Demon Princess Magical Chaos

"What?" I approach the dying god and feel the urge to punch him, knowing that I won't be able to do any damage with my diminished weight. "Is your master so petty that he would want to destroy my people before letting the moon do it?"

"He believes... that Zenlith can do something about it." Golden blood flows from Oinos' lips as he reveals that they know about Zenlith's whereabouts. Only Exla and I should know that he's in the vaults of Arkaim, as I haven't even told my girls about it. To them, the Lord of the Sky is dead, as he should be to everybody else in the world at this point if the bard has been doing his job well.

"So Alverost is at his wit's end, too." With a sneer, I ridicule the Mage of the Beginning, who prides himself in his technological knowledge. The fact that he isn't doing anything about it himself means that he has no means to do so.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Finally, Oinos raises a hand, and I jump between him and Kamii. He looks up toward Ame-no-Murakumo, which Aurelia is still levitating using her gold. I wonder why she hasn't moved it away, but that doesn't seem to be his target. Instead, I watch wide-eyed as he reaches into his wound and rummages around it for a moment. "This is the end for all of us."

Then he pulls out a metal-looking sphere that glowing cables still connect to his body. There's a glass window on it, revealing a brightly-shining light inside. Judging by the fact that this is his heart, I assume that's some kind of fusion reaction. He wants to blow himself up!

"FLANN!" I scream while reaching out for the sphere before Oinos can do anything with it.

In the next instant, we're on the dark side of the moon, the star-studded sky above sparsely illuminating our surroundings. Flann is floating above the ground next to me, holding out a hand toward me, which I take without hesitation.

"So, you had this up your sleeve." The voice of the Walker in the Wild echoes in my head just as Juzual's did when I was last here. He sounds wry, the tone of somebody who understands that his last-ditch effort was useless.

Light fills my vision; then, I'm back on the branches in front of Kamii. I instinctively turn my head toward the east, just past a curtain of smoke rising to the floating city above. There, the sickle moon is visible just over the horizon. I remain unblinking to witness the dying star that Oinos turned into, as a corona grows from behind the moon like the sun during an eclipse.

The spreading light slowly fades away, leaving only the silhouette of the moon against the darkening sky. For a moment, he was brighter than the sun itself.

But this isn't the time to be staring at the last moments of a true god; Arkaim is in danger. We have to get back and defend it before we can do something about the falling moon. Maybe leaving Tokomaha here and letting her do her job while I take the others back would be the best course of action.

"The moon is falling faster now." Flann suddenly states in her usual unconcerned tone while looking up into the sky. "We do not have 9 hours left."

"What?" I stare at the blonde girl for a moment. It's my fault for telling her to bring him to the dark side of the moon when I formulated the initial plan for getting rid of Oinos. There wasn't enough time to change the destination of this emergency teleportation.

I try to stare at the moon to discern the number on it, but it can't be seen because of the still bright sky. If it's true that the moon has started accelerating because of the explosion on its dark side, then the impact point might have moved too. I'll need Senka to find out the new location.

"Let's go back to Arkaim." Letting my gaze linger on the moon a second longer as I think about the consequences of this explosion, I turn to Flann.

"Understood." Nodding, she peers at the other girls approaching our position. She's waiting for them to gather around so we can teleport.

"[Are you leaving already?]" Mereana's voice calls out to me from below, and I turn my head. She's standing on the second terrace, which is closer to our position than the first one. She must have run up the stairs, as she looks out of breath.

"[I'll be back.]" I wave at her with a confident smile.

"What about Asoko?" Hestia suddenly asks, and I blink at her in bafflement. Over the battle against Oinos and the revelation that Arkaim is in danger, I completely forgot about that. Also, the fact that the upside-down city above is still floating in place means that Kairaki isn't safe yet. There's just too much to be done.

I switch on my Chaos senses and expand it to encompass the entire pyramid. The fact that she hasn't come out even in all this commotion means that she must be busy with a powerful opponent of her own. But aside from another Old Human, I doubt anything could put up a proper fight against us at this point. So what is she doing?

"Asoko is in the dungeon. I don't know what she's doing there, but she's alone." I glance at Flann. She said that due to the interference, she couldn't transport us directly to where my other half was located. But why would she stay in the basement if she's all alone? There's no way she was locked up there. "Wait here."

With these words, I fly down toward Mereana while leaving my girls where they stand. Oinos is no more, and they can clearly handle the devils on their own, so I'm not worried about them. Asoko's presence feels off, but it's undoubtedly a Crawling Chaos. The only other options would be Mataku or my children, but I doubt that the former would be here right now, or that any of the latter would be alone.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Flann suddenly appears next to me the moment I land on the terrace next to Mereana. I'm prepared this time, so I'm not surprised.

"You feel?" I look at her in exaggerated skepticism, but she doesn't react to my joke at all. "You're no fun."

"[I heard about the moon falling from the golden queen.]" Mereana remarks with a grim expression.

"[Let's talk while moving. I need to get into the dungeon.]" I state while walking ahead. Mereana quickly passes me and gestures for me to follow her, leading the way into the pyramid. It seems she understands that time is of the essence right now.

"[What can be done?]" She asks while waving at the royal guard to open the gates of the terrace.

"[We have to trust the God of Growth.]" I try to sound confident while following my former comrade in arms. Flann is trailing behind us, her shorter legs forcing her to jog to keep up with our brisk walk. "[She said that she can catch the moon and hold it back.]"

"[... I shall believe in that.]" Nodding grimly, Mereana puts the fate of the world into our hands without hesitation. In truth, she most likely understands that neither she nor any of the minor gods of Adanak now in the employ of the new queen could ever hope to do something about the moonfall.

We make our way into the bowels of the pyramid, walking past mountains of devil corpses. The fighting in the city is still ongoing, but Tokomaha's clones have cleared most of the palace's interior. We don't encounter any enemies throughout our short journey into the dungeon, where Asoko has been slowly moving in circles. Something feels off.

"[What are we doing here?]" Mereana asks with a sideways glance at me. I doubt she thinks I came here to break out the alcohol to celebrate our victory over Oinos.

"[Have you seen or heard of anybody looking like me come through Kairaki in the past half a year?]" Before pushing open the door in front of me, I inquire about any sightings of Asoko in Adanak.

"[I have not.]" Shaking her head with a skeptical expression, Mereana confirms my suspicions that whatever is beyond this door isn't my other half. After all, if she were in the dungeon of the royal palace, people would know about it; she has no reason to sneak in here during a catastrophic battle outside.

"[Then stay back.]" I gesture at the wall next to the door, and she complies with a confused expression. From traveling with me in the past, she can tell when I'm serious and understands to follow my orders even if they may seem strange at first.

With a glance at Flann behind me, I ready myself for another dangerous encounter. Then I push open the heavy wooden door.