing in surprise before catching herself. After taking a second to compose herself, she spoke. "Thank you." "don't thank me yet, I've still got to get you out of here. By the way...catch!" I replied, untying the sheathed blade attached to my trousers and throwing it in her direction. Fortunately, she caught the weapon with no issue, thanking me once again afterwards.
It would've been rude to leave a lady unarmed while in a dangerous area after all. Once she had attached the sheathed blade to her person using the tassels of her gown, she spoke again. "i think we can do this." she stated, determination shining in her eyes. "With the others, I was too much of a burden and got them killed before we could make it. But now that I can fight, I think it's definitely possible for us to escape."
It was great to see that she hadn't lost herself completely, even after what Avenir did to her. looking at the girl in front of me, I began to think about her title. It was too long to be efficient, especially if there came a time where I would have to warn her mid-battle. "Do you happen to have another name you could use? Apart from 'Lady Black Heart' of course. No offence but that's a bit too many syllables." she looked surprised for a second before replying with her own question. "You know who I am?" "Not exactly, I simply guessed. Regular humans don't have golden-yellow blood." I replied. "Hmph, well it's not like I was trying to hide it or anything." she stated, placing her hands on her hips and turning her head. (Why do I feel like I'll be dealing with that a lot?)
I smirked at her reaction regardless, then she spoke again. "Noire, my name is Noire." "that's a nice name, it suits you." I replied. Her reaction to my statement however, was completely unexpected. "I-it's not like I was looking for your approval or anything!" (How cute. I think I'll enjoy having her around.) I simply smirked at her reaction once more. "regardless, how about we get going? I've had quite enough of this place." I truly had, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up having nightmares. "Yes." she replied simply. Then we began our journey out of the literal goddess' forsaken place.
Unlike my journey getting in, getting out of the facility ended up being far more troublesome. As when Noire and I were making our escape, guards appeared. These guards were far more competent that the ones I fought previously and were more numerous. (Maybe that's intentional. Make it easy to get in, but impossible to get out. Probably how they managed to get their test subjects.) it was a disgusting thought but was definitely plausible.
Thankfully Noire was quite the fighter, taking out guards left and right. Granted she was a goddess, but still. Even when the guards outnumbered us 10:1 we came out victorious. We encountered more and more guards as we got closer to the exit, however even then they proved no match for us. Noire proved to be similar to Neptune in that she was quite skilled with a blade. When I asked how she got to be that good, she simply replied "practice. Lots and lots of practise." the rest of the way out was the same as before, guards appeared, we dispatched them, then we continued moving.
It didn't take us too long to escape, mine and Noire's combined strength being more than enough to carve a path to the exit. Once we left the building, i decided a little payback was in order. (Rex, any ideas on how I can burn that building to the ground?) (a few.) (Such as?) I could almost feel the smirk he must have had. (Repeat after me.) his words were another chant, similar to my healing and Rexcalibur skills. After I memorised his words, I repeated them.
"Bathe the world in dazzling light
Bring forth the swelling spirit of rebellion
Mine arrow is at the heart, piercing forth!"
A giant golden bow appeared before me, its string pulling back.
"Lux Ballista!"
Numerous golden arrows appeared and were shot forward, leaving trails of light. When they pierced the building in front of us I snapped my fingers.
And the twisted facility exploded in a flash of brilliant light.
"w-what are you?" Noire asked, clearly surprised at my display. And I began to laugh. "a stranger far away from home." I replied. "what's that supposed to mean?" I laughed again. "Whatever you think it means." I teased, aiming to get a reaction. I didn't get one however, as Noire looked up at the sky and asked a question. "Is it night?" "No, it's still daytime." I replied. Then the mood quickly changed. "What have Avenir done while I was imprisoned?" she questioned, voice low and sombre.
"a lot." I replied simply. telling her about all of what Avenir did now would be bad, especially since she only just escaped from them. She needed time to fully recover before she could be allowed to worry about them. "But that can wait, you need time to recover." she seemed to take offence at what I said. "I'm fine!" her reply showed she clearly wasn't. "Maybe physically, but not mentally." she took a second to think on my words before eventually nodding her head in agreement.
I couldn't let this kind of mood continue; it wouldn't end well. Thinking quickly, I walked up right next to Noire and gave her a hug. "W-What are you doing, pervert!" "don't worry about the past, don't get caught up on your mistakes, you're free now. That means we can fix this mess." I said, in an attempt to soothe the Goddesses' heavy heart. She eventually stopped complaining...and stopped calling me a pervert (I'll have you know I am quite the gentleman!), taking a moment to enjoy the hug. Before she spoke again. "Thank you... for everything." I smiled at her words. "you're welcome. Now then my dear goddess, let's get you somewhere safe." I replied, before we made our way back to Passe.
END CHAPTER
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
Even heavier is the guilt in one's heart.
Can all sins really be forgiven?
