Verisimilitude (GI Various x Reader)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

        I felt much better, breathing in the fresh, untainted air of the outside world.

"Such a strong enemy. Who knew the Abyss Order had monsters this powerful among them?" Paimon mutters in disbelief while Lumine was lost in her thoughts. I thought back to what the Abyss Herald had said. It seems like my previous assumption had been right. Lumine's brother had warned the Abyss to not hinder Lumine's journey. There's no other explanation as to why that Abyss Herald would have just left like that after attacking us so suddenly. There's a sort of warmth that fills my chest at the thought that Aether still cares enough about his sister that he would tell the Abyss Order to not endanger her in any way. Paimon notices the brooding expressions on our faces.

"Huh? What is it? What are you both thinking about?" Lumine shakes her head with a sigh.

"Nothing, let's just get out of here." She then turns her attention over to me, eyeing the wound I was holding at my side. "We need to get you somewhere safe where we can address that wound, (Y/N)."

"Oh, right, yeah..." Paimon mumbles. However, before we could take our leave, a voice spoke up.

"So we meet again, a little sooner than I had expected." I glance over in the voice's direction.

"Hey, it's Dain!" Paimon exclaims. Dainsleif stands before us, looking just the same as the last time we saw him. His sapphire eyes wrack over my form and spy the wound I was clutching at tightly with a frown.

"Judging by your expression and appearance, it seems you just experienced something quite strange. Could it be that you encountered an Abyss Herald in those ruins?" He asks. Hah, he must have been tracking that Abyss Herald still.

"Huh!? How did you know that?" Paimon gasps out in disbelief.

"I've been on the Abyss Herald's trail. I didn't expect to find you here as well." He claims.

"Well, we didn't exactly expect to run into that Abyss Herald or you either, but here we are." Lumine nods, agreeing with me.

"And Actually, the Abyss Herald wasn't all we encountered... There was something even stranger than the Abyss Herald in the ruins. But we can discuss that while I help (Y/N) with this wound." And so we found ourselves in the nearby Treasure Hoarder camp explaining what we saw while Lumine helped patch up my wound. Once she was satisfied enough with her handiwork, Lumine turned to face Dainsleif. Dainsleif stood nearby, hand under his chin in thought as he mulled over what he'd been told.

"An inverted Statue of The Seven... holding Abyssal power in its hands? No, I have never seen such a thing during my time fighting the Abyss... though I have had my suspicions. Tell me the rest of what happened in there. So you escaped the ruin depths filled with Abyssal power, and then?" He asks and Paimon continues.

"And then, as we got close to the exit, an Abyss Herald suddenly appeared and blocked our way. We fought a big battle with that thing. Maybe it hasn't gotten too far yet..." He nods.

"Yes, this is a rare opportunity indeed. Come, let's catch up to it." He turns, already preparing to take off after the Abyss Herald.

"Wait, I thought I was the one who commissioned you..." Lumine narrows her eyes at him, however Paimon only shakes her head.

"Let's go! This is a rare opportunity! With Dain helping out, maybe we'll be able to solve more mysteries about the Abyss!" We chase off after Dainsleif. He ends up taking us to where some Abyss Mages were riffling around some abandoned Ruin Guards. We took care of them relatively easy. I had to be mindful about the wound at my side, but Lumine's bandaging seems to be holding up relatively well.