The Novel’s Extra’s Extra

“So… Are you sure this is the place?”-I ask her while looking at a hideous stone door.

“Yes! I’m sure! I’ve been searching for months now!”-The girl that’s beside me answers.

“Lorena… Are you 100% sure?”-I asked again. The door in front of me it’s just too hideous.

“Hey… I’m not THAT unreliable! I’m pretty sure this is the place.”-Lorena answered while averting her eyes and putting a strand of her emerald hair behind her ear. “Besides… It’s the only place that perfectly matches the description… It HAS to be this place.”-She said while spreading her arms and signaling around.

Right now, we were in some kind of misty lake that’s at the bottom of a valley, standing in front of the wall of the enormous mountain that surrounds the lake, and right in the bottom of that wall, surrounded by the mist, is a stone door of a really darkish grey color, with a weird inscription in an unknown language, alongside a picture of a weird bird with a long tail, open wings, and an open beak.

“*sigh…* Whatever, if you say so… Let’s go. Oh, by the way, how do we open this? Just breakthrough? Or is there a way to open the door?” I ask Lorena while looking around.

“Don’t you dare try to break it. It could activate some traps. Give me space, I know how to open.”-She said while pushing me aside and looking at the door, user her fingers to prob around it.

“Oh well, I was just asking, you know? I’m glad you know how to open it.”

“I just told you, I’ve been searching this place and everything about it for months now…”-She said before stopping her hand somewhere at the right of the bird, right under one of its feathers. “Here it is.”-She pushed the said point on the door with her hand, and the feather right over it suddenly detached out of the stone. “Yei!!”

“Hooo… That’s interesting…”-I said while looking at her do her stuff.

“Hehe! Now we have the key.”-She said while showing me the stone feather in her hand. After which, she quickly pointed the end of the feather towards the open beak of the bird, pressing it. The feather somehow shined in a weird red color before merging with the stone door, right on the opening of the bird’s beak. “Now… Just a little turn…”-She said while turning the shining feather to the left, licking her lips.

*Rumble*

“*whistle…*”-I whistled while the stone door suddenly went backward before moving all the way to the left, disappearing into the wall of the mountain. “You really knew how to open it.”-I said after the path was opened.

“You still didn’t believe me!!??”-She shouted at me with a betrayed face.

“Well… It’s not that I didn’t believe in you… But you could have found some fake info, you know…”

“Hump! I know what I’m doing! I always check at least thrice if the information is right before accepting it as truth!”-She said while crossing her arms.

“That’s true… The first time we saw each other was a pain because of that…”-I frowned while reminding the first time I met Lorena in a densely populated market. I was trying to sell her a basilisk horn, which was a pain when she started asking questions about how I found it, where, how was the basilisk, if I killed it myself, and whatnot.

{She could have just left if she was that untrustful about the horn… *sigh…*}-I slightly lost myself in my memories.

“Are you staying there or what?”-She said, already on the other side of the door.

“I’m coming…”-I followed right behind her.

“Wow… This place is insanely dark…”-She murmured after taking a few steps down the stairs that were at the entrance of what she assumes is a temple.

“I can see perfectly fine…”

“Good for you and your freaky eyes…”-She said in a low voice. “Can’t you help me here? I might fall for not seeing anything!”

“Sure, sure.”-I said before casting three light orbs around us, one of which I sent to the front to scout ahead.

“I still don’t know how a warrior like you can be so proficient in magic…”-She said while looking at the light orbs surrounding us.

“…”-I shrugged. “At the end of the day, everything is just practice, right?”

“Sure… But if it was that easy, any magician could be a warrior, and any warrior could be a magician…”-She said while frowning at me.

“Well, let’s say I’m a little bit more talented when it comes to magic, so I don’t have that much problem with learning it.”-I shrugged once again.

“If those from Gerkonas hear you, they would start hunting you until they get your head…”-She said with a smirk.

“Pfft… Those stuck-up wizards only like to study and study… They call it ‘magic’ and whatnot, and are all so proud of mastering that magic of theirs, but at the end of the day, they would be fucked up if they’re not protected correctly.”-I snorted at her comment.

“Hahaha… What? Had a bad encounter with them or something? The state of Gerkonas is at the southern continent, what the heck would you be doing there?”-She asked while laughing, all the while we keep walking down the seemingly unending stairs.

“Long story. But well, let’s say that their concept of magic and my own don’t match perfectly…”

“Perfectly? It sounds more like they don’t match at all… But well, I’ve seen your magic and I can’t say it’s normal, actually…”-She said while rubbing her chin with a pondering face.

“It’s just another way to use mana and magic power… It’s not that different. If it wasn’t for their way of thinking that’s so freaking closed, they could actually try new ways of magic. Though… I should probably say that some of those ways would actually be considered heretic here.”

“Here? As in this continent?”-She asked me. “Oh! Right… I forgot. You’re not exactly from anywhere around here…”-She said with a face of realization.

“Yeah. Finally, we’re already at the end of the stairs.”-I said while pointing to the front, trying to get her attention back to the place we’re in. “So… I guess we’re supposed to go forward, right?”-I ask.

“Yeah, that’s the only way for the moments.”-Lorena nodded. “We should get to the entrance hall if we follow this corridor.”

“Entrance hall?”

“Yeah, this place should be really big if what I found is true…”-She said while walking forwards.

“Didn’t you just say that you checked everything at least thrice until you took it as true?”-I smirked at her.

“Come on! There’s information you can’t actually confirm until you go to the place… Especially when it gets to places like this that are lost in time…”-She got a pink hue on her pale face. “Stop messing with me and let’s go… Idiot…”-She said while pushing me to the front.

“Fine, fine, let’s go.”-I said while walking in front of her.

After a couple of minutes or so we made it into a really big hall, with a big path in the center, surrounded by columns at the sides. The ceiling was really high, and while the place wasn’t what you consider enormous, it was at least the same size as a football stadium.

“So, this is the supposed entrance hall, I guess.”-I said while looking around. The place had a lot of old stone decorations, full of dust from who-knows-where, and even spider webs here and there.

“Yes… This should be it.”-Lorena said while looking around.

“It’s got this look that screams ‘abandoned’ everywhere.”-I said. “Well, let’s turn the lights on. Aragi.”-I said, igniting the torches that hanged everywhere in the columns and the walls.

“Wow… Look at this place…”-Lorena was surprised at the sight.

Enormous rock carvings were placed around the walls and the ceiling, all depicting some kind of birds. In some of the carvings, the birds were flying together as if dancing, in some others the birds were embracing each other. In others, a pair of humans, male and female, were covered under the long wings of what seemed to be an enormous bird.

“So… What did you say was the name of this temple?”-I ask her.

“I didn’t say it…”-She said while walking towards one of the walls.

“Mm… That’s right, you just dragged me here. Well, I’m officially calling it the Temple of the Pigeons!”

“That’s not it!!! It’s called the Temple of the Uknataus!”-She retorted at my comment with a serious face, before once again, looking at the engravings on the walls.

“The Ukna-whats?”-I asked her.

“Uknataus!”-She said while pointing at an engraving of two birds flying alongside each other. “These here!”

“Oh!! The birds!!!”

“They’re not birds! They’re gods!”-She said. “Or well, at least demi-gods…”

“You’re not that sure huh… Oh well, they look like birds to me…”

“*sigh…* Whatever… Let’s go… I’ll see this after we explore the place. Lead the way!”-She said in an excited voice.

“Sure, sure.”

After walking through the entrance hall, we got to a huge double-door made completely of stone, and while it didn’t reach the ceiling at all, it was still really big, at least as high as half the room.

“Mm… This one also needs some kind of special opening, or I just have to push?”-I asked.

“Just pushing should be enough… But it seems a little heavy, let me help you.”-She said while approaching the double-door.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that problematic, really.”-I shrugged while pushing against the double-door.

*Ruuuuumbleeee*

After pushing a little, I could finally make a space where we could pass by.

“And you say you only have a little talent in magic… *sigh…*”-Lorena says while walking to the other side of the place. “And you still could move this gigantic door as if nothing.”

“Oh, come on, it wasn’t as if nothing… I had to make some effort…”

“It was almost effortlessly!”-She retorts.

“Oh well, any warrior could probably do it.”-I shrugged.

“*sigh…* I should just stop trying to measure you in normal standards…”-She answered.

“Oh well. Aragi.”-I incanted, and the torches in the new room lightened up with fire. “So… What’s this place now? The previous room looked pretty much like some kind of great temple’s main hall… But this one…”-I said while looking around.

The new room was considerably smaller than the previous one, slightly bigger than the door we crossed. The place still had a few columns, but not as many as the other one. I counted six across the room. The walls weren’t adorned with engravings, only torches and what seemed to be some kind of colored stripes going from the ceiling to the floor, they seemed to be of red color, but faded with time.

The stripes were arranged between each torch, and there were like six of them on each wall. The only thing I noticed that did pick my interest was the normal-sized wooden doors between each stripe, they were exactly under the torches as if being lightened by them, being a total of five doors on each side.

“Well… It seems to be some kind of… connection room? Maybe? I don’t know…”-Lorena answered after looking around. “Look, there’s another door at the end of this place. Maybe it leads to somewhere important?”

“Or maybe not? I mean… If that big-ass door led here, maybe the importance of the room isn’t precisely defined by the size of door used to enter it.”-I shrugged. “I would like to check the small ones, just to see what we find there.”

“Are you sure? I have this feeling that the door in the front is the right one…”

“You may be right, but what’s the problem with checking the smaller ones first? After all, it’s not like we won’t check everywhere, right?”

“I guess you’re right… Well, right or left?”-She asks me.

“Let’s ask Lady Luck for it.”-I smirk while taking out a gold coin from my inventory. “Head’s right.”-I said before flicking the coin in the air.

After letting it fall in my hand, I show it to her.

“Left it is…”-She said while walking to our left.

“I just hope to find something good there.”-I said while sending the coin back to the sub-dimensional space I use as inventory.

After walking to the first door on the left side, she tried to open it, but it was locked.

“It’s locked…”-She said while turning to look at me.

“Give me a chance.”-I moved towards the door while she stepped aside.

With a kick, I tore the door down.

“Well, now it’s not locked.”-I smirked at her.

“Don’t do that! This is an ancient temple! You can’t just go around breaking stuff! What if something happens because of that?”-She shouts at me.

“Oh well, with what little protection they had, I don’t think they were that important… Maybe you were right, and these small doors aren’t impor-”-I stopped.

“What?”-Lorena asked me, but I shoved her away while moving back myself.

From the room, an armored… thing… flew out while thrusting with a big halberd.

“Maybe you were right… With that stuff about breaking things inside here…”-I said to Lorena while looking at the armored thing in front of us.

It wasn’t human. It was made of stone, and even then, its form wasn’t the one of a human, it was like a humanoid bird made of stone, with an actual metallic armor, made from some red-colored metal that wasn’t steel.

“I told you we needed to be careful!”-She shouted.

“Oh, come on, shit’s done already. We just have to end it.”-I said while taking out a katana from my inventory, the sheath had a beautiful purple color on it, but it somehow gave an ominous vibe. “Step aside.”-I said to her while taking an Iaidō stance with my left hand grabbing the sheath and the right one stopped over the handle of the sword.

“Um.”-Lorena stepped aside from me, while she had an adventurous spirit, she wasn’t exactly a great warrior and was barely able to do some basic spells. That’s the reason we’ve been going together around the world looking for hidden ruins and temples. She out of curiosity and interest in the ancient story, and I out of boredom and hopes of adventures.

With my stance taken, the armored golem looked between me and Lorena, and as if he noted that I was a greater danger, it turned its halberd to me, while spreading its wings and lowering its stance. It then flapped its wings as if wanting to fly, only that instead of flying up, it actually jumped at me with speed.

“…”-I instantly grabbed the handle and disappeared from the place, appearing right behind the golem, sheathing my sword calmly. “It wasn’t that much.”-I said, moments before the golem ended up cut in two.

“Even if you don’t see it as much… Please stop doing that! You don’t know what else could happen! First, it was a golem, then we could have the whole temple falling down on us!”-She said with worried eyes.

“Relax, it won’t happen…”-I turned my eyes. “And even then, I would just take us out of here. How many times have we gone through this?”-I lifted my brow while looking at her.

“…”-She turned her eyes. “Oh well, you’re right…”

“I know I am. Come, let’s see what he was protecting.”-I said while walking towards the room.

Once inside, I looked around and found something… Disturbing… There were two skeletons hugged over a really old bed. Around the place, engravings of the same birds that decorated the main entrance. There were also a few chests and tables around, over the table was an unopened bottle of wine.

“Ho… Look at this!”-I hurried towards the chests and tables. And grabbed the bottle of wine. “This thing should be who knows how many years old!”-I said while looking at the bottle!

“…”-She looked at my face with an opened mouth. “At this point, that should be close to poison! Drop that!”-She rushed to grab the bottle.

“No, what the heck! This isn’t poison at all! This is bottled love!”-I raised the hand holding the bottle of wine, keeping it away from her.

“Are you crazy!? Don’t think of drinking that!”-She shouts at me.

“You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want it, I found it!”-I said while sending the bottle of wine towards my inventory.

“Argh!!! Are you crazy!? *sigh…* Just listen to me! Take that out and give it to me. You can’t drink that!”-She started hitting my chest with both my hands.

“Of course I can!”-I said while grabbing her arms and getting close to her face. “You should know that it isn’t a problem at all.”

-I looked straight at her eyes.

“Wh-what!?”-She flinched. “You… You’re too close… Shouldn’t you keep a little bit more of distance…”-She averted her eyes while blushing and closing her eyes. “W-well, it’s not like that bothers me…”

“Hehe…”-I smirked. “That settles it then.”-I said while pushing her back a little with a flick of the finger on her forehead.

“Y-you! Idiot…”-She blushed before stepping back mumbling some weird things like ‘I thought it was about to happen’ or ‘And I was ready’ or ‘Bringing him here for nothing…’.

“Yup, that I am. Now, let’s see what’s in these chests.”-I said while turning to the chests and forcing the padlock on it, opening the chest. “Ho!!! Look at this!!!” -I shouted at the mumbling Lorena.

“What?”-She asked back bluntly.

“We made it good this time!”-I said while taking a few rubies out of the chest.

“What!? Where did you find that!?”-She asks.

“Duh! In the chest, of course! It’s full! Look!”-I said while pointing at the chest.

“Wow! There are too many things in here!”-Lorena said after glancing at the inside of the chest.

Gold coins, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, silver coins, precious metals, pieces of gold. A lot of different stuff was inside the chest.

“What’s this temple about, anyway? To have all these things inside a simple room…”-I asked, before looking at the two skeletons on the bed. “And why would two persons die inside here like that?”

“W-well… Maybe it’s about the belief of the people that attended this temple…”-Lorena suddenly said.

“Mm?”-I lift my eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Remember the demi-gods I told you a few moments ago?”-She said while pointing at the engravings.

“Oh, the Uknawhatever?”

“Uknataus! And yes. Those.”

“Aha. Keep going.”

“Well… While they are demi-gods… They were venerated as gods… For the people that lived in this temple, at least…”

“So? What does that have to do with the two skeletons over there or the riches here?”

“Well… That’s because the Uknataus were adored as the gods of love here…”

“Huh?”

“And their believers came to this temple to honor their love in front of the Uknataus, hoping for it to be blessed…”-She said while averting her eyes.

“So… This is like a temple of love…?”

“Yes…”

“Okay… That might forcefully explain the two skeletons, but what about the chest full of treasure? And that weird golem.”

“Well… If what I found was actually true… Those that had a strong belief in the Uknataus actually chose to die in the temple… It seems like they actually did that… And maybe these rooms are like a tomb of sorts…? I’m not too sure. But well, from what I could find, people that truly loved each-other could come to die in this temple, together, and be reborn to be once again together, for the next lives to come…”

“Oh… That’s kind of sweet, I guess. But all these treasures? And the golem?”

“I don’t know… I mean… Maybe the golem is a guardian to protect the resting place of the eternal couple, while the treasure could be the representation of a wish, for the couple to be prosperous in the next life? I mean… That’s the only possibility that comes to mind right now…”

“Ho… So, we just broke into a couple’s resting place, basically stole their stuff, and killed their guardian?”

“… Maybe…?”

“Oh well, that doesn’t sound that bad. I could add that to my CV. A tomb raider.”-I smirk while putting the chest inside my inventory.

“CV? What’s that?”

“Oh, that’s from my world. It’s like a paper that describes everything you’re good in for when you’re looking a new job.”

“… What a weird way of look for a job.”

“That place is just totally different than this one.”

“Oh… Hey… Is there a way for me to actually go there? I’ve been growing curious about that place since you told me the truth.”

“Mm… It’s not like we can’t, but that place is just too boring. But I guess for you it would be wonderous. Oh well, sure, let’s go there sometime. But first, let’s get this place clean.”-I smirk while thinking about all the treasures that we could find here.

“Yei! My adventurous blood is boiling!”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say.”-I shrugged while going out of the room.

After that one, we basically opened every room and took all the treasures from them. Well, almost all of them. It seems like of the ten rooms, only seven of them were actually occupied. The others were totally empty, with only a bed, an opened and empty chest, and a table. Not even a guardian in sight.

“I guess not every room got habituated huh.”-Lorena said while walking in front of the large door at the end of the room.

“Still, we got a lot of things. Seven unopened bottles of wines from who knows when! That’s like a dream!”-I shout while getting close to the door.

“*sigh…* Whatever you say… Let’s just keep going.”

“Sure!”-I put both hands on the door, and tried to move it, but it didn’t even flinch. “Huh?”

“What? You don’t have enough strength to open it? Come on! That’s like half the size of the other door! And this one is made of wood…”-Lorena said.

“It’s not that. The problem isn’t the size or the weight.”-I frowned.

“Then?”

“Divine energy.”

“What!?”

“The door has divine energy protecting it.”-I said to her.

“Are you kidding me? We made it this far only for it to be sealed by some god!?”-Lorena grumped.

“You did say this was a temple to adore some gods, right?”

“Demi-gods!”

“They still have divine blood on them. And who knows, it’s not weird for a demi-god to turn into a true god, you know.”-I shrugged.

“*sigh…* You’re right… Then…? We just go back? I’ve been looking for this place for months…”-She got dejected.

“Well… I could force it and break the thing…”-I said while rubbing my chin.

“You mean… Using that…?”-She asks a little worried.

“Yes. But… I don’t know… I have this feeling that if we were to actually do that, the whole temple would come crashing down, and even if we can make it out, we would be just destroying this place for nothing. Well, we did get those chests full of treasures, but don’t you want to know what’s on the other side of this place?”

“Well… Yes…”

“Then, let’s go back. Let’s look more into it, try to find some way to opening this door.”-I look at her. “What do you say?”

“…”-She looked at the door intently, as if deeply thinking something. “I may know a way…”

“Huh? Why didn’t you tell that before!?”-I ask her while grabbing her shoulders.

“Well…”-She blushed hard while looking away. “Remember how I’ve told you that this temple is like a temple of love? And those that came here, did so to prove their love to the Uknataus to be blessed by them…?”

“Yes, but what does it have to do with this door opening?”-I ask while lifting my eyebrow.

“Well… If I’m not wrong… This should be the door leading to the most important part of the temple… Where the lovers were blessed by the Uknataus… If so… Maybe to enter… We first should show proof of love…”-This time, all her face got red.

“So… You mean… We should act like lovers…?”-I ask her.

“W-well… Kind of… I guess that we should at least try kissing… And see if there’s some reaction on the door…”

“Mm… Sure, I don’t have a problem.”-I said, lessening my grip on her shoulders.

“Really!? Then, we shoul-”-She started to speak, but I just interrupted her.

Quickly letting go of her shoulders, I held her cheeks with both hands while getting closer to her face, joining my lips to her, kissing her deeply while interrupting her talk.

She moaned and gasped a few times in search of breath, and after a couple of minutes, I finally let go of her.

“…”-I looked at the door, and it shined faintly, while slowly opening. “Ho? It did work!”-I shouted.

“W-w-what?”-A somewhat disoriented Lorena was standing there with a lost and completely red face.

“The door. It worked. We just had to kiss.”-I said while pointing at the door.

“Oh… R-right… The d-door… Yes… We kissed… To open the door…”-She got even redder while looking away.

“You’re acting weird.”-I said while frowning at her.

“N-no! I’m not! Come on! The door is almost open! Move!!!”-She shouted while rushing inside.

“Hey, wait! What if there’s more of those guardians inside!?”-I rushed behind her.

Once we got inside, we saw a really simple place. It was an illuminated room, and not exactly with lamps or torches, it was as if the whole place was shining in a reddish-pink color.

“What’s this place…?”-Lorena asked.

The whole place was practically empty, with only the statues of two big birds in the center of the room. The birds were the same as in every engraving, with long tails that easily had a few meters of length.

Their wings were opened and extended, while they held each other close with one of their feet as if actually holding hands, while joining their foreheads in what seemed a truly romantic gesture, for a bird at least. The statues were made of some kind of shining red crystal, that almost makes them feel alive.

“Those must be the Uknates.”-I said while pointing at the statutes.

“Uknataus! How many times do I need to tell you their name? *sigh…*”-Lorena retorted.

“Oh, come on, relax, I’m just messing with you, I remember the name since the first time you said it. It’s just fun to get you all flustered.”

“*sigh…* You’ll be the death of me some time.”-She said while dropping down her arms and head.

“Haha… Relax, there’s no way I’m letting you die.”-I smiled at her. “Even less after that kiss.”-I flicked her forehead.

“Auch! H-hey! Fo-forget th-that k-kiss!!”

“Haha, sure, whatever you say.”-I joked with her before I suddenly turned to where the statues were. As they’ve moved. “Hey.”-I called her, nodding towards the two statues that were now looking at us.

“Wha- What!?”-She suddenly flinched.

“Didn’t know they could move.”-I said while looking at the statues. “Stay behind me.”

“…”-Lorena nodded while going behind my back.

*You two.*

*Are intruders to this sacred temple.*

But statues talked finishing the words of each other. The first voice sounded like a male, while the other one sounded like a female.

“I guess they’re not that happy…”-I whisper Lorena.

*Who would be happy when two intruders came into their sacred place only to steal from our previous guests*-This time, they talked in unison.

*The only saving point, is the love we feel from you both.*-Said then the female voice.

 “Mm? Love?”

“Wh-what!? What love!?”-Lorena got flustered.

“Why are you jumping all of a sudden?”-I asked her.

“I-I-I… I don’t know!”-She said while going back behind me.

*The love you feel for each other, is what made us consider letting you both in here.*

“What? You love me?”-I ask Lorena with a smirk.

“Wh-who would love you!!?? You idiot!”-She shouted at me, before averting her eyes and getting all red like a tomato.

*You may fool yourself, but you can't fool us.*-The male voice started speaking.

*You too are in love with that girl, boy.*-The female voice continued.

“Wh-what? Says who? You freakish pigeons!?”-I shouted back at them.

“Ho… So, you love me too…”-Lorena said while looking down, slightly red and with a dazed face.

“Too? So, you indeed love me…”-I said while looking at her, with my cheeks slightly getting hotter.

“…”-She didn’t answer.

*It seems like the reason she brought you here.*

*Was for her to actually confess her feelings to you.*

“…”-I looked at her open-mouthed. “You really had to take the most roundabout way… Couldn’t you just tell me on a date or something?”

“W-well! It wasn’t my fault! You’re too dense!!! And I thought that maybe being in the temple of love… We… We could… You know…”-She said while playing with her index fingers.

“*sigh…* You could’ve just told me you loved me… You know…”

“But… Isn’t the guy the one that must say that!? Why should I be the one to give the first step!?”

“Well… Either way… I’m happy… That we came…”-I scratched my head while looking away.

“Yeah… Me too…”-She also looked away while playing with her hands.

*We’re always glad to see a new love come to a realization.*

*But you two are still thieves. And as so, must put back what you took.*

“Sorry, but that would be the funds for our wedding, can you both be a little lenient?”-I said towards the two birds.

“W-wedding…”-A dazed voice came from behind me.

*You dare to retort back to us?*-The male voice asked.

*You can only get out of this place if you leave what you took back in their respective rooms.*-The female voice followed.

*And that’s our greatest mercy for those who dared to intrude in our place and eliminate the guardians of eternal love.*-Both voices said in unison.

“Well, I’m sorry. But I already added Tomb Raider to my CV, what would my future employers say if I leave behind the stuff I took? That’s a total failure!”-I said while smirking.

*Then.*-The male started.

*You both shall stay here and perish.*-The female continued.

*Together*-Both voices finished in unison.

*RUMBLE!*

Suddenly, the door behind us quickly closed.

“Lorena. Whatever you do. Don’t move from behind my back.”

“… Um… I can still help you…”-She weakly said.

“Don’t. You’re not a fighter. Just stay back. I’ll keep you safe.”-I said while taking out the same katana from before. “Let’s do this. Jiwa.”-I said while unsheathing the sword and dropping the sheath on the floor.

*Iiing~*

The sword hummed.

*You bring such an ominous sword to our temple.* The male voice sounded while the bird on the right flew up, while the one on the left inhaled air shot a breath of divine energy of a reddish-pink color.

“As if!”-I swing my sword downside up, dividing the breath in two.

*How!? What’s that cursed blade!? How is it able to cut our divinity!?*

“Idiot, you talk too much. Agesta.”-I sent a crimson fire missile towards the bird on the air. But it evaded, before also throwing its own divine breath, while the bird that was there before flew around us.

“*tch.*”-I clicked my tongue before cutting the incoming divine breath with Jiwa and hugging Lorena.

“What!?”-She shouted while I jumped with her in my arms, but still held my neck with her own arms, trying not to let me go.

We timely evaded the incoming bird that tried to tackle us.

{This is going to be a pain. I need to finish things quickly.}-I thought to myself.

“Listen to me, Lorena. I’ll stay up here. You hold me from behind. Got it?”-I ask her.

“Um!”-She nodded.

*You better not forget about us!*-The male voice shouted before shooting a divine breath towards us.

“You shitty bird. I’ll get to you soon.”-Suddenly, from my back, two torrents of fire spread out and formed two wings, which soon materialized to become two long red scaly wings, which I used to get out of the range of the breath. “Lorena, hold on tight!”-I told her as I put her in my back, while she held on tight to my neck, trying not to fall as hard as she could.

*You… You’re not human…*-The female voice said.

“What? Didn’t you notice before? Too much for some so-called gods? *snort*”-I again flapped my wings while moving towards one of the birds, which tried to move away, while the other one fired another divine breath towards my path in order to stop me. But that was perfect.

“Got you.”-I said while stopping and turning quickly towards the bird that shot its breath, accelerating towards it and appearing right in front of it, slashing with my sword.

But it could evade, not before taking a cut on its chest.

*ARGH! What’s that!!!???*-The female voice screamed in pain.

“Surprise. Bitch.”-I smirked, before evading the tackle from the other bird.

*Be careful! That’s sword isn’t normal! It attacked my soul!*-The female voice shouted again while looking at my sword.

*What!?*-The male voice resonated after. *What is that thing!*

“Secret.”-I said while flying towards the female bird. “Now calmly die.”

I tried to swing my sword at the bird, but a divine breath came flying towards me.

“*tch.*”-I clicked my tongue while evading. “You’re a pain in the ass!”-I shouted while throwing my own fire dragon’s breath at the statue.

*AAAARGGHHH!!!!*-The statue tried to evade, but I burned its right-wing. Sadly, it’s still protected by divine energy, so it only got burned, although pretty badly, and it could still somehow land on the floor.

*DIE!*-An enraged female voice sounded before another divine breath came towards me.

“*snort*”-I evaded. “You’re only statues with a little bit of remaining divine energy! It’s that breath the only thing you know to do!?”-I shouted before rushing towards the bird that was on the floor.

It tried to move, but it was slow with a burned wing. Still, the other bird got in the middle of us while spinning, trying to hit me with one of its wings.

“Grave mistake!”-I said before stopping and swinging my sword to meet her wing, cutting a few of its feathers and the tip of her wing.

*ARGH!!*-It fell and crashed against the floor.

“For some called gods… You sure don’t know how to fight.”-I furrowed my brows.

“Um… David… Remember that they are gods of love…”-Lorena suddenly said from my back.

“Oh… Right… I guess that could explain it…”

“And also… They’re just statues… Not the true Uknataus…”-She said again.

“Well… Let’s end this then. I want to eat something and taste those wines we got here!”-I said before evading an incoming divine breath and rushing towards the male bird.

*You’ll pay for this!*

“Maybe. But not today.”-I said as I pierced its chest with Jiwa.

*AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!*

A pained scream of terror resonated in the room.

“Well… I must thank you. You helped us realize our feelings.”-I said while igniting the insides of the bird in a jet-black fire that instantly consumed it while I flew away from it.

The agonizing screams of the bird resonated in the room, while the statue burned in jet-black flames.

“Huff… Huff… It’s kind of hard using those flames to consume a divinity…”-I said to myself.

“Don’t worry… You’ll learn to control them soon enough… I’m sure of it.”-Lorena said behind me.

“Thanks…”-I landed on the floor, letting her get down from my back. “Now… Wait for me… We have a lot of things to talk about.”-I told her before looking at the terrified bird that remained.

It was looking at its partner burn up in black flames.

*You… Monster… What are those flames… WHAT ARE YOU!?*

“You know… All of this could be evaded if you only let us walkout from the temple. But you had to try and kill us…”-I frowned at it.

*You… You’re intruders… You stole from our believers… You…-*

“I know. I’m not saying that what we did was right. But… Well, it’s too late to say anything now. Just perish.”-I said as I rushed towards the hurt bird, piercing its chest while once again invoking the jet-black flames from inside its chest before flying away.

*AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!*-The pained screams resonated once again in the room for a little while.

At least, until all that was left were two black fires burning on the ground, with no trace of the statues remaining.

“*sigh…* With this, it should be over.”-I said while pointing my sword at both flames, moving them towards the closed door, quickly covering it in the black flames. “Huff… Huff… Huff… Huff…”-I was then panting, tired of using the all-consuming flames.

“Are you okay?”-Lorena asked me while coming closer.

“Yeah… Just a little tired… Those flames are really hard to use…”-I said while letting my forehead fell on her shoulder.

She flinched but didn’t push me away. She just embraced me.

“You know… We could have actually evaded this if one of us just confessed… You know…”-I whispered to her while dropping Jiwa and embracing her too.

“But who was the dense one… You idiot… Airhead…”-She whispered back while resting her head on my shoulder.

Meanwhile, Jiwa just floated towards its sheath, before sheathing herself and then coming back to me. After which, I just sent it back to my inventory.

“So… About that wedding you were talking about…”-Lorena suddenly spoke. “When would it be?”

“Hahahaha… Anxious, are we?”-I smirked at her.

“W-w-well! I’ve been waiting too long! You’re the idiot who didn’t confess faster! So, you should at least do this right and make a really big wedding! One that would put any king, queen, emperor, or empress to shame!”-She shouted while backing up a little.

“*chuckle*”-I then kissed her tenderly on her lips. “Relax… We’ll have the best wedding in this whole world. Heck. We’ll even go back to my world and marry there too.”-I smirked at her.

“R-really!?”-She asked with stars on her eyes.

“Yeah… I promise that.”-I once again kissed her, this time deeply, more passionately.

*RUMBLE*

“Oh… I forgot…”-I stopped kissing her.

“Um… What…? What’s wrong?”-She said while looking around.

“Did you forget? That I had the feeling that this whole place would fall down once I destroyed the divinity on the door?”-I smiled.

“…”-She looked at me. “Let’s move out of here!!!!”

“Hahaha, at your orders, my lady!”-I said while hugging her and flying out of the now burned door, making the black flames disappear inside my right arm while passing over it.

After that, it was just a quick fly out of the place, evading falling rocks, columns, and everything that tried to bury us inside that place.

Once we finally made it back to the misty lake and flew out of the valley, we could finally see. How an entire face of the valley’s mountain was crumbling down. Burying the ancient temple under it.

“… I guess we just destroyed years of knowledge…”-I said while carrying Lorena in the so-called princess carry.

“Don’t worry… I documented enough information about that place…”-She said while burying her face on my neck. “So… Can we please go…? Right now… I want to make up for those years we haven’t been together…”-She whispered.

{Damn… I don’t get her… She can be so shy with some things, and so blunt with others…}-I thought to myself.

“Sure. I’m also eager.”-I said, true to my real feels, before kissing her forehead and flying away towards the closest city.