As quaint as the settlement was, Liri felt there was no replacement for this feeling.

Her feet treading on dirt, nature breathing life into her lungs, the sun caressing Liri every step of the way. It all just felt... right.

Well, aside from the dead, sickly vegetation, anyway. That could certainly use an upgrade.

And, Liri was here to offer one.

"How can you tell where it is?" Arisa asked as she walked beside her.

"I told you, I can just sort of... feel it," Liri replied with a giggle.

"The more you deny being an angel, the more you end up feeling like one to me, you know?"
Shaking her head with a smile, Liri continued to follow that sensation, allowing herself to be drawn in by that warm feeling, calling to her.

Come to think of it, that was all she'd done lately. Ever since she left her mother and the other ven survivors' side to go explore the world, and seek justice. All she'd done was let her heart guide her where it felt she needed to go.

And now, it was telling her that this was the correct path. To activate some Mother Trees here and there while slowly growing her power in the elvish settlement.

She wondered, however, if maybe she was wrong.

If, maybe, she simply had the heart of a coward.

"Is something on your mind?" Arisa asked.

She glanced at Arisa but was unable to meet her gaze for too long. Shame slowly began creeping over her heart.

"I... I don't know," Liri muttered. "I'm just wondering if I should be out there, trying to fight or not. I feel like what I'm doing right now makes some sense, but... People are dying as we speak. Could I have saved any of them? I don't know."

Before she was even done, Arisa was standing before her, her hands gently landing on Liri's shoulders as she looked down at her lover.

Right, lover. Liri had decided they were well past being "friends" at this point, and... well, given what she wanted to do with Arisa.

"If you feel you are not ready to take the fight to the humans yet, then that is all that matters, Liri. No one has any right to ask more of you. I think you should just do what you can when you feel like it. That is all."

Indeed, going by Alteria's words, the goal she'd given to Liri, it appeared that Arisa may as well have been acting as her voice right now.

"... I guess," Liri muttered as she then soon spotted the Mother Tree, up ahead. Walking to it, she held her head low. "I just hope it'll be enough."

---

{Mariana}

The atmosphere in Diosia was rather tense.

Ever since that girl had come in like a storm, killing dozens of people, along with one

Inquisitor and crippling another, security had tightened up considerably.

On Mariana's end, though, in between the business her teacher would have her do, her chest felt tight for a different reason.

Right now, as she saw one of the last of the elvish families be hung on the gallows, she recalled those words the strange, grey-skinned girl had told her.

[... Do I want this?] Mariana asked herself as she watched them die. [Ugh, stop. Stop that. The answer to this question doesn't matter. You have a job to do.]

The sword on her waist felt so heavy. As Alverion walked up to her, his cane tapping against the concrete as he hopped forward on one leg, Mariana could hardly stand up.

"Compose yourself," Alverion told her. "The God-King should be arriving soon."

Those words made everything around Mariana freeze.

"What?" She asked, surprised.

"I got word yesterday," Alverion said. "Apparently, the God-King wants to see that girl personally. He's on his way here."

This was no small bit of news.

The God-King hadn't left his home, his heavenly palace in the capital, for years. For him to come all this way for no other reason than because of that girl...

[Who the hell is she?]

Some soldiers began making a commotion. A few guards hurriedly ran off, and both Alverion and Mariana watched them go.

"... I'm going to guess that's him," Alverion said, his tone laced with reverence and fear. "Come. Let's greet him."

Everyone in the city was there, standing in the middle of the streets as the God-King's carriage arrived. No car, no truck, a carriage. He preferred it.

With black horses in silver armor, and an Inquisitor leading them to Diosia's center, everyone stood in silence as they watched the vehicle come to a halt.

A door on the side opened. The Duchess, standing by with a short smile on her face, waited just a little bit further than everyone else.

A figure then walked out.

A mix of black cloth and regal silver, just like that of the horses, a man emerged. All one could see of him, however, were his red eyes through the slit of his helm. Everything else was metal.

[The God-King,] Mariana thought, inhaling sharply. [The man who reshaped the world.]

He immediately walked up to the Duchess, then. With his head slightly low, a deep, tense voice asked:

"The girl in the letter, no, the demon... Is she dead?"

"No, your majesty," the Duchess replied. "I-"

Before she could get another word out, the God-King pulled out a sword and cut off one of her arms.

Mariana hadn't even seen it. It was as though the blade materialized the instant he'd received an answer he didn't like. 

It happened so quickly that the Duchess barely reacted. Mariana flinched. Everyone there gasped as that limb hit the ground and crimson began to stain the Duchess's beautiful white dress.

"We will go to your office," the God-King said, quietly. "I will hear your words. And, depending on what you tell me, you may lose a lot more than just an arm."