"...Oh." Gale saw a faint crystalline light shine through from behind the corner, "We made it—Floor 1."

"All those bugs and traps are behind us, finally." Vastoria breathed a sigh of relief, "The first floor is just a straight shot to the outside."

They were acting as if nothing had even happened. Gale gave up on his prospects of resurrecting, even now when he's the only one who has a chance of making it happen. It's utterly stupid, I can't condone it no matter how adamant he is about quitting. If he would just agree to try it, then...!

"Stop looking at me like that." He caught me staring daggers at him, "I've stated my case. Reviving won't mean anything in the grand scheme of things."

"So you're saying that to have died is to have never lived?" Throne clicked his tongue at him, "Galey, I don't think you understand. I'm not gonna let you have a choice."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, if you don't take Sab's wings to the Gods' Abode and have them revive you, me and everyone else is going to go back into this Shrine until we find a way ourselves."

Hey now, no need to go all out with the ultimatums all of a sudden. There are better ways of convincing him. Right, Gale needs to accept the offer, but we also know that it won't effectively change anything for OUR situation. We still need to figure out what the reason was for him and me keeping our memories from yesterday. Well, it seems no matter how you slice it, we'll have to go ask the Gods about it.

"I'm taking the wings back to him, not making any detours." Gale crossed his arms defiantly.

"Well, we'll be going to the Abode anyways, so it would be nice if you didn't make Throne have to do multiple trips." I chimed in, "The wings aren't going anywhere, and without them Sab won't be capable of straying too far from his house."

"Maggie... Tch, fine." Gale annoyedly obliged, "Hm? Hey, what time is it...?"

We all knew the reason behind such a worried tone, for the moment we walked out of the Shrine we saw not the White sky, but a pale and foggy Gray. Of course, we've spent a considerable amount of time inside the Shrine, so it would make sense that we've already encroached upon the forbidden bedtime. According to what the others told us, this is around the time goat skulled beings known as White Monster Apostles begin to show up, preying on the Heavenly Beings yet to have called it a day.

"Watch out, they can teleport in front of you at any moment!" Sheep covered mine and Gale's Eyes, "One good look at their faces makes you fall asleep and temporarily become one of them within an instant. It's over once that happens."

"It seems we're safe so long as we stay inside the barrier..." Vastoria glanced around until she found them, "Ah, I can see a faint golden glow behind the walls there! Could those be the wings?"

"Hmph. Well, if you'll excuse me..." Throne turned back to re-enter the Shrine.

"O-Oi, get back here!" Gale stopped him, "What are you doing now? Have you gone mad?!"

"What? We're safer in here than out there." He shrugged, "We can go when morn arrives, but I am not about to risk getting put to sleep and have my wings left out here while I get sent back to my home."

For a contrarian, he really is good. I don't believe even a single one of his ideas has aligned with our own. It makes sense, what he's saying, but we don't know what'll happen to Gale and me once the reset occurs. They're all seraphim or shopkeepers, so they'll keep their memories for sure, but what about us? We can't afford to wait."

"M-Migu!" Vastoria yelped once I ran headfirst into the barrier, phasing through it as if it was a liquid, "No!"

"She's trying to bring the wings to us." Gale shook his head before running out as well, "But that won't work, the barrier repels them!"

With the two of us out here alone in the dead of night, a somewhat eerie feeling began to encompass us. I tried picking up the pure gold wings, but both proved themselves to be way too heavy to carry. This was about when Gale lunged at me, lying on top of me and pressing his chest on my face.

"Mph! Can't breathe!" I protested, only to look up and see the edge of a goat skull on him, "Shit...!"

So that's why he looked so anxious... I see, the White Monster is already here, and he took Gale. No, it must have been aiming for me, but Gale covered my Eyes with his body, sacrificing himself just to keep me safe. His body is heavy, almost like a lifeless corpse... I can't keep staying under him.

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"Hrngh...!" I finally rolled him aside, my Eyes firmly shut as I used the voices of my teammates to orientate myself.

"Over here!" Vastoria poked her head out through the barrier to call for me, "Run to my voice!"

"I can't leave Gale out here!" I shouted.

"Just do it!" Throne's voice sprung me into action.

Leaving Gale was a necessity. I had no other choice, lest I became the same gruesome corpse as him. Upon hitting the wall once more, I cleanly phased right through it, as expected. The surprise came from a strong right hook to the cheek that sent me tumbling to the ground.

"Throne!" Vastoria and Sheep berated him, but he ignored them as he picked me up for another hit.

"You rash bitch of a woman! Look what you did now!" He hit me again.

"Ubu-! S-Sobbwy...!" I cried out in tears as blood spewed from my nose, "Ngah!"

"Throne, you're gonna kill her!" Sheep grabbed him by the shoulder, only to get the wind kicked out of him with a knee to the stomach, "Unf!"

"Gale...! Sowwy...! Gah!" I cried out remorsefully, reflecting on my actions as I got sent flying to the edge of the barrier's interior, "Shtahp, pleash...!"

"Because of you, we can't have Gale revive anymore!" Throne kept punching me over and over until my consciousness began to fade, "Because of you, we lost our chance! Because of you...!"

A strong thunk hit one last time, signalling the end of this one sided and utterly pointless brawl. My Eyes were so swollen I couldn't even see in front of me, but a gentle voice kept me from falling asleep. It was over. Regrettably... it was over.

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***

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With a gentle peck to my forehead, Vastoria nurtured me back to a stable state. I still couldn't quite open my Eyes fully, but the adrenaline from everything at least numbed the pain a little. Just barely, I could see through squinted Eyes her and Sheep looking at me with Eyes of guilt and sorrow. Throne, where is...?

"Ah." I saw a man with his head cut off out of the corner of my Eyes.

"He thought he could get away with trying to kill you. Well, not on my watch." Sheep confessed, "After he knocked me away, I ran outside the wall to grab Gale's mandible sword. Not even gonna lie, it felt so damn satisfying to use against that prick..."

"Sheep... You killed Throne." I said in between ragged, forced breaths, "We're inside the Shrine's barrier... His soul is destroyed..."

"If he hadn't done what he did, then you would be the one without a soul." Vastoria smiled gently, "I'm glad Sheep did it."

Slowly, her smile began to grow heavy, until her entire face drooped down into a mournful sulk. Tears enveloped her Eyes, dripping down her face as her brave facade crumpled away. Vastoria was the one most scared of us all, because she had almost lost me, and actually did lose Gale and Throne. Granted, Gale will probably wake up in the next cycle, but how much will he remember? No, I'm too tired to think about that right now. For now, all we could do was wait for morning to arrive in this Shrine's suffocating safety.

"...Hey, look." Sheep noticed the blurry figures of the White Monster Apostles pick up Gale's body and float away with it, "So this must be how we always wake up in our beds, huh."

"At least we know he's okay." Vastoria composed herself, "What now? Should we... go check on him once the morning comes?"

"I think we should... still go to the Gods' Abode." I said with a strained tone, "We can't let... their sacrifices be in... vain."

"Cool it with the yapping." Sheep advised.

"No, it's good that she's talking." Vastoria countered, "We can't have her falling asleep now. We need to think of ways to stay awake until we meet up with the Gods."

"Heh, I got a game we could play..." I chuckled.

"We're not playing Who Utters." Both of them replied in a deadpanned unison.

The air was sweet and calming, as if there wasn't a dead body mere meters away from us. Throne, that man had it coming for a long time now. I just... I guess I just expected Gale to be the one to do the deed. And look at us now, all because of my stupidity, we're left without either person to call a leader. Like sheep without a shepherd dog, where do we wander now? Looking at each others' butts for guidance won't give us much to work with, so unless someone steps up, we're never gonna recover from this.

"...Listen." I slightly startled them as I spoke with a bit louder of a voice than usual, "Vastoria will take one pair of wings and carry us to the Gods. We'll ask them everything we wanna know."

"Eh? We're gonna leave the other wings just sitting there?" Vastoria tilted her head.

"I saw how heavy they were." I shook my head, "Neither Sheep nor I have ever flown with them before, and we know they can carry a lot more than just 2 people. It's regrettable, but Sab will have to wait a bit before he gets his wings back."

They were apprehensive about just up and leaving the wings behind, but we had to prioritize the Gods first. If we asked them to tell us more about the offer, more about revival, then Throne's death and Gale's sacrifice wouldn't have been for nothing. The wings are quite literally past the edge of this afterworld, idly leaning on the cold barrier of the Shrine most considered to be mythical. Besides, something tells me we won't be taking too much time anyways...

Once morning arrived, we peeked out of the wall, looking down so as to not meet any stray White Monster gazes. Successfully, we had survived the night without going to sleep. But we didn't have time to celebrate, for we had to quickly equip Vastoria with the late Throne's wings and depart for the Gods' Abode. From above, it was easy to spot the larger than average golf course sized yard in the distance, so after not even 10 minutes of travel time, we had arrived to knock on the doors to the mansion.

"This is... a surprising turn of events." Selzion cackled, seeing the three of us in such a sorry state, "Pry, get out here! Come check this out!"

"Hm? Oh, well that's quite a shame." Prylos simply shrugged, "So he couldn't hold up his end of the deal, after all. That Gale..."

"Resurrect us in his stead!" I demanded, propped up from both sides by Vastoria and Sheep, "Unless of course, you're chicken!"