The second female lead Dual Cultivates

"Be careful with her injuries. They just stopped bleeding and -" but Elma's words went unheard as the wolf demoness half-jumped on The oracle as soon as she showed signs of waking up. And to think that the demoness had been doing so well in avoiding the Oracle's injury as well.

The Oracle looked much more put together for her part but there was confusion in her stare as she looked back at her companion. Elma was sure that it was because of the injuries she had sustained.

"Who are - wait, Suna? What happened and why do you look like that now? What happened to your human form?" Elma frowned at the question, realizing that perhaps the other had not always looked like her half-form.

Actually, now that Elma thought about it, half forms were actually rare outside of Imu. But the sight of one in Imu was not rare itself. Maybe that was what had dubbed Elma into thinking that this was alright. Maybe she should have given it a little more thought. Where had Karen been situated again? Garna?

"Don't fret over her. Your companion cannot reply right now anyway in that form. She must have suffered a great blow to be reduced to this" Elma explained and instantly saw the party in front of her. She had not meant to attract attention but it looked as if she had been forgotten.

Elma was not sure if she should feel amused or insulted at being forgotten but she decided to be indifferent. This was not her forte of expertise and human emotions were bothersome.

"Heavy blow? I guess Suna did suffer a huge blow to her head before coming here. Is there anything we can do to change her back?" The Oracle asked and Elma wanted to assure her that it was possible.

But it was all rather up to a toss of fate. There was not much they could do from their side even when they wanted to since this transformation was more about willpower than anything. It was a terrible price to pay for getting power in your hands.

The oracle seemed to be aware of it as well since she seemed content to let her emotions guide her and ran her finger through the wolf demoness's hair. It was moved in a soothing gesture which was likely being used to calm the said demoness down.

"So, what are your plans for the future? What did you come to this place for?" This was a loaded question with only a limited answer. But depending on the one she got, Elma might have to reconsider her plans for the future.

She had a few things she needed to get done that she could not interfere with herself. It was a golden opportunity for her as well. She was not kidding when she had called the Oracle her gift from the heavens.

"Plan for the future. I don't really have one for now. I was not even planning to end up here. Wait, where are we?" The oracle asked. Perhaps she was a little slow in the head or the injuries she had suffered had been much more severe than Elma had first thought them to be.

"You're in Imu. I guess the node in Gerna shot you through to the next universe. A curious development but not one that is impossible. You must have been impressed enough to help you out" Elma explained. She didn't mind the slow reflexes the oracle showed her.

After all, both Karen and the node had approved of her so she must have something more to her. Elma would just need to observe and she would find her answer.

"That place was nightmarish but I guess it did change things for me" there were dark shadows in the Oracle's eyes which Elma felt was wrong to comment about. It was not her jurisdiction and she had no inclination to get into the mess.

Not to mention, she had no idea what might have happened to the other to have one of them end up in half-human form.

"So you have lost your way, huh. Rest for now and then figure out what you want to do. Time is the only thing we have left" Elma informed but somehow it pulled up a dark frown on the Oracle's face.

Now, what was wrong? Surely nothing Elma said had triggered anything major. But then again, Elma was not one to be majorly intuned with her emotions so she often missed things.

"Time is the one thing we do not have. We need to seal the node back up before the war. The demonic war is about to begin" Elma surely was not that out of the loop to not even know that the war was about to begin once again.

Sure, Imu was out of the information loop for the majority of the time but that did not mean Elma did not make it a habit of knowing things. Just how recent was this development and how urgent it was to start damage control.

"The demonic war is about to start? Tell me everything you know right now" it might not have been a smart idea to grab the injured party and start an interrogation but Elma could not help herself.

The last war had been a thing out of the nightmare and the only good thing that would have come out if it had the demon king. The world would not survive another war.

The wolf demoness behind the Oracle issued a warning growl for Elma to stay back but it was ignored. So was the bite that her arm supported. It was not strong enough to break the skin, but rather, a warning.

"Suna, it's alright. I don't mind sharing the news with our savior. Provided that she doesn't go ahead and tell it to everyone" that had been a warning as well and one Elma was more than willing to follow.

And perhaps she had some of her own secrets to tell as well. Especially since she no longer had her key to the node. The Oracle would need to know just what she had signed up for.

"Alright. I'm not inclined to share my private information with the world as well. And I have a responsibility to the node I need to see after" the Oracle's eyes widened at her words which showed that she understood the subtle message being passed.

So she was not as dumb as Elma had first thought her to be. Things might turn out to be better than she had anticipated after all. Maybe she could count on these people since Karen seemed to trust them.