Chapter 28: Sophia

"So... phia?"

"It's Sophi."

Nero looked at Sophia for a while, and then slowly started walking towards her.

Sophia watched Nero as he walked towards her and stood in front of her. She glanced at Nero's face and said, "Not going to sit?"

Nero didn't say anything and just sat down beside her.

They both stared at each other's face, and then Sophia smiled— Nero smiled back.

"What's wrong?" Sophia asked.

Nero slowly moved his hands towards Sophia's face and touched her— then pulled his hand back.

"I wanted to be sure this isn't some dream."

Sophia grinned and said, "Why are you talking with me like that?"

"Well…" Nero looked up at the sky, then glanced at Sophia, "Aren't you angry?"

"What for?"

Nero opened his mouth to say something, but Sophia interrupted him, saying, "If it's about my sealing, then no, I am not angry."

Nero sighed in relief and said, "As kind as an angel, as always."

"I am an angel."

"Yeah."

Nero didn't know what to say or what to talk about; he had too many things to talk about, but he didn't know where to start.

He was feeling genuinely happy after a long time.

Nero recalled all his memories with Sophia, and his eyes started tearing up.

Sophia patted Nero's back and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Nero nodded meekly, then looked up the sky, "We have come a long way now."

"Yeah."

Nero clicked his tongue and bit his lips, "I never thought she would betray me like that. Everything was going well… we even had our wedding planned, and then…" Nero looked at Sophia with a painful and sad expression on his face.

"Tell me, Sophi. Why did she betray me for Lucifer?" Nero was feeling emotional after talking to his closest companion since he never had a chance to even think of anything when he was sealed. He had many questions that needed to be answered, and many mysteries that needed to be solved.

"I don't know."

"I thought maybe... Maybe in this life, I will get a faithful lover, but the same shit happened in this life too."

All the expressions faded from Nero's face as he said, "I am fed up with the 'love' now."

Sophia tried to say something but stopped and smiled wryly. "You looked so different when I was sealed, so how come you are back to this appearance again?"

"I changed it because Emilia said humans hate other races."

"That girl you were sleeping with?"

"Yeah, she is a half-angel."

"I could feel that— though she is a fallen angel now."

Nero shrugged his shoulders and said, "Things happened."

"So you and her—!"

"It was a mistake! She wasn't completely sane when she did all that, and I will fill you the details later."

"I am not interested." Sophia looked up at the cloudy sky.

"Want me to clear up the clouds?" Nero asked curiously.

"No need, I can see through them anyway."

Nero also looked up at the sky and said, "The other five are gone, and only two moons remained."

"The big one is me, and the other one is Hilde."

Nero scoffed and then laughed as he said, "What else do you see?"

"The gates of the heavens are closed," Sophia replied.

"Humans are beyond saving."

"Not just humans; this entire realm is beyond saving." Sophia glanced at Nero and asked, "You can feel it, don't you?"

Nero didn't say anything and just smiled a little.

"This realm's power balance is totally upside down, and sooner or later, this realm would be destroyed."

"Looks like I don't need to do anything," Nero commented.

Sophia looked at Nero and then squinted her eyes, "What happened after I was sealed?"

"You were sealed a day before me."

"Do you remember what happened after I was sealed?"

Nero tried to remember, but all he could see was blood and dead bodies everywhere.

"I don't." Nero shook his head.

"Where did you find me, though? I mean, how did I get here?"

"You and I, we both were sealed in the prison realm."

"What?! Isn't that place for world criminals! How did we end up there?!"

"No idea. My seal was broken by Emilia— unintentionally. And then later, when I was trying to get revenge for Emilia, I smelled your scent. I was so angry at first— 'Why is she here?'— I thought. But deep down, I was happy that you were close to me."

Sophia tilted her head to the side and asked, "Would you have searched for me if I wasn't there?"

"Of course. I need you for living."

"And that's your reason?" Sophia grinned.

"The truth is," Nero turned to Sophia and said with a gentle smile, "I can't live without you."

Sophia squinted her eyes and spoke, "That's basically the same thing, and you just phrased it differently with different words."

"But it was effective, right?"

"Very," they both laughed.

Nero then laid down on the tiled roof and took a deep breath. "Now we need to find Elvia and Zelda."

"Do you know how much time has passed ever since we were sealed?"

"No idea, but I guess it's been a long time since humanity has changed vastly."

"What if…" Sophia stopped midway.

"Hmm?"

"Just saying, you know… but what if a long time has passed? Like really really long?"

"What are you trying to say?" Nero asked with a puzzled— yet calm face.

"What if… they are… you know…. Dead," Sophia stammered.

"That's not possible. Elvia is a high elf, and Zelda is a dragon."

"Hmm," Sophia was worried about Nero's optimistic statement— though he was right. But neither of them knew how much time had passed, nor could they get any information from anyone, and Emilia didn't know anything.

"Zeus."

Nero sat up as he said, "Zeus is dead, call me Nero."

Sophia stared at Nero's face, then slowly opened her mouth to say, "Zeus."

Nero scoffed, then grinned as he shook his head. "You sadistic angel."

Nero then stood up and glanced around.

"What's up? Are you trying to sulk?" asked Sophia.

"No, I need to find someone, so I am going to use God's eyes to search up this entire town."