Ethan moved a finger around his eye and cleaned it off, then stared at Arael for a second, unsure what to say.

At this time, the angel’s eyes widened and she realized she was still in the presence of her summoner.

She quickly wiped her tears and bowed respectfully. "I apologize for that. Are there any more tasks you might have of me?"

Ethan was quiet for a moment, then said, "It’s okay. You don’t have to hold it back."

Arael looked at him in the eye, then lowered her gaze with a sad look, and said nothing more.

Ethan sighed and walked closer. He slid a hand beneath her chin, gently cupping her jaw and lifting her face before letting it fall away. "For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you had to go through that."

She nodded calmly but said nothing more. Then Ethan tapped her lightly on the shoulder and made his way back into the main building.

Arael stared at him as he continued moving.

But for Ethan, aside from the fact that her memories were a mess and only showed flashes, a few other things didn’t quite add up.

From the memories, she always possessed her colorful wings, but those tattoos were a different case. They were never on her skin as a child, and neither did she have them on her in her dying moments.

There was another matter here that made no full sense. The age and body stature difference. In her dying moments, she was only a growing kid, no more than ten perhaps if you compared by human age. But this summon here was a proper adult-looking woman.

He gave this a thought as he walked, then suddenly remembered something and mentally asked the system to pull up her notable limit.

[Notable Limits: Incomplete Manifestation - Due to being rejected by her people, Arael never reached her true potential]

"Hm..." he muttered, then asked the system the only plausible question in mind. "Did Arael, by any chance, grow while being a spirit in the Well of the Undying?"

[Yes.]

Ethan’s eyes widened at that. Spirits were meant to remain as they were after their deaths and did not naturally grow any further. So this made zero sense.

She was grew powerful even in the land of the dead? He thought to himself.

[Arael is a special variant of her kind, one who stands out even amongst other beings carrying the essence of divinity.]

[She is an existence that threatens a long-existing order of things.]

"Damn," he said, then smiled a bit. "I see why they made sure to kill her."

Then his eyes widened with another realization, and so he asked to clarify. "Will her active presence as a summon not make it possible to be targeted again by the same people?"

[Not at this time. She exists as a spirit, which means she is classified as dead. This status veils her presence from detection by divine beings.]

[This may change if you draw direct attention to yourself.]

"Hm..." Ethan muttered before mentally willing the system away from sight. He wondered what he could possibly do to draw the attention of divine beings.

However he chose not to give it too much thought right now. Then, casting the flight spell Ars Levitas again, he gained height and entered into his room from the balcony.

His landing had stirred Hayley up a bit, and by the time he walked back to the bed, she had almost sat up.

"Hey... you left me... alone again..." she said in a half-asleep voice, her words dragging, slow and drowsy, with her eyes barely open.

Ethan smiled without saying anything as he walked the room’s length to the bed.

He sat into the bed and slid both legs in. Without warning, as if she was just waiting for that moment, Hayley adjusted herself and extended her upper body along his lap, resting her head on his thigh while crossing her arms over his waist.

"Don’t go..." she muttered incompletely before quickly falling into sleep again.

Ethan’s gaze widened just a little as she adjusted onto him, then he sighed with resignation and even began stroking her hair absentmindedly.

Most of his thoughts going back to Arael’s situation.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

-

The next morning...

Ethan and Hayley faced each other on one of the living room’s couches and they discussed over the last day, concerning Ishtar.

Hayley listened quietly through most of it, while taking in a sip from the teacup she had been given by Francesca.

"I’m intent on making progress with understanding whatever that power of hers is today..." he said, then turned towards a stopwatch he pulled from his pocket.

"She should be down any minute now." Then he turned his head towards the stairs.

However, without warning, there was a sudden burst of smoke right there at the living room, with Albedo and Arael reappearing in front of Ethan.

Hayley was taken aback by the suddenness, evident from her widening gaze. "Woah."

But Ethan wasn’t exactly surprised by it.

"Wolf lady and summoner..." Albedo said in the sound of a dramatic presenter, gesturing with both hands extended towards Arael like a showman revealing a prize. "I present to you, this hot-ass lady!"

Arael stood beside her, dressed in a white sleeveless turtleneck top and a black high-waisted skirt. Her long black hair fell past her shoulders, and the colorful tattoos covering her arms and legs were on full display.

She looked calm, composed, and almost as though she didn’t care. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Both Hayley and Ethan stared without any visible reaction on their faces, and Ethan said, "She looks pretty normal, Albedo..."

"Huh??" Albedo exclaimed. "Does she not look different?"

"No," Ethan said simply.

"Tch." Albedo clicked her tongue, then said, "Maybe also blame Valerie here. Girl’s got so big an ass that most of her good clothes won’t fit tattoo hottie over here."

Arael looked between them both quietly like it was her being spoken of.

Ethan’s gaze widened a bit. "Don’t tell me you went through Valerie’s things to get this."

"Of course. Where’d you think I’d get a change of clothes in the first place?" she asked, having this face of genuine wonderment as to why her summoner expected something else.

"Christ! That was not what I meant when I said... ugh!..." Ethan shook his head, while rubbing his temples as he felt the frustration building.