245 Under Attack

Detra was looking at Claire like she wanted to choke her with a rope and throw her at the bottom of the ocean.

"Why in the world didn't you used that spell before!!??"

"Get off my back!! My spells take time to charge... You think I didn't want to beat that guy as well??"

"Ugh! Fine, whatever..." Detra whispered while she and Claire tried to help Joseph and Ellie who were still knocked out on the grass.

They moved the two under a tree so the shade could cover the sun and began to analyze their situation.

"So what do we do now? Is he still alive?" Claire wondered.

Detra gave a few steps towards the hole to glance at Gluttony who was still buried inside of it but completely invisible behind a massive curtain of smoke created by Claire's lightning spell.

"Most likely... While your spell was indeed strong, demons can only be defeated by blessed energy... And according to Hana, dragons can only be defeated by terminal energy..."

"So... What do we do...?"

Detra began to hold her chin while pondering about the situation.

If they used Ellie and her terminal form, they could probably deal with Gluttony with little trouble, but the girl was completely knocked out right now and they had no idea when she would wake up.

They could also call for Evlin and her group to ask for help but they needed a god for that. West apparently was in the middle of a crisis right now, Hana rushed to Evlin's side as soon as she finished talking with Detra and heard that Evlin went after Knucker, and North was still missing and he probably would never help them right now considering their history.

Detra wondered if she should try her luck with South.

The fire mages from the temple were also not going to be of much help since apparently the demon of sloth managed to plant some kind of traps in the middle of the night that made them all go to sleep.

"When did the Sloth demon set his trap...? We stayed up all night... "

"Detra...?" Claire called her attention.

Detra realized she should worry about that later and returned her focus to Gluttony, "we can't finish this guy without the young miss... Let's retreat for now and wait for her to recover her strength!"

"Ah! We could go home and wait there!" Claire suggested, wondering if she could use this chance to finally go home and check on her mother.

"That's actually a good idea!" Detra noted, "very well... let's wait for things to calm down on your world and return once we get word from the crossbow girl..."

"Yes!!" Claire whispered.

Detra then tried to talk with the gods, "West... West are you there? I need a portal!"

[Not now, East!! My home is being attacked by some crazy guy!! I need to guard my champions!!] West replied inside Detra's mind.

"... Hana? Hana are you there?"

"Rampaging?? What??"

[...]

"Hana!! West!!"

[...]

[...]

Detra began to wonder what exactly was happening.

"South... South, can you hear me?"

[East?] the voice of a young boy replied.

"South, I need your hel-"

[East!! Help!! I need help!! Someone is attacking my city!!!]

"What!!??" Detra gasped.

[You gotta send someone to help me!! Where is Evlin?? Where is Gustav??]

Detra's heart began to throb at a dangerous pace.

"All the god's temples are being attacked...?"

Suddenly, a noise started to come out of the crater. Claire took a small look and realized that Gluttony's body was starting to set itself on fire once again.

"Detra...? Are we still going...?" Claire asked.

"... ... Yes... Yes... we need to get out of here... Let's go..." Detra declared while grabbing Joseph and giving Ellie to Claire.

The group then began to walk away from the temple.

"Detra!! Where are we going??"

"As far away from here as possible! Something is going on and if we don't wanna get caught we need to keep moving!"

Detra and Claire continued to carry Joseph and Ellie while Dia followed right behind them as a large pillar of fire appeared from the hole Gluttony had been buried into.

"Wraaagghhhhh!!!!!" screamed the demon from inside the crater.

Claire felt the ground shaking from the power of that cry alone.

"S- Should we do something about that?" Claire wondered.

"You spells take years to go off, I'm out of power, young miss and the annoying lad can't even move and Dia was born yesterday and has probably no idea of what is even happening right now... Does this sound like the kind of group that can take on a demon dragon?" Detra commented.

"O- Ok, never mind... let's go..."

While she continued to distance herself from the temple of the east, Detra kept trying to get in contact with the other gods while climbing up a hill, but they all seemed to be unable to communicate with her for some reason.

She looked back once she was far enough and spotted the temple exploding with a massive pillar of fire.

Claire and Dia observed in terror.

"The... The followers... Lance!! Xadi!!" Claire whispered.

"Keep moving!! Don't stop no matter what!!" Detra ordered.

Claire and Dia started to tear up while observing the pile of smoke reaching for the sky from what used to be the temple of the east.

The two tried to resist the urge to fall on the ground and cry but Detra kept pushing them to continue.

"If that thing catches up to us, we will be next!! Keep going!!!"

Detra wasn't aware yet, but at that moment, both the temple of the south and the temple of the north had also been completely destroyed by beings who were a combination of demons with a dragon.

Gluttony himself was just walking around across the remains of the temple while he stumbled across a painting of the goddess of the east, and was surprised by her appearance.

"What the... Wait a minute... Isn't that Hana...?" He wondered while staring at the picture and thinking how the woman in it looked a lot like his old boss, Hana, the iron flower.

He tried to hold the image but since his body was on fire, as soon as he came in contact with it, the image turned into ashes and scattered over the wind.

"Oh... Eh... I'm sure it's just a coincidence..." he commented, "guess I'll just report back to Knucker..."

And as he said that, he finally gazed at the place that had now turned into a land of no survivors and picked a small crystal.

The demon began to send some of it's energy to the small object and began to hear Knucker's voice coming out of it.

"How did it go?" Knucker asked. 

"I took a lightning bolt to the face and was shredded by a barrage of icicles..." Gluttony replied while analyzing his bodyb that by now had recovered already, "And yet I'm still feeling great! Being a dragon is awesome!!"

"Glad to hear... Did you destroy the temple?"

"There is nothing but ashes now..."

"Perfect! You are the ruler of the East now! Stay there and don't let anyone take your position!"

Gluttony smiled, "Sweet!"

Part 2

Evlin entered the room inside the temple of the west and was greeted by the image of Ria holding a small baby in her arms.

"Nice to see you again, crossbow girl!" Ria greeted her with a huge smile stamped on her face.

That face almost made Evlin forget she almost turned into a wild beast not too long ago. If she wasn't completely drained of energy right now she would dash across the room and bury her friend on the biggest hug she ever had.

"You too, Ria... You didn't change at all... Literally..." Evlin joked, making a reference to Ria's position as a champion of the west and being unable to age.

"You on the other hand changed quite a lot... Minus the whole 'being carried around when you ran out of power thing' I guess... That one is a staple..."

Ria looked around the room and smiled upon seeing so many familiar faces.

She looked at Lilith who for some reason had her eyes closed, Daren who was holding a grumpy face, Marcus and Gustav who seemed worried, and Ashley who was trying to force a smile to hide her worry.

Hana and West were also there, and since their attires were similar, Ria just assumed Hana was a goddess as well.

Sphinx wasn't allowed to enter the place since he was a monster and it would be considered an insult to stay on the temple dedicated to worshipping a god, so he was forced to wait outside. Not that he minded, as, after the battle with Wrath, he was rather anxious from being next to Evlin.

She also saw a new face, a woman with blond hair, white robes, and chestnut skin that was staring at Evlin for some reason.

"Are you a new member of our family?" Ria asked Leona.

"Ah... Apologies... My name is Leona... I'm the champion of the East!" Leona stated while stiffening her posture as if she was a soldier.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ria, champion of the West!" Ria commented, proceeded by gazing at the baby in her arms, "and this little girl is my beautiful daughter!! Evlin! You wanna name her?"

"Ah!!" Auren gasped, worried about what Evlin could say due to her strange naming sense.

"Sorry... I'm not feeling my best right now..." Evlin explained. Most of the members in the room sighed in relief which made Evlin glare at them.

"I see..." Ria lamented. She then took a look at Marcus who was staring at her child very carefully as if he had never seen a baby before.

In reality, he was just thinking about Lance who they left with a nanny back at the East temple. Seeing that baby started to make him wonder if he could ever become a father himself.

"Marcus..." Mia whispered, "Is it ok if I name her after your father?"

"M- My father...??"

"With your permission of course... I won't do it if that upsets you..."

"N- No... It's ok... I'm sure he would be honored!"

"I'm glad!" Ria smiled, "Everyone, I want you to meet Marcia! Say hi Marcia!"

Evlin and the rest of her team just gazed at Ria trying her best to lift up the mood of the room as she could clearly see that something was upsetting them.

"Ah... Ria and Cia... I get it..." Evlin whispered, which made Ria giggle.

Evlin realized that even after all these years, she still played the role of light in the middle of the darkness she always played back in the old days. She really had not changed at all.

Once Ria noticed the smiles slowly returning to everyone's faces she finally decided to deal with the problem at hand.

"Now then... What's the situation?"