Io's flying van touched down silently on a side street wrapped in massive pine-fern trees, a few blocks from the Nova mansion. The last rays of sunset had faded, leaving the city bathed in the ethereal glow of buildings covered in bioluminescent fungai.

We bid the Mothman adeau and began our walk up to the Nova residence.

The Victorian Gothic estate stood in front of us behind lavish gates featuring winged Omnids holding up the archway entrance.

Cinder tapped a card on the intercom and the gate unlocked, letting us in.

We walked up the winding path to the mansion's entrance, gravel crunching beneath our feet. The garden was immaculately maintained, featuring more Mystic trees. Luminous blue bell flowers which Yulia tagged as "Starfall Snowdrops from Novazem" cast soft, ethereal light across manicured, magic-heated and watered lawns.

"Relax, Ci," I whispered to Cinder as we approached the imposing front door. "Let me do most of the talking. And try to look less like you're walking to your execution."

"Easy for you to say," she muttered, her wings and tail shifting through anxious grays and violets. "You're not the one who has to explain bringing home a total d..." She trailed off as the massive oak door swung open.

A Quetzalcoatl woman stood in the doorway, silver-white-pink-green feathers gleaming in the warm light spilling from inside. Unlike Cinder's sharp, angular features, Lady Nova's face was soft and motherly, with kind eyes that crinkled at the corners as she smiled. She was shorter and curvier than Cinder, her appearance motherly to the 10th degree. She was wearing a white dress, white leggings and a white fluffy See-Mass sweater with blue and white Aztec patterns.

"Welcome home, starshine!" She beamed at Cinder. Cinder replied with a half grunt.

"And you must be Alexander!" Lady Nova's warm smile turned to me. "We've heard such wonderful things about you from Father Matthias! Please, come in, come in!"

I bowed slightly, the perfect picture of a polite young novitiate. "Thank you for having me, Lady Nova. Your home is beautiful."

"Oh, please, call me Anitta," she insisted, ushering us inside. "Cassie never brings friends home anymore, especially not such polite young men!"

"Mom," Cinder groaned. "I told you not call me that."

"Call you what, starshine?" Anitta blinked. "Your father and Lance should be down in the dining hall soon."

"Oh, let me take your coat and bag, dear," Anitta offered.

"Thank you, ma'am," I replied politely, shrugging off my winter jacket to reveal the pressed Nazarite robes underneath. "My apologies if the bag is a bit heavy - just some choir music sheets and school books I'm reviewing, plus camera equipment."

"Such a dedicated young man," Anitta beamed, grabbing the large camping bag like it weighted nothing. "Cassie, why don't you show Alexander to the guest washroom so he can freshen up before dinner?"

I followed Cinder down a hallway lined with family photos, noting how her image became progressively darker and more rebellious in newer pictures. The transformation from bright, colorful girl to her current 'I hate you all' goth aesthetic was quite stark.

"Your mom seems nice," I commented.

"She's... yeah," Cinder sighed. "Too nice sometimes. It's annoying. Never listens to me."

The guest bathroom was as luxurious as expected, with marble countertops and gold fixtures. I quickly checked my appearance in the mirror making sure that my goodest-boy NPC mask sat on right.

When I emerged from the bathroom, the sound of voices drifted from the dining room, Cinder waiting for me in the hall looking incredibly tense.

The dining room was exactly what I expected from a high-ranking Omnithean official's home - all dark wood paneling and crystal chandeliers, with a massive table that could easily seat twenty. Currently, only six places were set.

Justice Nova stood as we entered. He was tall and imposing in his formal black uniform, his gray scales gleaming in the chandelier light. His orange eyes fixed on me with laser-like intensity. He was a taller, bulkier, gruffier, sharper and more dangerous-looking version of Lance, bald head gleaming.

"Good evening, sir," I bowed respectfully to Justice Nova. "Thank you for allowing me to join your family for dinner. I'm Alexander Glock."

"Hmm," Justice Nova's eyes narrowed slightly as he studied me. "The choir manager Father Matthias mentioned. You were at the Spring's End Festival incident, volunteering at the local soup kitchen, yes?"

"Yes, sir," I replied. "Though my contribution to the festival and cleanup was rather small. Your daughter was far more heroic that day."

"That's not what I heard," Nathaniel Nova's gaze struck his daughter, making Cinder scowl back. "It is my understanding that Cassiopea was the one to summon the flesh-tree through the gate to begin with."

"Hey Alex," Lance waved to me.

I waved back to Cinder's brother and turned back to my real target.

"I believe there may be some misunderstanding," I interjected smoothly, my voice deep and calm. "When the flesh-tree emerged, I witnessed Cassiopeia actively fighting to protect others. She helped me evacuate several younger students to safety behind the soup kitchen's steel door. As for the summoning, Cassie was forced into doing such dangerous things by Emerald Stratos with wyrm-command Charisma voice skill which bends the listener into total obedience."

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Justice Nova's orange eyes narrowed further. "Is that so?"

"Yes, sir," I maintained steady eye contact. "In fact, that's partly why I was so pleased to run into her again at the cathedral. Her actions that day showed real character. Of course you need not listen to me, here is a video taken by the landlord's cam."

I pulled out my phone, displaying a somewhat blurry AI-animated frame of Cinder pulling horrified-looking Omnid kids through the door as red tentacles flashed overhead, obliterating bricks into flying shrapnel. Her wings were spread over the children and her face fiercely protective.

Cinder choked beside me.

"She did not see herself as a hero," I said. "And didn't want you to see this footage because she was indeed the the who participated in the show which cascaded into most unfortunate events after."

"That's quite impressive footage," Justice Nova commented, studying the video intently. "Why haven't I seen this before?"

"The landlord didn't wish to release the footage," I explained smoothly. "It took some convincing, so I only recently managed to recover this pixelated recording while organizing the cathedral's disaster response records. I thought it important to document acts of heroism alongside the tragedies."

Lady Nova beamed at her daughter. "Oh starshine, why didn't you tell us about this?"

Cinder's wings shifted through uncertain orange-violets. "I... um..."

"Cinder regrets her participation in the festival," I said. "It may please you to know that the troupe responsible for that disaster has been disbanded as of today."

"Disbanded?" Justice Nova asked with a look of surprise. "Really? The Dreadful Delvers are no more?"

"Yes, sir," I nodded solemnly. "After today's... incident at school, Cinder made the mature decision to leave the group. She demonstrated remarkable judgment, especially in protecting me while I saved her friend's life this evening."

"Oh, yes. I heard about that terrible incident at school today from Lance," Lady Nova's feathers shifted through concerned blues. "Were you hurt, dear?"

"Not at all," I said. "In truth, the entity badly hurt every single Omnid who tried to oppose it. The Dreadful Delvers Captain Emerald Stratos died when her artifacts and armor failed catastrophically. Solace Exill was impaled by her own battle-axe. Vespera Simmi suffered severe electrical burns and a broken nose. Even Vice Principal Graves was knocked out. Iogann Wanderer was left paralyzed and left deprived of mana. I was the only one left standing on stage, with your daughter behind me."

"And yet you survived? How?!" Justice Nova demanded.

"The only reason why the entity didn't attack me like the others was because it didn't see me as a threat. As you might have noticed, I'm a Skyfall's academy only half-blood student," I waved a hand at my human face. "Slayer Nazareth taught us that we must wield the sword with wisdom, not merely our strength. It was through humility and careful negotiation that I managed to save the life of Emerald Stratos and convince the entity to depart."

"You... saved Emerald and my sister?!" Lance breathed out, his eyes wide.

I kicked Cinder under the table to back me up.

Cinder jumped slightly at my kick but quickly caught on. "Y-yes," she said, her wings shifting through soft silver-blues sprinkled with patches of pink. "Alex talked that thing down when everyone else was injured or incapacitated. He even managed to get Emerald's Lazarus bracelet back before the gate closed. Without his actions Em would be permanently dead."

"Curious," Justice Nova leaned forward slightly. "And what exactly was this entity?"

"It called itself a Corpseworld Caretaker," I explained. "I would quantify it as a Paradox-Proxima on the Eugenii Livirii Scale. Impossible to stop, can rewrite reality on a whim, but cooperative when spoken to."

Cinder's family stared at me.

"Here are a few select frame of the footage I've taken," I said playing the video of Cinder wrapping me with her wings standing against the impossible infinite-armed, infinite-violet-eyed thing. "If you wish to see the entire event, I can email it to you. Vespera Simmi invited me to the show as a videographer, so I recorded the entire thing and was able to get on stage just in time to help."

Cinder's mother let out a squeak as she stared at the video of Cinder and me facing Zee Captain. She covered her snout, feathers turning horrified orange-pink-gray-black.

Justice Nova studied the footage along with his wife, his gray skin paling at the view of Zee Captain on camera. "Truly remarkable documentation. Your camera work is... professional."

"Thank you, sir," I replied modestly. "The cathedral has been very supportive of my work. It helps document our charitable work and community outreach."

"You saved... EVERYONE?!" Lance choked from his seat. "Slayer! Alex! I didn't know! I only heard that things went bad for the performers, but..."

"The entity fried the ward without even touching it," I pulled the cracked, dim runestone from my pocket and handed it to Lance. "The defence keystone you gave me shattered."

Lance turned the dead runestone over in his gray hands, eyes wide with disbelief. "This is... impossible. These keystones are rated to withstand..."

"Everything except a being that can rewrite reality with a glance," I finished. "The entity walked through our strongest wards like they didn't exist. But more importantly, it taught us all a valuable lesson about humility and the dangers of reckless gate-opening."

I booted Cinder again.

"Yes," she let out with a small shudder, her wings shifting through depressed somber grays, sparks of tears forming at the edges of her eyes. "After seeing what happened to Em and the others... I realized how dangerous and stupid we'd been. That's why I quit the troupe."

"A wise decision," Justice Nova nodded approvingly. "Perhaps this incident will finally teach you the importance of proper procedure and respect for authority."

Cinder's eye twitched. I pinched her under the table.

"Yes," she managed through gritted teeth.

I looked at Lance pointedly. The teenage Dover Demon was staring at the runestone in his hand in pure shock.

Then noticing my gaze, he leapt up from his seat. "Thank you! Thank you so much for saving my sister and her friends! I can't believe you managed to negotiate with something that alien!"

"Yes! Thank you so much, dear!" Anitta Nova added, her feathers shifting through grateful pinks and warm golds. She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. "Not many would have the courage to approach such a dangerous entity. You truly embody the teachings of Slayer Nazareth - wisdom and planning over a brute head-on attack."

I bowed my head modestly. "I'm just grateful I could help, ma'am."

Justice Nova's gaze pinned me even harder. "Tell me more about this negotiation."

I took a careful breath. "Unlike the others, I had no weapons to attack it with, so I simply listened to it's words and understood what it wanted."

"What did it want?" Lance asked.

"The Corpseworld Caretaker seemed more interested in narrative than violence. When I approached it with respect and humility, it responded in kind. It wanted to hear something that would... inspire it, I suppose."

"So what did you tell it?" Justice Nova asked.