Samson, the head of Sabasa's knights, had just finished helping clean the aftermath of the bar brawl when the Pocket Castle's front doors were violently opened by a projectile. As he pulled his mace at the ready, he realized said projectile was a terrified Luka who got violently thrown by someone he couldn't see yet. The hero bounced once, then twice on the ground before ending face first on the ground in front of the commander.

A few seconds afterwards, the other members of his expedition entered. He recognized Sara, his queen, as well as the priestess Sonya, who was in turn followed by Alice, the small monster lord, Alma Elma, the succubus queen, and Hild, the makina girl.

As they made a curiously synchronized entrance, he noticed they were looking down at their surroundings, as if everything was below them. While they were walking toward him, they stepped on Luka as if it wasn't there. The only exception was Alice, who slithered by and slapped his face with her tail. They stopped in front of the flabbergasted commander when Sara started talking.

"Samson, what would you wish for if you were given the opportunity to see your greatest desire come true?"

He kneeled reflexively and looked down before answering solemnly.

"My lady, I have no wish but to protect you and Sabasa as our kingdom grows and prosper."

"Please, do not answer with the usual platitudes inherent to your ranks, you probably have more earthly desires laying in your heart as well."

Sara's face got closer to the commander as she devilishly smirked "Maybe for some materials and to be left alone to enjoy it in a private moment?"

Samson's face reddened, and he answered hurriedly.

"My lady, it is true that I'm interested in activities more proper at night, but my priority remains centered on the kingdom."

He could feel the unconvinced gazes piercing at him even as he was still looking down.

"And also, it would be a shame to wish for such materials when so much companions are wishing to be intimate, and, I apologize for being so forthcoming, not least of them is our beautiful and voluptuous queen."

"Good."

The girls started moving to the bar, when Sara resumed talking without looking back.

"Then you are in charge of explaining to the hero that when he sees a dragon genie who says he can make any wish come true, he should wish for something better than for a porno book and a girl's panties."

As she moved to the back of the castle, Sara gave one final order.

"Also, make sure the actually important items are correctly stocked up."

"Yes, my lady."

He could then hear something about needing a drink and someone muttering "pervert", but it no longer was his concern at this instant. He then turned toward the hero who didn't move an inch during the ordeal.

"Son."

Luka groaned as he was writhing in pain on the floor, while Nuruko was poking him with a tentacle.

"You fucked up."

"Kyu ?"


-Pocket Castle Bar-

The bar room was more or less empty, save for the few usual half drunk customers. Furthermore, most drinks were unavailable as a lot of bottles got apparently destroyed into an incident that involved a very angry legendary succubus. The party members took a few nameless drinks and sat at a table without any word in a morose ambiance, save for Alma Elma who apparently managed to swipe the infamous book and was looking at it with interest.

"Oooh, you know, this actually gives me ideas to try… too bad there are only human women in that book though. I wonder if they're indicative of Luka-boy's taste." She ended her sentence by licking her lips.

A few seconds afterwards, she showed the content of the book to Sara.

"Doesn't she look like the queen of Grand Noah?"

The other members were not giving any attention to the succubus shenanigans, still plunged in the bottom of their drink as if they could find answers. Alma Elma tried to break the silence to liven up their spirits as she stretched.

"Awww, come on, don't be like that, I know our little hero made dumb choices, but can you blame him ? Boys will be boys, and they always want to discover new experiences."

She brought a hand to her mouth and looked lost in thought for a second. "Although, he could just have asked, I would have given him the best time of his life."

Alice answered in an half-hearted tone: "It's not about that you flying obscenity."

A few more seconds of awkward silence passed before Sonya took a gulp of her drink and felt a newfound determination.

"Let's address the elephant in the room."

"But there's no elephant in the Pocket Castle."

Sonya closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's a metaphor, thank you Hild."

Silence fell for a few seconds before Sonya resumed talking.

"I'm talking about Worldbreaker Luka."

The group fell silent. They were soundly defeated during one of the trials in the Labyrinth of Chaos. They took the offer to fight a powerful enemy, who completely and utterly destroyed them without taking a single scratch, which completely borke the group's confidence in its abilities to face later challenges. It was one thing to get completely trashed in a fight. It was another when the opponent had the face of your leader.

Everyone was once again looking down, except for Alma Elma who had her eyes in the sky, lost in her little world.

"Do you think that could actually happen? I mean, Luka going around and destroying worlds left and right ? And what's the deal with this armor! We've never seen anything like that."

Alice answered. "No he's got too much sugar and rainbows in his head to actually decide to destroy the world. Also, if he wants to follow his father's footsteps, he will also share his goal and…"

Alice's sentence trailed of as she remembered what happened when Luka's dad was last seen.

"…Forget I said anything."

Hild moved closer as if to console a now apathetic monster lord.

Sonya took another gulp of her drink before slamming her cup loudly. "We faced me as a demon and as an angel, and yet…" she pointed at herself "Here I am, the one and only Sonya, Luka's childhood friend."

She looked at Alice. "So don't worry, we've seen weirder than that transdimensionnal Worldbreaker Luka bullcrap, we'll find Marcellus, and we'll kick the crap out of him until he spits out everything and decides to join us, like we always do. Isn't that right?"

Alice gave a half-hearted chuckle. As much as the situation was dire, she was appreciating the support the other residents were offering each other during that time. And with everything they've been enduring those last months, she felt they were becoming a new family. Her new family.

Sara looked down back at her now empty drink as she muttered.

"I wish I knew more about where my father is. They kept telling he fell in Tartarus, but nobody ever found the body."

Alice looked briefly at the princess of Sabasa before answering. "Why don't you ask Morrigan? Considering the Lilith Sisters were involved in your transformation and in several other underhanded plots, it would be surprising if they didn't know anything about it."

Sara's eyes opened wide for a second as the realization actually hit her. She rose suddenly and almost threw her chair backward.

"Pardon me!"

She started running away faster than a human could. Just as the silence fell back on, Sonya asked Alice.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, that Sara go ask Morrigan, of all people, about the fate of her father?"

Alice shrugged. "According to witnesses, he got pushed by a strong gust of wind. What are the odds that a sudden tempest strong enough to carry a mature, muscular man in a hole while being oriented in the good direction suddenly blow the day the king checks Tartarus himself?"

"Besides, the Lilith Sisters are the ones who transformed her, and then they make us deal with the following mess. It's only natural that Morrigan take responsibility for Sara."

Sonya parroted out. "Morrigan, taking responsibility…"

Alice sighed. "Yes, she used to be our enemy, she nearly killed us this time on the boat, she did kill an entire village's population, then she joined us without explaining why and also nearly got us killed by Alma Elma when the latter was looking to take revenge on her, she's also rude in the best of her days…"

Realizing she was digging herself deeper, she shortened her explanation. "She's a powerful succubus, willing to help us, and also got us Alma Elma's support, even if that one was unintended. I'm pretty sure if we do more efforts to make her feel she belongs to our team, she could let slip some more valuable information for us. Besides, she's been reasonable since she joined us, right?"

A loud coughing fit could be heard from the counter. Alice mentally murdered the bunny girl there, and suddenly really wanted to change the subject. She did not want to let slip that Morrigan joined to keep an eye on Sonya who revealed herself to be an apoptosis of the highest class, and that they did, in fact, face her in angel form.

The situation became uncomfortable once again. After what seemed an eternity of pondering, Alma Elma ultimately broke the silence asked the others out loud.

"Do you think he still has the important bits under all that armor?"