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Emily started crying as she talked about her dad…

"He was a massive idiot and an asshole but… he got better, and I should've recognized that…" Emily sighed. "Despite everything he was still my pops you know? The only father I had…"

"…" Alma remained in silence, as she shed a little tear too. "Mom, dad…" I heard her whispering to herself.

"Hmm…" Sofia sighed, probably recalling her mom.

"…" Martina, I didn't really know her past, but she looked quite sad as well.

"…" Lucifer looked around; Nyx didn't know what to say.

Honestly, I could say a million things to them but, probably none would really help them get through this.

I also lost everything myself, hahah…

It's so painful, it leaves you so empty.

There's little we can even do, or say, to remedy what we've lost.

Those precious people that we loved so much… now gone, forever.

Lucifer too went through the same thing, his entire family… maybe he is also just the same as us at the end.

Nyx here is probably the only one that doesn't quite experience the same, but her biological mother…

I think she wished she could've met her more and stuff, based on what we saw in the Nightmare World.

"Um, we've all lost some beloved family members here, friends, a mom, or a dad, or both… family is really precious, sometimes we don't realize that until we lost them though," I muttered. "But… there's also a new family we can make together, right? All of us here… I know it's hard, I also lost my two parents. Only my brother… and my sister are with me now. And I'm so grateful they exist… I'm fairly sure everyone here still got some family member left, so treasure them a lot and… well, we're family now, right? Or we're trying to be and…"

Ah, I suck at this!

My friends looked at me, their faces slowly changing.

"Hahaha! You're trying so hard!" Laughed Emily. "We get it Maria…!" The full series is hosted on My Virtual Library Empire, known as MV7LEMPYR.

Hey, she's laughing at me?!

Geez.

"Heheh, you tried really hard," Sofia giggled at me. "Thanks though."

Sofia too!

"I know Maria!" Alma nodded cutely, as she extended her hand towards mine, holding it. "I see you as family too… It's not weird right?"

She's so cute!

"Hmph…" Lucifer smiled lightly at me, as he sent me a telepathic message. "You're my family, of course, Maria. You and Nyx are my everything. Don't worry about me, I am happy as long as you and our daughter are with us."

Aww.

"Thanks, Maria…" Martina muttered. "I don't know much either, yeah… My family… well, I lost my mom when I was young. I suppose it's very common for us to have lost someone, Nightmare Realm breaks are so common out there… it's rare to ever find someone with a complete family. But, like the other girls said I… lived a very lonely life. I'm happy we're friends… I-I'm really lucky… Uuh, I know it sounds weird and corny, but I had to say it! Even when that new puppet is weird, I'll do my best to make her my friend at least… And I think it might be a nice exercise for me, I might have needed that. I'm sorry if I sounded unsatisfied before, Maria. Thanks for helping."

"O-Oh? It's alright Martina," I giggled. "I am also a bit worried about Egolatra… but let's hope for the best, I suppose! Alright, everyone is coming our way, so we'll have a huge feast!"

As the minutes went by, the rest of my family and friends arrived, and we all joined together into a huge feast, we talked many things, the monsters they hunted and the things we hunted as well…

And despite being in the middle of a dangerous place, we enjoyed a peaceful meal, together, as a big family, even when all of us belonged to different worlds, our bonds all brought us together, and a sense of "home" was created, as long as we were like this.

The day was still young though, it sun had yet to fall into the horizon, so with the few hours left, I wanted to train and hunt some more, even if it was tiring, with my Paladin's Sacrifice, the girls recovered their energy quickly.

And about those that came from Yggdrasil? Well, we were all already superhumans, so we can work for a whole week, even little Celes!

"Alright, so where are we going next then?" Partner wondered, resting her arm on my shoulder. "The whole island is clean though, no more monsters at all… I wonder if the people out there are going to get upset?"

"It's whatever, this place needed some cleansing either way…" I shrugged. "For now though, there's a place I want to investigate, everyone. The place where that giant Kaiju and the Nightmaresaurs came from is probably a huge underground jungle! Wanna come along?"

"U-Underground Jungle?!" Nia asked. "Wait, how is that possible? Wouldn't it be a cave? Or is it a dungeon?"

"No dungeon," I said. "It's as weird thing yeah, so we're investigating… Alma, Emily, Sofia, Martina, are you coming?"

The girls looked at one another, a bit confused, a bit surprised too, but all were willing.

"Sure!" Sofia nodded.

"Wait an underground jungle… Like the Hollow Earth theory?!" Emily asked. "I'm in! I want to see more dinosaurs!"

"Sounds so cool!" Martina said. "I'm in too!"

"I-I am not too fond of the idea, but everyone is going so… I-I guess I'll tag along? Heheh…" Alma giggled nervously.

"Don't worry Alma, I'll protect you," I winked at her. "So let's go! I already found a huge hole where the Kaiju came from, follow me!"

We ran across the jungle, finally reaching the massive crater left behind.

And indeed, deep inside, we could see a jungle! It was the same color as the one in here, and it went really deep.

There were also light sources down there, almost as if there was a second sun, it was weird as hell.

And so interesting!

Maybe this world has even more mysteries and secrets than just the Nightmares?

Or perhaps that place down there is all interconnected to them…

Whatever the case, time to go on another little adventure before the grand finale.

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