With nothing more to add anymore, we hopped inside Sheep's winged embrace and zipped to a secondary location. Given the speed we were going at and the distance traveled, we really couldn't even tell where it is he dropped us off until he let us out.

"Did you find Elegy?" I asked, hopping out.

"Nope, I flew three laps around the entire district and couldn't spot a whiff of him." Sheep breathed heavily, "It's like he sunk into the ground."

"Three laps... Yeah, that checks out..." Pry barely held himself together.

"Hey, you haven't fallen unconscious." Energy pointed out.

"I suppose this is what humans would call building up one's tolerance." Selz gagged, "Eugh, after what the Shopkeeper put us through earlier, this is nothing."

"Sorry about that..." Sheep apologized dejectedly.

Well, we can't do anything about the cherubim until we find Elegy, so quitting really isn't any option. If only the Gods were honest from the beginning, finding them would be a breeze... Guess we'll need to continue on foot. Huh, right now we're stopped in front of Elegy's house. It's the most obvious place to start looking, but it's also the area with the least amount of hiding spots. Elegy's house is completely empty, if I recall.

"What are the odds they went outside the district?" Pry worried.

"Zero, we warned them not to." Energy replied, "And unlike you, they'll trust us enough to not break that rule."

"Hrm..."

"Hey now, no bickering." I peered into the tote bag, "Energy, is there any way for you to 'feel' them out with your brainwaves?"

"That ability, it's gotten a lot more numb ever since I lost my gold." He explained, "But I could give it a shot."

"Feel?" Sheep tilted his wings, "Brainwaves? Did I miss a page?"

"It's best if we just show you." I nodded, taking Energy out of the bag and holding him high up like an antenna, "Do your thing!"

Despite the flashiness of our tandem maneuver, Energy's effort still couldn't really be seen by anyone. After all, he's merely using his sixth sense to scan the area around him, so it's not like we'll physically see him move or anything. After a few seconds of scoping, he sighed disappointedly before giving the results.

"Good news and bad news." He said, "Which do you wanna hear first?"

"Good." Pry and I immediately replied.

"Bad." Sheep and Selz said at the same time.

Huh? Why would you wanna hear the bad news first? You'll be too bummed to even fully take in the good news!

"Why would you wanna hear the good news first?" Sheep scoffed at us, "You'll just get your feelings crushed by the bad news after the fact!"

"I concur, we must first address the issues before we can focus on blind optimism." Selz added.

"Yeah right, you and your realist approach!" Pry frowned at him, "Always gotta be a downer!"

"Alright, the order doesn't matter!" Energy shouted, "You'll hear both anyways, so who cares!?"

"O-Oh, right..."

But then why ask us in the first place? I know it's a figure of speech, but still. Huh, I guess he didn't expect us to be so butthurt about it.

"Sigh, the good news is—I found Sab."

"Whoa!" Sheep gasped, "Wait, really!? You can just do that with your brain!? That's incredible!"

"Hm, yes." Selz and Pry nodded, "Certainly, every body part of a Heavenly Being is perfect, and that does include the brain. A perfect brain does indeed have the ability to tap into its sixth sense without the skull obstructing it."

So that's how it works. About what I expected, honestly. Energy seems chipper about it, though.

"So the bad news is, you haven't found Elegy." I noticed.

"No, the bad news is—I haven't found anyone but Sab." He sighed, "They must have split up to throw us off."

"Smart, it's way harder to find one person at a time than an entire group." Sheep smiled.

"Smart for them, inconvenient for us." Pry reminded him, "Our goal is to find them, remember?"

"Well, we have no other choice but to go for Sab and ask him where Elegy is." I slouched, "He should be more than willing to cooperate after we explain everything to him."

"Right, just tell me where exactly he's hidden, Energy." Sheep glanced around.

"Uhhh. That way." Energy tried to point.

"Which way?"

"...That way." He repeated.

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"This isn't gonna work if you have nothing to point with..." I dropped my head down dejectedly.

"Just slowly turn around and he'll tell us which way he went like that!" Selz ordered.

"Oh right, or we could do that." I offhandedly pouted at him, "There was no need to shout at the top of your lungs to tell me that, though."

I lifted Energy's brain in front of me, holding it out in a given direction before I started to slowly crane my body clockwise. It was actually kinda fun trying to get the right direction with him.

"Colder, colder..." He repeated, "Oh, now you're warmer!"

"Which is it? I didn't change directions!"

"Just keep going that way, warmer!" He shouted, "You're getting hot, it's a fever! You're on fire! Lava!"

"How much hotter can it get!?"

"Oh, you missed it. Cold as ice." He stopped the enthusiastic callouts abruptly.

The difference between ice and lava is way too tiny! Ugh, apparently lava is as hot as it gets. I pulled back a bit and he said that was where Sab was. Sheep asked if he should fly us there, but Energy insisted for the Gods' sake that we're within walking distance.

"Keep in mind, I can loosely sense that he's there, but he's obviously gonna be moving around." Energy reminded us, "Besides, it's his job to hide away from us, so don't expect this to be easy."

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***

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"Wuh-" I stopped in front of him, "Sab?"

Not gonna be easy, my foot! He's just strolling around randomly in the street! Did he not listen to me at all when I told him to hide!? What is this guy doing?!

"Gah! How'd you guys find me so fast!?" He took a step back.

"Eh?" Even Selz was at a loss for words, "Wait, you were seriously hiding like this?"

"At this point, I'm ashamed of myself for not seeing you earlier..." Sheep looked embarrassed.

"How rude! It's called hiding in plain sight!" Sab refuted, "See, you guys expected me to be hiding in a nook somewhere, so no crazy person would think to comb through the busy streets!"

I... I'd say that's beyond stupid, but since it worked on Sheep, I really have nothing to toss at him. Really, if we didn't have Energy's radar ability, I think he'd actually be the last person we found. It's just a pity he's not Elegy.

"Where are the others?" I cocked my head back.

"Hmph! Not telling you!" He stuck his tongue out.

"Sab, it's okay, the Gods are on our side. It was a misunderstanding." Energy pleaded with him, "We need to know where Elegy is."

"Huh? Really?" He remained skeptical, "Ooooh, I get it! Yeah, yeah, "we can trust the Gods"—nice acting!"

God, this isn't an act, we really did mess up! Well, more like I messed up, but that's beside the point. I get the feeling that convincing him to spill the others' locations isn't gonna be as easy as we think it'll be. Then again, now that we've found him, it's only a matter of... Oi, get back here!

"Where'd he go!?" I panicked.

"Urk, he disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an Eye..." Sheep darted his Eyes everywhere, "Is his plan actually smarter than we thought?"

"Nonsense!" Selz ordered, "Archangel, peruse the skies!"

Yeah, we got a being that flies faster than light on our side. Cornering him should be easy, but...

"Sheep won't be able to see him from that high up because of the crowd!" Pry reminded everyone, "We gotta push through ourselves!"

"Sab!" Energy yelled.

"Sab, get back here!" Sheep as well.

"Sab, where are you!?" I shouted.

Running through the thick crowd of people never felt so deterring. Somehow, the longer we searched for him, the more it felt like we never even saw him in the first place. Everyone looks the same as him, with the only way to recognize him being the lack of gilded parts and his clothes. He's actually pretty good at hide and seek.

"...There!" I pointed over yonder, "Way out in front of us, he's mocking us!"

"Blehhh~" He jumped above the others just to stick his tongue out, "Try and catch me, fools! That's right, you can't!"

"Enough of this." Selz popped a vein, "Sheep, take me up."

"Huh!? But you can't fly without-!"

"Bring me above him." Selz insisted, "Quickly, before we lose track of him again!"

With an uncertain gulp, he obliged and flew at his hyperspeed. Immediately, the two were high above Sab's location, with Selz dropping down the moment he blipped there.

"Blehh~!" Sab kept looking at us, "Huh? Weren't there five of y-?"

"Divine elbow!" Selz yelled, slamming him into the ground from the skies above, "Oh, it appears I broke my arm pulling such a stunt off."

"You got him!" We caught up as well, "Oh, that looks painful..."

"No worries, it'll heal back soon enough." Pry smiled naively, "...Right?"

Sheep and I just looked on, nervously shaking our heads back and forth. While his arm isn't broken, it's definitely sprained at the very least. He's only human after all, so of course it'll heal back up eventually, just not as soon as he'd hope. Moving around without a cast is also going to be difficult. I just hope his pain tolerance isn't...

"Gah!" I jolted once I saw Selz bend the joint back into place, "What are you doing!?"

"Hm? Fixing it, what does it look like?" He rolled his Eyes as if I asked something stupid, "Gods can't be killed, but we do feel physical pain, you know?"

"In other words, you've grown accustomed to such injuries, is that it?" Energy smirked.

"Y-You gonna..." Sab begged from under him, "Get off me... now?"

"Not until you tell us where Elegy is."

"Ugh, I don't... know!" Sab struggled to get the words out from the knee in his back, "We all agreed...! To go our separate ways!"

We knew that much. So wait, you never actually discussed where you'll be hiding? Again, smart on your part, but how come you guys are only this efficient when it hinders us? Earlier you could barely form a tower together. Hold on, is the problem in me?

"Selz, get off him." Pry motioned, "I checked his mind, he's telling the truth."

"Hrm... Moron." Selz spat at him before getting up.

"Ghaaa!" Sab sprung back up to his feet, "Geez, then—am I free to go, officers?"

"Huh? Where're you going?" Sheep asked.

"Aren't you gonna come with us?" I tilted my head.

"Who said the hiders become the seekers once they get caught?" He turned around to leave, "I'm gonna go enjoy the rest of my stroll in peace now, since you're in the market for Elegy anyways."

"Just don't leave the district!" Selz made sure to remind him.

As he disappeared cooly into the crowd, a lone arm was raised to wave us off. In a way, he's doing what we told him, since we did say they should spend their time in the district leisurely. No need to get involved when trouble isn't the one calling you.

"Why'd you let him go? He could've helped us!" Energy frowned.

"If we need him, we'll go look for him." Pry reassured him, "Don't worry, we're already crowded as it is. Keeping our numbers low will ensure we move easier through this crowd."

"Oof!" A random dude bumped shoulders with Selz, "Watch it, dude!"

Oh, now you messed up, guy! Selz's face looks livid! What's he gonna do now? Destroy the street? Blow up your house...!?

"I certainly will." Selz apologized calmly.

"Huh?" We stared at him blankly as he waited for the guy to leave.

"I regret destroying Hell so usdamned much..."

Yep, there's that familiar frown of his! He even replaced "goddamned" with "usdamned", what a Selz thing to do!