“Okay, what the hell?” John asked as they walked through the city, crossing through more than one crowded street, and went to the mana street that would take them home with the least number of changing lanes. “How did nobody stop us yet?”

“Yeah, the fuck is up with that?” Eliza, still getting carried by him, wondered with him; “I expected at least some stones getting chucked at me; people are assholes!”

“Why?” Rave asked, arms folded behind her back as she yawned. She was obviously as tired as the rest of them, which was a fair chunk of the reason why they were able to be this relaxed despite the situation. What was the excuse of the city though?

“Because the literal end of humanity appeared on international television, wouldn’t you be afraid?” her boyfriend presented his confusion to her.

“And ya think the correct response to that is to throw stones at the person who went toe to toe with the guy who was able to safely get rid of a nuke?” Rave pointed out; “I thought ya raised your intellect, when did ya become dumber than me?”

“Uhm,” now John and Eliza were actually both more confounded than before, “I mean… I at least expect some afraid looks and stuff, but they are just… looking at us a bit carefully and then go about their business as usual. As you are the one who grew up in the Abyss, please enlighten us, Jane.”

“The stars must be falling from the sky for you to ask me to explain something,” Rave teased.

“I could also wait until we found and freed Lydia. Actually, that might be the quicker way to get a comprehensive answer.”

John would have given his left testicle to just chase after Lydia right now. However, the fact that he had raised his mental stats so high made him too wise to just throw caution to the wind. The Blood was supposed to have sleeper cells everywhere, so the countryside was probably in turmoil. Chaos in the battlefield combined with the fact that he had no idea where they had teleported to meant that the best bet John had to find Lydia was to wait for Romulus to mobilize his complete forces.

It was the sad reality of things that he couldn’t just march against a world class organization. Not only had he no way to know what else the enemy was hiding, but he realistically couldn’t cover that much ground on his own. He had to wait. Everyone else either understood that as well or just trusted him enough to take his current relaxation as a signal that this was fine. His girlfriend at the very least knew that he would have a plan that was going to get them to the wanted result.

“Well, okay, I will enlighten ya normies,” Rave said after pinching his side with a teasing smirk. “Imagine with me now that ya live in a world where there are people that can kill ya by setting your brain on fire if ya look at them the wrong way. At first ya might be all ‘guess better not offend anybody ever then’, but then ya realize that those are 0,1% of the populations and thenyarealize-“

“Could you try not to slur?” John carefully interrupted her.

“Whaddayamean?” his girlfriend asked and stuck out her tongue; “But sure, whatevs. Where was I? Right, then ya realize that most people can’t make your house disappear overnight or just go about their business anyway because they are people too and don’t stand much to gain from it, so ya slowly stop caring about the potential danger. Then you are also part of a society where people and non-people with all kinds of weird superpowers run around and somebody accidentally exploding is just a thing on the newscast.

“So, when there is a fuck-off super-death goddess on television, first reaction is to just make more popcorn. Then the guy who has been in charge since your grandpa was young tells you the situation is under control. Why would ya worry about it?”

“Because she literally is next to you in the street and could run amok?” John presented his question.

“Not more threatening than one of the islands falling down, on a personal level,” Rave shrugged; “Ya just gotta trust that she won’t and that ya will live another day.”

So, in short, the people living at the edge of the abyss… well, in the Abyss actually, were so used to danger that they were largely desensitized to it. The threat of Armageddon wasn’t that much higher to them compared to the everyday risk of just living with people who could summon meteors on their heads.

If they weren’t this dulled to threat, every waking moment would have been a question of if they would still be alive if they blinked. John knew for a fact that he could eradicate a small block of buildings in a manner of minutes. All in all, this actually was rather predictable behaviour.

“And last of all: people in general aren’t that bad, ya two just had bad luck,” Rave stated.

“Eh,” John made a doubtful noise.

“Nah, fuck people,” Eliza kept a strong stance on the matter.

“I like puppies more,” Nia let them know.

“Okay, different question then,” John said, ”why aren’t more people up in arms about the ‘human goddess’ thing?” He expected that the fundamental revision of their understanding of godhood would create at least some unrest. Instead, people were bartering about the prices of speaking tomatoes.

“Do ya care about the latest computer innovation by some Silicon Valley people that has no influence on your life ever?” his girlfriend threw a sensible argument right back at him.

“Fair enough,” he conceded, as he didn’t. The average joe probably didn’t care about anything that didn’t directly impede his life. Not that John was much different in that regard, it was just that the range of things that affected him had shifted majorly.

‘In this case, I only need to worry about a bunch of scientists getting in my Eliza’s face,’ John thought.

They finally reached the mansion and went to sleep. Next morning, they all met over breakfast and had a very quick discussion over what they, or to be more exact, Eliza was going to do over the coming days.

Interestingly enough, Eliza’s stats were completely detached from Thana’s. There really were two beings sharing one body. Soulburn was a doubtless point of contact between the two of them; the bonus stats Eliza received from that were, in hindsight, exactly enough to give her the base stats of Thana.

“I wonder if the same is true for Bloodburn, but I recommend we don’t risk it,” John told everyone his thoughts. “My idea would be that you,” he was looking directly at the blood mage now, “just keep your feet still until this war is over and we have some time to work on that problem in your head.”

“Yeah, I would try to work it out while you are gone,” Eliza said, rocking her chair, “but I have not the slightest blood-gurgling clue if I can come back if it’s someone but you who calls out to me.”

“Naw, get a room,” Rave snickered.

John wasn’t opposed to that on principle, but he really had more urgent things than sex on his mind. Therefore, he kept his perversions to a minimum. Which was the quickie in the morning shower he had had. Sadly, he didn’t function all that well if he hadn’t gotten off at least once a day. A rather crude drawback to being exposed to this much sex for months.

“Okay, so we are clear on that,” John leaned back in his chair; that had been easier than he thought it would be. He glanced over to the empty head of the table where he almost thought he could see a teapot. “I suggest we lose no further time then.”

_____________________________________________

Well rested, John and his group entered the imperial palace at the heart of the city. Save Nathalia, who had vanished while they slept, only leaving the message to Aclysia that she would be watching and returning when she felt the time was right. John was beyond miffed at this sudden turn of events, but it was Nathalia, and this wasn’t even a bit atypical behaviour for her. She would be back whenever she craved his dick again.

“There you are,” a familiar, and up to this point not at all friendly, voice greeted him. Mario de Medici, Knight of Rome and a decidedly handsome fellow. Tall, elegant jawline, short dark hair. Actually, now that he had seen Romulus’ ‘true’ form, John wondered if these two were related somehow. He didn’t care enough to ask, however. Getting moving towards Lydia was now in range.

“Here we are,” he instead went with the confirming remark. “Are you going to bring us to the court?” Not that John needed the swordmaster’s help to find it. Using Jack, he had been scouting out the building and creating a map in his head. That’s how he had gotten out of it yesterday. Finding Romulus wasn’t going to be difficult.

“Yes,” Mario answered, glancing over to Eliza. “This thing will-“

The swordmaster stopped mid-sentence when a Shardbound flew by his face. It barely missed him, as the high-level Agility of the man allowed him to react in time. The Gamer had only meant this to be a warning shot anyway.

“I don’t know how many people I need to beat this into…” he said in a grave voice, the remaining three charges of the attack hovering behind his shoulders together with his small army of angry familiars and friends, “…but you will address her with her name.”

He had made the basic consequences of calling her Thana known to the Abyss Auction for free. John trusted that the number of idiots calling her that by intent was going to be smaller than those who simply wouldn’t have known better. That second number he could at least try to reduce.

Mario looked satisfyingly afraid; especially the sulphuric eyes of Siena seemed to cause some sort of flashback to the incredible pain Edge had caused.

“He just called me a thing, calm your sweaty crotch and grubby hands and leave the poor fucker alone,” Eliza said, for a moment it looked like she was going to defend Mario here. “Not like I care about this cock-wielder’s opinion.” And there was her true reason.

“If they don’t have at least the decency to call you by your name, I won’t let anyone have a fun time while interacting with me,” John declared and then glanced at the swordmaster again. “You were saying?”

“…Eliza will be guided to her quarters in the palace by a handmaid,” Mario begrudgingly gave in. In response, a woman in a classy and efficient, not at all sexy, maid-outfit came along. Barely containing his distaste for putting beautiful women into non-beautiful clothing, John turned to Eliza.

“I will be back as soon as I can,” he promised and leaned down to kiss her goodbye. Their lips met only for a moment before the blood mage shoved him away with a high-pitched giggle.

“Just go find Lyly; who am I going to argue with if her ass isn’t in smelling distance?” Eliza declared with a wide grin. “I will be here, I promise.”

With that, Eliza stepped over to the maid and left the group now three members smaller than usual.

“That you would kiss a mouth that ate human flesh,” Mario made a disgusted sound.

John left that without comment. He had witnessed Eliza brushing her teeth with a despairing look on her eyes. The look of a person that desperately tried to get rid of a sin by performing a barely related action.

Aclysia, however, didn’t, “Talk badly about Eliza one more time and I will feed you like bacon strips to Thana myself, when she next awakens.”

“Fucking hell, Aclysia,” John was shocked. It wasn’t like Aclysia could back that up at the current time, she wasn’t nearly quick enough to be a threat to Mario, but holy hell that was savage (as in the actual meaning of the word, not how keyboard-warriors used it). “What happened to you?”

“Apologies, Master, but my tolerance for bullshit is only high towards you. Towards people who run like a coward and then continuously attack the person that actually saved their life, even if unintended, is beyond my patience,” Aclysia laid it down.

“Yeah, tell them, sister!” Momo cheered her on, poking Mario with her shamanic looking staff that John had gifted her after it dropped from an achievement in the troll arena. There was almost a bit of pity in John’s heart for the man, almost.

“Furthermore,” the weaponized maid actually continued, “you are not only annoying me, by attacking one of my friends, but Master, by attacking one of his loves. Annoying Master is an unforgivable offence. Apologize to Eliza when you next see her.”

“…I might have gone too far,” Mario grumbled in admission.

Aclysia took that win and mechanically nodded to herself. Proud of his artificial guardian’s smack-talking capabilities, John patted her white head. The flare of happiness made it clear that that was beyond the reward she had hoped for.

She was so easy to please.

“This is not the war room,” John noted as they stopped before the room he woke up in yesterday. He had a gut feeling when Mario was guiding them away from the quickest route to the court, but this all but confirmed it.

“No, it isn’t… you know what I want you to do?” Mario asked.

“Man, that is pretty rude of ya,” Rave chimed in. “First you are a colossal dick and now ya want us to scratch up your boyfriend?”

“It’s fine,” John said. “I will be back in a second, I will talk to him on my own.” Everyone nodded, and John opened the door.

Maximillian sat in his hospital bed in the forcefully modernized, ancient Greek styled room. Disinterestedly, he poked into a cup of pudding. “Of all the people, they send you,” the not exactly kingly looking man looked over, already knowing that it was John thanks to his elemental hanging under the ceiling. Eyes red and swollen, the enchantment that had blocked his sadness had obviously worn off a while ago.

“Yeah, Romulus told me to watch over you. Not that I needed his command to do so,” John told the king, leaning against the closed door.

“What possible reason would you have to watch over me? The great and mighty Gamer himself should have a lot better things to do than-“

“They kidnapped Lydia.” That stopped Maximillian dead in his bravado. “I am watching over you because she still cared for you and I doubt that you just left her behind.”

“What the hell do you mean they kidnapped her?” Maximillian threw the blanket he spent the last 12 hours under off in a bit of a dramatic fit. In his hospital gown he was anything but an impressive figure. However, he naturally assumed the upright post of a ruler now that the man inside him woke up again and beat the self-deprecation. “What were her bodyguards doing? They are some of the best in the realm!”

“Busy holding back another assault at the side,” John said and retold the whole story of the past day, since the king clearly had been isolating himself and was out of the loop.

By the end, Maximillian slammed his cup on the board that was hovering over the bed he had been laying in. “I will set this right, I have to set this right, it was Alexej that…” The king was gripped by a burst of energy, swung his legs over the frame and rose to his feet.

Only to immediately break down and fall as his crippled left leg refused to carry him as it used to. He tried to grip onto the small table, but hovering things aren’t a good hold. In a shower of small plastic cups, he went down.

“He really betrayed me, didn’t he?” the question came from a man, physically and mentally beaten and incredibly fragile. What John would do next could have very well decided the future of this person.

“He betrayed everyone, but you most of all, yes,” John spoke in a soft, empathetic voice as he extended a hand downwards. “I can only imagine what it feels like.”

“I knew him since I was three, he tried to stab me,” Maximillian said in the tone of a man who had no more tears. “Without hesitation. He used me this whole time.”

“Yes,” John could only inform the king that he was still there.

Maximillian fixated his eyes on the black hole on the ceiling. Hawpler was quietly hovering. “I could fuse with you,” he said. “A new person, born on this day to leave behind my past and become the king that needs to be done.”

“You could,” the tremoring voice answered.

“Is that how you want to beat the sadness?” John threw in. “By destroying yourself?” The effectiveness of that move was doubtful anyway. Lydia, despite having fused with a metal elemental, still had attachments to her human past. Dulled, yes, judging by the way she spoke of everything regarding her younger self, but nevertheless still there.

Maximillian took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Curses be upon this world where you can never trust anyone fully. I should have never made the mistake.”

“No, you have to risk the mistake, knowing that it might happen again,” John answered; “Just let your trust rest on bravery instead of naivety. There will be other people you can trust fully.”

“…Is that so? I guess I will see…” Maximillian mumbled. “You are right, I don’t want to give up who I am, especially after preserving myself for this long. I will need to get out of this hole of my own misery.”

The beauty of dealing with rather wise people was that they were able to save themselves when given just a little push. “Let’s get you into some clothes that are more respectable,” John suggested with a grin, “buddy.”

Maximillian took his hand, “Never call me that again.”