During his fast descent, Orion closed his eyes.

He felt the wind blows through his hair. His nose picked up the saltiness of the sea, and his ears listened to the constant rumbling of the storm.

The world was perceived as it always was for Orion. It relaxed his body and mind, until the blood in his veins awakened at last.

Following a flash of light, two white wings formed behind his back and stretched as far as they could.

They were similar in appearance to his father's wings, but instead of being made of lightning magic, they were made of light magic. Reon had six wings behind him while using magic, while Orion only had two.

But closing the gap between him and his parents wasn't what made him happy. It was the fact that he could proudly show his progress in becoming a true angel and demon.

The two wings, magically attached to his back, flapped powerfully to stop his fall. When he opened his eyes again, he looked down.

Orion had fallen past the dark clouds, and was relatively close to the water, but still high enough that he was completely out of danger.

Or so he thought.

The dark mass forming the vortex glared at Orion, and continued to create an even bigger and larger vortex. Orion chuckled at him, realizing its intent.

'You're not going to throw yourself in the air, are you?'

He internally mocked the eel, before looking at his hands.

"What to do now?"

*Flash*

Alcyone flashed in his hands faster than it ever did before. The light crossbow blinked in and out of existence, as if trying to tell something.

"..."

Orion closed his eyes once again, letting the light magic do whatever it wanted.

Leaving himself wide open, the giant corrupted used this opportunity to launch its assault. It stopped spinning its body, and threw itself into the vortex.

It began to turn in a circle rapidly. Faster and faster, the eel swam from the bottom layer of the vortex to the very top. The dark shadow dived again, before swimming upward with all the momentum it built from the vortex.

With its mouth wide open, and its red eye wildly blinking, it jumped out of the water, perfectly aligned with Orion.

Time slowed down around Orion. With his eyes closed, he lifted his left arm, pointing his index finger at the giant flying his way.

From the back of his hand, a free floating ribbon like matter separated in two, before forming the two limbs of a crossbow.

A thin light string attached itself from the tip of the limbs, as Orion placed the index and third finger of his right hand on the string, and pulled it.

The sound of string being stretched echoed, as if it was the only sound registered by the world around him. Light particles choked the air, as it merged into one single point.

Wind flowed toward the merging point, bringing more and more particles with it. A sphere of light the size of a pea formed above Orion's hand.

Orion pulled the string to its maximum, and opened his eyes.

*Twang*

When he released the string, it touched the small sphere, releasing all of its accumulated magic. What was supposed to be a bolt made of light magic instead changed to a large beam of light.

The size of the beam was, in fact, hundreds of meters large. It traveled in the blink of an eye downward, engulfing the dark mass, and everything under it. It swallowed the vortex, and continued until it reached the seafloor, erasing every single drop of water in its way.

But right before being hit by the ray of light, the corrupted giant protected itself as much as possible by turning into a ball.

Most of its body turned to nothing, as light purged the corruption, but it managed to survive somehow.

Orion's attack lasted three whole minutes. During that time, he prepared to finish his enemy.

Seeing dark parts of the eel fall into the closing hole he had left behind, Orion knew it had survived. Which is why, he kept his gaze dead set on the target.

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All that was left of the long corrupted was its head, and less than three meters of its lengthy body. Its eye, showing its complete panicked state, frantically looked in every direction.

When it realized that it had made a mistake, it looked above it, and bathed in the brightest light it had ever seen.

A large circle, similar to a halo, formed behind Orion's wings. His piercing white eyes intimidated the dying corrupted, before pointing at it with his right hand.

From the halo, a continuous volley of light rays rained on the eel, and pierced its body to shreds.

When the sea reclaimed the hole Orion had created, the last remains of the giant corrupted that terrorized the Carmel Sea were erased.

...

Fifteen minutes later, Orion finally returned to Noctelagia's coast.

He confirmed that the corrupted giant died before flying back, which too him quite a bit of time.

When his feet touched the dry sand, his transformation reverted to normal, before a long sighed escaped his mouth.

"I'm tired."

Letting his tired body and mind rest, he sat on the sand and looked in the distance.

'The clouds are dissipating. That creature really was the reason for it in the end.'

The storm clouds, creating so much trouble for the fishermen of Noctelagia, slowly broke off as Orion observed them.

Footsteps quickly approached him. He turned to look at them, and smiled softly. Olivia was carrying Senia on her back, almost tripping over her a few times.

"We'll be back for dinner, just as I thought."

"He's alright!"

"I told you! There was no way he would lose!"

Senia pointed at him in the distance with tears on her face.

"Hurry up!"

"I would like to see you in my place!"

Orion laughed and laid on the sand. He lifted his left arm, and looked at the bracelet tightly wrapped around his wrist.

"..."

A serious expression on his face, he thought.

'Am I getting closer to you?'

He pushed on his right arm and jumped back on his feet. Olivia and Senia finally arrived next to him and looked him up and down to see if he had been injured, even thought they knew he could heal any damage inflicted.

"I'm fine, don't worry."

He placed his right hand on Olivia's head, and his left on Senia's. He gently caressed their hair and smiled.

"Thank the world..."

Olivia almost went completely limped as the adrenaline finally left her system.

"Oops."

Orion caught both Olivia and Senia before they fell to the ground. He sat Olivia on the sand, and picked up Senia from her back.

He laid the siren next to her, and placed his right hand on her tail. A soothing light and an appeasing warmth covered her body as the scratch mark on it healed.

"Y-You knew?"

He nodded.

"Even in the middle of battle, I always keep an eye on my allies."

The wounds closed up completely, even regenerating her broken scales. She touched her tail and smiled.

"I don't feel any lasting pain..."

She smiled, but displayed a tinge of sadness. Orion simply watched, until she continued.

"Sometimes, I wonder. What would have happened to me if you hadn't saved us at that time? Feeling that warmth again made me realize how lucky we were to be found by you."

Senia stared into his eyes. Compared to the day she met him, there was so much more compassion in them.

"Have I been useful? Wasn't I in your way?"

Orion closed his eyes, and ruthlessly spoke the truth.

"You need a lot more training."

The siren smiled dryly.

"I sure do."

"But..."

When he opened his eyes, he showed a smile only available to his lovers.

"You have been incredibly helpful nonetheless. Thank you, Senia."

That was all she needed to hear before her tears flowed down her cheeks. All she wanted was recognition, a proof that she wasn't just a bother.

"Of course, Olivia too. Thank you for assisting perfectly."

Olivia straightened and bowed forward.

"No... Thank you for protecting Noctelagia. I thought I had no attachment to it, but I was lying to myself."

"If not for you, we would have lost our allies, the kelpies, and our only source of income. It would have been a matter of time before the citizens either died of hunger, or went to live in another city."

She looked at Orion, and felt greatly ashamed of herself.

"You said I assisted you perfectly, but after being sent back through the portal, I realized that I wasn't taking this seriously."

"I've been watching you, Amelia, and Karteira train each day, but I haven't done anything. You even gave me a new power, but I was unable to bring a single drop of its power out."

Clenching her fists, she looked down.

"I'm sorry I've been so useless. Even my clothes weren't adapted to fight."

Orion nodded.

"Olivia, was it your first fight?"

The young woman lifted her head and looked at him. She nodded to confirm his thought.

"Then I won't judge you for making those mistakes."

In his mind, a memory he wished to forgot appeared as clear as day. His very first hunt in Auro's forest.

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't taking it seriously either at the beginning. I went to hunt without any equipment on. I had only a few arrows and my crossbow."

"I was wearing my everyday clothes during that time, which made me visible to every critter in the forest."

He smiled dryly, explaining a story only the people of Auro knew, Amelia comprised.

"This ended up poorly, with me in a terrible mood, understanding that this wouldn't cut it."

"I took some time to prepare for the next hunt, and when I entered the forest again, this time, I became a true hunter."

After finishing his sentence, he let a few seconds of silence go by, before ending the conversation.

"You can still improve, strive to be better, or even try to surpass me, Amelia, or Karteira. There is no limit to the effort you can put toward your goal."

"Now that you've realized how careless you were, are you going to let it bother you? Or are you going to use it as fuel for your progress?"

Orion stood up and held his hand toward her.

"This is something you will have to ponder alone. Of course, don't forget that you are not alone anymore."

"Your problems are ultimately ours to deal with. If you need help, feel free to depend on us."

With tears welling up at the corners of her eyes, she grabbed his hand and stood up.

"Hmm~"

She nodded, registering the whole conversation in her brain, so that she would remember it later.

"Alright. I would really much like to return home, but there are still a few things to deal with. Mainly, notifying the kelpies that their territory's been freed of the threat."

He picked up Senia from the ground, and carried her in his arms.

"Let's go."

Without giving a thought to the blushing siren, he walked forward. Olivia wiped her tears away, and hurried back next to him.

"Hey! That's not fair! I also want to be carried like that!"

Senia looked at her and grimaced playfully.

"I'll remember that..."

The trio peacefully returned to the place Saffira was waiting at.