248 Unstable group

"Detra... Where are we going...??" Asked Claire as she continued to follow the ice mage down a road in the middle of an open field as the sun continued to go down.

"There is a small village nearby down this road... Just a little longer!" Detra replied while carrying Joseph and trying to cool him off with her magic.

Ever since the boy used his power to absorb the heat from Gluttony's fire breath, his body has been burning non-stop making him look like he was having a fever.

Detra continued to use her ice spell to turn him back to normal but his body still was hot to the touch.

Ellie was not doing much better while sleeping on Claire's back. She got completely knocked out in the middle of their battle and hasn't opened her eyes ever since. The last time Claire saw her like this was when the two stayed up all night watching horror movies that they stole from her aunt's room.

"..." Dia wasn't saying anything right now. She couldn't stop thinking about watching the temple of the East going up in flames and all the people who were in it as well.

They all would often glare at her and whisper means things behind her back due to her being Mia, but she never once wished for something like this to happen to them.

Detra's mind was filled with concern about what should be done. They needed to get in touch with Evlin but none of the gods were responding. As soon as Ellie wakes up she would try to get her to use Gustav's mirrored ability and see if they can talk to her to discuss what's going on.

"Detra wait..." Claire gasped, "I need a break..."

"We can't stop now! If the demon catches up with us, we are done!!"

"Please! Just a minute!!" Claire begged.

Detra took another look at her and realized she really was looking exhausted. The ice mage was so used to how strong Ellie would be that she forgot that other kids were not as durable.

"... Ok... Just a couple of minutes..." Detra replied while trying to find some shelter and spotted something up in a hill close by, "there is an abandoned house over there... let's go rest in there for now!"

The group moved to what appeared to be a cabin about to fall apart full of holes on the ceiling and with barely any place to sit.

They placed Joseph and Ellie on top of a table and Detra continued to apply some ice magic to lower his temperature.

"Ugh!! Am I... Dying...?" he whispered.

"I wish..." Detra replied, "You're just overheated... You'll be better in a second..."

"Ugh!! I can't believe this is how my tale will end... Bested by a monster made of fire while trying to protect a group of damsels in distress..."

"I told you, you're not dying..."

"Do not forget about me... After I'm gone..."

Detra rolled her eyes as she realized that the lad was delusional due to the heat and was not listening to a word she said.

"My only regret... Is that I never... Told Dia I loved her..." Joseph whispered before fainting again.

"Eh!!??" the ponytailed girl gasped, "W- W- W- What did he say??"

"Would you all stop talking!!?? I need to think!!" Detra shouted.

"Ah... S- Sorry..." Dia replied while sitting on the floor with her face burning.

Detra stared at the room. A shy girl with no memories, a short-tempered lass who missed her mother, an annoying boy that would not stop spouting nonsense, and a kid that could barely move or stay awake for more than five seconds.

"We really need some help right now..." she whispered as she noticed this was far from an ideal team.

And as soon as she said that, someone began to knock on their door.

The holes of the cabin revealed a large shadow behind it, but with a shape hard to figure out.

"The demon!" Detra gasped as she assumed her battle stance.

Claire grabbed her staff and began to charge her magic. Dia just stood up without knowing what she should do.

They all began preparations for battle until the voice of the one knocking finally came out.

"Can someone help me with this baby... Please??"

"Ah!!" Detra and Claire gasped as they recognized the voice.

They hurried to open the door and spotted a massive black lion with red eyes carrying a baby on its back that was playing with a fur frog toy.

"Xadi!!??" Detra shouted.

"Lance!! Eclipse!!" Claire whispered with relief.

Lance was grabbing Xadi with both hands while trying to eat his head and pulling his neck with his teeth. The doll was completely drenched in drool

Xadi just began to beg for help, "Please... Someone... Take him away from me..."

Part 2

Ashley and the rest of the group tried to take shelter in one of the inns of the city while trying to re-organize their thoughts.

The temple of the West was destroyed and the temple of the East was not doing much better. It should be assumed that the temples of the South and North shared the same fate.

They needed a new place to hide while avoiding being caught by the demon dragons controlled by Knucker.

They booked a couple of rooms inside the closest building they could find and took a moment to breathe in there.

They placed Evlin, Ria, and Lilith in one room while the rest went to the main lobby to discuss how to proceed.

The three of them all needed to rest right now. Evlin still hadn't woken up after blowing the ceiling of the West temple after an outburst of terminal energy, Lilith couldn't think straight while thinking about Lance, and Ria still was recovering after just giving birth to Cia earlier that day and using a lot of power to keep Envy away from them.

Ria getting back at full strength was their top priority. Without the gods, her ability to create portals was crucial if they needed to run away again.

Since Sphinx was a monster, he was forced to hide on top of the building to avoid the adventurers looking at them with suspicion. Not that he minded though, the beast seemed to really want to put some distance between him and Evlin after he got chained up by her in the white void.

The griffin had a bad history of being locked up. He had been captured by hunters when he was a baby and put in a cage to get his wings chopped off and sold. He was put under the control of the demon leader and turned into a demon by force to fight for him, and he also was captured alongside Evlin inside Mia to serve as a source of energy for her Myriad form.

Ashley took a seat next to Leona, Marcus, Daren, Gustav, and Auren, who was taking turns using his ability to heal their wounds.

"This was not how I expected we would get reunited..." Auren whispered.

"Don't worry... We will get out of this... We always do!" Ashley tried to say.

"How...?" Leona wondered, "The gods have vanished, the temples are destroyed, Evlin is going crazy, and Knucker and his servants are putting us on the run! What exactly is our plan??"

"Man... And they say I'm a downer..." Daren whispered.

"Oh! I'm sorry... Maybe I'm just a little upset due to having my TEMPLE DESTROYED!!"

"Would you just calm down?? You think I'm not worried as well?? My son was in that temple! But the last thing we need is to make another hasty move and create another mistake! So try to keep your emotions under control!"

"Me!!?? You're telling ME to keep my emotions under control!!?? You were the ones that jumped on Hana to start a fight for no reason! Your leader was the one that went on a rampage like a mindless beast and almost destroyed the city of the West! I'm the calmest one in here!! Your group is the one who is a mess!!"

Daren glared at her, "If you don't like it, you're free to leave..."

"Daren!" Marcus shouted.

"What? She's not part of the group... She has no reason to stay with us if she doesn't want to... Nor do we need to spend more effort into taking care of some lapdog from a goddess..."

Leona's eyes began to burst into flames, "lapdog...? I risked my life for you and your team, and you dare insult me?? Because I follow a goddess??"

"Your goddess picked a fight with this Knucker guy in the first place... I bet she's the reason he is even after us right now and going around destroying temples..."

"I can't believe you can be so insolent!!"

"Would you two just stop it!!" Marcus yelled, "We are on the same side!! Stop behaving like children and creating fights for no reason!! We have to think about what we need to do now!!"

Leona and Daren traded a few glances and stopped their discussion.

"Knucker stole the demon stones and attacked all the four temples of the gods... What's our plan?" Marcus added.

"What about Ashley's idea?" Gustav whispered, "we can use Evlin's earth magic to make a new temple and get the gods back!"

"It doesn't work that way..." Leona mentioned, "The shrines made for the gods are not just buildings... They are a symbol of the alliance between the divine beings and the human race when they joined forces to fight the demons many years ago during the first war of the three powers... They each have an exact location where they must be built, and each must be activated by its respective elemental mage..."

"Activated by its elemental mage...?" Daren repeated.

"West told us about this too..." Auren commented, "The temples were created by a special absorbing crystal used by different mages from the four elements... Fire for East, water for South, wind for West, and Earth for North... Each mage infused its magic with the crystal that's buried under the location and the temple was created by itself..."

Gustav frowned his eyes, "except all the temples right now are being guarded by a demon dragon... And all of them can only be killed by terminal fire..."

"And without the temples... We don't have any gods... Which means Evlin and the others are all stuck here..." Ashley whispered.

"So..." Auren commented, "We wait for Evlin to wake up, go to one of the temples, kill the demon guarding it and get one of the gods back?"

"And then what?" Daren wondered, "Even if we get the gods back, what's stopping them from just destroying the temples again? I say we leave the gods for later and focus on finding and killing Knucker!"

"But we have no idea where his real body is!" Leona reminded, "We need Hana back to guide us!"

"You just want your boss back..." Daren mumbled.

"And you just don't wanna help get the gods back!" Leona replied.

"Enough, you two!!" Marcus yelled again.

"Uuhh... Excuse me..." whispered one of the workers of the inn, which made the whole table lock eyes towards him resulting in the man shivering from their serious stares "there is someone waiting for your group at the door..."

"What...??" Ashley, Auren, Leona, Gustav, Marcus, and Daren replied.

"Who...?? Who knows we are here??" Daren asked.

His eyes made the man shiver once again, "T- The- The king... Sir..."