“You…! You must be!”

Luci’s newfound interests for her new upgrades get sidetracked by the new presence in the sanctum. Both her and Louis turn to see the spirit of the cultist from earlier appearing by the room’s entrance.

“The spirit… What did you say? Also why are you back here?” Luci walks over to the spirit, limping slightly from the wounds that remain from the fight.

“Spirits can appear and reappear at their leisure, as long as they can exist. We're bound to this place, but you'd never notice if we never made our presence known. Of course, I'd never dream of hiding from you, my lady.” The spirit speaks with a tone of loyalty to Luci, which unsettles her a little bit.

“My lady…? Why are you suddenly being so formal?” 

“Ah yes, let me explain. During your battle with that abomination, you did something that only our Goddess could do. Our Goddess is a very special being, a being that is capable of transcending one of the basics of life. You transcend gender. One who is both Male and Female. Only the Goddess can do that. A truly perfect being who is fit to usher in a new age. Oh how I've been praying for this day, and now you've finally blessed us with your presence.”

Luci gulps. “You mean… I'm your goddess?”

The spirit nods, as well as an apparition can, at least. “The being we have been praying to for ages now, the only being worthy of divinity. Those heretics were wrong all along, and they will rue the day they split from us righteous people.”

“Right… What exactly does the other sect of this cult believe?”

“We believe that the ‘Perfect Being’ is a member of the divinity, a deity, a Goddess. They, believe that the ‘Perfect Being' is a creation by Man. Like that blasphemous… thing, you destroyed just a moment ago. An alchemical creation. They've sacrificed many innocents, most not even affiliated with them. This does not absolve us of our own sins, of course, we've been forced to roam this temple for eternity. But… Their sins, they are much too great, they must return to nothingness. They do not deserve the Goddess's, your, mercy.” The spirit gets increasingly angry in his speech as he talks about the other sect of the cult. The spirit turns around and back again before speaking once more. “... Apologies, my Goddess, but it seems our time has run out. The fog is lifting, the spiritual energy is dwindling here. But before we go, remember this: Us spirits at the Moon Temple will always pray for your success and health. Even in death, we are nothing if not devoted. Farewell.” He bows before slowly fading away, sunlight beginning to creep in from the open ceiling.

“Well that just happened. I guess I'm a Goddess?” Luci looks over at Louis, who shrugs back.

“You don't look much like a divine agent to me, much less a divine. Freaky gender-swapping aside, at least.” Louis scoffs back, giving her a light-hearted jab.

“Yeah, that's fair.” She says, sighing. She thinks to herself: “Well, it'd be hard to tell you how I got this power anyways.” Stretching she starts walking towards the exit back to the main altar room. “Let's get out of here.”

“Right behind you.” Louis walks faster to catch up and match her walking speed as the two exit the ruined temple. Pushing the large twin doors open, they are met with the north side of Everglade Forest once again, the fog from before having been completely lifted. They both stretch a bit while stepping back onto the dirt and grass, Louis looking towards the direction of the kingdom. “Just need to head this way and we’ll finally be out of this forest. Then just follow the ol’ dirt road. Shouldn't be anything else that’ll stand in our way now that the fog’s lifted.”

Luci nods and smiles back at him as the two begin their walk out of the forest. She opens up her status screen to look at her new unlocks. Saving the most interesting thing for last, she looks at her new skill.

Luci looks impressed at her new skill, letting out an “Oh-ho-ho” in her mind. “An Insta-Kill skill, eh? Maybe this new scythe will work out quite well for me, after all.” Finally, she moves to the new Class she unlocked, very excited to see what new powers she's unlocked for herself.

“Wow… This is just perfect for me!” She swoons at her new Class. “There's never been a class more suited for a gender-bender like me.” Though she's intrigued by the mention of Dark elemental magic in her arsenal, as that wasn't available from the Red Mage Class. She opens this Class’ skill tree and sees it split into three distinct sections.

“Looks like I can’t unlock any of these skills right now, and some of them are hidden anyways. Weird.”

She looks over at her friend. “Hey, Louis. What's Dark Magic?”

“Keh? Dark Magic… That's not something you should be messing with.”

“See, I just unlocked this new Class, and it seems it specializes in Dark Magic.”

“W-what?” He coughs a bit and recomposes himself, the new information startling him. “That's impossible, not a single Class in the history of the world has ever specialized in that element, and nobody has ever or will ever learn the proficiency for it. Even the most learned Sages and Sorcerers do not ever dabble in that.”

“I… I see.” She laughs nervously at his warning, looking ahead as they exit the forest and begin walking along the dirt road. The capital city is plainly in sight, all around the giant crystal blue lake.

“Remember, as we walk up to the city gates, stay in this form. The guard’s have been given very strict entrance requirements lately, and I doubt your male form could cut them.”

“That's not really an issue, but why is that exactly?”

“The city has become overcrowded as of late, and so they've started vetting who is allowed entry into the city. One of those ways is to be proficient in Magic and show you have something to offer the College. And, I probably don't need to be the one to point this out, but your male form is absolutely not even remotely proficient in Magic. Also, absolutely do not use that power in front of them. I may be understanding to it now, but what you can do is frankly unnatural.”

Luci feels a sting in her gut, like that statement was a personal attack on her ability, even if it was only partially true; but she understood that someone who can change sex at will would likely be captured and experimented on at some secret government facility in the world she came from. “Haha… maybe they won't think that? I hope so.”

“Lunaria has historically been pretty open-minded and tolerant about people who ‘don’t quite fit the mold’, but this goes deeper than even that. Even the most potent transformation magic can't induce the same level of change, and you do it seemingly effortlessly.”

“Well it does give me excruciating pain, but… Wait, why do you know so much about this magic stuff anyways?” Luci figured that Louis was more interested in swordplay and only saw magic as a complement to his repertoire of physical skills. However, Louis abruptly stops walking and stares down at the ground for a moment.

“It's… complicated. Just leave it at that.”

Luci looks back at him, confused at his sudden sullenness but decides to not push the matter further as they both start walking forward. She sighs as the two near ever closer to the capital gates.

—

In time the two reach the gates and are stopped by two guards. 

“Halt! Present reason for entry, or be turned away.”

Louis steps up to the guards and pulls out a letter from his sack. “I have a writ of passage.”

The guard on the left lowers his spear and takes the letter, opens it, and closely examines its contents. “You, pass.” Louis nods to the guards before walking across the drawbridge into the city, looking back at Luci and giving her a subtle nod as to say “you got this”. Luci attempts to walk forward as well but is stopped by the guard, his spear outstretched once again. 

“Stop! Present reason for entry, or be turned away.”

Luci wracked her brain for a moment before saying the only reason she could think of. “I'm here to study Magic at the College.”

The guard on the right scoffs and adjusts his helmet. “Another one, eh? Well, you do look to be one of those Mage types. However, people like you are a dime a dozen here. What could possibly distinguish you from the rest of the herd?”

Luci gulps, knowing that her new affinity for Dark Magic is her only ticket inside the city that doesn’t involve her transforming into a guy. “I… I can use Dark Magic.” She hopes this is enough, as even though her new Class may have an affinity to that element, she hasn’t yet learned any of the Class skills.

Both guards start laughing hysterically at this statement. “You, able to use Dark Magic? Do you know how many wannabes have come through here with that same spiel, trying to worm their way into our fair city? If you’re going to lie, I'd suggest you try something a little more believable.”

Luci starts to panic, unable to think of something before realizing there's only one option left. She needs to shift in front of them. “This is a bad idea, but I have no choice…” 

Taking a deep breath, she stares at the both of them before activating “Sex Shift”. The pain is not as severe as before, but still more than uncomfortable. Still, she's able to remain standing through it all. The guards stagger backwards at the display, seeing what was once a beautiful young girl, transforming into a handsome young man right before their eyes. However, their confusion quickly turns to disgust as they nod at each other.

They look back at Lucifer, who is now in male form again. “Sorry, but we cannot permit you entry into the city.” They both raise their spears directly at him.

“The only place you'll be going is a cell until trial. That is, if non-humans can even stand trial.”

The right guard circles around Lucifer and pokes at him with the spear, forcing him forward while the left guard leads him into the city limits. They remain uncaring to his words as they stick him into a guard’s carriage just inside the city, hauling him off to the Keep deep inside the Capitol.