When it all ended, the Time Bubble I had created slowly faded away, as we found ourselves sitting on top of the Dungeon's Floor. What we went through was sure… moving to the core. I cannot begin how much it made me feel. But I can tell, it was a real tearjerker. Gosh, I am crying too much right now.
Nyx seemed to have woken up just when Crystal's last soul fragment went back to the afterlife, wherever that might be. She seemed slightly confused, and for some reason, my little girl was crying.
Did she somehow, perhaps instinctively, realized Crystal was her mother?
"Nyx? Are you okay?" I wondered, as everyone else slowly stood up, we were all dead silent after the little time we spent with Crystal.
"Hm! I'm oway…" Nyx said, cleaning her tears, she had gone back to her humanoid form already.
Her dragon form was small and adorable too, but it seemed she felt more comfortable in this form instead.
It seems she was okay, but I don't know if she really realized it was her or not… Perhaps something instinctual which she seems to not comprehend.
I don't know if we should tell her the truth now… After all, it was such a sad farewell, it even made me cry as well.
Maybe when she grows older, I can tell her that she had another mother, the one that laid her egg and all… I don't want her to ever forget Crystal, but until then, it is better to leave things as they are.
I am sure Crystal would want it this way, after all she didn't even seemed bothered by Nyx not recognizing her anyways.
She was such a forgiving woman… I guess she's the only one that could had liked Lucifer back then, when he was EVEN grumpier.
And talking about my Lucifer… He seemed rather saddened, even though he had a last chance to meet her and talk with her, I can get how painful it might be.
I quickly went towards him, hugging him tightly.
"How do you feel?" I asked him. He looked at me with a smile filled with melancholy, he had cried enough he couldn't cry any longer, most likely.
"I am feeling alright, thanks for being so considerate… It was all thanks to you that I was able to meet her again and talk with her in this way…" Lucifer sighed. "Thank you, thank you so much, Maria."
He hugged me tightly, smiling honestly. I never saw him act this way… so open and happy, so thankful. I guess… even now, he had been hiding his emotions from me. But now it seemed different.
It looked as if he had finally let go of his last traumas, of his last regrets, and he was perhaps finally embracing his new life with us… with his daughter and me.
"Aww, it's nothing honey." I sighed, giving him a head pat. "Crystal was an amazing girl! I am also happy I was able to meet her."
"She was, right?" Lucifer sighed. "I still love her even now, I doubt I could ever stop loving her. But I also love you, Maria. I love you so much… I… Are these feelings okay with you? Is it okay that I still love her?"
"Of course it is, dummy! Why would I ever want it any other way? You better keep loving her!" I said with a smile while crossing my arms.
"Hah… I love that part of you, you're so carefree, and so strong-willed. You have such an inspiring smile, and you're always cheerful no matter what… Maria, you're my guiding light." Lucifer held my hands, giving me a kiss.
"Y-You're saying a lot of romantic stuff…" I muttered while blushing. "I feel like throwing you into a bed and doing a lot of love with you right about now…"
"A-Ah, hahah… Maybe…" Lucifer giggled.
"Anyways, love-birds, we should get going!" Partner said, emerging behind me. "Master, I am hungry too!"
"Hungry? But you just ate!" I said. "Sheesh…"
"Yeah but that was like… Spiritual food or something." Partner gave an excuse that wasn't right, I am fairly sure that was real food somehow…. Or was it? Well I am spiritual so maybe it felt real for me but not for physical beings.
"I think we should really have a feast to celebrate our dungeon conquest." Emeraldine said. "Also, did you guys leveled up by any chance? I got tons of EXP. "I am insanely close to max level right now…"
"Yeah I leveled quite a lot." Partner added.
"Me too…" I sighed. "I reached max level, actually."
"Eh? Max level already?!" Lucifer wondered. "Then… can you evolve already?"
"Yep, I think I can, but for now I don't want to." I sighed. "I'm tired."
"Well, we finished here…" Sighed Lucifer. "Let's go back to the surface for now, shall we?"
As we slowly walked back to the gate in silence, we suddenly remembered something.
"The dwarves!!!" We all screamed at the same time.
We ran towards the Boss Room's gates, slamming them open!
However, what we found was… not what we expected. In there, we found all the dwarves making a leisure camp, eating some roasted meat. The surrounding caves were completely cleansed of miasma, covered by glowing moss and many mushrooms. There were animals crawling here and there as well, not monsters.
"Oh! You guys are finally back!" Helga said, she wasn't even wearing her golem suit. "You won't believe what happened! Just some minutes ago the whole dungeon underwent some sort of purification! Miasma was gone, the monsters stopped spawning, and plants are growing everywhere! There's even normal animals! And we can breathe just fine here."
"A-Amazing!" I said in surprise. "It seem the whole dungeon got purified after we conquered it…"
"Yep, seems like things are slowly going back to normal now…" Helga sighed. "Agh, though I think I'll have nightmares after we fought so many zombie dwarves… Man, that was tough."
I guess the dwarves also had their own traumatic experiences…