"Grim! Griiiiim!!!" Ed shouted to warn them of the impending danger.

"Hm? Yeah, we're done here!" Lune merely waved back in a carefree manner, "Geez, what's his deal?"

"Amigos, you called for me?" Shaid arrived at the scene, hiding the Books under his shirt.

"Old man wants to say goodbye." Lem gave a dry reply, "Don't take too long. I wanna go home before the end of the day, if possible."

"O-Oh." He stood bewildered, awkwardly shuffling towards Olyahim before the both of them glanced at Lune and Lem, "Ahem."

"What?" Lune raised an Eyebrow.

"You two gonna let us talk in private or what?" Olya groaned.

"Hell no, we don't trust you enough for that." Lem crossed his arms.

"Seriously? Ugh, fine then." Olya begrudgingly began talking to Shaid without a care for these two being present, "In truth, Shaid, that night we shared together made me a better man-"

"Whoa, whoa! S-Sorry, didn't know this was where the conversation was gonna go!" Lune grabbed Lem's hand and hastily gave them some space, "P-Please continue, we'll be over there."

Lune ran from the two bros to give them some privacy, clutching his chest with a bright Red face as he cringed at himself endlessly. Lem kept trying to return and watch over the two of them just in case they were gonna start plotting, but Lune vehemently denied him from doing so.

"You can't! Love is a sacred thing, regardless of gender!" Lune reasoned.

"Ngh, dude, they obviously said that to get you off their case!" Lem tried freeing his wrist from Lem's mighty grasp, "Now let go!"

Alas, the adult proved to be stronger in this moment. Go figure. As the two bickered needlessly over what to do next, however, Shaid and Schnell were busy talking in a semi-dire tone.

"Did you have to go with that lie of all things?" Shaid gave him an annoyed stare, "You know damn well my type is thick women and no one else!"

"They don't know that, though, so quit complaining." Olya glared at the two boys that stood far away from them, "So, did you steal the Books?"

"Got 'em right here, amigo." Shaid pulled them out discreetly.

"Great, so here's what you're gonna write down, then-!"

"Hey! Who said I was gonna write anything for your benefit?" Shaid pulled the Books towards his chest, "Amigo, before I help you, I need you to promise me one thing."

"Shaid, we don't have time-!"

"I will not help you if you use the Books to harm these people." Shaid firmly stood his ground, "With these Books in my possession, I'm pretty sure anything is possible, so it's just as easy to wish that everyone is alive and well. No one needs to die, Olya. Just tell me how to write the prompt correctly and we can make everyone happy."

"...Before us there are two futures, Shaid." Olya heaved a long and heavy sigh before replying, "Either we lose right here or we fight for our happy ending. There ain't a third option, no matter how badly you want it to exist."

"But we can make it exist!" Shaid snapped, "You idiot, I knew you probably weren't the same Olya as back then when you first killed me, but to think you're this far gone...!"

"Bud." Olya explained calmly, "The Books work on everyone but the Gods. They are the exception, meaning we will never live to see a day where we freely roam the lands again."

"What...?"

"Killing these guys will give us time to flee whilst effectively stopping the Gods from getting them to hunt us down." Olya continued, "Even in the best case scenario where we survive this treacherous island, we'll still have to live out the rest of our days in fear of the Gods coming to get us. Still, it's better to fear just the Gods than the entire Grimheart family tree plus their friends."

"..."

"Get it? 'Cause if you do, I suggest you start writing what I tell you to write." The old man continued unapologetically.

"No, I don't get it. Why must we fight, amigo?" Shaid still hoped to shed some light in Olya's soul, "Schnell said it before, I believe. We must unite the world with peace, every step of the way."

"Cheh, you actually wanna befriend these guys?" Olya smirked.

"Not just them, but the Gods as well." He continued, "The Sun God was merely doing his duty, but the other Gods seemed chill, amigo! We can...!"

"Shaid. Bud." Olya threatened him with his Rainbow Iro glare that eventually turned Yellow, "Write down what I say. That Order is Absolute."

Immediately, all of Shaid's free will disappeared from his Eyes as he began writing the words Olya dictated to him. Putting the pen on paper, the moment he made it to the word "kills"...

"Hup, no ya' don't!" The Voices sent the Books flying away from him, prompting Shaid to desperately try and run to pick them back up, "Geez, that was way too close!"

"Huh? Shaid?" Lune and Lem turned around only to notice the frantic man gunning for the Books, "Eh!? When did those get there!?"

Needless to say, it didn't take long for them to corner Shaid just as he reclaimed possession of Fortune and Misfortune. If Shaid just kept standing there, he would've surely gotten the Books taken away from him without even putting up a fight. That's why, while their Focus was still solely on the young friend turned foe, Olya mustered up his strength to lift himself off the harpoon field. Slowly, painfully, he got up and Healed himself with a wry smirk before trudging along to Lune and Lem's backs.

"So?" Lune asked, still facing Shaid, "Now?"

"Now!" Shaid shouted with all his might, prompting the Voices to send the old man, Lem and Lune sky high.

"What the-!?" Olya yelped.

"Off they go..." The Voices looked on from below, "Was my acting up to code?"

"You're a natural, amigos!" Shaid smiled back wryly.

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***

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"Grim!" Ed screamed.

"Dear!" Cecily yelped.

"Dad!" Nelly feared for his life.

"Lune!" Anna and Issei shouted.

This group had finally made it to where Shaid was standing alone, but they just missed these three as they seemingly got launched straight up into the air. Having been left completely in the dark on what had just transpired, their confusion all too quickly turned into a blind rage.

"You backstabbing asshole!" Ed grabbed Shaid by the cuffs and lifted, "What the hell did you do!?"

"Phah, calm down amigo, you don't know your own strength!" Shaid cackled.

"Bastard!" Issei sent the guy flying back with a drop kick, "Lune trusted you!"

"Ack, ugh... Y-You don't get it, do you amigos?" Shaid simply laughed it off, "He still does, that's why they're up there in the first place."

Obviously, repeatedly beating Shaid wouldn't do much to actually help them understand what was going on. Giving Shaid one more chance to redeem himself in their Eyes and clear his name, they let him speak without any interruptions this time.

"Don't you dare leave anything out." Cecily had her knife on standby, "What the hell happened just now?"

"I did!" The Voices made themselves clear, prompting Anna to let out a terrified scream.

"Eep!"

"Recall the plan Lune and I were talking about earlier, amigos." Shaid continued with the explanation, "Since it seems you guys were way too stubborn to trust me with the Books, I had to steal them away myself, you see. Ah, but I did get his permission."

"Dad told you to take the Books?" Nelly remained skeptical, "Wait, no way! Then why did you bring it to Olya!?"

"Guys, shut up for a sec." Anna shivered, "I think I just heard a Voice talk to me."

"Behind you..." The Voices teased her.

"Brrr, I just felt a chill down my spine!" She kept whining.

"Anna, come on." Ed shushed her.

It seemed no matter how desperately she tried to prove the Voices' existence to the others, they were just way too Focused on interrogating Shaid. The Voices enjoyed this, however, so they kept playing harmless scare pranks on her as Shaid explained his and Lune's master plan to them.

"I needed to bring the Books to Olya because I wanted to see if I could convince him to stop all this nonsense." He continued, "Lune agreed with me that I should at the very least try, but alas, Olya seemed to have gone way too far to return to us."

"Right, but that still doesn't explain why they flew off God knows where!" Issei crossed his arms.

"Ah, for that..." Shaid smirked, pointing to Anna of all people.

"Eh, me?" She pointed to herself, dumbfounded.

"No, not auntie Anna." Nelly revealed the Voices' existence to the rest of the party, "The ghosts standing behind her."

"N-Nelly, not funny..." Anna whimpered meekly as she dared to turn around and check over her shoulder.

"Boo!"

"Wahhh~!!! Ed, save me, i-it's a...! It's a ghost! A ghost is...!" She hid behind her husband, "A ghost is haunting me!"

"Ghost!?" The rest of them finally understood she wasn't just making stuff up.

It seems things had finally started making sense for them, but also not at the same time. These Voices, this wind, how is it all being produced? Where does it come from, and for that matter, how did Nelly know about its existence? And if they were to believe Shaid's words, then Lune knew about it too...

"I see you all are rather confused about our existence, so let us clear some things up!" The Voices gently introduced themselves, "Hello all, we are the Sun God's followers manifested as one singular being!"

"...Pardon?" Cecily tilted her head.

"Ouroboras?" Issei was even more shocked.

"You know something about this?" Ed turned to him.

"Indeed, we have been summoned here to help aid in our God's mission to put a stop to Olyahim and his centuries long plotting." They continued, "Lem had introduced us and Lune a while ago, who later referred us to Shaid. The four of us concocted a most dastardly plan to trick Olyahim one last time."

"And you did that by faking a betrayal?" Ed turned to Shaid with a large serving of suspicion.

"Guys, it's alright." Nelly quelled everyone's worries, "I'm acquainted with the Voices too, they came here to help."

"No way..." Ed uttered.

"Olya believes there's no other way but to fight if he wants us to be happy." Shaid explained, "With this, we'll give him all he wants and then some. First a battle, and then an alternate path."

"Right on, right on. But first we had to give him some space to cool off properly." The Voices blew upwards to indicate they were looking skyward at the three fighters, "And what better spot to do that than the open skies!"

"So that's the case. Shaid, you really weren't gonna hurt Lune and Lem..." Anna apologized for distrusting him.

"Oh right, now that you finished that little stunt of yours with the Books, you can give them back now." Ed extended his hand.

"Of course, amigo." Shaid said with a smug grin, "Not like I have a use for them anymore. I did all I was told to with these things."

With that cryptic message having been uttered, Shaid handed the Books to Ed, who immediately gave them to Nelly to check if they were real or not. Thankfully, she gave everyone a thumbs up to indicate Shaid wasn't pulling another trick on them. Well, maybe they were getting a bit too ahead of themselves with that conclusion, 'cause in the very next moment, Shaid had vanished into thin air, leaving behind a colorful burst of confetti in his wake.

"...Voices." Nelly sighed, "This is all part of dad's plan, right?"

"More or less." They chuckled.

It was at this very moment where our heroes most regretted letting Shaid, Lem and Lune get so well acquainted.