After the fight I laid Joseph's body neatly on the ground away from the debris we caused in the castle and waited for him to wake up.
The Castle is now in ruin so I started a campfire and thought about the Artifact I used in that fight. So I just had to ask the Goddess about it.
"Lady Agata… If I may ask, how did Father manage to get such a Godly weapon?" I asked.
"It was a reward from his trials and tribulations. It was forged by the Titan himself as a gift to your Father as he was worthy of its power." The Goddess replied.
"The Titan?" I questioned the name mentioned.
"It's better to meet him in person. Come, you borrowed the weapon, you better return it or else he gets mad." Lady Agata pulled me into a portal.
"Wait!" As we disappeared into the night.
"Don't worry our realm works differently from the real world. You could be here for days or years even and only a few minutes will pass back in the real world." Lady Agata brings me into the Realm of Gods or what she says.
We walked through a steep mountain following a path that goes beyond the clouds just to see another taller mountain and Lady Agata stops by the edge of the cliff to look for someone perhaps?
"Oh, Titan, we've returned to bring back the Artifact I've borrowed." Prayed Lady Agata.
"Aye, aye. Just wait for a second. I'm working on some armor at the moment. Glad that you brought it back, Agata." The so-called Titan walked by us and looked down towards us and noticed Agata holding the ax.
"It was deemed a success." She gave the ax to the Titan.
"Great then he was worthy then." The Titan replied.
"He's so great that I brought him here with me." She answered back.
"I told ye that it's hard to bring a mere mortal to our land-" The Titan stopped speaking as he turned towards me.
"Who's the young fella?" The Titan pointed at me.
"Well he's the Hero I was talking about." She replied.
"I thought the only mortal that could walk in here is the Woodsman." The Titan replied.
Wait, Father?
"Are you talking about my Father?" I asked.
"Father? Who do you think you are?" The Titan squints to judge me.
"Have you taken a good close look at him?" She replied.
"Aye, I was surprised. You're his son?" The Titan was shocked after seeing something within me.
"Yes, I am his sole son." I replied back.
"What happened to him then?" The Titan asked.
"He… He passed away a long time ago now." I replied with hesitation.
"Aye, I'm sorry to ask. Condolences to yer Father, but that man, he was a handful for a hero. And yet he's always my best customer out of all of them. That shotgun on your back, yeah, I forged that for him." The Titan points at my shotgun on my waist.
"I guess my Father made a lot of orders from you then." I chuckled a bit.
"Aye, he always had something in mind for a weapon that fits his mission. He always delivers materials I need, always complete and on time. He didn't disappoint.
It's sad that he passed away now. But I guess he left behind all of his artifacts for his own son to use then, right?" The Titan asked.
"Yes, he left behind a letter a few months before he passed away peacefully." I replied.
"So much that man has endured throughout his adventures. But since you're here I wanna ask something: how did you learn to use Baal?
I recall Baal only functions on someone who has the knowledge to use it and it's a blood-pact weapon too." The Titan thinks.
"I learned it through a Memory Fragment. Plus I think you know that I'm his biological son so that means…" I replied.
"Aye, yer right! The biological part yes, but the Memory Fragments what are those?" The Titan asked.
"Those are fragments of his memories of everything he learned in this world. And is shattered to many pieces and scattered throughout the land. So far only Alan here could use it to learn his Father's tricks and knowledge." Lady Agata explained.
"Make sense, make sure you come by here from time to time. Here give me the shotgun. I'll do firm maintenance on both your shotgun and the hatchets." The Titan opens his hand for me to drop the weapons on it.
With a rise of his left hand a giant anvil rose from the ground. He placed the weapons on the anvil and grabbed his hammer. As he hammers it, a bright light shines from the weapons and the glow only gets stronger and stronger.
I could feel the power of the Titan from a distance. He chants something that resonated with the anvil.
"Oh, ye old Woodsman of the Forest. Oh, the Son of the Woodsman. Give these weapons the strength of a thousand suns. Bring forth the youth of hope for a new chapter awaits for all of ye. Awaken ye old souls of these weapons.
Gift this young lad the trust and reliability I bestowed upon ye years ago. Awaken ye weapons of fortune!" The Titan continues to chant.
As he says the final line he strikes the anvil one last time giving a loud bang as the dust settles down and he grabs the weapons to be given to me. They feel and look different from what I remember.
"Remember to take care of them… Oh what the heck I know yer gonna take care of it your Father did well of keeping it in one piece anyways. Good luck out there kid, I'll be working on the armor now." The Titan leaves.
"Alright now you got that covered let's get back to the castle now. Joseph should be awake by now." Lady Agata guided me back to the Castle from the Realm of Gods.
We soon return to the now ruined castle just in time. Joseph woke up from his slumber confused a bit…
"What happened?" Joseph asked.
"You are now free my friend." I replied as I stood by the mausoleum.
"What did you do to me?" Joseph is a bit startled.
"Relax, everything's fine, you've been corrupted by the Demon Lord all along. And that affected you throughout those past months." I patted Joseph's shoulder.
"Then what happened to my Goddess?" Joseph asked.
"My Goddess learned something while she was helping on her end. That your Lover became the Goddess that succeeded your previous one that passed away. And evolved into becoming the Goddess of Faith and Penance." I replied.
"Then that means..?" Joseph thinks.
"She never left your side all these times. In fact she's with you for now and probably forever." I replied.
The worry on his face melts away as he starts to cry with joy and relief. No one should be subjected to this kind of suffering not in my watch.
And I won't let that be the sole reason for the destruction of this world. Now that I tread a path on my own with my Father's guidance and his Goddess guiding me throughout this open world he left behind for me to explore.
There's a lot to see out there. And this is just the beginning, I have yet to see the rest of the world and what he left for me to know about the history of this world.
Lady Agata has been doing a lot of the important bits in the background to fix up this broken relationship between Joseph and her Goddess.
"Hey, Alan. You wanna join us back to town for our return?" Asked Joseph relieved from all of his pain.
"I have something to fix up first. You go ahead, I'll follow suit." I replied.
"Alright then, see you around back in town Alan. Oh, and thank you." Joseph shakes hands with me as he leaves back to town.
He leaves the castle with a relaxed face knowing things are now over. And that he was finally free from that painful fate of his.
"So what's next, Lady Agata?" I asked.
"This is just your tutorial, but you did exceptionally better than expected. Your adventures will only get complicated from here on out. We could go on my route so it would give you a progression to go through if you want." The Goddess replied.
"I think I'll go with your idea. Since I wanna progress from your preference since there's a lot of stuff to go around in this world." I replied.
"For now enjoy this first successful subjugation of a Demon Lord on your first try." The Goddess seems to congratulate me from my hard earned work.
I felt relieved and soon after I went back to the village to see the after party. After all, it's a well earned party for all of us. Wonder how they celebrate it, guess we have to see it for ourselves.
Nothing beats a good party after all.