What haunts me to this day was his agonising screams. Zen was completely engulfed in blue flames thanks to that bastard Horrus who decided to do a suicide run at him. "Burn in hellfire with me" was what he said to Zen.

Everything was moving slowly as though only a few milliseconds had passed. There is no way I am sitting back and watch him burn. Instinctively, I moved my gauntlets to summon some sort of frozen lightning crystal in hopes of preventing Zen from burning to cinders. Perhaps it was my extreme desire to save him or maybe Prifrolid had awoke from his slumber that my gauntlets finally responded to me.

SHHIING!

I— I actually did it. I managed to freeze Zen who now appeared to be suspended in time. But the blue flames were still burning despite being covered in ice. But at the very least, Zen is no longer screaming in pain and it would seemed that the flame no longer causing him any harm. For how long though? The flames are melting my frost and I can only do so much to continuously summon more until the blue flame dissipates.

But what then? With the severe injuries that Zen has, he will succumb to his injuries the moment my ice thaws. We don't have anything with us that can save him from the injuries he sustained. I— no longer have the Water of Life to resurrect him again. What else do we have that can help him?! Hang on, I remember Rose talking about a healing spell. She need to heal him. This is our only hope of saving him.

"Rose! You need to heal him with that healing spell you were talking about. That is the only way we can save him!" I shouted at her as I maintained the frost.

"I— can't. I don't know how to make it work. I don't have faith to use that spell. I was chanting blanks when I tried before. Y— you have that miracle healing thing that you used to resurrect him before. You have to use it again, Lily!" she started panicking.

"Rose— I no longer have it. Every female elf is only entitled to one and I've already used it on him. We don't have any other option except that spell. Believe me, I would had gladly used it again if I have it with me but I don't. You must figure out a way to heal him. You must, Rose. You are the only one who can save him. I can only do so much in maintaining the frost on him," I explained to her.

"W— what? No no no— this isn't some simple spell. It need requirements. There is only so much I can do. H— how? I can't just gained faith out of nowhere. It says here that in order to use a healing spell, you need a seal, faith and chant the following words. But I've already chanted the words and nothing happens. I've deciphered the words I am certain it is correct. The only missing is faith. Without that, nothing happens— nothing happens!" she was mumbled and shouting to herself while holding the book.

"Rose— I can only hold the ice for a few more minutes. The blue flames have dissipated but Zen might only have seconds before he succumbs to his injuries after the frost thaws. Unless there is a resurrection spell in there, I suggest you make full use of this precious few minutes to figure things out," I warned her.

"No no— wh.. how? What is faith? Where do one obtain faith? Believing in God? Believing in someone? How does one gain 'faith'? The Goddess of Divinity? The church? I am so confused right now!" she shouted as she held her head.

I wished I can help her but there is nothing I can do. Rose have to figure things out on her own while my hands are tied in maintaining what little frost is left on Zen. I am gritting my teeth to extend even a millisecond to keep Zen alive. But I don't have much strength left. Can I hold for about a minute longer? I am losing the grip of my powers.

"R— Rose.. I don't think I can hold much longer. The frost are going to thaw soon," I warned her one last time.

"No! No no no— faith faith, faith! Faith in who? Moi? Can you help him?" Rose was losing it. I can see that she was panicking beyond help at trying to solve the faith issue. I guess we will have to say our goodbyes to Zen for real this time.

"Wait a minute!" she shouted out of the blue and started praying as she kneeled down. What is she trying to do? To whom is she praying to that can help us out in this situation? Did she figure out the key in obtaining faith?

Her eyes opened with conviction as though whoever she was praying to had responded to her prayers. She placed both hands on Zen who only had a few thin layers of frost left on his body; any second now and he will be thawed for good and awake to his agony. Rose chanted the healing spell with accuracy, not once did she stumbled on the foreign words that she had memorised. She repeated the spell a few times, not losing hope in casting the spell.

It was perhaps on third time she chanted that golden lights started forming around her hands. Not once did she let up and she continued chanting the spell on Zen's wounds until the heavily burnt skins on Zen started disappearing. His skins were self regenerating, forming bonds together to heal whatever wounds that he had before. But the healing spell only affected a small area; Rose had to move her hands to heal every part of his body. The longest to heal was his stomach wound where Horrus had stabbed him with a sneak attack. I hope her spell heals internal wounds as well, otherwise Zen would be out of blood by now. It's incredible how he was still fighting despite sustaining the wound he already had.

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It took some time but Rose had performed a miracle; she had completely changed what was thought to be impossible in this world. She had successfully casted a healing spell; and she saved her husband with it.

Zen suddenly sat up and started coughing blood when he realised both of us were sitting next to him. We were crying tears of joy when we realised that we had actually saved him from certain death. Uncontrollable feelings washed over me. We actually did it.

"Rose— Lily. Don't cry. I love both of you and Daisy. I will watch over both of you from above," he said as he laid back on the ground pretending that he was dying.

"Y— you're *hick not dying," stuttered Rose.

"Y— you're f—*hick ine, damn it" I stuttered myself.

"I don't understand what you two are trying to say. But what I'm confused is, why do I feel great? Wait, why am I not burnt to cinders? What's going on? I can see clearly with my left eye now," he questioned himself as he stood up and checked his body.

"Y— you.. you're— UWAH!" Rose leapt onto Zen's arms as she continued sobbing. I did the same too. I am certain our feelings were completely distraughted from what had just happened. It was the most significant couple of minutes of our life and we actually did it. We pulled it off and saved him. Zen lived due to a miracle.

***

"Allow me to heal you," said Rose as she raised both of her hands and started to heal Lily's wounds. She slotted the seal into middle finger and it was dangling side to side as golden lights started shining from her palms. The sun had risen now and upon checking my pocket watch, it was about 8 in the morning.

My wife had successfully figured out on how to use healing magic in this world. She is going to be even more famous than she already is, isn't she? Will she be using it for good though? Or will she keep it a secret?

I inspected my body once again as it felt unreal. Everything was indeed healed now. Even the wound on my stomach was healed with no evidence that it was ever pierced, aside from the holes on my cloak and armour. How did she managed to figure it out though? I'm am certainly curious about it.

"Rose, how did you discover faith? What did you do?" I asked her with a serious look.

"I— prayed to the Imperatrix and she responded to me," she smiled.

"T— the Imperatrix? The one that the church worships? But why? Why her?" I questioned her worriedly.

"Zen— she is the God of mortals. She is the one that oversees humanity as a whole. She was kind enough to respond to me even though there are millions of humans out there. She's not who the church made her out to be," she explained.

Rose finished healing Lily's burnt wounds and injuries. She looked exhausted but she still had her own injuries to tend to. I can only stay by her side as she muster her remaining strength to heal her wounds.

"Which is why— I am going to do something about it. Zen, I am not asking for approval, but I am going to start a small gathering within the confines of the Light Guild. Ones that worship and prays to her for guidance and grace. I need to return the favour that she had granted me. The life of my husband in exchange for spreading her name is a small price to pay. Forgive me, Zen. I know you don't fancy religion but without the Imperatrix granting me her faith, I wouldn't be talking to you now," she continued.

"Are you planning to help people with your healing spells?" I asked.

"I will. But probably only selected ones. I don't think I can heal diseases or old age. Only fresh wounds and injuries. I should make full use of my reputation to help people under her name. Not under the influence of churches or politics. I am going to do it my way," she assured me.

"Then I'll support your every decision. Who am I to deny my wife when she wishes to do something good. Just— don't neglect Daisy, alright? She is still our daughter first and foremost," I reminded her.

"Of course, Zen. Family still comes first. It won't be a daily thing, I promise," she hugged me.

A sudden loud booming sound could be heard against the gate of the den. Oh no, please don't tell me there are other things we need to fight. I am so not in the mood to be fighting anymore.

The gate broke apart after a couple of more hits and we braced ourselves for the inevitable. Is a purple baldy with a golden glove going to show us our place? As a matter of fact, a baldy did appeared but he was not purple. It was Peter and he brought along reinforcements. We can finally rest now that backup had arrived.

I stood up and a small clink could be heard at my feet. Huh? What's that? A golden necklace? I don't remember having this with me. Why does this looked so familiar? I just kept it safe in one of my pockets so that I can ask Rose about it later.

Peter came rushing towards us after he realised there was barely any enemies inside the den. How convenient of them to arrive after we had resolved everything.

"Let's tend to your wounds," he said after noticing our burnt and bloody clothes.

"It's alright. We're no longer injured," Rose explained to him.

"Nonsense, with your bloody and burnt clothes, there's bound to be injuries. There's nothing to be shy. C'mon," he ushered medics to approach us.

"No really. See, no wounds," she lifted the clothes from her side to show that her she indeed had no wounds. My goodness Rose, have a little bit of shame. So casually showing your skin to people that you are not even close with. Even Lily was taken aback by her boldness.

"Ahem, run me through what happened. How is it possible for you three to sustain no injuries when your equipment says otherwise," he asked us.

"Before that, don't kill any of those sentient beasts. They were once humans—," I trailed off as I suddenly blanked out and fell to the ground. The last thing I recall before falling unconscious was both Rose and Lily calling my name and reaching out for me.

***

"Hey there, handsome. Glad to see you back in the land of the living," someone whispered into my ear.

I opened my eyes. Where— am I? In my vision, there was a familiar looking beauty who was sitting sideways. Am I resting on her lap? What kind of horny dream am I having right now?

"M— Moi? Is that you?" I asked the beauty.

"Yup. What's wrong? Don't recognise me anymore?" she smiled warmly.

"Well— you looked completely different from the last time we spoke. More matured looking from what you looked like. Reminded me of what I saw when you walked by the mirror at your house," I explained.

"Are you ogling at me? I am single but I doubt we can make things work. I can assure you that I am still the same little girl in my physical form. It's just my spiritual form that had gotten stronger now," she chuckled.

"Uh— no thanks, two is more than enough for me. I don't wish for World War 3 to happen," I assured her.

"Hehe, I'm just glad that you're safe. I'll admit, I didn't have high hopes that you might make it out alive," she smiled once again.

"So even you can't exactly see the future? I thought you knew what was going to happen. Where is Kirin and Byakko anyway? How strange that I don't see them when this is their domain," I asked.

"Them? They are having a discussion on how they are going to work with you in the future. You can expect them to discuss with you after you had recovered properly. As for your question, the future is never certain, Zen. It is always cloudy and uncertain. I can only predict the future but never be certain of it," she chuckled giddily.

"Moi, can you answer me this? Are you a God? Did you made me your Champion without me knowing? What happened that caused you to have such drastic change to your spiritual form?" I asked politely.

"Hmm— you will know in due time, Zen. But you are not my Champion. Let's just say that something unexpected happened which led to my growth in the right path," she stroke my hair and gave me a peck on my forehead.

What is this that I am feeling? Why does it feel like a mother nursing me? I feel so warm and loved by her embrace. Why the hell am I feeling this way when Moi is just a little girl in reality? Better yet, I still don't know what's her true identity.

"Thank you, Zen. Because of you, I can start my journey on the right path now. Don't worry, this is not goodbye. We will cross path again in the future. I will be looking forward to that day. In the meantime, get some rest," she smiled as my vision began to fade, all the while stroking my hair until everything had faded completely white.