Mom hummed a song as she cooked and smiled. Hecate listened to her and smiled. My friends all surrounded Mom and listened to the lullaby she would always sing to me and Shira. I sat on a chair and looked at the map to see how much further we had to go.
Phoenix stood behind me and gently touched my shoulders. She giggled as I looked up at her then she wanted me to follow her. I made my map disappear and got up then followed Phoenix to a private location. We scaled to the top of the canyon and sat along the cliff. The sun had finally set and the wind began blowing, bringing in a gentle breeze.
I looked at the sky then felt Phoenix lean against me. I looked at her and smiled. "You brought me here just to cuddle..?~"
"Come on..~" Phoenix giggled softly and looked at me. "We've barely gotten to spend time together and I know once we hit the road again, we won't have another chance like this."
"I guess you're right, but you didn't have to take us all the way up to the top." I said.
"I did, I want to look at the stars with you...with the man that I love." Phoenix said then looked at the sky as the moon began to rise.
"The man you love huh..?~ You wouldn't be talking about me would you?" I teased.
"Who else? I have no feelings for Gideon or any other male that comes around. You're the only one for me..~ My childhood sweetheart..~" Phoenix smiled and looked at me.
I smiled at her then gently flicked her nose. She smiled and closed her eyes. I held her hand then leaned closer to her. She closed her eyes and leaned closer as well.
"Hey love birds! Dinner is ready!" Hecate called out to us.
We stopped and blushed slightly as we heard Hecate calling out towards us. We cleared our throats and decided to head down back to camp. We all sat at the table and ate the dinner Mom had prepared for us. Duradel was the only one who wasn't present.
"So..~ Who's the lucky girl to have the chance to date my lovely son..?~" Mom asked.
I nearly choked on my food and coughed. "Mom?!"
"Seems like Phoenix was going to be the lucky one." Hecate said.
"W-Well, I was the first to get lucky." Esta smiled.
"Yes, but we agreed to share him." Freya said.
"Master has been kissing other women and leaving me out of the picture? That's no fair!" Mika whined.
"He's been doing what..?" Misaki asked and gave a creepy smile.
"I want a chance to sleep with him, Esta and Freya already got a chance to sleep with him." Takame said.
"Heh..~ I didn't know my baby boy was so popular with the girls..~" Mom teased and giggled.
I blushed and looked down. "Why is this the topic of discussion..?"
"I'm just making conversation..~ How about you Shira?~ Any one you have the hots for?" Mom asked.
"You already know, I'm only staying with Ryo! I'm never leaving his side. He's the only guy I'll ever love...even if we can't...date." Shira said.
"I figured..~" Mom smiled.
"Oh, Aunt Hecate. How did you get your memories back? I could've sworn I destroyed them." I said.
"Well you indeed did, but when Reina came along, I managed to get them back and check this out!" Hecate said then showed her hand to me. "No End Crest! I'm free from his curse!~"
Duradel looked over at us as he heard Hecate talk about her End Crest being gone. He wandered off and took off his mask. "Hmm..."
"Wow...How did that happen?" I asked.
"I helped her break it~" Mom smiled.
Shira looked surprised and looked at her End Crest. "Can you break mine then Mom? I don't want to be a Ragnarok anymore because it holds a huge burden over my life."
"Yeah, we can start the process after dinner~" Mom smiled at Shira. Shira smiled back and nodded happily.
After eating dinner, we all cleaned up and retreated off to our tents. I sat in my tent and looked at my Crests floating around me. I finally was able to not hide my power anymore and felt happy. Phoenix crawled into the tent and looked at me. She looked at my Crests and smiled then sat next to me.
I made my Crests disappear and looked at Phoenix. "What's up?"
"Well I was thinking about maybe finally moving to the next step with you. I mean we've known each other since we were children. I know you did promise the women that you'd treat us equally and love all of us, and I support that answer." Phoenix said and smiled.
"I couldn't just choose one or reject all of you. I mean why would I make that dumb mistake of doing that knowing full well that all of you love me." I said and looked at Phoenix.
Phoenix smiled and wrapped her pinkie around mine then moved closer. "I truly love you, Ragna. You don't understand how long I've been wishing to see you again and finally...Mmph!" She looked surprised as I kissed her lips.
She melted into the kiss and wrapped her arm around my neck. She pulled me down on top of her and we continued to kiss with unbridled passion. After a few more seconds of kissing, I pulled away slowly, biting her lip slightly. She panted and looked up at me. I looked down at her and smiled.
"...Ragna.." She said in between her panting.
I looked at her then stroked her hair and smiled. I gave her a quick peck on her lips then got off her. "We can only do this, anything further would be too much for right now.."
"Even if it's just..." Phoenix started, sitting up.
"We don't have enough privacy to indulge in such actions. If we did...I'd more than happily have sex with you." I said and heard a crash outside.
"You'd WHAT?!" Misaki asked and barged into the tent.
"What the- YOU! You're spying on us?! How creepy can you be?!" Phoenix asked.
"It's not just me! Besides we were still outside our tents!" Misaki said.
I smiled and flicked Misaki's forehead. She grunted and held her forehead. "I'll be happy to spend time with all of you, but I am only one man. It is still first come first serve."
Misaki stared at me and huffed then left the tent.
"I guess you were right about the no privacy thing." Phoenix smiled. "Hardest part about being an Adventurer is you can't truly find a base of operations and the one base we did have was a ship."
"Don't worry, we will acquire one..~" I smiled then poked her cheek then summoned my Crests.
"What do you need?" Alethea asked. "Are you done sucking on her face?"
"They can talk..?" Phoenix asked in shock.
"Of course we can, but our voices are only meant for our bearer." Alethea said.
"How did you get these Crests?" Phoenix asked.
"I was kinda born with them and couldn't awaken them until now." I said, telling a cover-up story. I couldn't tell Phoenix or anyone about the upcoming future...not yet anyway.
"Anyway, we have four Medallions now. Earth, Fire, Light, and Dark. There is however one more medallion to acquire however." Minerva said.
"What Medallion is that? Legend only speaks about the Six Medallions." I said.
Phoenix looked at me then at my Crests.
"Yeah, well we spoke with Yggril and she said something about a Seventh Medallion hidden between the fragments of reality." Ain said.
"What Medallion is this?" I asked.
"It's called the Twili Medallion. The Guardians of the Medallions are named Dawn and Dusk. Dawn has the power of Pure Twilight and Dusk has the power of Dark Twilight also known as First Light and Before Night. They reside in the Twilight Realm." Circe explained.
"How do we enter this said Twilight Realm?" I asked.
"We have to use the power of the Light and Dark Medallions. By stabilizing their powers and finding the balance between the two, we can manipulate the sun and the moon. The sun needs to be below the horizon and the moon needs to be above the horizon but just enough so it doesn't turn night time. If done correctly, time should completely stop and the sky should turn golden and purple clouds will form." Kamila said.
"I see. Well we shall try it out after obtaining the Lightning Medallion and the Divine Katana." I said.
"Right." The Crests said then entered my body once again.
"You seem to have a really good connection with your Crests. I wish I could with mine, but..." Phoenix started then stopped.
I smiled at Phoenix then caressed her cheek. She looked at me and I squished her cheeks. "The curse is about to be broken by me Phi..~ Soon enough...we won't need our End Crests anymore and the End Bloodline will soon be destroyed for good and not exist."
Phoenix smiled at me and nodded. "You're right. See this is why you're the Leader~"
I chuckled and kissed her cheek then laid down. "Let's get some rest. We got a long day ahead of us."
"Yeah.." Phoenix smiled and laid down as well.
We all finally headed to sleep for the night and rested up. The morale of the team increased with the presence of Mom around. She really gave us the hope we needed to push forward.
The next day arrived and an explosion was heard, waking everyone up quickly. I rushed out of my tent and looked around.
"Rise and shine, Team Divinity." Duradel said and shot an energy beam at us.
I redirected the beam to the wall of the canyon. "Duradel! What are you doing?! Are you crazy?!"
"Duradel...is that what you're gonna keep calling me?" He asked and smirked.
"What the hell is going on?" Serafina asked.
"Master!" Mika said then hurried to my side.
Mom and Hecate poked their heads out their tent and looked up at Duradel who was on the air. Duradel landed on his feet and slowly took off his cloak and his mask, exposing his true identity.
"You've gotten far enough...son." He said and laughed.
"Shi- No...No!" Hecate began hyperventilating and retreated back into her tent, holding her head.
"Shidao.." I glared and summoned my longsword.
"The Ruin Emperor.." Gideon said in shock.
"Father.." Shira looked at Shidao in shock.
"How is he alive..?" Phoenix asked and looked surprised.
"I just needed to get close to you long enough to know how you operate. You've gotten stronger...Strong enough to save the world...but I'm not allowing you to do that.." Shidao smirked and summoned his Valor of Ruin.
I glared at Shidao and watched him transform into his Ruin Ragnarok State. His energy was terrifyingly evil and powerful. Everyone trembled in his presence, but I had to remain strong. Strong enough to defeat him and break the curse once and for all.
Shidao pointed his sword at me and a single black wing emerged from his back. "Hand over the Medallions...and I will spare your life."
I looked at Shidao and scoffed. "Like I'm stupid, Father! I will never hand you something like this! I know your truth...I know the truth about how you caused Aunt Hecate trauma, how you forced Mom's hand into marrying you! How you ruined the world! Because of you...I lost my brother." I said and eyes shined.
"Heh...It seems it was a matter of time before the truth came out." Shidao said then laughed. "Hecate...was nothing but a weak woman who was desperate for love and attention. I gave it to her at the price she becomes my slave. Yeah, I ruined her life. Drove her to madness and insanity. It was all worth it!"
I glared and felt my blood boiling.
"In the end, I was able to get the perfect bitch! The Queen of Serenia! Cursing her with my seed and End Crest...She was locked from ever being able to use her power. How she got that Crest of Peace is beyond me, but in the end...History will repeat and you all will fall beneath my feet and become my slaves!" Shidao laughed.
Hecate was on the verge of tears as her trauma had reappeared. She was on the verge of snapping and becoming insane once again, but she felt Mom hug her and Hecate immediately calmed down.
"We've got to get out of here, as long as he's here you aren't safe." Mom said.
"Okay...okay..." Hecate nodded.
I bellowed and transformed into my Ascended Form. I glared at Shidao and got into my battle stance. "I won't lose to you, Shidao. The Curse...ends here!"
"Oh please...show me you power, Son." Shidao smirked and watched me.