Chapter 1205 - Azrael's Choice
By the time she opened her eyes again, Lisandra found herself outside, floating above the sea. Looking down, she realised the word had returned to normal and no longer frozen in time.
As for the temple, it had now disappeared. Yin, Ardorius and Azrael floated over to her as Yin immediately hugged Lisandra while Ardorius was on guard since Lisandra's wings had turned completely black.
"I'm back sis. Everything was sorted out." Lisandra smiled as she hugged Yin back.
"That's good. As long as you're ok then that's good." Yin smiled as she hugged Lisandra tightly. Even though she wasn't being verbal about it, she felt a crushing pressure in her heart seeing Lisandra not being able to move without the help of the wheelchair. Especially when she thought that there was no hope left.
However, now that she was standing here nice and healthy, Yin felt a weight being lifted off her shoulders.
Once Lisandra realised that Yin wasn't going to stop hugging her for a while, she chuckled and looked over at Ardorius who still had his guard up.
"Don't worry, I didn't lose myself to corruption or anything like that. I just had my eyes opened by God. And Azrael, I must say, God is a lot different than I had thought." Lisandra smiled as Azrael chuckled.
{Indeed. He is unlike the gods you see from the Greek or Norse pantheons.}
"Speaking of which, he did say something about your bindings. Your bindings are of your own making, should you forgive yourself and seek to do good, they will naturally release you." Lisandra smiled.
Hearing this, Azrael paused.
{They're of my own making?} He asked as he could clearly remember the day when these chains bound him to the library.
"Mn. So long as your heart and faith are in the right place, you will be free. Its all about belief."
{. . . I see.}
Looking up at the sky for a moment, Azrael closed his eyes and prayed silently before opening his mouth.
{Then I shall remain in my bindings for a little longer. I believe that mortals can support themselves. While it may get hard, and obstacles may block their path, I believe that they can venture forth with unwavering determination. It will be tested time and time again, but mortals will push on. They may take a step back or stumble, but they will never stop. I will release myself when mortals need an extra support.} Azrael said as he looked back at Lisandra.
{It is through trial and tribulation that the mortal will is tempered. Me coming out and shielding them now would be akin to me giving up on my belief. Belief in that they are strong. That they can venture forth without me.}
"Then I hope to see you when things take a turn for the worst. When the heavens crash down and gods walk amongst man, and when man becomes nothing but a speck, I hope you will help shield them for a period."
{Naturally. Wanting them to grow through tribulation is not the same as refusing to protect them. When the time comes, I will serve and I will protect.} Azrael bowed respectfully before his figure disintegrated into motes of light.
"Now then, what about you?" Lisandra asked as she turned to Ardorius who had now sheathed his sword.
"I will keep doing my job and keep the people safe." Ardorius said as Lisandra nodded her head.
"How about you work with the Queen and form an alliance with us? We can talk about some benefits that Asharia will give while allowing you safety. With how things will be, I doubt you'd want to go back to the Vatican right now so your best bet is to stick with the Queen. I will remind you that a Queen like her is rare so you should treasure this chance."
"I will bring this up to the others and see what they say." Ardorius bowed before flying back to the refugee camp.
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"After that, we eventually managed to come to an agreement between Ardorius and Morin. She'll allow the Vatican refugees to live under her protection so long as they help out the city. They've also signed a contract with Morin similar to our contract where we send adventurers for work and they get paid. It's generally to allow Morin's city to flourish." Lisandra explained with a sparkle in her eye.
Listening carefully, Shiro smiled and patted her head while eating the noodles that yin made.
"I see, how did they fare during the transition? It should have lasted a short while since I slowed down the transition but it must have been rather hectic" Shiro asked curiously.
"Oh me and Yin dealt with that. We decided to remain for a bit to make sure everything is ok. So right now, Morin is just waiting to finish the contract with you and that'll be them sorted out for a while." Lisandra smiled.
"Mn, good job. I'm proud of you both. And I must say, I'm rather surprised that the biblical god does exist. Honestly, I thought he was going to be something similar to Nyx and the others." Shiro shrugged.
"But enough about me and Yin, what did mum do while we're away?" Lisandra asked curiously.
"Not much. Met two interesting people, met up with Arnea, killed the final shard of a god, brought her to Asharia so that we can work on saving her sister, recruited the remaining subordinates of a Queen and found out some information about Anima. And as you can see, obtain a bunch of subjects perfect for experimenting." Shiro waved her hand casually while Yin's smile twitched but eventually waved her hand dismissively.
It wasn't anything crazy, just a Tuesday for Shiro so she shouldn't make a big deal out of it.
"So mum, who was that girl who attacked you? She certainly felt different from everyone else in this world. Her aura is foreign. If we weren't looking at her, we wouldn't have even known she was there. It was like her aura was completely out of our perception." Yin asked while grabbing more food since she was still hungry.
"If I knew I would tell you. But unfortunately I can only say she's from the Creation Side of the universe. Strangely adept to nanotech and wants to kill me. Her line was strange though. The world would be better without me or you. I'm the life line right now so without me there will be no world." Shiro shrugged.
"She speaks as though she's the First Born of Creation. You think that's the case?" Nan Tian mentioned as Shiro shook her head.
"Nah. Not likely. If she was, she would have killed me rather quickly. Plus, the burning sensation in my body feels more like it's from someone who wields creation rather than the literal being of creation energy. Think of it like this, Lisandra using Destruction Energy is pretty much the opposite of that woman. Just because she can use it doesn't mean she's the First Born of Creation. The divinity is lacking. Whereas if I was to use it, it would obviously obliterate anything and everything I touch. Because well, I'm the First Born of Creation." Shiro explained.
"Now here's what I think. We know that the other side of the universe is pretty much an inverse of ours. I'm guessing she could be a flipped version of me or someone close who can use nanotech. With what I mentioned earlier, the chances of her being a flipped me is significantly higher than being someone close." Shiro scratched her head.
"But we cannot scratch out that she is indeed the First Born of Creation since you two are basically sisters considering your identity." Nan Tian reminded as Shiro agreed.
"In a nutshell we know f*ck all and all we can do now is to experiment and figure out how we can access their world like how they can with ours." Shiro said as she leaned back before flinching from the foreign nanobots in her body.
"Oh hell no, there is no experimenting until I sort your body the f*ck out." Nimue cut in as she appeared next to Shiro.
Staring at her glare, Shiro understood that she must be rather furious.
"Well who said I was going to be the one to provide the mana haha. Thanks to the little agreement I have with Jormungandr, I can just use the mana and divine energy he provides to experiment while I let my body rest." Shiro waved her hand as Nimue took a deep breath in anger. Wanting to say something, she eventually sighed and disappeared back into Shiro's mana realm.
"You should give her a break sometime mum. You know it must be stressful doing Nimue's job." Lisandra chuckled as Shiro nodded her head.
"I will darling, I will. But not right now." Shiro grinned.
"But where's your brother? I know what you and your sister have been up to but what about your brother?"
"Oh Attie's doing something with stupid lizards and fire. Something along the lines of hell and stuff. I didn't listen properly since I lost interest after he mentioned the lizards but Syradil might know since Attie talked to her for a period of time." Yin said as Shiro raised an eyebrow and nodded her head.
"Well, I'll ask once I rest for a day. I think this fight took more out of me than expected.." Shiro chuckled as she finished her meal.