"Gahaha, I smack you to mush!" Regulus's manic laughter echoed throughout the hall.
"What are you saying, fat lion? You barely gave me any inflict. It's your first win since your tenth loss, and you feel like you're an absolute winner. You're just lucky in this card game. Well, well..." Oceanid rematerialized himself and shook his head with a sigh.
"Heh, that's what losers always say. It bores me because I'll always be the winner. What took those monkeys so long? They dared to make me, the almighty fire lion wait?" Regulus grumbled and stood up. He was currently a lion man, but that made him uncomfortable.
"Heh, you're just afraid to accept another defeat. Your body is already bruised red from receiving punishment as the loser." Oceanid smirked mockingly.
"I'm a fire lion, and my body has been red since the first day, you idiot. Stay away. I'm beginning to morph back." Regulus' body was enveloped by a reddish-gold light. He transformed back into his glorious Beast God form.
About ten meters away from Regulus and Oceanid, the girls' game also ended in zero defeat for Elysia, much to Sylvia's discontent.
"This is bad. Ely didn't leave any gaps... She didn't even want to give in at all. Did she just not want to lose and accept the punishment?" Sylvia muttered in a mosquito-like voice.
"All right, this is your second loss, Sylvi. Let's hear what the winner has to say." Lynn tapped the table and announced Sylvia's defeat.
"Eh? Did I lose? How could that be? Uhh..." Sylvia looked at her cards, and she realized that she was the only one left in the game.
"Fine, do it. I've only lost twice in twenty turns. Ten percent, huh... not so bad. Tell me what you want, Lynn?" Sylvia put her cards on the table and folded her arms with a cute snort.
"Hehe, I'm the lucky winner on this turn. In that case, which would you choose, truth or dare?" Lynn put her hands together with a happy smile. She would use this opportunity to pay back her previous defeat against Sylvia.
"Fine, I'm going to play with the truth now." Sylvia nodded slightly.
Lynn glanced up thoughtfully, then stared into Sylvia's blood-red eyes with a meaningful gaze. "Hmm-mm, ah, let's play with this one. Sylvia, What three kinds of stuff do you always have with you? Don't think. Just answer spontaneously!"
"Three kinds of stuff? My divine bracelet, my Space Bags, and Ely." Sylvia was somewhat taken aback and responded spontaneously when Lynn emphasized one last sentence.
"..." The girls looked at each other with bewilderment.
"Am I stuff?" Elysia put her hand to her forehead and shook her head with a smile.
"Eh, ah, I didn't mean that. It's all your fault, Lynn. I'm saying I'll always be with you, Ely." Sylvia nudged Lynn's arm and immediately defended herself.
"It's okay. You don't have to explain your answer, Sylvi. I just didn't expect it." Elysia reassured Sylvia, then gazed at the door of the hall. "Ah, they're finally back."
"That took them half an hour. All right, now it's time for us to go." Nell smoothed out the cards on the table with her magic, then handed them to Sylvia.
After tidying up a bit of the mess, everyone left the hall.
Alexander and his granddaughter came with three Saint-level people following right behind them. A familiar holy knight lady was in charge of guarding Ella, and the other two old men looked like Pope's confidants.
Evelyn and Vanessa were a few meters behind Ella's group. They came with two people following behind, an old wizard and a sexy mage lady.
"Thanks for waiting. We can leave any time you see fit." Alexander greeted everyone with a respectful gesture. The three people behind him also paid their respects to the divine beings. However, when they saw a giant red lion, they were a bit alert.
"Sorry to keep everyone waiting. We're also ready to go any time." Evelyn wiped her sweat and panted slightly. The two mages behind her immediately paid their respect.
"You- hmm!!!" Regulus had just opened his mouth to curse those monkeys. Still, Lifa suddenly pushed his jaw up and covered his mouth with an invisible rope.
"Then we shall leave now." Elysia checked that everyone in the group was present without a single person missing.
"Shall we set off on the special Gravy Ark?" Alexander offered.
"Hmm, we need an extra Gravy Ark to carry you all. As for this fatty, hmm... We can let him fly after us. Hey, you can fly fast, right? It'd be troublesome if you lag behind? Why? are you quiet?" Oceanid smacked Regulus in the stomach with a frown.
"You old hag, why did you keep my mouth shut? And you little shit, do you think I'm a winged slug? I can fly like a comet!" Regulus grumbled with a growl.
"That's a relief to me. Then, let's head out of the city. Elysia, if you may." Oceanid pretended to heave a sigh of relief and gave an eye signal to Elysia.
"Okay." Elysia understood what he meant. She used her invisible magic to cover everyone.
"Don't panic. We're going to rush out." Oceanid warned everyone and used his magic to transport everyone flying to the city's south gate.
*Bam!*
"John, did you accidentally trigger the gate's rune?" A guard in the gatekeeper's room wondered when he saw the gate suddenly open for no reason.
"Hmm? Maybe it's a bit of an error? I didn't activate any runes. Let's close the gate immediately." Another guard immediately activated a rune to close the gate.
Meanwhile, Oceanid and his group had flown far from the holy city. They boarded two Gravy Arks with a big fire lion following behind.
"Phew, who would have thought that I would be able to rejoin the divine group for the expedition to the Devil Continent. You returned to the holy city at the right time, Princess Evelyn." The old wizard laughed lightly while stroking his long beard.
"Hehe, it was just a coincidence, Grandpa Max." Evelyn chuckled awkwardly. Her expectations were only to get one bodyguard, but she got two at once.
"Fufu, I remember an old thing directly darting into the holy city at full speed from the neighboring city." The sexy mage lady covered her mouth.
"What do you mean by 'old thing', Freya? You are also similar to me. No, it's even worse. You are in several cities away from here. Still, you begged to escort Princess Evelyn right after Her Majesty opened a high-level discussion forum among Saint-level executives and above." Maximilian rolled his eyes and snorted.
"Well, I just finished attending a victory celebration party. I'm still in my formal gown and appropriate for a diplomatic visit." Freya answered in a friendly tone, but suddenly her intonation decreased and became neutral. "Even if it's to the Devil Continent's capital city."
"Everyone, you look tensed and worried. May I know what you are all thinking? We are just visiting Wales City on the Devil's Continent, Sylvia's hometown." Ella gently asked. She had gotten various information from her grandfather, but everyone seemed unsettled.
"It's not as simple as a friendly visit, Ella. That's why the Goddess of Blessings invited me on this visit. Moreover, the Devil God was also there. No, he has already changed his title to Evil God." Alexander shook his head with a sigh.
"You and the Devil Emperor must not fight, grandfather." Ella reminded her grandfather with concern.
"That's only if he doesn't get into trouble first." After saying that, Alexander looked the other way.
"Well, anyway, nice to see you again, Ariel. Then, the two Saint Cardinals, hmm... you'll have a lot of work to do if a dispute occurs, be it verbal or action. Ha ha ha!" Maximilian laughed dryly.
"That's not funny, Maximilian Young. We will protect the Holy Grandfather and get rid of the devils if necessary." One of the Cardinals responded in a neutral tone.
"Well, just don't trouble the divine beings on our side. They may have an Evil God on their side, but we have more than one divine being as an ally. Look, we have a lot of strong friends of different races now." Maximilian pointed his hand at the Gravy Ark in front.
"Various races, huh... Aren't they close to you. Ella, you've had some hearts with them, huh? Please tell us more. What do you think of them?" Alexander suddenly asked. At this time, the problems that came to his mind were devils.
"Uhm, I guess it's all thanks to Elysia. She connected us together regardless of our differences or disagreements. They are all good individuals with unique mindsets." Ella answered succinctly.
"Because of Elysia, huh..." Alexander muttered as he stared at Elysia in front. That girl was special, but her value was estimated to be more than expected.
"..." Evelyn looked at Ella with some troubled gaze. It was as if she was blaming Ella for that answer.
"It's okay, Eve." Ella had a lot of faith in Elysia and her grandfather.
Even though that was what she said, the following event continued with Alexander asking for some information regarding what happened in the last few days in detail.
'Ely, they're talking about you.' Elena gently informed Elysia about what was going on behind their backs.
'Hm, they might feel curious. Let them be with their thoughts. Eve and Ella will accompany them until we reach our destination. We've already crossed the Human Continent's southern border, right?' Elysia asked the wonder, but she immediately widened her eyes to see a mushroom-shaped smoke in the distance.
*Kaboom!*
"An humongous explosion? Those devils sure are having a blast of joy with their explosives." Oceanid commented casually and slowed his acceleration magic's speed.