The flight across the ocean took longer than Gi had hoped. The Fighting Drakes were strong and full of endurance, but even they had limits.

With nowhere to rest on the ocean between Igna and the main continent, it meant that they had to do some awkward floating on the ocean and that meant Gi had to defend them from monsters below the surface.

The Monster Surge was still in full swing, but that just meant Adolescent monsters were spawning. On land, this was easily dealt with. In the water, there was their own war going on as fierce as any on the surface and ten times more chaotic.

Still with Gi's strength, it didn't require much from him and he was able to gather some additional Soul Orbs. It was also on the flight that Gi finally had some more information on leveling his Attributes.

"Ten Soul Orbs is equivalent to a Body Orb for the purposes of Attributes and it requires a hundred Body Orbs for each level."

Gi did some quick math in his head. "So before, it was a thousand to raise it a full rank and now it's a thousand a level or ten thousand for a full rank?"

"That's right." Rocky had been the most uneasy about flying on the Fighting Drakes. Their flights were less stable than the Toucans, but after a couple days, he'd gotten used to it.

"So I'd have to kill ten thousand demons to get a full rank?"

"Five thousand," Rocky corrected. "The Monster Surge makes everyone worth double and don't forget that Classers are worth ten Soul Orbs or twenty during the Surge."

Gi did some more math. He'd never been a math wizard, but basic math like this had been essential for his old job in tech. "So if I only killed Classers it would take... five hundred?"

Rocky graveled out a hmmm which Gi took as agreement.

"Are there even five hundred Classers in the Demon Empire?"

"I'd be surprised if there wasn't. There wasn't much interaction between Igna and the Demon Empire before now due to the Veil, but my understanding is that it was many times bigger with their entire focus towards war. Their percentage of Classers should be much higher as well as the size of their armies."

Gi frowned as he darted around a low hanging cloud so he didn't get his fur wet. He knew that he had to save the Veridia Empire or the Demons would simply overpower them with numbers, but to hear Rocky's estimation of their Classers was intimidating.

Gi was confident that he could fight a small contingent of non-Elite Classers, but if he was doing that, who would handle the Elites? The various ranks and levels made war very complicated.

He flew back over to Rocky and their flight continued. It took more than the four days that he and Ellen took to cross the ocean, but they were still ahead of the humans from the Thousand Islands.

With time on his hands, Gi had taken to flying both ahead and behind to scout for their group. On their last day, he flew over to the coastline and it was then that he spotted what looked like dots far off to the east, marching along the beach.

He flew back and let both Versha and Rocky know that they were close and that Nori should be expecting them.

Then he flew back north and east.

Even at his max speed, it still took him several hours to approach what was a large group of otters and rhinos. Before he'd even flown all the way down, he heard Poe shouting his name.

"BOSSSSS!"

Gi smiled and landed right at the front of the host of monsters. Tiria was there and she looked in a far better place than when he'd last left her. Chum stood by her side and the two seemed to be together.

Poe had landed on his shoulder, seeming unwilling to leave again now that he was back.

"Look, boss! My family!"

He followed the pointing appendage to Georgia and... some kind of Children that looked like what horrors were made of. They were part dragonfly and part rhino. They had horns across their otherwise insectile head, but their exoskeleton seemed to be covered with slightly flabby thick skin like armor.

"Boss!"

"It's the boss!"

"Yay, Gi!"

They all squealed with joy and swarmed him. Gi had seen some horrific things, but it took every ounce of his willpower to not flinch at the sudden swarm of otherworldly looking monsters. If it wasn't for them having Poe's general demeanor, it would have been much more difficult.

"They're all so... cute," Gi said. "They've got your spirit I can see."

"AND GEORGIA'S BEAUTIFUL COMPLEXION! EEEE!" Poe shouted into his ear.

Georgia shooed their children away from him, but it was an endearing and motherly smile that he wouldn't have expected from the fierce Rhino. "Good to have you back, boss."

"It's good to see everyone again."

"Gi."

His eyes looked for the voice and found Kumo pushing her way to the front. There was clear relief in her eyes, but it didn't completely banish her now harsher features that spoke of hard living and even harder decisions.

It seemed strange to say, but it was Kumo who'd lost the most of her humanity while he'd been gone.

Thankfully, most was not all.

Gi stepped around Georgia and pulled Kumo into a hug. At first, she stiffened, ready to fight or flee, but Gi just kept holding her until he felt her finally relax and return his hug. After a full minute, they stepped back from each other and he could swear there was a shimmer of tears in Kumo's eyes.

"Is it really you?"

"It's really me. If I seem less stupid than usual, it's just because Danna had a good amount of time to set me straight."

She snorted and scratched at the fur near her eye in a way that definitely wasn't trying to hide her burgeoning tears. Then her eyes grew wide. "I'm not the only one who's excited you're back! Sanya!" Kumo called out, looking back into the wave of otters who were all trying to get a look at Gi.

Gi had been terrible with names when he'd last been here so he honestly didn't remember anyone named Sanya. His confusion only lasted until he saw her finally part through the crowd and he saw the burden she carried.

"Wane," Gi whispered. He'd known that Kumo had been taking care of the remnant of the Twins, but Danna's visions of light didn't do his situation justice.

Wane's body was emaciated. His muscles had shriveled away and his fur was patchy and balding, revealing loose skin beneath. A body with only half a soul wasn't meant for life and with Gi's enhanced Soul Senses, he could feel the life being drained from him.

Kumo was so excited though. "Wane! Guess who's finally here! It's the boss! He's back! Just like you felt!"

Wane didn't respond in any way, but that didn't stop Kumo from turning to him to explain.

"Ever since... the battle, Wane has been in constant pain, but when you came back, we all felt it and Wane smiled for the first time. He's so happy to have you back. Isn't that right, Wane?"

She knelt at Sanya's feet so she could gently rub the fur on Wane's head. He still didn't respond.

To see the fierce Kumo taking care of Wane so sincerely broke his heart. In some ways, she was the most independent and the most rebellious, but strangely like Poe, her connection with her family was deep and vast.

Her decision to leave had only made Samba angry, but for her, it had been heartbreaking choice.

Crying had come easier for Gi since he'd finally had his conversation with Danna and this was one of those moments that would have easily burst into tears, but he didn't return empty handed.

[Danna's Realm] split open, revealing the scene of Danna's heaven obscured by all the weapons and supplies that they'd brought with them from Igna. Gi stepped inside and brought out a small pendant.

A cloudy white opal was embedded into the silver pendant that hung upon a fine matching chain. The surface of the opal looked like a fractured rainbow as seen through clouds and it thrummed with divine power.

The divinity that drifted out of [Danna's Realm] lay across them and each of them fell to silence. Gi slowed down, realizing that this would be a special moment for Kumo and the others who'd taken care of Wane through a war of shadow.

"While I was dead, I met with a number of gods. One of those had pilfered the heavens of dozens of gods from a dying pantheon. This pendant is named Underworld's Spring after one of the rulers of that Underworld."

Gi flexed his Aether pushing his passive [Unstoppable Nobility] to let his liquid light pool at his feet. Like in his fight with the King, the Stream of the Goddess aspect activated and a song drifted into the aura nearby.

Its sweeping somber notes sounded like a steel drum played with a soft mallet, allowing each note to truly sing. Gi took the two steps to reach Wane's lifeless form.

"This pendant was first enchanted to allow soul mates to stay connected across any distance. Their souls entangled in such a way that nothing not even death could keep them apart. For a being that possesses a Twin Soul, however..."

Gi looped Underworld's Spring around Wane's neck. The pendant had barely settled on his chest when he gasped his eyes shooting open. He frantically looked around at the gathered crowd, but ultimately it was Kumo he sought out.

"I- I feel him. He's here. Wax is with me. He's still with me."

Wane could barely move, but Kumo grabbed him into a hug, pulling him from Sanya's arms. She wasn't the only one that had grown attached to Wane during his coma. Sanya wrapped her arms around both of them while more otters came forward to look.

"He's alive..."

"The Progenitor brought him back from the dead..."

"And that aura, is he...?"

Gi ignored the whispers of his clan and instead smiled, basking in the unbridled joy of both Kumo and Wane. With the state of Wane's body, he seemed barely able to fully form the thoughts needed and it was Kumo who finally broke their hug to look back to Gi.

"How?"

"They were two bodies with a single Soul. When Wax died, their Soul was ripped in half. Wax crossed the veil while Wane stayed here. I'm told it's a painful state to be in and the fact that Wane survived this long is a testament to their strength.

"This pendant forms a bridge of sorts between two souls, or in this case, two halves of a soul and connects them - even across the veil. As long as he holds that pendant, he and Wax will be together."

After his description, Wane lifted the pendant with trembling fingers and squeezed it into a fist. A small meow sounded from further back and Killer, the twin's cat, bounded over to Wane.

"Y-you can feel him too," Wane said, blubbering as he tried to hold Killer in a tight hug, but his arms were just too weak. Killer squirreled out of them continuing to rub across Wane's face over and over. "Thank you. Thank you."

The tears that Kumo had been barely holding back before now poured uninhibited down her cheeks. Poe and Georgia barely needed any reason to cry and the two of them joined in as well. Kumo let Sanya help keep Wane supported and then on her knees bowed so low that her forehead touched the sand.

"I will follow you until my bones are ground to dust. When I die and my soul crosses the veil, I will find you there so that I may serve you anew."

Gi blinked, not expecting such a strong reaction. He started to tell her to get up when all the other otters present followed suit with her, pressing their foreheads against the sands of the beach.

It made him uncomfortable to be worshipped like this, but before he could tell them to stop, a small pulse from [Divine Spouse] stopped him.

He translated it as "let them have this."

So he did.

He wasn't a god, not like Danna was, but running from human city to human city being hunted by a demon that could functionally see the future had worn on them and the many lives of the humans they'd reaped wore heavy upon their shoulders. If they needed something higher to look to at this moment, he'd do as Danna said.

So he remained silent and let them do what they needed.

Tiria stepped over with Chum, both of them a little wide eyed. "You healed him..."

There was awe in Tiria's words similar to that which he saw in Kumo and her followers, but the subtext was different for her. For her, Gi could tell she was thinking that maybe, just maybe, the horrible cost she'd payed had been worth it.

Clearly, Kumo wasn't the only one who needed this.

Gi gave her a somber smile. "I'm just glad I can help this time around..."