"Hey, how're..." Sab gulped, "How're you holding up?"

"Who, me?" Elegy pointed to himself with just his elbow, "Just fine, why?"

"No reason..."

It was only in district C that Sab truly felt the weight of his actions sink in completely. He had just cut off both of Elegy's arms, and to make matters worse—they won't be regenerating anymore. Elegy stopped flying forward, with Sab taking a break with him soon after.

"Rather than worrying about me, I think we should talk about something more interesting." Elegy turned to smirk at him devilishly, "I seem to recall a certain moment in time when you were speaking to the cherubim directly."

"Hm?"

"Don't play dumb, you said loud and clear that the voice you heard belonged to Nerys." He chuckled.

As Elegy understood it, the cherubim mimicked the voices of its victim's most beloved in order to help lower their guard. For Elegy, it was a blurry mix of two women, indicating the two primary loves of his life down in the Living World. For Migu, it was Vastoria. And yet, here Sab was hearing Nerys.

"What? You think it's like that?" Sab raised an Eyebrow in surprise, "You got a lot of things messed up there, man. I mean, it's true that I heard her voice come out of the cherubim's mouth, but to me she's way more like an annoying twin sister."

Elegy could only stare back with a blank smile.

"...Eugh."

"What the-! What's yucky about that!?" Sab groaned, "Fine, then let's say she's just a good friend!"

"By the way, I heard the cherubim's voice as my two past lovers'." Elegy felt it important to mention.

"Good for you!"

Bright Red as a tomato, Sab was seething in his own conflict and inner turmoil. On the one hand, he despised getting teased by the dude that was just beating the crap out of him moments ago, but on the other hand, he felt way too horrible about permanently removing his arms and felt a need to let Elegy get his revenge, if even in this lowbrow sort of way.

"You know, I'm not poking fun at you or anything." Elegy noticed, "I think it's nice that you see her in a positive light. Honestly, for the longest time now I was worried about you two bickering all the time."

"Is that so?" Sab's facial expression relaxed slightly.

"I mean, obviously. Whether it's romantic or platonic, I'm just glad my friends are getting along so well that they can consider one another their most trusted."

Sab paused, too stunned to think up a proper reply. The tone shifted way too quickly from mocking to serious, so much so that he had trouble keeping up. Awkwardly, he looked down and to the side as he gave his best to properly speak about it.

"Thanks for telling me." He answered truthfully, "She's really annoying, and her accent is just an earsore, but I do think she's the most fun I've had talking to a person ever since I got here."

Elegy grinned right back, "Heh, should I take that as a diss at the rest of us?"

"Nah, it's a close race overall."

With them having finally relaxed the tension between them a bit, both parties felt more eager to speak up about their true thoughts on all sorts of matters. As if intoxicated, both angels happily shared story after story without hesitation. The words simply flowed one after another until they formed a sentence; and when they did, the sentences flowed just as easily too.

"Hats, that guy scares me in all honesty." Sab shivered.

"Nah, he's a good kid." Elegy shook his head, "Migu, on the other hand—that girl ain't right..."

"You're just saying that because of Vastoria."

"What? No, why would you think that?"

"Eh? I mean, you're from the past and all..."

"Dude, my era's not that old."

Naming off their friends seemed to quell their worries about the current situation, if even just a little bit at a time. Given what sort of hellscape they're going to, it's nice to enter it with a clear mind like this.

"You used to Sheep's archangel appearance yet?" Elegy asked.

"I still get queasy whenever I look at him directly!" Sab shot back, "Especially now, his body just resembles the cherubim way too much..."

"Yeah, I get that. Actually, even despite how much stronger and more useful he is with that new body, I still think he shouldn't have ever let go of his angel side. I can't quite explain it, but... we all just seem a lot more human that way."

As former humans themselves, not to mention the shared goal of reviving so they could go back to their old lives again, it all but made sense that this was the string that pulled at their hearts. Somehow, both of them just agreed that the Gods had doomed their archangel friend into an afterlife without hands or legs forever. Silently, they pitied him together.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"So, we gonna continue looking for them or what?" Sab finally asked getting ready to speed off onward.

"Actually, I didn't stop just to chat." Elegy pointed down, "I spotted your crush talking to another guy and thought I should tell you."

"Eh, Nerys is!?" Sab's head spun down, "And she's not my crush!"

All jokes aside, he had finally seen what Elegy had spotted a while ago now. Nerys was indeed chatting it up with some random angel foreign to them, but upon closer inspection, he seemed to just be a random passer-by asking for directions. The look of relief on Sab's face was hard not to laugh at, but Elegy persisted somehow.

"Nerys!" They descended down to her.

"Hm?" She glanced up behind her, "Oye~! Tuk yus longinaff! C'mover'ere!"

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***

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"Matey." She immediately pointed to Elegy, "Ye' seem... disarrm'd."

"That's such a lame pun!" Sab yelled.

"No no, she's got a point." Elegy noted, "Yeah, some things happened and I kind of lost my arms, but we do have these wings now, so all's well that ends well."

Quite the brief review of the events that had transpired with the cherubim. In but a few measly clauses he managed to convey the message to her strikingly well, though it's anyone's guess as to how she managed to figure it out herself from so little.

"In dat cass, ye' got off pretteh well, euwe did!" She gave them both a pat on the shoulder, "Cannae help bot reeloize ye' got wun fer' meh too, dontcha'?"

Elegy glanced down at the wings they were carrying before shooting down her hopes of flying about at the speed of light.

"Ah, sorry, we need these other wings to hopefully mold a replacement neck for Vastoria." He shook his head.

"Wait, aren't you afraid of heights?" Sab raised an Eyebrow.

"Ah, dat be poppycock, lad..." She bashfully poked her fingers together, "Bot Oi' gettit, the lassie be tha' first in loin."

At the very least, she was quick to understand their intent with stopping by. Though she sadly wasn't able to snag a pair of wings for herself, she did explain what she was doing all the way out here.

"Hm? Oi'v bin lookin' fer yous', mateys!" Her Eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Nunna' the otharrs be aroun', so Oi'v jus' bin wanderin' about aimlessly."

"Is that really the reason?" Sab remained skeptical.

"Aye."

"Nerys..."

"W-What...?"

He read her like a book. There was no lie capable of evading his watchful Eye, at least when it came to Nerys. Though she had fully convinced Elegy, thankfully Sab knew her little tricks well enough to discern the truth from the lies.

"I-If ye' be thinkin' Oi'm only lookin' fer booty, then ye' be a fat liarr!" She blushed angrily.

"Ah, so that's why." Sab smirked, "Once a pirate, always a pirate I guess."

"Oi'm not a bloody poirrate!"

Elegy could only look on in bafflement at the friendly banter between the two of them, a smug grin slowly creeping its way on his face. It was Nerys' shivering timbers that had first caught notice of it.

"Oi, wot're euwe lookin' aet!?"

"You guys really aren't beating any allegations, you know." He chuckled, "Honestly, Vastoria and Migu better hurry it up, otherwise the first marriage of Heaven 2.0 is gonna get snatched away from right under their noses."

Sab heavily disliked the implications his armless friend was insinuating, however Nerys was left completely clueless without the full context.

She looked to Sab for guidance, "Matey, ye' be spoutin' mad nonsense as av' recent, y'know dat?"

"Bah! Would you shut up about that already!?" Sab jolted, "Seriously, you're gonna make things weird for no reason!"

"I have no idea what you mean by that." Elegy shrugged, his impish grin still showing proudly on his face, "In any case, it's you who recognized the cherubim that way, not me."

"Grr... Is this your way of getting payback for losing the arms?" Sab's Eyebrow twitched in frustration.

"Again, I have no idea what you mean."

Teasing a fella' about a girl he's close with was one of Elegy's favorite forms of vengeance, at least when it came to the non-lethal ones. But it wasn't all for the sake of getting back at Sab for the damages he's done. Given the state of the entire party, morale was their main driving force. Even if it meant he had to be a bit annoying, Elegy wagered this much was necessary to ensure everyone is still on the right track.

"Nerys, you still on board to help us bring back Vastoria?" Elegy suddenly asked.

"Eh, Oi'm kinda in tha' middle ova' treasurr' hunt." She shrugged ambivalently.

"Ugh, can you be any more of a klepto?" Sab rolled his Eyes, handing her one of the many wings they were carrying, "There's your treasure, now quit being a brat and help your friends!"

Elegy grinned behind him, "Right, friends."

"Will you shut up!?"

As a treasure hungry seafarer, she really didn't need all too much convincing to return to the cause, especially now that the cherubim is dead. Equipping the single wing on her left side just like the one she had before, it didn't quite allow her to fly, but it did make it easier to carry around at least. She was now ready for her next order.

"Jus' say da word, mateys!"

"Glad to have you back." Elegy smiled, "You know where the Gods' Abode is in this district, right?"

Sab's heart skipped a beat for a moment upon hearing this.

"Aye, Oi' jus' passed eet a bit ago." She nodded.

"I want you to go there and look for the others." He continued, "Migu, Hats, Energy, and whoever else may be inside."

"Why can't yew dewit?" She pouted.

"Geez, do you have to know everything?" Sab dodged having to answer that, "In any case, it'll be clear once you reach it. Hopefully there shouldn't be any issues, but if there are, just be prepared to dig a bit."

"Eh? Dig?"

Now she was starting to get worried. Back when she passed by this district's Abode, it was completely normal; nothing was out of the ordinary. Of course, the guys knew that it was most probably in ruins just like the one in district A, so they felt a heads up was necessary.

"And where'll euwe be?" She sighed.

"Flying around all the districts as fast as we can." Elegy explained, "Just in case they're not inside the Abode, we ought to know their location and make sure we don't miss them no matter what."

Apart from that, it would also serve as a way to check if any of the Abodes survived the destruction. Though, according to the Gods' explanation of how they worked, it shouldn't be the case. Either way, Elegy had a feeling that the Abode has long since fallen out of relevancy for the two Gods. Without his hands, he absolutely needed to keep Sab with him at all times.

"Well, if that be all..." Nerys waved them off, "Guess Oi'll get ta' werk."

"Hey." Elegy nudged Sab as he was returning her farewell in kind, "Shouldn't you be going in for a goodbye kiss?"

Sab hissed, "I told you to stop joking about that!"

"Oops, I might've gone too far..." He looked down, "So a hug, then?"

Poor Elegy got smacked in the face without even having the ability to block it with his hands.