Others side

Sliding across the ground between the behemoth devil's legs, Kamii brings up her cursed arm in a vertical swing. It hits the giant's armored jewels, but not even thick steel does him any good as the force rips his body in two from below. Everything above the waist is reduced to an explosion of red mist

The little dark elf avoids getting sullied by quickly getting up to her feet and running forward a few more steps. Without turning to look at her handiwork, she shifts her focus to the remaining devils.

Those caught in her gaze stop in shock at the realization that their most powerful member has been defeated - by the person who looked the weakest in comparison. But before any of them can react by either running away or trying to fill the gap, Hestia rains down a hail of spirit spears.

Before, most would have been able to dodge, but with them stunned from the loss of their leader, all of them are distracted. Ruthless as always, the fallen angel didn't hesitate to take that opportunity to thin their ranks considerably.

With their morale broken and their numbers diminished, the devils in the throne room begin to scream in fear. Some fight tooth and nail to get to the windows. Others look around in desperation as if hoping that whatever magic transported them here would take them back where they came from.

The gods of Adanak and the royal guard still remaining in the hall make quick work of the stragglers. A cheer rings out when the last devil falls to a spear into the eye from one of Tokomaha's clones.

That's when the entire pyramid quakes, and dust rains down from above. The royal guard brings up their shields to protect the queen from potentially falling debris, and everybody looks around in surprise. Something must have happened outside, or it's the appearance of a new massive enemy that eclipses the behemoth Kamii took down.

Whatever the case, Hestia flies over to one of the windows and peers outside. She can't determine the origin of the shaking and switches to the other side, with the same result. The windows of the throne room only face the western and eastern sides, and the walls are too thick to allow for viewing at an angle. The floating upside-down city above hasn't moved, and Kairaki hasn't changed from being on fire, so it must have been something closer.

Now that the immediate threat has been eliminated, everybody's thoughts return to the whereabouts of Chaos. Tokomaha wordlessly creates many clones to search the pyramid with, but Kamii unhesitatingly jumps down the hole into which the Crawling Chaos has disappeared earlier.

Hestia stares at the window before her in contemplation, then shakes her head as if coming to a conclusion on her own. Floating back down to the ground, she heads for the hole Kamii has jumped into moments ago, only to realize that she can't fit through there with her wings either.

"I apologize in advance for destroying your palace." With these words directed in the general direction of the elevated throne, Hestia raises a hand. Without a word, she summons an array of spirit spears with which she wants to stamp out a bigger hole in the ground.

"Wait, we can go this way!" Tokomaha quickly stops the fallen angel for doing something so rash. She knows her way around this place since she has navigated it with her clones a few times by now. The terrace leading outside is on the same floor and won't need further destruction of the royal palace.

Hestia can suppress the urge to click her tongue, as she follows the suggestion of the little goddess and walks out of the throne room without any word toward the queen or their royal guard.

"[Who are you people?]" The man in azure armor seems to come to his senses, as he calls out to Aurelia and the others. He won't forget that they came to their help, but he still needs to inquire about the identity of intruders into the palace.

"[Let me explain this.]" Mereana turns to the man with an expression that suggests he shouldn't question the intentions of these people.

"[Thank you for saving us.]" Kouratua bows to the golden queen while filling out his dents from within and returning to his full rotund glory.

"[Tell me what you know about this. What direction did the city above come from, and how long has this invasion been going on?]" Waving off the God of Gold's thanks, Aurelia gets straight to the point. In truth, she wants to follow Kamii and find Chaos as soon as possible. But learning about the situation will surely be of some use.

"[The floating city appeared right around high noon, hidden inside a dark cloud that looked like a storm front.]" The rotund god explains in a tone that speaks of his confusion at this sudden attack.

"[That would be around the time the moon started falling.]" The golden queen mutters to herself, causing those within earshot to blink in surprise.

"[What did you just say?]" Mereana comes down the steps, apparently already having finished explaining the identity of these newcomers.

"[The moon will be falling into the ocean north of here.]" Not wasting any time on beating around the bush, Aurelia states in a matter of fact tone. "[If that happens, all life in this world will end.]"

The shocking revelation leaves everybody stunned. Taking that opportunity to make her exit, the golden queen turns away to imply that she's going to do something about it. Nobody thinks to stop her and ask for details, as they all wrestle with their own thoughts. Some nervously laugh it off as impossible; others argue that they should try to summon Roamukao to avert this crisis. None of their words reach Aurelia's ears as she jumps down into the hole to join the little dark elf.

Kamii follows the path of destruction resulting from Mahkotoh fighting whatever pulled her under. The holes in the walls leading all the way outside the pyramid tell her that this is an opponent capable of surviving even that much punishment. It must have been Oinos then.

She looks down at her cursed arm. The combo counter is still going, so she should be able to catch the towering god by surprise. But judging by Mahkotoh's fighting capabilities, it will be difficult even to approach somebody who can stand toe to toe with her. She will need to be incredibly careful and have a lot of luck to find a way into the battle between two godlike beings.

"I will create an opening for you." Aurelia's voice suddenly calls out to Kamii from behind, causing the latter to flinch in surprise. She was too deep in thought to notice the golden queen approaching her.

Nodding in the affirmative, the little dark elf doesn't speak her reply. The harem under Mahkotoh has a clear divide between those that knew her from before she went to the moon and those that came after. Kamii and Hestia are friendly with each other, and Aurelia and Tokomaha have an unspoken rivalry that binds them together. But there's some seemingly insurmountable distance between the former and the latter two.

It most obviously expresses itself in their powers. Kamii understands that she's physically the weakest, and her ability to utilize the powers of the false gods lags far behind Hestia. All she has is her cursed arm; Mahkotoh implied that she could have the highest power potential among anybody in the world. But she knows best that it's difficult to utilize properly.

However, it goes beyond her usefulness in battle. She has grown beyond the point at which she would doubt the love she receives from Mahkotoh. But receiving it without being able to help the love of her life doesn't sit well with her.

"What are you brooding about?" Aurelia suddenly puts a hand on the little dark elf's head, causing the latter to look up in surprise. She can count the times the golden queen has ever touched her with one hand - and not the one that possesses five fingers.

But the gentle feeling suggests that Aurelia may be trying to bridge the distance to her. Living together for many moons while practically avoiding associating with each other isn't healthy. Everybody has been busy since Mahkotoh's coronation, but in the recent moon, they have had more free time together.

"I-" Before Kamii can reply, the ground underneath their feet jumps several inches, causing them both to nearly fall over. A massive impact must have happened outside, but the fact that the pyramid is still standing means that it didn't hit it directly.

The two exchange a glance before wordlessly heading for the hole leading outside as quickly as they can.