Lone looked at Lipsilk's outstretched hand and laughed. Soph had just teleported him and his Divine friend to Mystoplis since the contest was due to start tomorrow afternoon, but he had only offered Lone a handshake? The very thought made the foxkin chuckle mockingly.

He nimbly wrapped his arms around the tiny fairy's body and lifted him off of the ground, hugging him tightly. "I missed you, Lipsilk."

"W-What are you doing, you foolish lad!" the triple-X-ranker clearly hadn't expected such an attack from Lone, so he got flustered, which was uncommon for him, in truth.

"Haha, how amusing," the Timbus - Divine Thread - giggled as it floated beside Soph peacefully. "I like him."

Soph threw the cloud that seemed very fluffy and cuddleable a wary look, resulting in another laugh escaping it. "Not like that, Little One. As you can see, I am lacking reproductive organs."

The girl's face went bright pink as her cheeks started to heat up. "I-I wasn't thinking about that..."

"I'm glad. Jealousy is a foolish emotion-fuelled by mistrust or by harmful selfish thoughts. Have faith in the one whom you love, Little One," Divine Thread said softly and in a manner so that only Soph could hear.

'How foolish. Lone gets jealous should we so much as hug another man... B-But he doesn't get jealous when I cuddle other fluffy things... That's different, Soph. This Divine is just lacking in wisdom. Jealousy is perfectly normal and acceptable. Are we wrong to be jealous when that harpy hugs or kisses him?... Eolande? Um, I-I don't know. Lone's right that he can't control his attraction and that he can't help things like that feeling good... Soph, he would kill someone if we kissed them. Just don't take this cloud's words and follow them to the letter. Jealousy is fine.' It was rare for the two personalities to have such a lengthy discussion, and it gave Soph a lot to think about.

Lone put Lipsilk down and directed his attention to the waiting Timbus. "You make the 8th Divine that's arrived to watch my little competition. It's nice to meet you, Divine Thread."

"Likewise, Ninetails. Likewise, indeed. May I ask who of my brethren are present in the city? I am rather reclusive, so, while I know every Divine by name, I am unaware of which cluster of Divine power belongs to whom," the cloud admitted.

'How can it talk like that without any lips?' Lone thought curiously as he answered the posed question. "On the island to the east is Divine Time - Headmaster Erion of The Academy. 600-meters that way is Divine Persistence, also known as Grand Guildmaster Sarah of The Adventurer's Guild."

"Ah, the two most famous Divines on the eastern side of the continent. I've heard a lot about both of them. How fun to have the chance to finally meet them," Divine Thread happily said.

Lone smiled before continuing. "Divine Weeping, Divine Spirit, and Divine Rend, all three of them are staying in this hotel on the gold floor."

"Aha, that would explain why they are so close together. The triplet soul oracle grandmasters, is it? I wonder why they have come to watch a match of magical students fighting a group of adventurers... How strange," the Timbus said.

"Ah, that's likely because of me. I'm a new master soul oracle. I haven't met them yet, but a friend of mine from the local Soul Hall told me that they've taken an interest in one of my weapons - a soul-prison-slash-dual-ended-sword with an ego. It can contain Divine souls, so yeah, I'm not really looking forward to my meeting with them," Lone admitted with a soft sigh.

"Such an artefact exists? I'm surprised I have not heard of it nor its creator. To make something like that... Well, they would have to be an Ancient, I suspect," Divine Thread calmly said, not expecting a direct reply.

'Only Professor Dana is nuts enough to believe that I can create such powerful objects, so let's just keep my mouth shut here, why don't I?' Lone thought.

He was slowly learning that telling the truth wasn't always the best option. If he could avoid creating confusion or making people distrust him, then simply saying nothing was sometimes the better option.

"Hmm... Anyway, Ninetails, that accounts for five of my brethren, what of the other three?" the Timbus asked in a polite tone.

"Well, the only other one I actually know is Divine Oracle. I'm trying to avoid her since I recently murdered three church seekers and an archbishop. From what I hear, she isn't a battle-oriented Divine - which is hard to believe since you need a certain level of strength to reach the cusp of Divinity as it is - so I'm not too worried, but yeah, if I have to fight a Divine from the church, I'll just wait until Divine Hallowed - who's supposedly on his way here to kill me - to arrive for that," Lone said with a shrug.

"Ah, young Sigmund? I wouldn't hold your breath, Ninetails. He is terribly unskilled when it comes to directions," Divine Thread chuckled. "Anyway, the other two Divines, do you know where they are? I wish to make myself known to my brethren before your little competition begins."

"I think so." Lone closed his eyes and focused his ability to detect soul. "One's in a field to the west of the city... the other... I can't sense them anymore. I guess they're hiding their Divinity?"

"Ah, a sneaky Divine. It's rare to erase one's Divinity entirely. Usually, it's common courtesy to allow S-rankers and above to detect our presence so as to avoid any trouble. Regardless, thank you, Ninetails. I'll be off then and I'll see you soon," Divine Thread said as its body slowly started to scatter. "Lipsilk, keep him close. He's a powerful friend."

The fairy wore a confused face. "He always speaks so cryptically when he peers into and tugs on the threads of destiny."

"Divine Thread's a he?" Lone asked.

"You get curious about the strangest things," Lipsilk shot back.

Lone shrugged. "I've never met a nimbus before. What race was he?"

"Timbus - a typhoon nimbus. Also, technically, he has no gender but he accepts any pronoun when spoken to," Lipsilk answered.

"Huh. Good to know. Anyway, the owner of this place owes me a few favours for a kidnapping incident not long ago, so I'll hook you up with a room," Lone said.

"Thank you," Lipsilk wasn't going to question the generous offer, neither was Elder Talian who had just silently minded her tongue while in the presence of such a mysterious Divine.

Soph tilted her head to one side as she held her chin. "Lone, why didn't you tell the cloud about the city lord?"

"You mean the pseudo-Divine? There're actually four of them in the city right now, but yeah, I never mentioned them because they don't have real Divine energy and they aren't recognised as real Divines by the Council of Divinity according to Sarah," Lone answered, satisfying the curious Soph.

Lipsilk furrowed his eyebrows. "Pseudo-Divines... Speaking of those greedy and selfish fools, have you discovered anything regarding the stone Taslonian army, Lone? Elder Talion and I have turned up a blank, I'm afraid."

Lone nodded, surprising the fairy. "I have some clues, hints, and theories. First, I'll get you two some rooms sorted out then we can chat, 'kay?"

Lipsilk's face was painted with concern roughly an hour later. "How troubling... For such a drug to exist... And you think it was an imitation of whatever the pseudo-Divines are using to reach such heights?"

"Yup," Lone casually replied as he stroking Garadia's chin. He had taken the baby dragon out of The Glade along with her sister, Kyuubi, who was being adored by Soph. Rachel had Swind with her, and honestly, she didn't need the lovely little babies at all times to help soothe her soul.

Garadia purred oddly for a dragon, but the sound was still cute and it made Lone smile warmly before he said, "I plan to meet with the empress of the Taslo Empire at some point, but I'm a bit busy. I will get it done though. We need to know where and how they got that army of triple-X-rankers, after all."

"Yes, we do. We also need to know why pseudo-Divines don't turn to stone but those soldiers did and your rescued mages run that very same risk even now. What's so different about the two drugs?" The million-year-old man let out a sigh. "I was expecting magic, to be honest, not alchemy. I know nothing of the alchemic arts, unfortunately. It is not an area we specialise in at the Eastern World Tree."

"I'll figure it out," Lone said confidently. "Anyway... Wanna fight? I never actually saw you battling that succubus bitch, so I wanna see what you're made of."

"Haha, I'm no ordinary triple-X-ranker, Lone, boy. Ele'hunda wiped the floor with you when the two of you trained, didn't he? It'd be a disservice to him if I didn't follow suit," Lipsilk happily responded.

Sophie crouched down and poked Lone in the face. "Are you okay?"

"... Where's Soph? I could use a cuddle..." Lone replied, immediately noticing the coldness in his lover's expression and tone.

Sophie smirked. "She's busy in here," she answered as she tapped her head lightly. "We plan to train our swordsmanship now, but it was extremely fun watching you lose in a fight. such a thing is rare to see these days."

Lipsilk laughed as he floated down from the sky and cancelled the fairy magic he had applied to himself. "I didn't hurt you too much, did I, Lone?"

Slowly and somewhat lazily leaning his torso up, Lone shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine. You wounded my pride though. Even though I'm a triple-S-ranker now, I still can't beat a triple-X-ranker in a fair fight, it would seem."

"Well, if you hadn't given yourself the restriction of not using that passive healing of yours nor any of your self-created artefacts, then I doubt I'd have defeated you. I am not trained to win fights of endurance," Lipsilk admitted.

Sophie snorted. "Most people are not. Usually, the goal is to defeat your opponent as quickly as possible, not to endure until you win by default."

Lone reached over and grabbed the girl, surprising her. He kissed her and said, "Yet we both have skills that work perfectly for the latter, huh?" in a soft tone as he rested his forehead against hers.

"Wha- D-Don't attack us so suddenly..." It had been a while since Lone had last been so assertive with Sophie in public, and as a direct result of that, her cheeks flushed red and her eyes avoided contact with the watching Lipsilk.

"Ahem..." The fairy turned his back then said, "Anyway, I'm surprised I defeated you so candidly as well. I've always been skilled at dodging, but attacking? Never my forte. You lifting Ythmagobla's curse from me has really allowed me to grow. With some luck, perhaps I can approach my own Divinity soon, hmm?"

"That'd be pretty cool," Lone nonchalantly said as he kept staring at Sophie who was wriggling about in his arms unhappily. "Do you and Elder Talion mind giving us some privacy?" he asked as he grinned.

"Ah, to be young again. Of course, Lone," Lipsilk laughed while Elder Talion just nodded.

Sophie collected herself the looked right up into Lone's golden eyes. She frowned then kissed him. "Not here. We refuse to make love to you in a training area. If we are skipping swordsmanship practice to have sex, we shall do so in a more suitable location."

She teleported the two of them to the bench that hosted their sleeping children before she teleported once more, bringing all four of them to the master bedroom in their diamond-suite at Madam Cortelle's Palace of Rest.

Lone grinned. He returned Kyuubi and Garadia to The Summoning Room then he immediately got to work undressing his lover. "Change into your adult form would you?"

Sophie smirked. "Make us."

'Hmm? Oh... We're back home. That bench was comfy...'

Garadia stretched like a cat then yawned as she curled up between her sleeping sister and a cushion made from her father's own tail fur. Her eyes drifted over to the room's display screen before the baby dragon quickly looked away.

'Mummy and Daddy are so shameless...'

She chose to ignore her fornicating parents as she nuzzled into her older sister's body, making sure she was warm and comfy.

'Hey, Kyuubi... Learn how to talk soon, 'kay? I want to speak with Mummy, and Daddy, and Uncle Swind, Aunt Eolande, Big Sister Breena, Big Brother Infa, and, most importantly, with you...'

Garadia was a very intelligent dragon but she was also a dragon with a very simple wish. Perhaps it would be granted sooner than she might initially think. At least that was what she hoped.

Kyuubi's origin and subsequently her odd ability to shapeshift into a fox were both still a complete mystery to her family, sadly enough, so neither Garadia nor her parents were aware of how her sister grow and if she would be able to voice her thoughts soon.

A dragon could dream though, no?