"Hrm..." Selzion grunted angrily.

"What's up?" Prylos asked, only to sense the same thing his colleague did, "E-Eh?! No way!"

"I should have expected this..."

Word spread fast of the White Monster Apostles suddenly waking up fine. Before long, everyone in Heaven 2.0 was celebrating this unheard of phenomenon, meaning the news very quickly reached the Gods as well.

"You sensed it too, Pry. The disturbance." Selzion sighed, "Why must this specific group of people cause us so much trouble in particular?"

"I know, right?" Prylos sulked, "On top of a second life that never ends, we gave them everything they wanted in it! Sigh, and I used to think Ouroboras was joking when he said us Gods can't ever understand human emotions..."

The surprise mention of their old friend and fellow God set off a wave of nostalgia within their minds. A question arose to brighten the mood.

"Hey, how much longer until the next Meet?" Selzion asked, "As annoying as the other two are, I really do miss talking to those idiots."

"Yeah, I can at least admit Heaven 2.0 is kind of boring." Prylos chuckled before beginning his calculations, "Let's see... The Meet happens every 10 years, and it's only been 2 years since we ascended up here to govern Heaven 2.0."

"That's... a long time before we can meet up again." Selzion groaned, "I wonder how they're doing right now. Auros is definitely up to his weird shenanigans." He shivered, "The bastard never changes..."

"Yep, that's the Golden God for you, haha! Oh, but Allucius isn't any better. I seriously don't understand how she can just live among the humans so indiscreetly. People will notice her unaging body, you know?"

"She better not find out you said that about her, otherwise you're in for a world of hurt." Selzion chuckled.

The two Gods spoke of their colleagues in peace, with nostalgic yet bittersweet smiles on their faces. Given that only these two were in Heaven 2.0, it would take a while before they could descend for a quick check up with the other three back in the Living World.

"But neither of them can compare to Ouroboras..." The tired Knowledge God exhaled, "It's one thing to no longer govern Hell because it got shut down, but this latest plan of his is utterly sick in the head."

"...Granted, we were the ones who shut down Hell." Prylos bashfully added, "Yeah, I can see why he went off the deep end after that..."

At this, Selzion couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Are you... saying WE'RE the reason he turned himself into a human?"

"Look, no one can know why exactly he gave up his godhood for sure. I'm just speculating here." Prylos backed away before chuckling, "Heh, maybe it's not just the humans we don't understand..."

Sat there in silence, the two oblivious Gods tried desperately to think up why everything had gone the way it did. The Meditation God tried to see things from the others' perspectives, and the heartless Knowledge God only saw themselves as right. In the end, both came up with no explanation.

"Pry, it's a fact that you fell into Hell that one time, and I got you out." Selzion piped up suddenly, embarrassing his friend by making him remember the traumatic experience.

"E-Eh? Why are you bringing that up, geez...!"

"It's also a fact that I saved you, and with the two of us deeming it too cruel for anyone, Gods and humans alike, to go through it—We had it shut down."

"That's... Yeah? What are you getting at, exactly?"

"Just going through things chronologically." He replied, "This meant we forced Ouroboras to no longer govern Hell, and instead to take care of any race of humans he chose."

"That's how it happened, yes."

"And after a couple of centuries of doing exactly that..." Selzion leaned back in thought, "We suddenly find out he's "gone on vacation from godhood". Sigh, what in the world does that even mean?"

"Allucius said he'll only remain a human until his human life expires naturally." Prylos shrugged, "That's like, what? 50 years?"

"I think humans live a tad longer than that. Try 70."

"Right, but a person would want their vacation to last as long as possible, no?" Prylos figured, "You think he'd go for the big 100?"

"Nah, he knows that's too much."

This topic continued on for a while after that. Talking about their fellow Gods gave them a sense of ease that quelled the worry of our group of heroes permanently killing the White Monster. As the two Gods who governed over Heaven 2.0, they had to remain in their Abode no matter what. The only way to put a stop to our group's plans was to "hire" assassins to get the job done in their stead.

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"Energy..." Selzion suddenly frowned.

"We should have done more research on him." Prylos shook his head, "To think he's related to those two as well. I swear, that family will stop at nothing to cause us problems."

"Wildcards, the lot of them." Selzion closed his Eyes, "Well, I suppose nothing is impossible. Though it is quite improbable that there'd be so many free spirits in a singular family."

"Maybe the next Universe Cycle won't have them in it."

"Prylos, you and I both know that's wishful thinking." Selzion inhaled disappointedly, "My us, when will this suffering end?"

"That's not a fun thing for the God of Knowledge to say, you know."

"At the very least, permit me my freedom to mope."

Glancing at each other for a brief moment, the two couldn't hold it in anymore as they chuckled together in the spacious Abode. Certainly, being a God is far from an easy job, but it's their duty nonetheless.

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***

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"WAHHHH!!!" Hats screamed aloud, "MY ARM, IT'S GONE!"

"Err, to be specific, I chopped it off." Sab raised a point before getting strangled by Hats' leftover arm.

"Why would you do that!?"

"Hats, Hats!" Sheep and Elegy stopped him, "Calm down, we're alive thanks to him! He had no other choice!"

"Huh...?" Hats let go before seeing Vastoria lying motionless on the ground.

Quickly and strategically, the three men stood in front of her to shield him from the gruesome, gorey sight. If he was this shaken just from seeing his arm going missing, then seeing Vastoria practically missing her head would definitely send him over the edge.

"Ha-ha, she's okay! Just... tired, that's all!" Elegy loudly made up an excuse.

"Yeah, you two go get some fresh air while Sab and I bring her back to bed!" Sheep nudged his subordinate, "Isn't that right, Sab?"

"Eh? Why me?" He replied seconds before getting a smack to the face, "Ow, I get it, fine! R-Right, she's so tired she doesn't even know where her head is."

"Sab!"

"It's an expression! I didn't mean that literally!" Sab shot back before pouting, "Though I wasn't wrong by much..."

Before things got too heated, the group temporarily split up so as to not scare Hats any more than he already was. Leading the poor big guy into the yard outside, Elegy began giving him a brief rundown of all the events that had led up to this moment.

"We got caught by the White Monster, but that guy with the wings saved us." He said, "His name's Sheep."

"Pfft! Seriously?" Hats could barely hold back his snickers, "But wait, so then where are we now?"

"Vastoria's home." Elegy smiled, "Ah, guess you've never met her before. She's part of my group, and so are Sab and Sheep."

Suddenly, an unfamiliar name was heard.

"Sab?"

"Sorbet's real name. He said I harmed him in the past, so he wanted to get revenge." Elegy elaborated, "We're good now, though."

"Oh. So then... All's well that ends well?"

"How can you even say that with an arm missing?"

All jokes aside, however, they were still very far from reaching their desired end. Most if not all of them were in some way or another injured, and Migu still needed saving from Energy as far as they knew. Despite how much he wanted to allow Hats to go leave them, Elegy knew they couldn't afford it.

"Yo." The other two finally made it out of the house as well, "We finally put her in a comfortable position on the bed."

"I'm never gonna forgive you for making me carry the head..." Sab glared heavily at Sheep, "Sigh, then, shall we get going to the Shrine?"

"Of course, but first—I think we should all be on the same page before we continue." Elegy paused, "We're all under the Gods' radar, correct?"

"Huh?" Hats worriedly looked his way.

"Yep, and the Gods hired the guy named Energy as our bounty hunter, who is currently in the Shrine chasing Migu." Sab added.

"What?"

"Ugh, the guy's a real pain in the ass too." Sheep complained, "He's like Elegy when it comes to weapons, except he knows how to use everything BUT the sword. We're gonna have a tough time taking him out."

"Muu...!"

In essence, the more these three revealed, the worse Hats felt about joining them in this endeavor. However, he still couldn't just quit this group, especially after hearing they were all being targeted by the Gods.

"B-But if that's the case, then would this Migu girl even survive for this long?" Hats wondered.

The three stood there with bewildered expressions. Certainly, if he could win solo against their entire group that time, then Migu probably didn't last that much longer than they did, is what they all thought. However, Sheep knew of a detail that the others didn't.

"Migu and that guy... are related." He sighed, "He's a distant, distant ancestor of hers. Probably the family's founder, even."

"What? Family...?!" Elegy held his breath.

"That's not all we found out that cycle, though..." Sheep turned to face him directly, "Elegy, you're related to her as well."

A shocking truth, one that led the boys to question Sheep's words from start to finish. It took a lot of backtracking and convincing before they could finally swallow the pill in regards to these two's relationship.

"I actually have family up here...?" Elegy thought to himself.

"Hm... Well then!" Sab clapped his hands to get their attention, "Since they're related, Energy might actually be having trouble killing her off for good, but that doesn't mean Migu's safe with him!"

"Right, and now that we've finally gotten everything off our chests, it's time to go to the Shrine!" Sheep raised his fist as well.

"Hold on, before anything..." Hats stopped them one last time, "Sorbet... Sab."

"Hmm..." Sab glanced at Elegy for a bit before relaxing his shoulders, "Sigh, I won't try anything anymore. At this point, I'm happy so long as I get my wings back by the end of this."

"Good, I'll trust you." He smiled back.

"Geez, quit it with the sappy atmosphere!" Sab rolled his Eyes, "Sheep, send us away already, will ya'?!"

"Heh, alright, alright..." Sheep chuckled, swooping them all up on his back in a flash, "That bastard assassin won't know what's coming! He'll rue the day he messed with this quartet!"

Reaching top speeds in an instant, not minding for a single thing in the sky, they hastily made their way to the distant Shrine off in the horizon. Past all the buildings, far beyond any borders, that's where their destination awaited their return. Tensions rise on both sides as the Gods make their next plan, but who will be the one to come out on top?

"Find out next time on Heaven's Calling—Volume 5!" Elegy announced.

"..."

".....What's he talking about?" Hats whispered.

"Ignore him, he just does that sometimes and none of us know why." Sab replied, seemingly just as worried, but pretending not to look.

Worst part about all this? He didn't even get the chapter count right, since there's still one more chapter left before the end of the Volume. Dammit Elegy, you ruined the moment.