Back in the Game

Now . . . Fit for duty he was but not back to his previous state  before the fight. Nox could feel that his soul was still fragilized. Healed and no longer at the risk of collapsing but still fragile which carried a few implications.

The most immediate one was that Nox should not use Divine Energy in any way shape or form unless he wanted a ticket for mandatory self annihilation. Using raw Excelia, the energy of the Soul, while not nearly as bad, should still be done carefully.

That meant that while making soul contracts and messing with Falna was fine, using Excelia as fuel in combat to empower himself was not really advisable.

Finally, there was also the fact that Nox's planned Lichdom Ritual could not be performed with a fragilized Soul has that would drastically increase the chances of something going wrong.

Nevertheless, so long as he avoided doing those specific things, Nox was good to go on all fronts so he at last left his Panacea Tank and returned to the surface, to the Twilight Manor of the Loki Familia who prepared a welcome back party for him.

It was really a simple event with just regular merrymaking and drinking while everyone lauded Nox for his great feat and congratuçated him on his recovery.

After his welcome party, Nox decided to spend the next day making his rounds, visiting his acquaintances that had no doubt missed his presence and after that was all done, he was planning on just taking it easy.

Not in the sense of lazing around but in the sense that he would not be seeking to reach new frontiers, just work within the realm that he knew nothing could really stand up to him. Fight battles he knew he would win rather than challenging foes he doesn't have a good handle on.

Before any of that though, it was time to check out out everyone was doing. While Nox had hear reports, nothing beat hands on experience of how things were going after all.

His first stop was the Hephaestus Familia home where he found that Tsubaki and cracked and thought she had not spoken of what exactly had happened, she let it slip that Nox was gone for the last week or two because he was recuperating from injury.

Unfortunately for Nox, his Hephy knew how resilient he was and of how fast his recovery speed was so she could only imagine what could keep him out of action for so long.

Needless to say, as soon as he met with Hephaestus, Nox was assaulted by divine tears that squeezed his heart.

Hell, Loki's verbal thrashing was considerably easier to handle that the sheer guilt both's goddesses suffering sparked in his heart.

After a painfully long tear filled hugging session, Hephaestus finally let Nox go.

"I'm sorry for that." The goddess apologized.

"You don't have to be. If you can understand I'll get hurt sometimes, I can handle your tears when it happens. It' not a bother, it's proof you care after all." Nox responded.

Hephaestus chuckled.

"Then don't hide it from me anymore okay?" She requested.

"I won't." Nox promised.

Rather than just leave after that, Nox spent the rest of the day with Hephaestus, just enjoying her presence and even having some "fun"  with her an Tsubaki at the same time.

The next day though, he continued with his original plan.

He paid a visit to the Hermes Familia nad got the info that Lulune had receive a quest from a mysterious robed fellow to receive a package in RIvira from another adventurer and bring it to him.

Nox immediately recalled that the so called package ought to be a Jewel Fetus, the thing that parasitized other beings turning them into Demi Spirits.

While this would not alert Nox that much before his encounter with the Demi Spirit, now knowing the frightening potential they had and that they could be taken over by some kind of consciousness, likely the source of the Jewel Fetuses, he was rightfully worried and decided to intervene before he had another disaster on his hands.

After increasing his worries, Nox felt like unwinding so he spent the night at the Hostess of Fertility with Ryuu  actually coming back to work for the night for old time's sake as all the waitresses took turns waiting on him as he was quite the popular customer.

The next morning he hit Maria's Orphanage with Syr, helping out, playing with the kids and, much to Syr's displeasure, flirting with Maria who was not so immune to his charms any longer now that he got older but still maintained a respectful distance.

The older woman actually liked Nox, even if not romantically, and found the attention he gave her quite flattering as she knew he could do much better that she considered herself to be.

In fact, she was quite sure he had more that one lover, young, talented and beautiful to match him so she had no idea why he felt the need to flirt with a woman past her prime like herself.

Whatever the case, Nox had helped the orphanage out immensely in matters of funding, infrastructure and procurement of supplies to run it so Maria was incredibly grateful and always welcoming to him when he came by.

With his visit done, Nox only had two stops left, the newbies as in the Hestia and Takemikazuchi Familias and meeting up with Filvis again who was probably missing him terribly. Needless to say, he was not expecting what the elfess had in store for him.

What he also was not expecting, was what was about to happen when he went to meet the two small Familias with Haruhime in tow.

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba  without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR weeks ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novels Kage of Kages and FATE of DxD, do check them out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.