And gently tapped her shoulder.

“Um, excuse me.”

It was at this moment that Lucia was thrown into the astral space with Radingo.

There were two main ways one could initiate a fallout. One was by stepping on a mine. The other method was to initiate contact and decide on battle.

In front of the women who held her sword in panic, Radingo was on his knees, head pressed to the tatami mat.

“Miss Ro! We’re just here to collect something, sorry for borrowing you!”

Was this even a legal strategy?

“We won’t do anything to you so please don’t call your entire fleet?” Radingo pleaded again.

The woman named Ro heaved a sigh and stowed away her weapon. Putting two arms to her hips she asked.

“Collect what?”

“We need to collect resources from the garden outside the temple.”

“Fine.”

“...”

“...”

The door to the tea house was closed.

How diverse the interactions in the mortal sea could be.

“Please help us!”

“Ugh, fine! Don’t interrupt me after this.”

“Thank you!”

Lucia was thrown back into the real world.

Radingo fell on the woman.

“Get off!”

“S-Sorry.”

“Who is he?”

“Has spring come for Rosaline?”

The clients laugh.

“Don’t misunderstand,” she quipped in frustration.

“Oh, we won't.”

“What happened?”

Ain who didn’t enter the fallout was perplexed.

Another fallout was initiated when Radingo brought Ain and Rosaline outside.

In the astral space there were iridescent crystals that grew in between the petals of the flower. This was the ‘resource’ they were tasked to collect.

While Radingo and Ain collected these crystals, Lucia talked with Miss Ro, or Rosaline.

She was apparently not keen on participating in this whole angel-demon war. She said that it didn’t matter if she died, her life would go on anyways since she would only lose her memories.

Lucia was bewildered by her reasoning. Xe had been taught that a mortalborn’s death meant more than merely losing one's memories– so which was the truth?

Xe didn’t want to make her question her philosophy so xe merely agreed.

Once they had collected all that they needed, the fallout was reversed. Radingo and Ain thanked the woman, and as compensation, Radingo passed her some money as a bribe.

“Now for the descent.”

“Look at the sky, we’re toast.”

Black clouds; howling winds. The two demons sulked at the suffering they would have to go through once again.

“We better go before a storm hits.”

“Lucia, in the cabin please. Nothing interesting about seeing two grown men weeping their way to the ground.”

Saying nothing more, Lucia disappeared and dove into the comfort of the pineapple bed.

This trip had been an unusual learning experience.

===

The demon association.

It was located at a bustling alameda of City Clove, at Zone 9. Shopping establishments on both sides, a pedestrian-only avenue with snowy plants and bare trees planted along the plots.

Lucia observed everything with a curious eye.

People here wore varying styles of clothes, most of which were unfamiliar to hir. Buildings were simple, geometric, yet had this comforting precision at a glance. Street utilities like lamps, benches, and multicoloured bins which Lucia had never really paid attention to until now stuck out like sore thumbs. Each aspect weaved together to create this gestalt of a conducive environment.

This was also the first time xe had seen so many demons among the unsuspecting humans. The size and colour of their crowns varied, Lucia realized how the size reflected a demon’s age.

There were also other pureborn like hir. Though they were few and far between. Those that noticed hir gave a stern salute, which Lucia thought was part of the sea travelers’ tradition. Xe tried to mimic them, making hirself look amateurish as a result.

Radingo and Ain confirmed the AR sign before concluding that they were at the right place.

The demon association.

Located at the upper floors of the block, separate from the normal stores, inaccessible to the normal public.

An arcade, a card shop, a gaming club, a gambling den, a bar.

It was all combined into one.

The floors were separated by sections. With the exception of the calm card shop stop, the rest of the quarters were flooded with the messy colours of glitzy neon lighting. It created this unique dissonance Lucia couldn't quite put hirs finger on.

Demons wearing scanty clothes serving up alcohol. Demons blowing smoke from electronic cigarettes. And even demons that went bang, bang, bang in a full body suit which were part of the full dive virtual reality experience. Not that Lucia understood why the demon looked so hysterical. Xe thought it was some sort of torture device.

“Looking swell there Radingo? Who’s that young pureborn of a lad? And how about you? First time seeing you here sonny.”

An elf wearing a business suit bumped Radingo in the chest with a sunshine grin.

“Yo. This yellow chick here is Ain. The elf is Lucia.”

“I’m Ain. I’m not a yellow chick.”

“Lucia of Hades. Nice to meet you?”

“Nice to meet you Ain, Lucia. You two can call me Nezlle. So, what’s a pureborn of Hades doing here?”

“Ain, could you bring this to get our reward? I’ll be handling the report for Lucia. Meet you later,” Radingo passed something like small beads to Ain.

“Got it.”

Ain parted from them and went to the appraisal counter.

“Xe got separated from hirs father. Previous vessel went down and by some chance xe managed to climb onto another vessel. Right Lucia?”

Lucia nodded.

As they provided a more detailed account of what happened, Nezlle guided them to the registery for lost demons.

Elk.

Carlos of Hades.

The staff began to search the ether network database for information regarding the two.

“Looks like you’ve had a hard time.”

Lucia merely shook hirs head.

“What’s gone is gone.”

“Want some alcohol to wash away that sorrow?”

“Hey Nez, you expect someone like hir to drink alcohol?”

“I do.”

“What? Really?”

“Hahahaha, It’s on me.”

“I don’t normally drink?”

Lucia lied. Xe just didn’t feel comfortable drinking in this sort of environment.

“Come on, don’t be like that. Oi waiter. 2 cans.”

After some processing with the clerk, a contract was put up to acquire information regarding the missing pureborn from an angel team with a unique 5 submarine composition.

And as for Lucia, xe would be sent back to Hades.

It’ll be a week at the least until the next gate appears, so xe’ll be staying with Radingo until then.

===

“Huh? You mean he went missing?”

It was when Radingo had returned to his apartment with Lucia that he received a call from Nezlle.

[“Yeah. His name was found in the angel’s detention center but for some reason when I asked about it, they said he had gone with an angel.”]

“Is he safe?”

[“We’re not sure.”]

Radingo rubbed his knuckles against his temples. An angel took Radingo? What’s going on exactly?

“Then is there any information about the person who..”

Alas there wasn’t anything significant xe knew that could be used as a trace. He ended the call with Nezlle after being told that the demons will continue with investigations.

Randingo turned to Lucia who was gazing out the window.

“You heard that didn’t you?”

“At least now we know he’s alive,” Lucia said in a calm voice, belying the worry in hirs heart.

“Right. He’s safe.. he must be..”

Radingo mulled, pulled up his messaging application which had hundreds of unread messages left unattended. With a heavy sigh, he resolved himself to quickly sort through the mess. Part of him just wanted to distract himself from his feelings.

“What.. no way this..?”

As a demon with plenty of connections, the number of people vying for his attention can sometimes be hard to manage. He realized that he had overlooked a message that Avner sent earlier in the evening.

And the message contained the name of the fleet that captured Carlos.

===

dotturndot: Bet you didn’t see that coming did chya? Huh? Which one I’m I referring to? The fact that Avner is still leading the search of course! No, not that? Oh, guardian spirit? Who is ‘she’ you ask? Well.. who the hell knows. You gotta read to find out– my role here is just to wiggling spoilers in your face!