Raynare surprisingly felt very good.
She was running through a big, big rainbow.
And beneath the rainbow, white lambs were frolicking.
Raynare frowned a little as there was something strange to the lambs. No, actually the lambs were white only in relation to their fur, as each of the lambs had a human head covered in brown hair, and each of the lambs was bleating "Yoo-yoo-yuma…"
"Ha ha, what a silly name, Yuuma." Raynare paid no attention to the bleating lambs as she continued to run down the rainbow. "Ha ha, how good… "
Also, a little further along the rainbow on the sides lay the slain Red Dragon Emperor, and Raynare ran on, knowing that no one could have killed the Welsh Dragon. What a silly dream!
And at the end of the rainbow stood Him.
"Father-e-e!" Raynare ran across the rainbow toward Father, who, for some reason, this time took the form of a middle-aged Japanese man. But Yuma knew for sure that it was Father, she still remembered when Father took the form of a burning bush after all! Taking the form of a middle-aged Japanese man were incomparably normal.
"Father, I had a strange dream, as if You had returned! Back after You died!"
"Umu." Father simply nodded gravely at Raynare's words, then held out his hand to her.
"Wake up."
"But Father, I just woke up from a strange dream in which you just waved your hand and killed the Red Dragon Emperor!" Raynare smiled at her Father. "I am not dreaming!"
"Umu, I see" Father uttered something as he nodded slightly, as if to confirm his words, coming to a final conclusion. "[Awaken]."
Raynare opened her eyes abruptly, the beautiful large rainbow she had been running on, and the multitude of Issei lambs vanished immediately before her eyes… Unlike Father in the body of a middle-aged Japanese man and the dead body of the Red Dragon Emperor beside her.
Raynare blinked, shifted her gaze from the dragon to Father, then back, then closed her eyes, feeling her feet begin to run on the big beautiful rainbow again.
"[Awaken]." A rainbow that immediately dissipated and Raynare opened her eyes again, looking at the Father and the dead dragon… Raynare wondered for a second, could she now pretend to be mute? Mentally retarded maybe? She was ready right now to start pissing in her pants… Um, in her skirt, if it could save her from Father's wrath.
Then her memories helpfully suggested to Raynare that she had communicated with Father before. He had appeared out of nowhere right in front of her as she had struck Issei, used some ability that made Raynare unable to even move, then she found herself in an obscure stone room. And then she suddenly realized that Father was her best and closest friend, and Raynare no longer remembered when she had any friends in the past, then he asked her to leave and wait in the corridor…
And then the room that Father and this guy, Issei, were in literally exploded from the inside, a large piece of stone crashed into Raynare's head, and she lost consciousness. Thankfully her concussion only lasted for a few seconds, thanks to her fallen angel nature she woke up just seconds later to see… To see the fucking Red Dragon Emperor spinning around attacking something unseen, bleeding from the huge incisions that ran through his entire body, seemingly even separating parts of him. Making her come to the conclusion that she was dreaming, and that her concussion was more severe than she first thought.
Then the middle-aged Japanese man she had seen moments before, who had suddenly become her 'dear and close friend', and had ceased to be after she had lost consciousness, held up his hand and Raynare heard a resounding bell ring. And the Red Dragon Emperor, or Emperor of Red Dragons, Raynare did not remember what was correct, rolled his eyes and collapsed to the ground dead.
Then, seemingly completely unsurprised that he had just defeated one of the strongest creatures in the world, the Japanese man turned to the void, saying something about the need to dismantle the damn Welsh Dragon into 'materials.' MATERIALS! The Welsh Dragon!
Raynare's worldview, which had cracked several times in the last few seconds, suddenly fell into place in the only possible configuration with a slight 'pop', bringing her a simple and understandable thought.
Father, He, had returned. It was the simplest, most logical and understandable of all the inferences Raynare could come to.
To begin with, perhaps, the problem of the [Sacred Gears] had been occupying the minds of all factions and pantheons for a very long time, since their creation by God… I mean, Father.
Different factions approached the matter differently, but all agreed that having someone on their side with a [Sacred Gear] was better than not having, or worse, against them. Many conducted various experiments, but the fallen angels achieved the highest understanding of the [Sacred Gear] system of all factions thanks to the efforts of Lord Azazel, and by necessity.
The Fallen were the weakest and fewest of the biblical factions, and one of the weakest factions in the international arena. The [Sacred Gears] were their only salvation. Without the ability to replenish their numbers naturally, and without the ability to convert people like Devils, their numbers were constantly dwindling. And because the mass fall of the angels stopped after Michael took control of the devastated Throne of His and His [Heaven's System] they didn't even have that avenue to replenish their numbers.
And so, the Fallen had to begin to become well-versed in the intricacies of human technology, political wrangling and [Sacred Gears], all in order to survive. Lord Azazel himself taught most of the fallen angels how to identify and just what ridiculous existence [Sacred Gears] are, and the most ridiculous among them were the [Longinus].
And so Raynare knew that destroying a [Longinus], which was definitely Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor, who had previously been sealed in [Longinus: Boosted Gear], was not only a very bad idea, but in principle impossible.
No one has been able to destroy a [Longinus] before, and not for lack of diligence or effort. At different times, different factions and organizations have repeatedly caught carriers of Ddraig or Albion or other [Sacred Gear], trying to unseal the creatures imprisoned in them for a variety of purposes. Some, hoping for the creatures' gratitude, some simply wanting to target peaceful peoples with powerful beasts.
And they could – they really could. If Albion or Ddraig broke free – even the most powerful gods would have to treat what happened as a world crisis and act with all urgency. Lord Azazel himself rated his strength compared to the two Dragon Emperors as 'between zero and nothing' – and Raynare could not even imagine how strong Lord Azazel was.
The various Pantheons then had come to the conclusion that the [Longinus] were more trouble than they're worth, and started trying to find ways to destroy it. But no one was able to do that – not even the God of Destruction himself, Shiva, could.
The fallen angels, after much experimentation, had made little progress in their skills in manipulating [Sacred Gears]. Even Lord Azazel himself, the greatest master of artifacts who himself had successfully created a [Sacred Gears], though he would still deem it a failure, had failed. He, in the end, had declared that to completely destroy [Longinuses] or to release what was stored in them, was impossible.
But what did Lord Azazel's words mean to the one who had personally created those very [Longinuses] and sealed Ddraig and Albion in them?!
Then who would have the strength to deal with Albion or Ddraig other than the one who had already dealt with them once?
And finally, who would have the desire to initially free Ddraig from his confinement – only to finish him off a few seconds later?!
Raynare had only managed to fight a few times in the Great War, for she was one of the youngest angels He had created. But, she was aware of the fact that in the past He had sealed Ddraig because He could not destroy him immediately. But she also knew that in those days He had been greatly wounded. His strength had been undermined long before the Great War began.
Though Raynare did not know thoroughly why, His mind had been wounded by Lucifer's betrayal, and His soul destroyed by the death of His Son, and so He had not found the strength to destroy Ddraig… But still, as an absolute existence, there shouldn't have been much trouble in killing Ddraig once for all, for He is mighty.
Raynare knows that His hatred for dragons was great – He had hated dragons since the Serpent and the Expulsion of the first humans from Paradise. And so, now that He had returned, he had immediately searched out for Ddraig and had finished what He had once started, after He had regained His strength, was logical… No, it was the only rational justification for everything that had happened.
Raynare imagined that Albion would soon suffer the same fate as his Red brethren.
Indeed, if Raynare had simply killed Issei and his [Sacred Gear] had gone away to be reborn, appearing years later in a different host –that would have been a problem to search for… An irritant to Him.
And that is why He had appeared so unexpectedly before Raynare, wanting to deal with Ddraig before Issei, his current host, died… A grim picture formed in Raynare's mind, and she twitched for the first time, realizing that all this time she had been in prostration, staring ahead of herself with unseeing eyes. And that her unblinking eyes were desperately watery from the tension and dust that rose in the air during the brief collision with the Red Dragon Emperor.
Raynare blinked, then looked up at Him, who had taken the form of a middle-aged Japanese man, dressed in simple office clothes, totally out of sync with the power He had demonstrated earlier, and at… A child? An elven child? A child of the dark elf?
"Lord Momonga, if you wish to create something voluminous from the body, like armor or cloak, I should cut off the scales in this, this, and this place," The child, seemingly completely unimpressed by the enormity of the dead Ddraig, poked at the creature's scales a few times, Her manner of speaking, talking about cutting up a caught game, without any pity for the slain.
"But in that case we'll have practically no skin left for the scrolls – I'll have to take off the undamaged body parts first, so it won't be a very efficient use of materials…"
"Umu, in that case – take off enough skin for one complete set of armor, enough for a cloak, gloves, boots, cuirass, belt, pants and helmet, but send the rest for scrolls. The armor is primarily for experimentation, there is no real practical need for it, while scrolls are a consumable item." Father supported the girl's words with a cold detachment, as if he were simply looking at pieces of meat in front of him, wondering which part of the pig would go to steak and which would be smoked.
"Thank you, Aura"
"He~he…" As he reached up and ran his hand through the girl's hair, she instantly broke into a smile and let out a light chuckle, clearly enjoying the touch and swaying slightly in place, like a dog following his hand… In a not-so-appropriate way for a child.
Raynare had heard of elves and seen one once before, but in general elves very rarely appear in public, especially in Japan, where she had worked for a long time… Dark elves especially appeared even more rarely.
But on the other hand, He was someone you could expect the most incredible and impossible things from.
Raynare blinked once more, shifting her gaze to the side… To realize that she was not, in fact, in Japan. To the side were a total, black, indifferent emptiness that stretched as far as she could see – and Raynare suddenly felt her throat go dry.
Never before had she seen what the Dimensional Gap looked like, especially in person – she had only heard of its existence, but she imagined that this was most likely what it was.
That's right, she was in the Dimensional Gap, a space famous for its antithesis for life… And she was still alive.
Raynare shifted her gaze from the void to the figure of the Father ahead, then swallowed.
There was no doubt in her mind, she still existed only because of Father's intervention and because of His desire. All she had to do was say something against Father, and she was dead. No, maybe if she even drew Father's attention to herself, and she was dead.
And if so, she had already failed on all fronts.
"Umu, Raynare, I presume?" Father turned to Raynare, and she felt a shudder run through her entire body, she then reflexively grasped her groin as if trying to forcibly keep her bladder from emptying.
'Fallen angels have always died in excruciating pain, and for it to be drawn for a long time.' Raynare swallowed. 'Father does not forgive betrayal… But I did fall after He died, so potentially it wasn't actually a betrayal? Or, I suppose, not died, but went into the Dimensional Gap for some reason… I fell because of a mistake! It was all because the [Heaven System] was out of control! Father, forgive me, I repent, I repent! I believe, Lord, I believe!'
"Raynare, I know you are capable of speaking," Father's eye traced Raynare's hand to her groin, whereupon she realized how provocative the pose looked, and this despite the fact that she was a fallen angel! She had to show that she was remorseful for her fall, that it was not her fault, not to give evidence to the contrary!
Especially when she smelled of urine!
Raynare felt her brain completely boil over, then began to cover her eyes, feeling her feet touch the beautiful rainbow again.
"Umu, this is starting to get a bit tiresome, [Awaken]," Raynare came back to reality again, looking at her Father approaching and the dark elven girl beside him, what did He call her? Aura or something?
"Lord Momonga, if she's boring you, I'll get rid of her at this very moment!" Aura took a step toward Raynare and Raynare realized that the girl would happily follow through with her threat, the second Father commanded.
"Fa…" Raynare tried to squeeze words out of herself, but could only make a squeaking sound. The threat to her life, however, allowed her to force out a semblance of a word out.
"Fa… Father!" Raynare then dropped to her knees, instantly folding her hands in a gesture of prayer.
"Father, forgive me! I repent of all my sins, I repent of my sins, murder, and theft, and profanity, lying, blasphemy, especially of that last one! Three times I repent, three times I believe, repent and believe!"
Raynare fell into a kind of madness, repeating over and over 'repent' and 'believe', unable to utter anything else but these words.
"Umu," Father's voice passed her ears. "Hmm, I think I still have a scroll of [Cure Madness] in my Inventory somewhere, but is there any point in using it? Hmm, Aura?"
A moment later, Raynare's consciousness was pierced by… Fear. An unbelievable terror that forced her into silence, interrupting her mutterings, choking instead on a mute scream, frozen, unwilling to even move. No, deprived of that possibility.
It was a fear and terror that had no form that is permeating her whole being, born from the depths of the oldest and most primal of fears, born before the moment of human consciousness, from their animal instincts.
"Umu, enough," And the fear disappeared a moment later, as if it had never existed, allowing Raynare to exhale a breath that she had held back without realizing, after which she emptied the contents of her stomach.
"Bleh!" Aura's voice broke through the veil of her consciousness before Raynare could lift her face, busy as she was dumping the entire contents of her humble lunch and afternoon snack onto the stone floors.
"Umu, quite uncultured." Father furrowed his brow slightly, but Raynare had been through so much in the last hour that she no longer even knew whether she should have fallen into another panic or just give up and go with the flow.
"What do you mean, when you call the Lord Momonga 'Father'?!" Aura, however, clearly annoyed by Raynare's actions, reached for her belt, whereupon Raynare flinched when the tip of a whip, so fast that even her heightened senses as a fallen angel could not track its movements, clicked beside her.
Raynare looked up at Father, expecting His reaction, but He only looked back at her silently.
'That's… Why is Father silent?' Raynare blinked, knowing that even at the height of God's anger, torture wasn't an option He would choose. Nor would her creation be a mystery to Father, He was the one that created her after all.
'Is it a test? Yes, that's right, it's a test, He wants to know what I have to say about Him. Ha-ha, I don't think this test is that effective considering that He's standing around with his [Omniscience]… However, as I am in the focus of His powers, it probably makes no difference to Him whether He's standing around, or not! Ha-ha…' Once again the rainbows are beckoning her, but she knows that if she answered the call, she would be gone for good.
"I'm not talking about Him being my biological Father," Raynare finally understood that her old understanding of the world is gone for good. All she had left was to walk through the ruins, trying to find a sign of what would become her new 'normality' from this day forward.
"I was simply created by Him…"
After saying it, Raynare thought for a moment. Explaining to a mortal, even an elf, what it meant, to be 'created', was hard enough, the first thing they would start thinking about would be to draw parallels with robots or golems, not understanding what exactly Raynare meant.
But Aura surprised the girl with her response, "Wait, like we are? How I was?"
Raynare blinked, then looked at Aura. Father, for some reason, also shifted His gaze to the girl, who shifted her gaze first to Father and then to Raynare.
Raynare wondered for a moment, could the girl really be an angel and not an elf like she appeared to be?
Gently, Raynare tried to open her senses and feel her nature… To freeze in a vain attempt to free her stomach from the contents from which it had already been freed a little earlier. The girl, no, Lady Aura was felt many times stronger than Lord Azazel himself! The head of the entire faction of fallen angels! The man who had rebelled against Father!
Although Raynare realized after a moment, that if this girl was also created by Father, then Azazel was very lucky that Father was weakened then. Otherwise, the Fallen would only be left in the history pages – if Father didn't burn those either.
"I guess… That is indeed the case." Raynare answered, her body still continuing to shake finely after the revelation, then shook her head,
"The Lord… I mean, Father created us many years ago… we thought we had lost Father…"
"Umu, that…" Father tried, as if uncertain, to intervene in Raynare's words, but the woman, finally understanding the situation in which she had found herself in, could not help herself.
"But He is back! Father is with us again!" Raynare raised her hands in the air after which she lost her mind. At least, that's how she looked, Raynare, unable to keep her shattered psyche under control any longer, laughed like a madwoman.
To think, just a few days ago she had considered an errand as something that is most important in her life, the one she had received from Lord Azazel about having to get rid of a certain Issei Hyoudou. Never could she imagine, that in the end of that path, Raynare had met with Father, seen the murder of the Red Dragon Emperor, talked to a dark elven girl who could deal with the entire Biblical faction herself. And Father was still alive and had not smitten her!
Raynare burst into laughter, unable to keep herself under control, and continued laughing until her laughter turned into hysterical howls. Before collapsing to the ground, only a dozen centimeters away from her puddle of vomit and urine, then, unable to hold back her howls, began sobbing.
"Lord Momonga, is it true?! Have you returned here to return to your abandoned children?!" Aura instantly jumped up in mute amazement and adoration looking at Father, but Raynare no longer cared about anything around her, the distraught fallen woman was laughing and crying as hard as she could.
"Ah… umu, well." Father looked at the dark elf with an amused and unsure look, as if to mock her ignorance. "About that, umu, Aura…"
"So Lady Bukubukuchagama can come back to us, too!" The dark elf's next words made Father freeze.
***
Momonga looked into Aura's eyes, understanding her loneliness… But how had she arrived at this point? He just wanted to find out information from Raynare, he had heard her calling him father and had heard something in the past from Tabula about such things. Sadly, he had never been a religious man and there were almost none of those in his social circle, so he knew next to nothing about religion.
He knew that the angels were God's messengers, so, in retrospect, he might have been able to guess that an angel might consider God as their father. Especially after noting that he was considered their father in the same sense in which Ainz Ooal Gown were considered 'parents' of the NPCs…
So, in hindsight, he might have guessed that if Raynare addressed him as 'father', that meant she saw him as her God… But he certainly couldn't have ever imagined that the conversation would take that turn! He definitely didn't expect Raynare to start vomiting and pissing herself out of nowhere!
He just wanted to find out information from Raynare - about what exactly she wanted to do with Issei, why, what she knew about these [Sacred Gears] and whatever else she knew. Issei knew nothing about the magical side of the world, so he decided to use Raynare and get the information from her.
But then she started calling him 'father' and then passed out, so Momonga decided to leave her alone for a while and get busy with Aura cutting up a dragon that happened to come his way. But then Raynare woke up, started calling him 'father', catching Aura's interest, Momonga's too. And so he decided to find out why she's doing that, and at the same time thought it would be rude, and he would hurt Aura if he didn't let her ask her questions.
All that led to Aura now looking at him intently, eyes glistening with moisture and underlying hope, lips trembling, and Momonga realized… That he couldn't upset Aura now.
Telling her that Bukubukuchagama wasn't coming back would trample her heart, and break her forever. Besides, with some probability, Bukubukuchagama or any other member of the Ainz Ooal Gown Guild could actually exist in this world. Or, if he indeed did go to Earth's past, he just has to wait a couple of decades, and they would have been born in this world in the future.
He has no idea how to go from there, though… maybe he could fib and say something along the line that their 'rebirth' had some unforeseen issues? Or maybe even that they had suffered from amnesia due to some random enemy action. If nothing else, he has time to figure out what to do then.
And so, he wouldn't be lying when he says that Bukubukuchagama 'would' return – after all, Aura's question was not whether Bukubukuchagama 'will return' to us, but if Bukubukuchagama 'may return' to us. And because she theoretically could, it wouldn't be a lie if he says yes.
"Umu," Momonga squeezed his heart in a vice and nodded slowly, no matter how hard it is for him to lie – because he knew that it would be a lie. But, at the very least, he also wanted to believe that it would also be possible, he had been doing that for the last ten years after all.
"I don't know if it will happen, and if it will – when exactly it will happen… But it is possible."
Aura, hearing Momonga's words, froze… Whereupon Momonga saw tears running down her dark cheek, from her heterochromatic eyes.
"So… She's going to come back." Aura almost whispered these words, as if she herself could not believe what she was saying. "She really can… Come back too."
Momonga, unable to stand it, stretched out his arms to Aura, then pulled her into an embrace and, unable to restrain himself, lifted Aura in his arms and embraced her.
Aura instantly clutched at his office clothes, which he had created a little earlier, hiding the sight of his outfit, after which she began crying.
"Uwaaa…" Momonga instantly felt his clothes begin to soak in moisture. "Uwaaaah!"
'Aura may seem older and more serious than her brother, Mare, but she's still just a child.' Momonga felt like an old man as he stroked Aura's back and head as she, unable to contain her sobs, pressed her cheek against his clothes as she continued to shake in resounding cries. Raynare, on the other hand, had stopped sobbing a little earlier, and just continued lying on the ground, on her back, looking up at the ceiling, before closing her eyes with a sort of detached smile. Her consciousness finally leaving her.
"Well, well, don't cry, Aura, it's all right," Momonga ran a hand over the girl's back, feeling her wailing begin to subside into silent sobs and shaking shoulders before, when she calmed down a little, allowing Momonga to put her down from his embrace.
Aura still flinched periodically and sniffled noisily as she looked at Momonga, so there was no way to mistake her condition for anything else. Still, she stubbornly tried to force her expression back to a serious and even frown that only further emphasized her childlike directness in wanting to imitate her elders. Momonga could not contain a small, love-filled smile, looking at her action, which showed even more on his human face.
"Lord Momonga, I've made you dirty," Aura replied to Momonga after a moment, still unable to get her voice completely under control, proof of how much Momonga's words had affected her, "I humbly apologize and…"
"There's no need for that, Aura," Momonga held out the sleeve of his robe to Aura's face, then gently wiped the tears from her face, first from her right cheek, then from her left.
"You are my treasure, and I appreciate everything you give me – whether it is your smile, your work, or even your tears."
Aura, hearing these words, looked away, her eyes instantly beginning to fill with tears again, but she noisily sucked in air through her nose, then turned, looking at Momonga with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Lord Momonga, I believe I have an important errand to run – and I must do it, by all means, even if it grinds my bones into powder!"
"I'd rather you didn't hurt yourself trying to do my errands, especially if they're wrong or stupid," Momonga held out his hand and then patted Aura's head. "But yes, I suppose you should take care of the dragon's body, before it begins to decay."
"By your will, Lord Momonga!" Aura saluted him with her usual pep, then teleported to the body in a single, cohesive motion. Which, as if by itself, began to disintegrate into its component parts with a speed and professionalism that even the most advanced automated disassembly lines of his past world could not have expected.
Momonga shifted his gaze to the bloodstain, in which no human form was discernible, and shook his head. The only thing that's left of poor Issei. 'Well, in that case, I should think about what to do with the murdered Issei Hyoudou…'
Momonga shifted his gaze to the side, to Raynare, who continued to lie quietly on the ground, and shook his head.
'And I still need to decide what I should do with Raynare and her unexpected outburst, which I kind of indirectly confirmed to Aura, hmm…'
'Well,' - Momonga shrugged. 'Let's hope it doesn't have any far-reaching consequences.