Judge had never fought this intense before, he could only hold out due to his enhanced cognition (EC just won't cut it here). The lady in front of him, Seraphis, was really strong. All of her attacks were extremely heavy-hitting.
"How do you know the Deity of stories?" He was still holding the egg, he sat down after putting it on the floor. "I did not know she even talked to people in this world."
"You are also someone in this world aren't ya?"
Judge did not know how to answer her question. Doubts swirled in his mind, was he really supposed to be a person from this world? He was supposed to be someone who died and reincarnated without his memories, yet here he was.
"Or are you from another world?" Seraphis had a smirk on her face.
Suddenly! Someone teleported nearby, as if to give Judge another jumpscare even though his heart was beating as fast as it could.
———
Eleyn had wrapped up her fight, she stood on a mountain of burnt corpses. The city had been destroyed, not by cultists, but by the dragons who got a little too excited when they were fighting after a long time.
She still could not teleport. What was Father doing? She decided to check on him and the artifact. She needed to get back to her baby quickly. Even if the egg was transported near any Phoenix, there was no guarantee that nobody else would take it.
But the egg was hard, it would take at least The Brute Pheonix to even crack it, unless the egg goes through the proper process for a phoenix egg to hatch.
She rushed off to the source of the artifact that Melina pointed out, "Speaking of Melina, where did she get teleported to? Well, it doesn't matter since she can fend for herself pretty well."
———
Melina was sitting beside a table, there were only two people present in the room— herself, and her father. There was a cup of tea on the table, it was steaming and looked very warm and inviting, but she did not take a single sip.
"You still look just the way you looked when you left... my daughter." Melina's father tried to ease the tension and put an end to the awkward silence.
"Never call me your daughter, never again." Her face was full of disgust, "Only my father used to call me that, and that loving father I once admired is no more, he had died, a long time ago."
"Melina, I am a man a half feet inside death's door, my only wish is to seek your forgiveness. I know what I did was not something I should ask forgiveness for, but I did it for the sake of the village."
"For the village? Had anyone but you been against it? And when you felt like you were about to lose..." Tears started to swell up again, it was a painful memory. "You killed him, you killed Valor. He was my everything, and you broke me." She slammed on the table, spilling the warm tea, "Just because he was a vampire."
"I am sorry Melina, I just..." He shook his head, "I was drunk okay, I was not thinking straight, and when I was sober— you had already left."
"Drunk or sober does not matter, I would leave the place if you could let me have the spirit's permission." She got up and went to the door, "And what of the tradition, I saw a guard using an ether rifle, I wonder if you still keep the tradition of not marrying people of other races."
She went out without waiting for her father's reply, slamming the door on her way out, leaving her father to himself.
As she got out of the chief's house, someone was waiting for her, patiently. She was surprised to be greeted by a presence she never thought she could see again.
———
Eleyn reached the ridge behind the city, the place was her favorite spot whenever she was out for sightseeing. There was her father-in-law Gereon, trying to make sense of the artifact like a baby curious about its new toy.
"Father! Judge has been transported elsewhere, and I need to go there." She called out to the immersed old man, snapping him out of his bliss.
"Just a minute Eleyn, this artifact has got really complicated mechanics, Melina might be able to solve it in a pinch." He looked at her, "But where is she?"
"Got transported too, after the egg."
"Well we might have to wait a bit if that is the case, after disabling this thing, I will go to Melina and you to Judge. Let's look for Alex after that, I know he can fight for himself, but he had not been seen for a pretty long time for a short mission, and the cultists he was after already attacked us."
Gereon combed his beard with his hand, "There is something more to this than what meets the eye."
"Well! Whatever you say Father, but please make it quick"
"I can try. But you should learn to sometime use your brain, you can't brawl everywhere you know, there are limits."
———
Aldric, was kneeling in front of someone. It was dark, but the place was still visible, it looked like a cathedral. There were benches arranged for people to sit, and stone walls with statues of the god of night.
"It is as you said," He looked up at the figure in front of him, "Everyone except me has died."
"It does not matter, their souls will strengthen us more than when they were alive. Tell me, priest of light, how was the dragons." He had a coarse voice.
"They were all strong, even the weaker ones were pretty powerful." He had a determined look on his face. "You were right, they must be vanquished, all dragons!"
"Then you should attain higher amount of strength, I shall help you reach your goal. Remember, they killed our brethren."
"As you command, what should I be doing— Sir Senin, Apostle of the night."