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Year 16 AL, Prophet-Induced Delirium
A wide-eyed Luka stared down at the crystal-clear water that sat in the basin of dimmed golden cloud. He struggled to keep his nervousness off his face as he asked, "A... A-Another B-Baptism?" The purple-haired boy asked, feeling as though his heart had just become frozen.
Ilias did not immediately respond, instead looking upwards while raising a hand up to the clouds above. Luka watched as the golden clouds dimmed even more, nearly losing their golden luster completely as they parted open to reveal the dark night sky. Eventually, the rising crescent Moon was revealed, its white rays providing a bit more illumination to the throne room.
"Yes, my Prophet. Due to your exposure to Monsters, the protective barrier that I granted you during your first Baptism has been..." Ilias paused, dropping her arm as she searched for the right term. "...Jeopardized." Luka cringed at the way Ilias stressed the word.
Ilias moved to stand next to the bowl of purifying water, the Goddess's large blue eyes gazed down expectantly upon her Prophet. The purple-haired boy in question struggled against the urge to quiver under the intense stare while approaching Ilias. "D-D-Do I..." Luka started, dreading the very question he was going to ask. "...N-Need to... d-d-disrobe?"
The Goddess regarded Luka with a long look, something peculiar flashing in her large blue eyes. "Of course, my Prophet. You want me to purify you correctly, don't you?" The purple-haired boy shriveled beneath Ilias's powerful stare, "Y-Yes, yes I d-do." He said though he had trouble meeting the Goddess's gaze.
Luka's feet felt like bricks as he neared his Goddess and her Baptizing pool, his heartbeat had become frantic by the time he reached the edge of the water. Ilias closely watched the young boy's approach all the way, an almost excited gleam flashing in them. Luka looked down at his and Ilias's reflection in the pool, gulping nervously as he saw that the Goddess's eyes were vehemently locked onto him.
"E-Erm, I-I'm going to d-disrobe now." Luka said.
Ilias seemed to break from whatever haze she was in, lightly clearing her throat. "Of course." She replied, spinning on her heel to give the purple-haired boy some privacy. With a great deal of hesitancy, Luka reached down to begin pulling up his white nightshirt higher and higher until his pale white flesh was revealed to the air. The tense boy folded up his robe - making sure to keep the flower from falling out - and gently deposited it onto the ground.
Luka then, with even more reluctance, began pulling down his white underwear. A chill wracked the purple-haired boy as he became fully nude, something in the boy's mind telling him that there was something very - very - off about this. His first Baptism had already been a very bizarre undertaking and, if he was completely honest, he wasn't really looking forward to the second one.
"Alright, I'm..." Luka had to force the last part out after a short pause, "...R-Ready." Ilias swiftly turned around, looking down at her Prophet with appraising eyes. The Goddess perhaps took a bit too much time looking him over before folding her hands together, "Let us begin, my dear Luka." The young boy struggled to ignore the rising stress within his mind but was able to step into the pool of water before him.
Luka shuddered, the pleasantly warm water helping to relieve his mind of its distress.
Ilias kneeled behind Luka and outstretched her hands to grab the purple-haired boy by his shoulders. Luka let out a light gasp, sinking into the pool of water once the Goddess started pushing him down. In one quick movement, Ilias pushed Luka down until the water went above his shoulders up to Luka's head until only his face was showing.
He felt the hands of his Goddess move to his scalp, and Ilias was quick to start running her fingers through her wet hair. Luka closed his pale-blue eyes, the sensation admittedly being quite pleasing. Luka's breathing slowed as he let the Goddess's hands lull him into a more relaxed state. It remained like that for a few moments, Ilias rubbing his scalp while her Prophet lay in the pool of water beneath her.
The crescent Moon above was nearing its peak, midnight nearly approaching now. The pale light shined the brightest, as the golden clouds around them had dimmed to the point of nearly not having any glow at all. This, coupled with what the Goddess of Light was doing to her young Prophet, made the air so much more suggestive of something more than just a Baptism.
Luka's pale-blue eyes reopened, nearly jumping at what he saw.
Ilias was very closely leaning over him, her large half-lidded blue eyes glowing in the dim lighting. The young Prophet felt his stomach stir, his Goddess's sudden impassioned gaze catching him off guard. Luka bristled some as he felt Ilias's hands stop and gently grip either side of his face, and then, the Goddess of Light's face came closer, her long blonde hair falling over her face.
Ilias's hair blocked out everything else as it encircled Luka's own face, draping lightly around his head and into the water. The air itself seem to stand still for those few moments, the passionate Goddess staring down at her bewildered Prophet. And then, Ilias slowly bent down even more, her slow descent ending with a kiss on the wide-eyed boy's forehead. Her lips stayed on his head for a prolonged amount of time, and Luka was too stunned to do more than lay there as she did.
What neither he nor Ilias could see, was how the red jewel around her neck nearly burned as it glowed now. However, it faded just as soon as it appeared.
Finally, the Goddess of Light released the kiss and pulled away with a large smile. Her hands trailed up the sides of Luka's head and dipped into the water, cupping some of the liquid into her palms and raising it above the still-shocked boy's face. Luka was able to recover enough to close his eyes, feeling the water softly flow across his face.
With nothing to see now but darkness, Luka became acutely aware of the fact that the room was deathly silent of anything barring the sound of water dripping around his head and his own heart thudding in his ears.
The soft hands of Ilias brushed across Luka's face to wipe away the water, and her hands went to his shoulders once again, pulling the purple-haired boy up to sit once again. Like the first Baptism, Ilias then started trailing her hands over his shoulders to spread the water around.
"You see, my dear Prophet..." The Goddess of Light suddenly said, finally breaking the silence with her loving voice. She ran her fingers down his back, causing him to shiver. "...This type of tenderness is something you can't get from a Monster." A confused frown grew on Luka's face upon hearing her words, but he said nothing as she continued.
"They know how to use their bodies to please, but there is no heart, no care. Just instinct, a biological desire to b-breed." Ilias quickly moved from the slip-up and started to rub Luka's back, "They use you to get what they want, and it may be fun, for a while, but once you can no longer give them what they want..." The Goddess of Light shook her head, her bright blue eyes narrowing for a moment. "...Then they will discard you, as though you were nothing to them at all."
Luka twitched under Ilias's touch, his throat feeling closed up due to the Goddess's sudden switch in demeanor. Ilias's hands went back up to his shoulder and then, to his bewilderment, Luka felt the Goddess's hands run down to a place she had not touched before. His body quaked as Ilias's fingertips trailed down his arms, a gasp coming out of his mouth soon after.
"There is nothing wrong with having a kind heart, Luka. It is one of your most endearing traits, but that is something that can very easily taken advantage of. Unfortunately, this World is a treacherous one and many a man have found that out far too late..." Ilias was nearly pressed up against Luka's back now, her hands coming all the way down to wrap around his own. "...And I never want to see you fall to that same end."
Luka trembled as Ilias's voice spoke close to the side of his face, her closeness being strangely... intimate to him.
The purple-haired boy felt a strong wave of relief as Ilias finally pulled back, but not before dragging her fingers up his arms one last time. "You may stand, O Prophet of Light." Ilias said, rising from her knees to stand as well. Luka was a bit shaky as he rose to his feet, beads of purified water dripping down his pale form as he did.
Ilias watched this very closely, nearly not noticing as Luka turned around. The purple-haired boy kept his gaze averted, "Th-Thank you for Baptizing me again, Ilias." He said though like the first time, Luka didn't feel like he had received any protection. On the contrary, he had never felt so vulnerable before.
Ilias nodded, "You are welcome, Prophet Luka." She then knelt down to grab the boy's pure-white garments, her eyes accidentally glanced back at the purple-haired boy for a moment. Without meaning to, Ilias received an unimpeded view of her Prophet's most private area while doing so. The Goddess of Light froze, her large blue eyes stopping at the sight of her Prophet's most intimate body part.
Thump-Thump
As quick as Ilias had seen her Prophet's flaccid member, she forced her gaze away, shakily grabbing the boy's clothes as an odd fuzziness started to entrap her mind. The flustered Goddess stood before Luka and extended his clothing to him, "You may adorn your clothes now, L-Luka." The young boy swiftly reached forward and retrieved his clothing from Ilias's hands.
Luka's own heart was beating rapidly as he pulled his underwear out, moving perhaps erratically as he nearly tripped while slipping his feet into the white garment. The bright blue - and somewhat hazy - eyes of Ilias watched a bit too closely as he pulled his underwear up his legs. Luka was finally able to retain his modesty as he pulled his underwear up and over his penis, being slower with his nightshirt only so that the bright yellow flower wouldn't fall out.
After putting on his night clothing, Luka raised his gaze up to Ilias. The purple-haired boy gave a very small and somewhat forced smile to his Goddess. Ilias, however, seemed to be a bit unfocused.
"U-Uh, Ilias?" Luka asked, feeling a bit concerned as the half-lidded eyes of the now-blushing Goddess seemed to stare right through him. Ilias's head then shook, her eyes suddenly refocusing. "A-Apologies, my Prophet. I'm just feeling a bit... tired..." She said, lifting a hand up to her chest to feel her own thundering heartbeat. "...I-I think it is about time that I send you back to Earth now." Ilias finished, clasping her shaking hands together in front of herself.
Luka let out a somewhat relieved sigh, moving to stand directly before his Goddess. Ilias was able to collect herself enough to say, "Now you are p-pure once again, O Prophet Luka. Please try and keep it that way, for your sake and mine." Luka quickly nodded, "I will, my Goddess. I p-promise." Ilias smiled down at Luka and placed a hand on his head.
"Farewell, my dear Luka." The Goddess of Light said, her Prophet disappearing in a flash of golden light.
Ilias's hand slowly fell to her side after Luka was gone, a great sadness taking over her heart now. "Be careful, my Prophet..." Ilias said to the empty air, reaching up to feel her heartbeat which was still pounding madly in her chest. "...Keep yourself p-p-pure... for me." The Goddess of Light slowly turned away from the pool of purifying water, suddenly feeling a bout of light-headedness coming over her.
Sweat was pouring down Ilias's face now as she stumbled to her throne, having to grab onto the armrests of her marble chair to stop herself from falling. "Wha-... What is h-happening to me?" Ilias gasped out, weakly pulling herself up and sitting on her throne with a great huff. The Goddess of Light placed a hand on her forehead, flinching in surprise at how much sweat was coming off of her brow.
Ilias closed her eyes tight in an attempt to alleviate the abrupt bout of weakness that had hit her out of nowhere. While in this haze, the Goddess felt an odd desire to press her thighs together. Thoughtlessly, she did so, and a jolt of pleasure hit her soon after.
Tha-Thump
"A-Ah!" Ilias shouted in surprise, her large blue eyes snapping open wide as a hand went up to her chest to feel her quivering heartbeat. "S-Something just isn't right..." The Goddess muttered to herself, a rare pang of fear hitting her after feeling such an alarming sensation in her chest. "...I-I shouldn't be... f-feeling that..." Ilias finished, eventually letting her hand drop. However, at the back of the Goddess's mind...
...There was a steadily growing desire to feel that pleasure again.
Luka reappeared inside the hotel bathroom in Port Natalia, and he had to throw a palm out to the wall to steady himself. Everything that had just transpired during his meeting with Ilias and Eden made him feel very conflicted and confused, especially when considering everything he had been through up to this point.
He could see Ilias's point about Monsters to an extent, for nearly every Monster he had encountered seemed to want one thing: To mate.
Some of them he could dissuade without fighting them, but most Monsters pushed him to fight or else he be forced against his will to have sex. Even worse, some like the Leech that had attacked him and the Four Bandits or the Spider that he had encountered in the Cave of Treasures seemed to be actively malicious, wanting to actually kill as well as rape.
But then there were those like the Four Bandits themselves or Lona, who only ever attacked him for reasons one could argue were largely out of their control; the Four Bandits simply not knowing any better when they attacked him and Lona having no control over her actions when she fought him. Did they really deserve to be so harshly judged because of that?
Luka couldn't say that he believed so.
However, even worse than either of those things though was Luka's growing concern over his Goddess. Ilias's behavior during his first Baptism had been somewhat strange, but this second was making him start to feel very concerned. Ilias had always treated him with what he believed to be fondness, but it had never bothered him until his first Baptism. It was almost as if it was getting worse every subsequent time they met.
'And that look she had...' Luka mused, his mind thinking back to when the Goddess of Light was peering down at him while washing his hair. '...It was so... intense.' It was a look he had seen a few times before; In particular, he had seen it from Monsters such as Lucretia and Lona. It was a look of longing, of desire.
But why would Ilias look at him like that? Unless...
'NO!' The young Hero yelled in his mind immediately, shaking the surely blasphemous thought from his mind. 'Ilias would surely never want such a thing from me, from anyone! I shouldn't even entertain that type of thought!'
Luka sighed, bringing his free hand up to his head as his conflicted and tired thoughts started to bring on a headache. 'I just need to get some sleep now. I'm not thinking clearly.' The young Hero finally decided, not having it in him to keep mulling over the confusing thoughts. Luka dropped his arms back towards his body, an action that made him feel something he had nearly forgotten about.
A more pensive look came to Luka's face, 'Now, where to put this at...' The young Hero hadn't quite thought about this, but an answer quickly came to him as his pale-blue eyes found his traveling bag, which had been lying in the bathroom since his shower hours earlier. '...This'll do, I think.' Luka reached down and unzipped his bag, pulling out his journal after a moment of rifling around. He opened his Monster journal and placed the flower inside, using it as a bookmark.
"There we go." Luka whispered, placing his journal back inside his traveling bag. The purple-haired boy walked over to the bathroom door, very carefully and slowly turning the doorknob to open the door. His efforts got the door about a quarter of the way open, until-
Creeaak
Luka froze, the loud squeak certainly not having happened at any point before. "Oh no..." He whispered before pushing the door open just a bit more.
Creeeeaaaak
His shoulders scrunched up all the way to his head in response to the noise and Luka quickly scooted through the space in the doorway. Once getting through to the other side, the purple-haired boy scanned the hotel room behind him to see if he had woken anyone up. On one side of the room, Kitsu was still lying on her side except now, her face was hidden due to her now facing towards the couch instead of towards the middle of the room.
Luka then glanced over to Alice, who seemed to still be asleep as well considering the mountain of blankets that was on the bed did not stir. He then started closing the door again, "...Okay, so far so-"
CREAK
Luka cringed deeply, deciding to just close the door and be done with it. The hotel room couldn't have been quieter as the young Hero slowly spun around, his pale-blue eyes filled with worry. Thankfully, neither Monster seemed to have stirred. With his toes fully tipped, Luka began taking very small and careful steps towards the bed he and Alice shared.
It was a painful process, but luckily none of the inconveniently wooden boards creaked beneath his feet. 'Guess that's one good thing about being small.' Luka thought as he reached the bed, grateful that his size actually kept him from making any more sound-related incidents. However, the purple-haired boy's small bout of luck was about to be completely thrown to the wayside.
Luka reached out to the green sheets and pulled them back to see Alice's red tail sprawled out and curling all over where he was supposed to be sleeping. The young Hero looked completely defeated as the reality of the situation set in. If he wanted to get to sleep anytime soon, he would need to face perhaps his greatest foe yet:
Alice's tail.
With a grimace, Luka carefully reached out and attempted to push a larger section of Alice's scaly red limb out of the way. He was only able to get the tail to scoot over a couple of centimeters before it unceremoniously rolled back to the spot he had just moved it from. "Oh, come on!" Luka quietly groaned, a bit of frustration setting in. Tentatively, the purple-haired boy got onto the bed knees-first and started crawling onto the bed.
Luka reached over to a smaller section of Alice's tail in an attempt to more easily accomplish the monumental task before him. However, this would prove to be a mistake.
"G-Gah!" The quiet gasp came from Luka's mouth as Alice's tail began wrapping around him out of nowhere! The poor boy tried to fight out of it, but the immense strength of Alice's scaly red limb could not be stopped as it coiled around Luka's entire body. He nearly fell over backwards off of the bed, but was just barely able to keep himself upright, tittering dangerously on his knees.
"No, no, no!" Luka grunted quietly as he tried to fight out of the sleeping Alice's grip, but the young Hero ended up plunging quickly to the mattress, only able to twist just enough to keep from falling face-first. Rendered completely and utterly beaten, Luka lay sideways on the bed while now being wrapped up in the still-sleeping Lamia's tail.
"Great." Luka mumbled to himself, not even bothering to fight against the Lamia's tail. If he couldn't do it before, he certainly couldn't do it now.
'Well, at least she isn't holding me too tight.' The young Hero thought. Contrary to what Luka would assume, Alice's scaly tail was actually somewhat soft to the touch, especially the part that ended up lying beneath his face...
...To be completely honest, he actually felt pretty comfortable in this position, strangely enough.
With no other choice left, Luka let out a small sigh and snuggled up against the part of Alice's tail sitting beneath his head before closing his eyes, sleep coming to him surprisingly quick as he was embraced by the Monster Lord's tail...
"Pyon, pyon, pyon~"
Lucifina twitched, the soft voice of someone whispering right before her dragging the ex-Seraph from her slumber. With her eyes still closed, the golden-brown-haired woman listened closely to the sound of wood creaking.
"Pyon, pyon, pyon~"
With a small closed-mouthed chuckle, Lucifina opened her blue eyes to see the small form of Luka bouncing up and down before her. The four-year-old's long white nightshirt was flailing alongside his hair as he happily bounced right beside her bed.
"Pyon, pyon-" Luka stopped bouncing upon noticing his Mother waking up, a great smile coming to his face. "Maaa!" He exclaimed, the four-year-old's pale-blue eyes practically glowing as he started clenching at the edge of the mattress to climb up onto the bed. Lucifina laughed at her son's attempt to get next to his Mother, "Hehe, w-wait Luka, let me help you."
Lucifina reached over and put her hands under his awaiting son's arms, a light giggle coming from her mouth as she somewhat clumsily hefted the purple-haired boy up and onto her and Marcellus's bed. The golden-brown-haired woman then gave a mischievous smile before taking advantage of Luka's precarious position in her arms and started tickling his ribs.
The effect was immediate, the young boy's purple hair flailing around as he started thrashing around while bellowing out laughter. Lucifina did not let, "What's wrong, huh? What's wrong?~" Lucifina asked with a smile, obviously not expecting an answer as her son continued to laugh. Mercifully, the blue-eyed Mother let go of her purple-haired son.
Luka gasped in between each following laugh, wrapping his arms around his ribs to protect himself from being tickled again. However, Lucifina was feeling especially energetic this morning and raised both hands high before diving onto her defenseless son.
"Ha-Ha!" Lucifina yelled out, taking the four-year-old Luka off guard as her fingers went to lightly tickle his unprotected neck.
Luka's laughter became even louder from Lucifina's absolutely brutal assault. Finally, after a few seconds of aggressive tickling, the ex-Seraph released her son. The purple-haired boy's giggling died away as his Mother slowly lay down on her side next to the four-year-old.
Lucifina gave a joy-filled hum as Luka calmed down, his pale-blue eyes meeting hers as they settled down together. Lucifina reached over with a hand, gently caressing the purple-haired boy's face. She felt her heart swell as Luka gave her another wide smile.
The golden-brown-haired ex-Angel and her half-Angel son held each other for a few moments, Luka still trying to catch his breath after all of the punishing tickles he had just received. Lucifina moved her hand and wrapped it behind the boy's back, pulling him closer to her.
Luka was drawn into a hug by his Mother and he wrapped a much smaller arm around Lucifina to help complete the action. Lucifina placed her chin on the four-year-old's head, sighing as she did.
Indeed, Lucifina felt truly hap-
CRRAA-AAACK
Lucifina's dim blue eyes snapped open at the sound of a thunderous lightning strike, her entire body jolting violently. Lucifina was freezing, her entire body trembling as she lay on the uncaring black stared straight ahead at nothing, the shock of the sudden whiplash of warring emotions taking hold of the golden-brown-haired Mother. When the shock finally subsided, Lucifina was overcome with a wave of horrible, bitter sadness.
Tears welled up in her blue eyes, the droplets streaming down her face soon after. The awful sounds of Lucifina's choked sobs filled the air, the ex-Angel herself wallowing in her own misery in the uncaring black dunes of the Sealed Sinner's Prison. Flashes of her beloved son's smiling face appeared in her mind, the images only making her sorrow worse. Lucifina's sadness slowly turned into anger, as the thoughts of what she lost turned into thoughts about who caused that loss in the first place:
Ilias.
It was because of Ilias that Lucifina couldn't see her son's smiling face anymore, that she couldn't hold Luka close anymore. Losing Marcellus had already taken a heavy toll on her heart, but losing Luka isn't something that she wouldn't allow. Not when she was still breathing and her heart still pounded. No matter what it took, she would break out of the Sealed Sinner's Prison and damn whatever "Goddess" stand in her way!
One of Lucifina's shaking fists grabbed a handful of the black desert, ignoring the pain as she wrathfully clenched the sand in her palm. Despite her body's arguments against it, Lucifina was able to push herself off of the ground. She struggled and nearly tripped over a few times, but soon, the ex-Angel was able to fight to a standing position.
Lucifina swayed but remained upright, looking up to the dark clouds above. She eyed the large swirling point in the middle of the sky, the only real "goal" that the Fallen Angel had in mind. Not that there was any other better choice for her to take.
With shaky steps, Lucifina began climbing up the black sand dune, feeling her energy begin to return as she trudged upwards. It took the Fallen Angel a few minutes to reach the top due to her labored pace, but once she did, she was met with a curious sight. "Wh-What... is this?" Lucifina was able to whisper out, her voice croaked due to underuse.
A long stretch of mostly flat black sand stood before her but that wasn't what garnered her attention, what did though was the dilapidated structure that sat at the bottom of the hill she stood on.
The small building was dome-shaped and seemed to be made of the same gray cobblestone that the alter Ilias had used to send the ex-Seraph to this realm was made of. The wave of anger that overtook Lucifina earlier simmered down, being replaced with a growing curiosity. The golden-brown-haired Mother of the Prophet carefully started stepping down the black sand dune, a new goal now in mind.
Once reaching the bottom, Lucifina quickly approached the odd cobblestone building, walking around the structure before finding a large arched opening on its facade. The blue eyes of the ex-Seraph peered inside, though the inside seemed to be mostly barren. Either way, Lucifina was very cautious as she walked inside, the structure giving the golden-brown-haired woman a very uneasy feeling.
Something about it was just... very sad.
Lucifina crept deeper inside the cobblestone hut, not initially noticing anything out of place. At least, as out of place as anything in this bizarre Hellscape could be to her, anyway. The ex-Angel's blue eyes scanned the dim room, not entirely able to make out anything due to the darkness. As she pressed forward, however, her eyes began to slowly adjust, and she could make out something on the far wall across the single-room building.
With her curiosity steadily rising, Lucifina started moving quicker as her eyes began to adjust to the dimness of the large room. Once getting within a meter of the wall, she could finally make out what was there. "Oh my..." Lucifina quietly gasped out, her blue eyes widening at what she saw.
All across the wall, etched into the very cobblestone itself, were an innumerable amount of tally marks. The carvings were all in somewhat haphazardly made rows and went from the top of the wall near the ceiling to the bottom next to the floor. Lucifina glanced to her left and then to her right, finding that the tally marks seemingly continued all the way around the building.
"...Just how many are there?" The ex-Seraph wondered out loud while moving leftwards alongside the wall. As she went to the left, the rows started to grow a bit straighter and more uniform. Assumedly, this is where whoever made these marks would've started if they were going from left to right.
Lucifina hummed to herself as she reached the archway she entered through once again, moving past the opening to examine the rightmost side of the building. The ex-Seraph's eyes widened in alarm as she saw even more tally marks, these ones being noticeably more disorderly and sloppier until they just stopped, leaving a small section of the cobblestone completely untouched. Evidentially, whoever made these tally marks had eventually decided to give up, not finding any reason to continue.
Unless, that is, if they were suddenly stopped.
CRRAAAACCKK
Another lighting strike rang through the air outside and, to Lucifina's dismay, the sound of water falling echoed lightly through the cobblestone structure. The Fallen Angel frowned as she saw the freezing rain barreling down outside. 'At least I have some cover...' Lucifina thought, taking a little bit of comfort in the fact that she wouldn't have to be soaked for once.
Lucifina straightened her still blood-stained white nightgown as she dropped to her knees, staring out at the horrendous weather outside the cobblestone building. She became taken aback as the rain became fiercer and fiercer, becoming an awful torrent within mere seconds. '...This has to be the worst I've seen it get.' The ex-Angel mused.
With her current journey to somehow escape the Sealed Sinner's Prison hindered by the freezing rain, Lucifina found her thoughts drifting back to her son again. The ex-Seraph felt a heavy sadness come over her heart once again as she thought of Luka's smiling face. It had been so long since she had seen him last, and there was no way for her to know how he was doing.
That was the worst part, for Ilias had spoken quite openly about her intentions to use Luka in her plans to conquer the World once and for all. Lucifina couldn't help but worry for her purple-haired son's fate. Had Luka fallen into Ilias's grasp and become one of her Heroes, cutting down Monsters in cold blood to help "serve" Ilias's cause? Lucifina couldn't imagine her kind-hearted son doing such things, but she would be ignorant to rule out the possibility entirely.
After all, both herself and Marcellus had done terrible things in the name of Ilias as well. As much as she'd hate to say it, the potential for that same thing being in Luka's heart was there. And with no one to steer him in the right direction Luka might not even know any better than to follow Ilias's every command, especially since he was currently without either of his parents to guide him.
Lucifina clenched her fists, 'I mustn't think like that, I have to keep hoping for the best.' If nothing else, Micaela was still out there. Surely, her sister would be doing whatever she could to help Luka. The golden-brown-haired woman let out her troubled emotions with a heavy sigh, before raising her eyes to the worsening weather outside.
The Fallen Angel stared out at the tumultuous storm raging outside, the intensity of the deafening rain actually causing her to gulp nervously. 'Good thing I found this place; I'd hate to be out there right now.' Lucifina managed to think with a little bit of humor, not aware that the only other current resident of the Sealed Sinner's Prison was not so lucky as he was caught in the middle of the heart of the storm.
CRAACK CRAA-CRAAAACK
Heinrich trudged on, unbothered by the fierce lightning strike erupting directly overhead and the needle-like rain falling down upon his head. It had been many hundreds of years since these things had last disturbed him; however, he would be lying if he were to say that it didn't hamper his traveling somewhat.
Currently, the Former Hero of Ilias had a gloved hand up to his forehead to help shield his eyes, while steadying himself with the worn-down walking stick in his other hand. The purple-haired man grunted as he climbed up a particularly large dune of black sand, feeling just a bit of annoyance building at his current situation. Even worse, a wild burst of wind came down upon him, the force nearly sending him off of his feet.
"DAMN!" Heinrich cursed out, having to stop and scrunch up against the onslaught of weather. Thankfully, the wind died down and the purple-haired man was able to reach the top of the black sand dune. The Former Hero scanned the landscape of the Sealed Sinner's Prison, not finding much of anything too interesting before him.
CRRRAAAAAACCCKKK
This time, Heinrich was forced to cover his eyes as a bright purplish-pink flash of lightning struck a spot of the flatland at the bottom of the black sand dune...
'Wait, what color was that?' Heinrich thought in bemusement, before uncovering his blue eyes to see where the odd-colored lightning struck. What he saw, however, knocked his previous mild confusion into absolute shock. "Wh-What the FUCK!?" The Former Hero exclaimed, not even noticing as the weather died down around him.
Of course, one could not blame him for that, since there was now a gigantic, seemingly bottomless pit in the middle of the black dunes. Heinrich dashed down the hill of sand with a burst of energy he hadn't had in literally hundreds of years, reaching the bottom in less than a minute.
Heinrich slowed to a stop as he reached the bottom, carefully creeping towards the edge as he started to realize just how large this pitch-black hole was.
The diameter of this newly created crater had to be twenty meters in diameter at least, though that was a rough estimate on Heinrich's part. Either way, it was enormous, and the hole's depth seemed to go on forever. Needless to say, the Former Hero wasn't too interested in getting any closer to the edge, watching as grains of black sand started slowly spilling down into the hole.
"Uh huh..." Heinrich whispered in disbelief, not even knowing how to take this new development. The purple-haired man was taken even more by surprise as the same type of purplish-pink lightning seemed to spark from deep inside the pit. "...Okay, one thing at a time. I can worry about weird holes later, not like it's going anywhere."
Heinrich quickly spun around to where he could still feel something vaguely Angelic coming from, leaving the bizarre phenomenon behind for now as there wasn't really anything he could do to figure it out right now. Little did the Former Hero know, this bizarre event would be the genesis of something very...
...Chaotic.
Oh, so much going wrong here. And yet, also so much right, in a way. Ilias is getting more demented, things are getting more troubling in the Sinner's Sealed Prison, but at least Luka might get a good night's sleep now.
I do apologize if this chapter is a bit all over the place, but there were a couple things I wanted to touch upon before we get to morning. But once morning comes, we will get to leaving Port Natalia and heading off to San Ilia with minimal interruptions.
The "hole" Heinrich found, is indeed the start of the spread of Chaos here. I just wanted to make sure that was clarified really quick, because that's not going to end up being actually clarified until a lot later. And I mean a LOT later. For now, it's going to slowly spread within the Sealed Sinner's Prison.
Oh, so much going wrong here. And yet, also so much right, in a way. Ilias is getting more demented, things are getting more troubling in the Sinner's Sealed Prison, but at least Luka might get a good night's sleep now.
I do apologize if this chapter is a bit all over the place, but there were a couple things I wanted to touch upon before we get to morning. But once morning comes, we will get to leaving Port Natalia and heading off to San Ilia with minimal interruptions.
The "hole" Heinrich found, is indeed the start of the spread of Chaos here. I just wanted to make sure that was clarified really quick, because that's not going to end up being actually clarified until a lot later. And I mean a LOT later. For now, it's going to slowly spread within the Sealed Sinner's Prison.
Deadinside378: Your fear isn't unfounded, but he is still somewhat safe for now.
Guest: Black Alice and Eden are a pretty fun pair to write for, the tension between them will only get more and more intense as well.
Unfortunately, Eden's growing closeness will end up having her earn Ilias's ire. Though she won't be the only one. As bad as Alice is with Luka being around other Monsters, Ilias will end up being considerable worse.