Brie finally caught her breath as she ran to Sora and the others. They were all admiring Leila's pristine SSS armor set. She looked like a horned Valkyrie with a black and red winged helmet, matching armor, hip and leg plates. Her black and red boots matched her black and red gauntlets. She held an immaculate jet-black spear with a clear tip.
"You look amazing! Why is the tip of your spear clear?" Sora asked eagerly.
"It changes colors based on the type of being I kill or type of magic I use. Now that I have my armor back, I can use my elemental magic again! That's the effect of having a full SSS set. Doesn't yours have one?"
"No. It never gave us a set effect to my knowledge," Brie admitted.
"Interesting. Anyway, what else did my wonderful husband have to say?"
"I need a minute with Sora and then I can share the rest with everyone. Let's go home first!"
Sora and Brie teleported to the mansion first and the rest followed.
Brie explained the final portion of the conversation to Sora telepathically and gave him the details about his destructive path. Sora was beginning to understand and knew he couldn't think it about it. He needed a mind block before he could express what he thought might cause him to destroy the world if Brie was alive and well.
The rest of the party admired Leila's gear and listened to Leila talk about her husband and the conversation. Leila looked like a new person. She was reenergized, optimistic, joyful and filled with love. The party, especially Jubelle, was glad to see it.
After everyone was done listening to the stories of dragons, Sora and Brie kissed and let everyone know they needed to talk to them about something.
They all remained in the living room and comfortable, but Sasha turned the televisions off. It drove the party insane how many different types of news stations there were. Thankfully, they had Sora's massive library, thousands of movies and a movie room, amongst the other luxuries of the mansion.
*****
"So, Brie and I are going to MeadowSong to inform the elves and chimera of what we just found at the ruins. I trust you all to ensure Celeste is safe. Allow them to track you but do not give any true information away. Gossip freely, spread false plans if you wish. They don't know we know, so we can take advantage of that."
"Sora and I will only be staying for one night. That means we will be gone from this party for a week as we aren't going early in the morning. During this time, what do you think is best for the party?"
"I think we should continue working in different teams and help Julius and Rissa grow with dungeons. There are few S ranked ones, so I think Bishop should protect Celeste and the rest of us should split up into two groups of five and do dungeon clears." Jubelle said calmly.
"I will guard the goddess. I do not mind."
"Aw, thank you Bishop. You are such a gentleman! Where should I teleport if we get into danger though?"
"Paradise." Brie and Sora said at the same time.
"Oh, right. That's a good idea! I'm so glad you let me stay in my normal form all the time! I love the King and understood why he hid me, but with you, I feel more human!" Celeste smiled brightly and laughed.
"I'm glad all of us get along so well. We're a very strong, diverse group that hasn't had any major spats. If we keep this up and keep expanding, it'll start to get that much more interesting." Sera said while holding Lucious hand.
"Who is taking over your King and Queen duties in the meantime?" Celeste asked politely.
"Azazel and Malphas," Sora joked.
"Dorian and Camilla. We're not making an announcement because there's no need to cause panic.
"Hey Julius, do you mind if we split up for this one?" Rissa asked nervously.
"Sure, is there something I did?"
"Nope, I just need to talk to Sasha about some personal vampy stuff. Is that ok Sasha?"
"Of course! So Levi and I will be with Rissa–"
"Ox and I will go with you 3!" Jubelle politely interjected.
It surprised the group. Jubelle was normally shy and introverted. Ox blushed a little and mouthed, "thank you," to Jubelle.
"That leaves my lovely demon girlfriend, her pupil, Leila and Luna! I like this group, this is a new one!" Lucious said while he grabbed Sera's hand.
"That work for everyone?" Sora asked kindly.
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
"Alright, I also think we should give names to the squads for an easy reference point in case one of us has to speak telepathically to Celeste. I was thinking of something simple like A team, B team, C team, etc… Any other suggestions?"
"What about numbers? Like however many people are in the party, that's the team number?" Levi suggested.
"That's too complicated. I say we go for something funny like "Dumb team," "Nutjob team," "Lovebird team." Sasha joked.
"I think A team/B team thing works best. Bishop said.
Ultimately, they agreed with team A B C D for now. They selected captains and agreed Bishop should stay with Celeste. Sora and Brie were A, Celeste and Bishop B, Levi C and Lucious D.
Sora and Brie said their goodbyes and asked Celeste to schedule a council meeting for March 21st.
'I have to remember to formally invite Levi or a member of his family to the council.' Sora thought before they left.
As soon as they teleported outside of MeadowSong, the couple noticed someone was tracking them. '
Sora, ever since he cast Divine Bombardment, learned to sense peoples' energy and presence. He formulated a quick plan when Brie sounded in his head.
"I sense it too. The aura of darkness is so heavy and large."
"Yeah, I say we teleport away a mile in each direction, maybe he'll follow one of us."
"Ok, just be careful."
Their plan worked as the dark Aura followed Sora, allowing her to get into MeadowSong. Sora teleported four or five times before the aura wasn't fast enough.
"Blessed by the elves for marriage is where I'll sleep tonight."
The door opened and Sora quickly rushed in, where Brie waited nervously.
"Good quick thinking babe! Had we not sensed him, we would have given away this location!"
"Thanks beautiful. He was waiting for us. How did he know when to come?"