"He... won."

"Yes, sis. He sure did."

Dramia and Drania looked at the distance at the man who single handedly dealt with a corrupted Apostle.

Not only them, but Amelia, Karteira, Florian, and most of Albriar were left speechless.

"I had no idea he was capable of such prowess. I sure would have liked to have like that yesterday."

Looking at the sky a little tired from watching Orion fight, Florian lightly smiled.

"Karteira. He's returning."

"Let's go, Amelia."

Without waiting, both girls walked past everyone, and went down the stairs leading to the barracks area. They ran through the place, and quickly went toward Albriar's archway leading out of the city.

Together, they both waited for him to come back. It was painfully long, but Orion managed to return after only five minutes.

Exhausting his mana, and having most of it ate by his two elements made him feeling sluggish, making him slower than usual.

"I told you I was going to win, didn't I?"

He stopped in front of them and took a pose. With his right hand on his hip, he made a thumbs up, and smiled at them.

Now that he was in front of them, they looked completely relieved. When their emotions couldn't be contained anymore, they both expressed their worry in their way.

Amelia jumped at Orion's neck and hugged him, plunging her face in his chest, while Karteira walked next to him and grabbed his arm.

"Glad to have you back."

Karteira was the first to speak, as she hugged his arm closer to her side.

"Yes! You have no idea how worried we were, do you?"

A little bothered, Amelia removed her face from his chest, and stared in his eyes.

"Of course I knew. But I made a lot of progress like that."

She grabbed his cheek with one hand and slightly pulled, not to hurt him.

"Do you really understand? I know it has been like this for us for years, but Karteira just got her answer, and you're already risking your life?"

Orion tried to push her hand off his cheek, unsuccessful.

"I'm not belittling your feelings or anything like that."

He finally pulled her hand away, and looked at Karteira at his side.

"I'm sorry, I've made both of you worry."

"But... how do I say this. It will definitely happen again."

*sigh*

Amelia audibly sighed, knowing that what he said was true.

"I don't mind, I just want you to come back alive."

Both Orion and Karteira shared a long gaze, building their new relationship slowly.

'Sheesh, she wasn't lying when she said she would become more aggressive.'

With that thought, the three of them enjoyed some time together, under the eyes of the 'jealous' sisters, Florian, who decided to confirm the end of this little war, and all of the soldiers of Albriar.

~

"Every single one of you! If you have time to enjoy this, you can move you feet and help me prepare to receive our citizens back into the city."

Florian ordered his men with a smile.

'There's a lot to do.'

Beginning to think about all the paperwork it was going to give, he began to have a headache.

'Recovering our citizens, cleaning the field of the dead bodies of beasts and soldiers, work on reforestation, pays, notice to the family of the deceased...'

"Florian! Where is Florian!"

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The voice of a woman was heard down the wall.

'Hmm? That voice.'

All the soldiers bowed in front of her, while leading her to him.

"Mo-Mother?! Why are you outside?"

Now that the war had been dealt with, and Albriar being ultimately back to being safe, Lobelia had decided to look for her son.

"Florian! Are you alright?"

She stopped right in front of him, and began to look all over his body.

The older woman shamelessly removed the button of his suit, and pulled his shirt up, to look if there was no injury on his chest.

"I-I'm fine. Couldn't you have waited until I came home to do that?"

Stopping her hands, she looked straight in his eyes.

"A mother's job is to protect their children, if anything happens to you, what am I going to say to your father?"

This seemed to always happen, so he stood there, motionless, until his mother was satisfied.

Before any of this happened, the soldiers were already gone, knowing that this was embarrassing for their Lord.

Lobelia pulled down his shirt, and buttoned his suit back up, and cleaned all of the dust off of him, before hugging him.

Even if it was embarrassing, he knew that his mother was incredibly worried, and that he was lucky she was still there.

He hugged her back for a moment, before walking a step back.

"What are you doing outside of the house? You know how bad your anxiety gets when you stay too long outside, right?"

But to his surprise, she strongly shook her head.

"This is different. I still possess the quality of an Apostle, even if I am retired, so anyone trying to destroy our home has to be dealt with. You weren't here, so I had to take actions in your stead."

Smiling at his mother, Florian bowed his head.

"Thank you for sending a message to the lamias. Without it, we wouldn't have been here in time."

After acknowledging his grateful feelings, her gaze fell on the two fairies further behind Florian.

'Are these two perhaps?'

She tried to identify them, but not knowing that they were fairies, she let it go, and instead chose to follow their gaze, which were on three people outside of the gate of Albriar.

"Tell me, Florian, who are they?"

He understood that she was a little on edge with strangers at a time like this, so he quickly diffused the situation.

"These people helped defend Albriar. I wouldn't have been able to arrive in time if not for them. They also fought Julian and his army with me."

With a surprised look, her opinion suddenly changed, and went in reverse. Looking at her son with a smile, she spoke.

"I see. You've found your light, isn't it?"

Florian removed his glasses, and showed the brightest smile he ever had to her.

"Yes."

~

"Girls, let's return inside the city. I can feel Dramia piercing gaze on me since quite some time. She most likely want to take a shower at this point."

Both ladies removed themselves from Orion, and finally gave him room to freely move.

"Are we going back to Horizon?"

Amelia asked, quickly receiving her answer.

"We are. We all deserve a day of rest at this point."

Orion caressed Karteira's head, who had the most troublesome and tiresome situation. Orion too was tired.

There was a lot to discuss about, and he also wanted to return to the Lahro and finish his discussion with Deveralna.

Maybe he would invite her to Horizon instead of wasting precious time on Triazils, but he had to speak with Amelia and Karteira first before it happened.

They began to return in Albriar. There, Florian and Lobelia were already waiting for them.

"You are Orion, right? Amelia, and Karteira? My name is Lobelia Delur, Florian's mother and previous holder of the title of Apostle."

Florian explained clearly to his mother that Orion clearly despised Apostles, so he tried to make her avoid saying that, but she believed it was necessary anyways.

"I heard the necessary concerning you from my son. Thank you very much for protecting Albriar."

Without hesitation, she placed a hand on her heart, and slightly bowed her body forward.

'Another Apostle that refused to drink the corrupted sludge, I suppose? I don't feel any animosity in her tone, and she does act respectfully. I understand why Florian is like this now.'

Orion approached the woman alone, and decided to express the same to her.

"My name is Orion Feales. I am the one hunting down the Apostles that oppress the factions, and bring corruption to our continent."

"Fate had us intervene in this conflict not because it was necessary, but because I deemed Florian worthy of my help."

She heard that Orion was half-angel, half-demon, and that he had a grudge toward the human faction as a whole. There was also the fact that he chose to ignore the fact that Florian was himself an Apostle, which she internally was grateful for.

At first, Orion judged every Apostles as enemies, not because of their actions, but because of their title. With Florian's first encounter in the Dead White forest, he chose to judge them differently, which showed that he was more than a cold blooded killer.

Differentiating between allies and enemies is what make a person stronger. Instead of destroying countless possibilities, instead, it would create just as many.

'Florian's dream to remove the boundaries between factions might be possible one day with his help.'

'The fairies, the dragons, the beastmen, the lamias, and the kelpies. Maybe one day, we would see a world were all of them could live without fear of each other.'

From the factions, there remained two factions that were either destroyed, or hidden, and those were the arachnea, and the elementals.

Who knew if there was other factions out there, unknown of Triazils' inhabitants. Even if there was one, it would be unfair to drag them in when the situation was like this.

Both Orion and Lobelia straightened, and before anyone could say anything, she gracefully directed Orion inside.

"If you could follow us in a more pleasant environment. Talking here might not be the best of places, isn't it?"

Orion nodded, but looked at Florian before moving forward.

"Where are the sisters?"

Understanding that Orion wanted them with him, he quickly told him."

"They are waiting further inside."

With another nod, he followed Lobelia and Florian inside Albriar. Dramia and Drania quickly entered his sight, before waving to them.

"Dramia, you really have to wash that dried blood of your face."

He look a little worried that this would have affect her mentally.

"Yes, and I need to change clothes too. That robe is completely worthless now."

The green one piece she was wearing was stained with blood, impossible to clean anymore.

"We'll go to the store Kamala showed us. You wanted to go to Hocride anyway."

After talking for a moment, they were back walking in the empty street of Albriar. Orion was used to see lifeless, empty streets by now. He knew that not long from now, it would be bustling again.

Before long, they arrived to a tall two-story house, quite wide too, and removed from the other houses.

"Please, enter."

Lobelia opened the door of her and Florian's house to receive the group.

"Oh! Forgive my manners."

"Welcome to Albriar."