And the one above them all
"My back… my joints… Nothing hurts anymore…?"
The old man muttered, moving his limbs as if testing whether they actually worked or not, and as it turned out, they did better than he remembered…!
"AAAAACK! GAAAAH! HIIIIH! UWAAGH!?"
"...?"
There was one person taking everyone's attention, though—a brown-haired man in his late twenties—the same one who got kicked to the side by Adrianna at the beginning of the encounter. He was peeking from behind a cover of one of the Teleportation Array's pillars, and each scream he let out was in response to something different.
The first one was about the intact corpses of the fallen knights, both the ones betrayed and the traitors. The second one was at the sight of the ambassador getting up, the fourth one was at the sight of the stain of soot in the spot where the demonkin named Scientia stood where the champion of the goddess captured it, and the last one was at the sight of the towering figure of Zane, whose monstrous form was already reaching at least twelve feet as it was reaching over to grab him.
"!!!"
But as if guided by some higher sense, the panicking man wandering eyes ended up finding and locking in on the lone gold-haired girl about to walk away.
As he saw her, his entire body shivered and he dropped to his knees and then immediately slammed his forehead against the ground.
"PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I…! I WAS TEMPTED BY THE DEMON!"
"...!"
The man howled, sobbing so much as if he was trying to show that he's about to drown in his own tears, making others stare at him in disbelief.
Even Melinda stopped and turned around, raising her brows in surprise, noticing that the man was talking directly to her.
"...I don't believe it is me who you should be asking for forgiveness though…?"
The gold-haired girl pointed out, tilting her head with an awkward expression.
"P-please…! N-neither the Cardinals nor the Saintess are capable of bringing forth a fraction of your holy power… A-aren't you… a… a… an… an avatar of the goddess Perseverance…?"
"!!!"
The man cried out, trembling violently as his voice changed into a barely understandable whimper, that still was enough for all the others to stare at Melinda as if struck by sudden realization.
"Pffft…! I am no one's avatar."
In response, the gold-haired girl snorted, shaking her head before declaring and walking over to Zane and Rose supporting her personal maid.
"Uh-oh. We might want to get out of here, since it's safe, the whole city will gather here to check what the hell happened."
Rose was staring at approaching Melinda but was able to shake his head and point out while the girl was reaching out to Adrianna.
"Good point, take us away.'
Zane nodded, already back to his default form, protectively stepping to Melinda's side.
"Could you take us to the old capital city? I want to meet Lord Sigurd."
Melinda spoke up without looking at the two of them, focused on checking on the weakened Adrianna who despite looking perfectly healthy could not muster any strength and was shaking at even attempting to speak.
"..."
Rose and Zane looked at Melinda for a moment…
"Lord Sigurd…? As in Sigurd Em'raldio, the Emperor of Emperors…? I don't think he's an easy person to meet just like that…"
"Doesn't he hate Fenrioette?!"
The two of them were taken by surprise by the request, to say the least…
"...Zane…"
"I get it. Rose, if you have a set location in the old capital, take us there. Mel has a plan."
"...sure…"
Melinda ended up pouting and stared at Zane with an upset expression, prompting him to breathe out and turn right to his reluctant companion, giving him a nod.
"...just don't forget to tell me whether consul of Diamondium Kingdom being here was a coincidence or not…"
While Rose took out some sort of device and changed something within its structure, Zane leaned down and whispered in Melinda's ear, giving a side eye to a baffled fox-faced man while he was at it.
"Boss?!"
"Boss!"
"Oh, shit! Boss! You're alive! And not possessed!"
As the three mages who disappeared in the middle of the encounter returned, they called out to the elderly mage as they ran up to him. One of them even reached out and rubbed the elderly man's bald head, which bore no trace of the gruesome crown of teeth and fingernails.
"Keep your hands to yourself Volk! Did all of you had to run for help!? Not one of you even considered trying to use a basic healing spell on me!?"
The elderly mage smacked his subordinate's hand away and scoffed at the three of them all huffy and puffy.
"After seeing you being possessed?! Yeah, no. No way."
"But we're happy that you seem fine!"
"Although that will have to be confirmed further!"
The three mages declared, two of them grinning and only the middle one, Melinda's acquaintance appearing worried.
In the midst of their conversation, Melinda, Zane, Adrianna, and Rose ended up disappearing into what looked like a sudden surge of shadows swallowing them whole.
"..."
The fox-faced ambassador of Dimondium Kingdom just stood there in silence, staring at the spot where Melinda was just a second before.
"...not an avatar…? Then… then what is she…?"
"..."
The only surviving knight trembled and muttered without even attempting to get up from his knees, making Marius look at him with scorn.
"..."
Although, even that faded, at least momentarily, and he opened his mouth.
"Selling yourself to demonkin made you lose your memory or something? She is Feniroette."
"...!?"
The fox-faced man asked, making the kneeling knight flinch and stare at him in confusion.
"And as the age-old saying in Diamondium kingdom goes…"
Marius straightened his back and stared up into the clear sky that had been pierced by the pillar of most brilliant golden light.
"Fenrioette are gods made into flesh."
"!!!"
The man finished his sentence with a somber expression, while the other man sucked in some air, crushed under the weight of realization.