“You know who the Abyss Sovereign is?” Eliza asked, her voice quiet. Gemini could see the gears running in her mind; she was already working out the answer for herself. It wasn’t hard, considering the context in which Gemini and Hereward had exchanged words in, and a faint shade of disbelief clouded her eyes as she arrived at the only conclusion possible.

“Gaius?” She shook her head. “That’s just ridiculous. If you don’t believe me, let me call Degurechaff and Magnus over. The kid just visited not too long ago, you know. Right before the Great War, to catch up with his friends here.”

Shaking her head, she pulled out an artefact and started fiddling with it. At the same time, Lila, who had been watching the whole thing in silence with Aria, opened the doors and beckoned them inside.

“Make yourselves at home,” said Lila. “Come on, Gemini, let me show you around the place!”

“Oh, right. Sure!” Gemini followed Lila in as Eliza and Hereward settled down on a sofa each. “Oh wow, this cot is really cute. And Aria seems to be missing it very much…although, to be fair, anything I create usually has very drab colours.”

“Auh!”

“See?” Gemini chuckled.

“Babies are attracted to bright colours, after all.” Lila waved her hands once sent out a small wave of energy, which covered the entire cot. She called it back a few seconds later, before depositing Aria in the now dust-free cot, and the latter started to roll around on her mattress.

“Is she going to be okay if we leave her here?” Gemini asked. “I mean, you are going to show me around, right? Leaving Aria alone…”

“Don’t worry.” Lila winked. “Aria, your papa and I are going to leave you here for a bit. Don’t climb out or anything, okay?”

“Auh…”

“Aria is really brilliant, to the point that I’m beginning to feel inferior,” Gemini muttered. “Babies aren’t supposed to be this docile, are they? Well, whatever. Aria’s my child, and that’s all I’m going to care about.”

That said, he had a feeling that the parents of new-borns worldwide would curse him to the ends of the world and back, if he wrote his own parenting experience so far into a book and published it.

“That’s the spirit,” Lila replied. “C’mon, let me show you around this needlessly large house. I actually wanted a smaller one, but Eliza wasn’t going to hear any of it. Now I need to spend lots of effort on cleaning the place. Bah.”

Chuckling, Gemini followed her around and listened to her little complaints. The next few minutes felt like something right out of an ordinary life, without things like his status as the Demon Sovereign or the impending end the Abyss Sovereign intended to bring out, and Gemini found himself smiling gently. He hadn’t realised it, but those days he spent with Lila in Ark City, as well as during the Great War, had grown on him.

No world-ending threats. Just a regular day at work. As it turned out, he really missed those little things. Great gods and great ambitions didn’t necessarily go hand in hand together, as it turned out.

It didn’t take all that long to show him around, since most of the rooms were empty and devoid of any furniture whatsoever, and the two of them soon returned to the ground floor. A nice fragrance had permeated the air, the source being the plates of finger food laid out on a nearby table.

More importantly, however, there were two people he recognised.

“Chamberlain! Degurechaff!” Gemini burst out into hearty laughter and patted their backs. “It’s been some time, but I’m back. Alive. You two owe me some drinks.”

“My collection was destroyed along with Ark City back then,” Chamberlain replied. “There’s nothing for you, punk.”

“Same here, same here.” Degurechaff folded his arms. “But it’s good to have you back, regardless. Many of us here owe our lives to you.”

Gemini squirmed at such words. “I was just protecting Lila. You guys just happened to be in the way.”

“No. I was referring to back then, when you stonewalled the Demigod’s attack by yourself. If we had been a few minutes faster, you would never have to use your powers and attract the Demon God’s attention back then,” said Degurechaff.

“But it all worked out well in the end, no? I’m alive and me. I’m back here, with the power of a great god to boot.” Gemini smiled. “None of you owe me anything. My transformation into the Demon Sovereign was destined from the very start. It was a singularity. Even if I avoided it back then, something would have happened anyway.”

“You will not like the alternative,” Hereward, who had been sitting around and munching on some French fries, murmured. “If he had not stayed behind and escaped into the Five Lands, things would be very different. Very, very different.”

Degurechaff turned to look at him, and then did a double-take. “My apologies for not noticing you, but you are…”

“Do you not already have the answer?” Hereward replied. “I’m pretty sure the two of you have seen me before, back in the Conference of the Four.”

The two of them glanced at Gemini, and Degurechaff cleared his throat. “Gemini…is he the Sentinel of Space, the Stabiliser, Hereward?”

“Yeah, he is,” Gemini replied. “Why?”

“…N-nothing in particular, no.” The general gulped. “So…why is he eating food here?”

“Because he has a craving for pizza and other party food,” Gemini replied placidly. “Like most normal people. Seriously, you two should just stop with the overreactions. Look at Eliza! She’s taking it in stride. You two are leaders of Ark City. Small things like this shouldn’t fluster you.”

He paused. “Or are you saying that us great gods shouldn’t be allowed to eat party food?”

“Let’s put this intriguing topic aside for now,” said Eliza, as she stood up. “Gentlemen, Gemini and Hereward have revealed to me the identity of the Abyss Sovereign.”

“The Abyss Sovereign’s identity?”

“Yes. Do not be alarmed at whatever I say next,” said the Demigod. “The Abyss Sovereign is…”