"You three alright? Sorry I sent you off flying. I didn't want to reveal we were in a party together," Sora said.
"Yes, yes, we're good. Thank you Brie. Thank you for coming and giving me that blood and thank you everyone for protecting me," Jubelle said, as he burst into tears.
"I ruined everything and almost died! I'm useless!" he shouted.
"Relax Jubelle. What if I told you Sora almost died protecting us? If a half-god can nearly die from overdoing it, you shouldn't be embarrassed. You did well throughout the entire dungeon! No more tears, hold your head high! You are the smartest person I know!" Levi exclaimed.
"Yeah Jubelle, don't sweat it. How bad is it, Sora? What do they know?" Sasha asked.
"I could honestly care less. They can tell the council whatever the hell they want. As long as I'm with the four of you, nothing else matters," Sora said confidently.
****
"My dear Azael, I bring good news for you!" Lust snickered.
"What now Lust, I don't have time for your games, just spit it out."
"Sora Lockheart has a girlfriend… and I have pictures of them." Lust laughed.
"Oh, what great, useful information this is Lust. Go do your pervy stuff elsewhere."
"Why do you doubt me master?" Lust snickered and showed Sora and Brie fighting alongside the masked and cloaked party.
"SO, IT IS HIM. THAT SNEAKY LITTLE BASTARD PLAYING IT OFF LIKE IT WAS SOMEONE ELSE. WHEN WILL THIS DAMN KING JUST DIE SO WE CAN MAKE OUR MOVE?!" Azazel screamed with excitement. "Thank you Lust, I'm sorry I doubted you."
"No worries master, just happy to assist." Lust said and slithered away into his quarters.
"Malphas!!!" Azazel shouted…
***
Back at the mansion, the group decided to call it a night. Brie ended up cuddling with Sora and fell fast asleep. Sora slowly ran his hand through her soft, blue hair.
'Damn. I think I have to bring her with me to the council meeting now and I need to get a hold of the King somehow. Oh! I'll text Jackson.' Sora thought.
"System, please use my phone to text Jackson Smith the following: I need help getting ahold of the King and cannot at the moment. Can you please pass along a message to him? I'm the leader of the masked party. I wanted to keep my friends' identity safe. Azazel knows. He's angry. Thanks! I owe you one."
[Text Sent]
'Hopefully I'm not texting him too late…' Sora thought. He heard his phone buzz.
"System, read me the text."
[The King has been informed. He said not to worry, and he looks forward to meeting your lady friend Brie at the next council meeting.]
'Wait, I never mentioned her name nor that she was coming? What the hell?' He thought before he slowly drifted to sleep.
****
[Good morning, Sora. Please check your nightstand. King Joseph has sent his letter. Please open it and read the details so I can add them to your system.]
Sora stretched out his arms, yawned and thought, 'It's been that time already? Where the hell is Brie?'
He opened the envelope, saw the passcode, which he read to his system, "154394002 and well, it's tomorrow. Great."
[Noted. I recommend you sit down with your party then speak with Brie 1:1]
"Yeah, sounds good… thanks."
Sora dressed in some casual clothes, a plain back tee-shirt and some black joggers, which fit him snuggly and comfortably. HIs muscles bulged and he noticed that he gained muscle mass over the last few months.
"Guess we're all getting stronger."
He found Levi, Sasha and Jubelle sitting in the kitchen. Sasha and Jubelle drank a glass of blood, which looked like aged fine wine. Levi finished the last of his bacon, humming away as Sasha and Jubelle talked about the vampire settlement.
"This is perfect. Hey system, where is Brie?"
[Brie is currently out meeting her family in Primrose.]
'I wonder why she didn't mention that. I guess she doesn't have too. But I kind of need her here by the end of the night so I can talk to her about this council meeting.'
"Morning everyone. I have something I need to ask all of you and I hope you understand I'm not trying to play favorites. Just, after they saw Brie and my face, they're going to put two and two together and I'd rather her and I face this head on. They don't need to know who the 3 of you are," Sora said calmly.
"Totally playing favorites," Sasha laughed.
"Isn't that girl he likes?" Jubelle asked.
"Likes? More like, totally in love with!" Levi said with a smile.
"Ha, I see you two have Jubelle cracking jokes now too. That's good. Anyway, what do you think? They know we know about the Monolith. I'm sure whoever watches over the Monolith for Azazel informed him each time a dungeon fell." Sora asked the group.
"Well, the King is still alive, so we can't exactly declare war against the demons. However, I do believe there is nothing against clearing dungeons, even a secret one. Whatever they have hidden in that dungeon must be a secret they don't want the council to know about." Levi said.
"Levi's right. I've considered all scenarios. Azazel uses Malphas to command the seven sins, each named after the demons from a planet known as Earth, thousands of years ago. They might actually be that old, as demons existed before vampires." Jubelle explained.
"Although Azazel oversees his princes, Malphas also oversees the demon special forces, and the demon army is over 500,000 demons strong. This includes several subclasses--"
"I'm sorry to interrupt Jubelle, but let's not overwhelm Sora with the information at hand. Your knowledge is amazing. Sora, take Brie with you and try to get the King in a 1 on 1 situation. If you can't, meet with Jackson and the humans and find out what you can about this dungeon from them. I'm not certain they know anything, but it's worth a shot," Sasha suggested.
"Alright, excellent. Did Brie mention to any of you where she was off to?" Sora asked.
"Actually, that's something I need to talk to you about Sora," Sasha said. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the living room.
*****
"What's up? Why the sudden secrecy?"
Sasha's sudden change in tone matched her serious expression. "Make a seal with me right now that you won't do anything to break that girl's heart."
"I don't even know if I can do that and how can I even ensure that's safe? What happens if breaking her heart is a result of someone in the party dying, leaving, or what happens if I give up my life for one of you? You're asking me to do something that puts both of us in jeopardy rather than just trust me. What's with this? You're not normally like this…" Sora frowned as he spoke.
He didn't like challenging someone so directly, but in this case, he had to.
"See, what's with you?! One minute you're like lost in a trance and take 2-3 minutes to respond. But today, you're right to the point, have this perfect answer and I just don't understand. Neither does Brie and it's worrying her. She won't admit that, but I know." She gently slapped Sora across the head.
"I didn't tell you this. She's' telling her parents today that she met someone and that she's not coming home and that she hopes one day they'll meet you."
"I can't help that I'm like that– It's just how I am. But she really went out of her way to do that? I'd love to meet her parents." Sora said. "Here, give me your damn hand."
"System please initiate a seal with Sasha Valencia with the condition: I love Brie Reinhardt and I will do whatever I can to ensure she's happy."
[Seal initiated. What would you like the symbol to be?]
Sora paused for a minute. "Shit, did I just tell Sasha I loved Brie? I guess I do, then. Go figure. What a mess. Make it a bat."
[Seal conditions initiated. Sasha Valencia accepted your seal.]
Sasha's serious tone left and she smiled and jumped on Sora, giving him a large hug.
"Somebody's in loveeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she shouted, loud enough for Levi and Jubelle to hear.
"Thanks for being discreet about it…" Sora rolled his eyes.
****
Sora checked his phone, even though he knew he still had no texts from anyone. He decided to text Brie.
"Hey beautiful. Sasha told me you went to see your parents. Are you staying the night there or coming back here? If you're staying there, please let me know. I have new council attire for you and the meeting is tomorrow. We'll leave around 8." Sora typed out and deleted different versions of the message, before finally just sending it.
"Hey! So, my parents are actually being really nice. I thought I'd stay the night here. I'll be home by 07:00, don't worry. Are you sure you want me at the Council meeting though?"
"She responded quickly." Sora smiled. "Yes, I am. See you in the morning!"
The party cleared a dungeon during midday, an S ranked one, and Sora's frustration about not being able to gain a single clue about his eyes continued to bother him.
'When will these damn things do something amazing!'
As he laid down for bed, his phone vibrated.
"Goodnight, babe. Kissy face emoji." Brie sent.
Sora held his phone and smiled. He didn't want to respond too quickly, so he waited, just a moment. "Wish you were here to cuddle with. Heart emoji," Sora texted back.
"Me too, I'll see you in the morning. Heart emoji."
Sora stared at his phone and smiled. 'Damn, I guess I really do love her.'