The moment the creature's fingers were severed from its hand, Amedith quickly slipped in and grabbed the bracelet. Teleporting away without waiting for the others, he was already back in Athenia by the time the creature could even think to retaliate. Burning like a flaring furnace, it first burned off Raven's dragonic mouth and tongue. Forcing him away, Helga was next, but instead of a strike, it showed her something right in her head.
The sight of her daughter, not far from here. Their wings were burned, and their bodies lay on the sand, being washed by the ocean waves. At first, the valkyrie thought it to be an illusion, but as a whiff of her own blood coursing through them was caught in her nose, she leapt away from the monster and turned in the direction from which the smell had come.
Using the moment to its advantage, the creature sank back into the ground and disappeared from the kingdom in an instant.
"AUGHHH! MY MOUTH!!" Slowly turning back into his human form, Raven covered his mouth as it was still burning from the flames.
Right as he was struggling, the magus appeared beside him again. Expecting to fight the monster still, he was ready to unleash a flurry of blows and had also brought Liliyana with him. But the moment he noticed that the creature was gone, he instead decided to heal Raven, all the while, Helga spread her wings and flew in the direction of her injured daughters.
"Wh-what the hell was that?" Raven mumbled, having no clue what that monster could've been besides the obvious inclinations.
"A god, that much I know–no other creature could produce such bright flames," Amedith responded.
Releasing his hands from his mouth, Raven lifted his head. Allowing Amedith to heal him completely, he quickly turned in the direction where Helga had just gone.
"She knew something, maybe we should go after her before returning home," taking out the pearl that held Shamisha, he handed it to Amedith and closed his fist. "Take this, I'll be back in a few minutes."
Staring at the hero with some doubt, Amedith moved his hand away and asked.
"Are you sure? What if that thing comes back?"
"It was after the bracelet," looking down at Amedith, Raven gave him a brief nod. "I'm assuming it's already home, and if you take this with you, I doubt Athenia would let that creature into our homeland."
With a raised eyebrow, Amedith tried to judge what was going on inside Raven's head. Never has he, as a general, done something . More often than not, once that jacket was on his shoulders, he was more vigilant and crude with his words.
"Is this about Helga?"
"Who else? I'm gonna talk to her and find out what that was." His response didn't sit right with the magus. Raven was still hiding something, even though it was no secret at all.
'So it's true, you two have actually developed feelings towards each other, huh?' Even though their relationship has been active for a while, it wasn't exactly something Raven or Helga talked about–most likely due to Helga's barbaric demeanor and the possibility of her wreaking havoc if anyone found out.
"Whatever, be home quickly. I'll try to get everyone up to speed and, if possible, get Linkle to turn these stones back into people." Nodding at the Magus, Raven watched as he disappeared again before starting to walk in the direction the valkyrie had gone.
'She knew who that was…' While making his way to her, Raven's mind wandered. 'Maybe a god she fought in the last war? But what kind? A lesser that survived, a regular one or one of the elders?'
Depending on the answer, their plans might take a drastic shift or none at all. A lesser god like Aran would barely be a struggle at this point, but someone like Asmareth–himself and not one of his followers, could possibly put up a nonsensically tough fight.
"Worst case scenario, we might have to go against an elder, after all," Raven said to himself, knowing full well that a single elder could kill every single sitting god.
There was no way for them to win if that was the case, and from the look of it, he wasn't exactly wrong in his assessment.
Getting to Helga after a while, he wanted to ask her numerous questions, but watching her tending to her daughters with teary eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say a word. Healed by Athenia herself, they were spared the more grave of the injuries, but even so, being the closest to the sight of battle, the two had suffered far more than just a burn on their hand like the rest.
"Shhhsss…J-just sleep, okay?" With a heavy throat, Helga swallowed her tears and lifted both of them in her hands. Holding them like little children despite them being teenagers, she slowly turned to find Raven standing right behind her. Closing her eyes, she shook her head to drive the tears away. "Athenia…she healed them, thankfully."
With another audible gulp, she opened her eyes as one of her daughters whispered in a dreamy state.
"We were praying…" Her words weighed heavily on their mother's shoulders. Thus her eyelids shut themselves yet again. Pressing her lips tightly together, she kept herself from crying, but it was getting harder with each passing moment.
That is when Raven noticed something. The two lifegiving necklaces, made with Athenia's nails hanging around the daughters' necks. Somehow, they hadn't activated, meaning their injuries might've been fatal, but they hadn't perished and came back to life like Amedith did in the fight against Aran.
'Thanks for healing them.' Raven prayed to the goddess, and with that said, he helped the valkyrie take her daughters to their home in Elenaris. There was much to do beyond that, but everything back home had to wait–at least until Helga's tears had dried and she too was sound asleep in her bed. 'I'll ask her about that monster later. For now, we need to find a way to get the girls out of those gems.'