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"I'm so happy to see you two again!"
Maria hugged them both tightly. Takeshi and Laura relaxed at last, certain it was truly her.
They had missed her deeply for so long. Despite trying to stay strong and brave, tears broke through anyway.
"Have you been well?" Maria asked with a gentle, motherly smile. "Have you two grown more, or is that just my imagination?"
"We hit a growth spurt…!" Takeshi said.
"It's because we evolved again," Laura explained. "We've been hunting monsters nonstop and polishing our skills to the limit."
"I see…" Maria smiled warmly.
Although they had not yet obtained or manifested anything like a Divine Ember.
There was indeed sothing present, born from their endless effort and combined talents.
Their Unique Skills, the Magic derived from them, and their cultivated powers as Homunculi.
It all converged into one point, even if they had not yet realized it.
A tiny light—not even comparable to an ember.
A Spark.
A Pseudo Divine Spark.
Without devouring gods, without battling deities, without facing life-or-death crises that risked everything.
Through constant, relentless effort and endless self-refinent…
They had achieved it.
"You did it, huh?" Maria asked with a gentle smile, giggling softly. "I can feel it."
"What?" Takeshi looked confused.
"What can you feel?" Laura asked, equally puzzled.
"You two are at the beginning steps of developing divine power," Maria explained.
The siblings gasped, exchanging stunned glances.
"W-What?!"
"Really…"
"Yes, really!" Maria nodded with another delighted giggle. "And I've brought tons of gifts for you! We visited so many worlds! You're about to hear all about it!"
"Yaaay!"
As the two celebrated, they spotted Maria's family rushing over to greet everyone once more.
They had all grown so strong, changed far more than the siblings had imagined.
They had endured so much, yet even then…
They remained the sa family.
"Nyx! You're so strong now!"
"Celes too!"
Takeshi and Laura stared in awe at their new power levels.
"Heheh, we'll teach you so you get strong too!" Nyx said with a bright smile. "I'm glad to see you again!" She hugged them both tightly.
"Yeah!" Celes added. "We've got a lot to talk about—you'll be surprised."
After reuniting with all their familiar faces, they greeted the new additions to the party.
People Maria had brought from other worlds.
New friends to et, with fresh perspectives to learn from.
"This is lianna and Ferleen, siblings from Verdanthral, a world of jungles and beast people," Maria introduced.
"It's good to see you all," Ferleen said, bowing respectfully.
"Oh! Are we the sa age?! Let's play later!" lianna exclaid, wagging her fluffy tail eagerly.
"This is Alma… a girl I fell in love with from a world called Azure Star—the first world we visited," Maria explained.
"Hi!" Alma waved with a warm, friendly smile. "This village is so lovely, Maria! Truly like I'm in a dieval fantasy world of my dreams!"
"And lastly, this is my mother and my sister… from Earth, where my first life began," Maria said.
"S-So you went to Earth!" Takeshi said.
"Amazing…" Laura murmured. "Nice to et you! I'm glad you could et Mom…"
"So you're the lovely kids she told about…" Jessica smiled warmly. "Thank you for keeping my daughter company and helping her through her darkest tis… Without all of you there for her, she might never have found her way back ho."
"Yeah, I hope my sister hasn't given you too much trouble, haha," Laura laughed heartily. "Also, girl, do we happen to have the sa na?! Hahaha! What kind of coincidence is that? Hahaha! Maybe I should make you my disciple."
"Y-Yeah…!" Laura giggled. "I didn't expect that, hehe—Wait, disciple?"
"Takeshi and Laura are like —they're souls reincarnated here," Maria explained. "But they co from much older ti periods."
"Yeah, it's weird like that!" Laura said.
"Hm," Takeshi nodded.
"Oh my! Really?" Jessica asked. "Now that's interesting…"
"We should chat about that while we drink sothing," Laura suggested.
As they talked, more people ca running to greet Maria—first, the goblin family.
"Ohooo! Maria! Master! You're back!" An old, perverted-looking goblin with a long white beard rushed toward her, hands outstretched toward her chest.
"Quit it, old man!" A younger goblin man smacked him on the head with a stick, sending the pervert sprawling.
"Auntie! Auntie Maria is back! And Auntie Eraldine, and Auntie Partner, and Uncle Lucifer, and Uncle Jonathan, and big sis Nyx and big bro Celes and…!" An adorable goblin girl kept chattering, greeting everyone excitedly. "Oh! And a lot of new faces! Hiii!"
It was the wise yet perverted Goblin Elder, Gobagi; the Goblin Chief, Gobu; and his dear daughter, Gofumin.
"Hey you three! Glad to see you all! Hahaha, old man Gobagi, you're the sa as always, huh?" Maria laughed heartily.
"E-Ehehh…" Gobagi giggled, quickly composing himself. "Welco back, master. We've been helping the village prosper as much as we can."
"Indeed, you were absent for almost three months, but thankfully no major events occurred. We've had plenty of ti to develop further," Gobu said with a firm nod.
"We got bigger!" Gofumin bead.
"I can tell!" Maria said, genuinely shocked.
They had grown dramatically. They had already evolved into Hobgoblins before, but now they had ascended into a Unique Race blending Hobgoblin and Orc traits.
They stood much taller and broader, with powerful muscles—especially the n—while Gofumin had blossod into a beautiful young lady.
The most striking difference: each bore a single horn on their forehead.
The horn's color varied depending on the new magic they had developed, as they explained.
"The Soul Book says we're called Gobheralds," Gobu said. "My horn is brown because I developed Earth Magic."
"Mine's yellow—Light Magic!" Gobagi added.
"And mine's green—it's Nature Magic!" Gofumin smiled proudly.
"I see! That's so wonderful! You've all grown stronger," Maria said, nodding. "Thank you for all your efforts maintaining the village so far…"
As they spoke, more people continued arriving.
A pair of blazing ghosts—once vampires—approached with their signature flowery speech and flamboyant personalities.
Silvio and Francesco!
"Master! Finally you have returned to our humble village!"
"Long have we awaited your return, our dear mistress of the night!"
Maria smiled and laughed as she hugged their blazing forms.
"Hey guys! Thank you for working so hard—Hm?"
She noticed sothing extraordinary about them imdiately.
They were no longer resentful ghosts.
In fact, very little ghostly or cursed energy remained within them!
Yet they had not passed on or faded away.
"You guys…!"
"Heh, you've noticed!"
"Right?"
Both quickly materialized their bodies. They looked almost identical to their living vampire selves—except with red skin, fiery horns on their foreheads, and intense, blazing auras.
Most striking of all: tiny blazing wings on their backs and long, fiery, pointed tails.
"We've beco Blazing Devil Spirits!" they announced in unison, spreading their arms wide.
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