230 Bonds

Many individuals were gathered in this commemoration.

Among those, there was Daren and Lilith, who were finally able to reunite after the man was possessed by a spirit and turned into a member of Mia's army.

Right now, he was simply enjoying being with the woman he loved and his only son, although he was still hit by surprise by all the recent news he received once he woke up, such as Lilith losing the ability to see and her letting go of her grudge towards Detra, as well as her adventure in Hana's garden and how the two started to let go of their differences to properly work together.

"Really...? East...?" Daren asked after being told that the woman he hated so much played such a big part in helping them achieve this victory.

"I know... I was shocked too..." Lilith admitted, "but a lot of things happened and... well... I think I can finally move on from that unfortunate day that scared us all so much..."

Lilith couldn't see it but Daren's face was showing that he wasn't a big fan of the idea of letting go of his anger towards that woman.

He then raised his palms and began to caress Lilith's face, or rather, her closed eyes "you lost your vision because you all entered this weird garden right? And going there was her idea, wasn't it??"

"Daren, please!!" Lilith begged, "let's just stop this... Holding a grudge won't change things... I don't want to live with hate anymore... I know what she did, and I know how hard of a request it is but..."

Lilith then grabbed his hand and placed it over Lance who was sleeping in her arms.

"Can we just focus on working on our own happiness? Please?"

Daren looked at his kid and at the woman he loved. He still wasn't sure he could just let go of his hate, but he knew how much Lilith needed him now more than ever.

"Ok... If that's what you want... I won't object it..."

Lilith then grabbed his head and tried to bring it closer to hers, proceeded by giving him a gentle kiss, "thank you! I love you!"

Daren gave her a hug and began to caress her hair, "I love you too..."

"I'm sorry it took me losing my eyesight to finally give you a reply..."

"Don't worry... I'm just glad to be with you..."

From the other side of the room, Dia was keeping Ellie company while the two waited for Evlin to return with something to eat.

"She's taking so looooong..." Dia complained.

"I'm sure she will be back any minute now..." Ellie reassured.

"By the way..." Dia started to talk while gazing at the party and noticing how some kept looking at her and how others continued to cheer over Mia's defeat, "what kind of person was Mia, exactly?"

Ellie began to shiver, "uuhh... why do you want to know...?"

"Everyone just looks so happy over the fact that she is gone..." Dia commented while staring at her own hands, "was she really that bad...?"

"..." Ellie wondered about how to approach this situation, "I... I'm not sure what to say..."

"What did she do exactly...?"

"... she... well..." Ellie began to think about all the things Mia did to them. It was a big list, "I'm sorry... I don't feel comfortable talking about this right now... Can we leave this for another time...? I'm really, really tired..."

"Oh... I see... Sure... We can talk later..."

Ellie noticed that her company wasn't looking very pleased with that answer. It's not that Ellie didn't want to talk to Dia, or explain what a terrible monster her past self was, she just didn't want to do that in the middle of the first break she had after nothing but one stressful day after another.

It seemed like Claire noticed her distress and decided to come to her aid, "Hey Blue! How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted..." Ellie admitted, "I just wanna go home and bury myself on my bed and never get up again..."

"I see..." Claire commented, followed by glancing at the girl next to her, "what about you?"

"Me?" Dia said, "I'm ok... I guess... Just a little confused..."

Claire kept staring at Dia, wondering if that really was the same evil red woman that was commanding an army of mages, diamond golems, and cursed creatures while sitting on a red throne made of diamonds.

But the more she looked, the more Dia seemed like nothing but a regular kid in her eyes.

"Uuhh... Can I... Help you or something...? You've been glaring at me for a while now..." Dia commented.

"Oh!! Sorry... My bad..."

The mood started to feel a little uncomfortable so Claire tried to switch the subject.

"By the way, Blue... Is it ok to touch you now?"

"I think so... Detra said that I'm completely empty of energy right now so I don't have any strength left to mirror anyone..." Ellie explained, "but I'm probably gonna start wearing gloves for a while until I can control my mirror magic a little better..."

"You think you will be able to mirror my explosion magic one day?"

"Maybe... But not anytime soon..."

"Explosion magic...?" Dia asked.

"Oh! Right! You don't know how my magic works!" Claire said while smiling, seeing she had a chance to boast about her amazing powers.

Ellie then invited Claire to take a seat next to them and the three started to relax a little bit while discussing things like magic, school, and all the strange things they saw after entering this world.

Dia was a little cautious of Claire at first, but the more they kept talking, the more she started to lower her guard.

If one saw these three chatting from a distance, they would never be able to tell they were an explosion mage, a mirror warrior, and a descendent of a cursed queen. Right now, they look just like three normal girls enjoying each others' presence.

At least, that's what Ashley was seeing right now while looking at them.

"They seem so innocent when they are like that, don't they?" she asked the blond woman that was by her side filling her cup with coffee.

"Sure... So innocent..." Detra replied, "Give it a couple of years and they will find a way to start wreaking havoc over the country..."

"Come on, East... Look how cute they look when they're together!"

"Ugh... You people and your weird obsession with making strange things look normal... These kids are nothing but a time-bomb waiting to go off if left unsupervised..."

"Are you offering yourself?"

"Heavens no!!" Detra shouted, "I'm done with this whole nonsense... I just want to return to the other world and go back to my peaceful life..."

Ashley stared at her with her eyes wide open, "seriously??"

"What...?"

"I thought for sure you would try to get your position as a goddess back or something... But the first thing you say after this whole mess is over is that you wanna go back with Evlin?"

"Hey! I don't want to go back with that brat! I want to go back to my peace and quiet..." Detra corrected while taking a sip and shifting her gaze away, followed by softly whispering "besides... people change..."

Ashley began to grin at her.

"Oh, shut up..." Detra ordered while glaring at the red-haired woman, "you should be focusing on more important things right now..."

"You mean the six lost demons?"

"Exactly... They just vanished while everyone was focused on the war... Who took them? How did they take them? Where to? Why? There is a lot of work to be done, and you and your little friends shouldn't be here partying while you could be investigating that..."

"East, relax... We sent a special squad to search for them... We should be hearing some news anytime soon... Let's just enjoy the moment for a bit..."

"... Ugh... You people are hopeless..."

Away from the party, Marcus and Leona continued to gaze at the full moon together on a balcony, away from all the noise.

"So... How does it feel to become a champion?" Marcus wondered.

"It feels... strange, honestly..." Leona admitted, "becoming a champion for the East has been a great honor that many of us dreamed of for such a long time..."

"But..." Marcus assumed while noticing the blond mage hugging her own shoulders as if she had something weighing on her mind.

"But... It just feels like it's so much... During the war... I felt like I had to do everything in my power to keep myself under control... Like my flames were begging me to just go on a rampage and destroy everything in my path... It was... So much power..."

"I can imagine..." Marcus commented.

"You do...?"

"I can turn my hands into blades... Do you know how much self-control it takes to not do that by accident while shaking someone's hand? I always have to sleep by myself afraid that I might change during a nap and stab someone... I always have to make sure not to get scared, or shaken, or lose my cool... My body is a literal weapon..."

"... Sounds... hard..."

Marcus stared at his palms, "It can be... and sometimes... I fear that one day I might harm someone I care about by accident..."

Leona kept gazing at him.

"So trust me... I know what it feels like to fear that your power might be too much to handle..."

"... I'm sorry..." Leona mumbled, feeling she couldn't contain her guilt anymore over someone who was being so kind to her.

"For what...?"

"When I first saw you, the original champion of the East, the son of the living weapon, the partner of the crossbow mage that took down the demon leader himself... A part of me assumed you would be a bit more..."

"Impressive?" Marcus assumed

"..."

"Wait... didn't we first met during that dragon attack at Evlin's school?"

"Actually no... I saw you a couple of times when I visited lady Ashley's guild to try and enlist more mages to join us..."

"Ah... I see... And you saw me and felt I didn't look much like hero material..."

"Well... Yes... A bit..."

"I see..." Marcus laughed, showing he didn't mind it too much since he was used to people having big expectations for him despite never even properly talking, "so what was it about me that turned you off? Is it the ponytail? Because I was thinking about cutting it off for a while now..."

"Well... How do I say this... I kinda grew up with this concept in my head that warriors need to be full of scars, bruises, and wounds all over their faces... The face of a warrior is an ugly face, is what I used to say..." Leona mumbled while trying to hide her face blushing under her hood, "and you looked too good to be a hero..."

"... ... ... Oh... I... See..." Marcus replied, followed by pulling his own hoddie and starting to blush as well.

The two stayed at an awkward silence for a while before Leona gently grabbed his hand. 

"Just so you know... You don't look like a weapon to me... You make me feel safe..."