The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

Fiona stood behind Esther, and the view before her was mostly obscured. Especially so, as before Esther, was a vast cliff, that had its own mini domain inside.

"...Miss Esther?" She lightly called out, carefully walking towards the latter's direction.

She was, by now, close to Esther. She treated the former's personality switch as a sort of disorder, and just brushed it off just like that.

So she walked fearlessly, and stood beside her, looking down at the cliff in curiosity. Her thoughts moving, 'What's got her so flustered..? Hm? What's tha–'

But before she could even finish her thoughts, she froze in stupor at what she saw. And just like Esther, she stood there in a daze, and said nothing.

"..."

"..."

This continued until David, the man of the group arrived as well, and decreased his size back to normal. "...Finally caught up to you women. Why can't you all just relax a bit, huh?"

And he complained just as he arrived. And not taking their reactions to mind, he casually walked off towards his wife, and stood besides her. "So, what are we–"

And just like the two, he paused in shock. But unlike them, his shock didn't last long, as it was replaced by slight disgust and disdain.

"...If it isn't my unfilial son." He said, clicking his tongue in clear annoyance.

The people below responded similarly, or rather one smiled bitterly at his words. "Hello uncle, long time no see." She said, waving lightly at him.

While the other, replied without much care. "Don't worry old man, I also don't like what I'm looking at." He said, his eyes staring at him.

"..."

David kept quiet. He knew that be it verbal fights, or physical fights, he was close to being no match for his son. Even in terms of affection, he still lost.

The love of his life, cared the same for him, just as she cared for her son. He clearly got no chance of victory.

And Damien knew that.

"Auntie, long time no see. Oh wow, you look beautiful as well. So pretty." Meanwhile, Juliette flew towards Esther and striked up a conversation with her.

"Julie..." Esther called out, her emotions coming back to her face, as tears of joy welled up in her eyes. "It's been two months, and you look so... beautiful and mature."

"Hehe, auntie, you jest." Juliette said in embarrassment, a silly smile on her face.

Esther then gave her a warm hug, and looked down the pit. "Dammy, why don't you come and give mommy a hu–"

"I'll pass. Thank you." But his response quite fast, not giving her the chance to act all lovey dovey.

'Dammy? So... that's the person they've been talking about all this time?' Fiona thought while staring ay Damien. 'He's... really handsome. No, to handsome!!'

All the while, Damien ignored her presence. He then turned his gaze below him, onto the purple furred wolf corpse that he was standing on.

"..."

It was also the thing that Fiona focused more on. Damien and Juliette's charm aside, that exceeded even that of the Gray couple, she was amazed at how the large wolf died.

It had been pieced at the stomach by a pyramid-headed pillar of earth that rose up from ground. And that was not all. It had also been beheaded.

Damien currently standing atop its head. He then crouched down, and cut a big wound on its head, digging out five fist sized purple crystallized cores from within.

[ TING!!! ]

[ You've extracted five perfect semi-divine cores from the faux Raikiri Divine Beast ]

[ You've killed a faux Divine Beast. You have obtained 116 804,68 units of Life Essence ]

[ TING!!! ]

[ Due to being an entire League and Existential Level lower, your obtained Life Essence has increased by five times. You've obtained 584 023,38 units of Life Essence ]

[ Half has been shared amongst your Bloodline. The remaining half has been shared amongst you and your partner. You have obtained 97 337,84 units of Life Essence ]

[ Bonus: You've obtained one sachet of purified Thunder Dust ]

"..."

Damien read through everything, and noted down the last notification. He would ask The Primordial Source what it was scheming for.

He then waved his hand and took away the corpse of the Raikiri Divine Beast. 'A promising variation. Unfortunately, they had no time to fulfill their true potential.'

He thought, floating towards his parents and Juliette. Once there, he paused, and set his gaze on Fiona, who likewise returned a gaze of her own.

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other in silence for a while, until Damien returned his gaze back to his mother. "It seems you've all been busy." He said.

"Not really." Esther replied with a smile, squeezing Juliette with love and affection.

"..."

"What about you guys? You got what you wanted?" David inquired, and Damien nodded. "More or less. We have enough to start up our own foundation."

"That's great." He nodded, and kept his silence. Damien also kept quiet.

"So, are we going home today? Or are you two still on your honey moon period?" Esther teased, and Juliette couldn't help but blush at her words.

"..."

Fiona as well. Both were still young minds, and were still maturing. Hearing such a topic, and imagining what it was associated with, made them flustered.

Meanwhile, Damien did not seem much affected. "Mhm. We are done with that, so we'll be going home to take a rest."

"...A rest, huh?" Esther mimicked his words after being disappointed at his reaction. But she expected nothing less from her son.

"By the way, does the Gray House still have connections with the other Strongholds?" He inquired, taking the lead.

'Gray House? As in, thee Gray House?! These people are associated with that group of demons?' Fiona thought, yet not very surprised.

The Gray couple was more than enough. But she was just never sure, since assuming was never a good sport. '...After all, my first impression of them was quite... an experience.'

"...Ah, no. We are banned from establishing any powers in other Strongholds, but we are at least allowed to enter, and even reside within their cities." Esther replied softly.

"What of it?" David asked, and Damien shrugged his shoulders. "Would have made my job much easier, but, thanks anyway. You've helped just as you always do."

"...But you don't think we are helpful at all." Esther said.

"Exactly." And Damien replied.

"..."

"..."

"..."

David was not bothered much by his words, but Esther seemed dejected.

Fiona was even speechless at their interaction. 'Why are you guys acting so normal for? You're supposed to be demons, aren't you? So please act like ones... that would make me feel better.'

Meanwhile Juliette bitterly smiled and comforted her supposed mother in law. "There there, auntie. Damien had been saying that he misse–"

"I would never." But Damien corrected her before she could even completely form her words, leaving her dejected as well.

"...I wonder why you even have a woman." David finally thought out loud. "Same reason as you have mom... And I don't wanna know it." And Damien replied as such.

The group then walked for a while more, bickering and playing around.

"..."

But throughout the process, Fiona felt out of place, and just walked casually behind them, so as to not destroy their perfect atmosphere.

Especially so, when in terms of looks, she was now the one on the lowest radar. And while everyone of them had almost similar racial characteristics, she... had none.

They had two colors mixed within their hair, while she had completely red hair. And that was the biggest give away. 'I'm like a cockroach within a pile of diamonds.'

She thought bitterly. And just like that, without wasting much of their time, everyone flew at full speed and returned back towards the Stronghold.

With how fast they were flying, they arrived in just a couple of minutes, and were almost not allowed any entry.

And of course, since they looked almost different from their previous standards, there were slight problems that almost arose.

It became worse when Fiona had no identification cards, and wore a dress that clearly of a different culture than their own.

"Like I said, you all look different from these identifications cards. I can't let you in." The young guardsmen said, being quite stubborn.

"...Look here kid, how about we make you dea–"

"We don't do corruption here!!"

"..."

David was shut before he could even finish his statement. The young guard was quite stubborn with his standpoint.

"What now? Do we kill him?" Esther inquired, and both David and Damien replied at the exact same time, "No."

"Oh?" Was her response.

'...Is this how murderers deal with problems?' Fiona thought, wondering if her reputation was safe with these guys.

"...At times like these, I wish I had competent parents." Damien said all of a sudden, starting another verbal warfare with his father.

Meanwhile, Juliette took matters into her own hands and struck up a conversation with the young guard. "Uhm, hi, hello. Nice to meet you, I'm Juliette, and you?"

She gave him a gentle smile, that almost took his breathe away, and stretched out her hand to him. He froze and swallowed his saliva, not knowing what to do, nor say.

'A, a goddess?' He thought, and clumsily held her hand for a proper greeting. "A-Audrey, nice to meet, you." He said, forcing each word out. 'Sooooofftt!!!' He thought.

'Well... this seems easy enough.' Juliette thought in joy, making her smile even more dazzling. And by then, the guard's defenses all melted down.

There was no resistance, and Juliette made him make new identity cards for them, while they discarded the old ones. Even Fiona obtained one as a "family friend".

Meanwhile, Juliette took matters into her own hands and struck up a conversation with the young guard.