Watching Shiro leave, Asmodeus stood in silence before curling his lips into a smile.
"Hmm… perhaps my cover is blown?" He muttered while rubbing his chin.
"Though my disguise isn't like the ones that others use. Perhaps it's that skill she used with her eyes."
Shaking his head, Asmodeus double checked his disguise before making his way out.
'As long as I don't step out of line too much, brother shouldn't be able to complain. Though I am doing her a favour no? Still I'm surprised the destroyer is actually a girl like Shiro. The gods are so worried about a woman bringing destruction while she is working hard to solve things. Perhaps I should bless her myself so that they can't see her true identity.' Thinking to himself, he made his way out of the realm and joined everyone at the research base.
###
Taking the elevator down, Shiro could see the crystals clearly being bigger than before. There was also a strange flicker of energy that pulsed through each crystal. Similar to a heartbeat, the pulses would let out a thumping sound which got louder the closer they got to the egg.
Seeing the worried researchers who were compiling a document to be sent once the information was confirmed, Shiro could guess that it was a recent discovery.
Since she knew it was an egg, it wasn't too much of a shock for there to be a heartbeat.
"What's happening?" Nan Tian called out with a small frown.
Looking over in surprise, the leader of the researchers quickly jogged over to Nan Tian. Before speaking to him, she bowed to Shiro in respect since this was the woman that changed their lives.
"Sir, after the last report that I had sent, the life force around the area started to drop sharply as everything was being absorbed into the main crystal. An hour before your arrival, we heard the first heartbeat and more followed. Most of our equipment started to malfunction as it was unable to analyse the main crystal properly. Each pulse seemed jam the computers for a short while.
"With how frequent the pulses are, we don't have enough time to analyse the crystal properly. However, with the limited equipment that we were able to gather, we have made some progress in finding out what exactly is happening." She reported as she handed a tablet to Shiro and Nan Tian.
Flicking through the pages of the tablet, Shiro could rather interesting in what the pulses were since her nanotech shouldn't be jammed this easily.
Reading the changes and the statistics that the research leader had compiled, Shiro sat down and tapped the table before opening her mouth.
"Madison, Helion, Chen Yu, Keiko, Kanae, Misu, Esil, Estrella, Iziuel, Syradil, Revel, Lucifer, Belphegor, Mammon, Beelzebub, Satan and Leviathan, I want you to form a perimeter around the egg. Keep everything away if possible and try not to touch the crystal. If there are any portals being formed, report first then act. If gods appear, back off and regroup. Nan tian, Silvia, Aarim, Nimue and Asmodeus, I want you to stay with me for now. We'll investigate the egg while the others keep this place safe. During the investigation, anything else that happens is not our concern. When the second half arrives, leave the protecting to the others." Shiro said as she looked towards Madison.
"Madi, can you take charge of the surface since you're the second strongest person here?" Shiro asked with a smile.
"Of course. I'll keep everyone safe since it's the job of the tank." Madison grinned as she slammed her fist against her chest.
"Mn. Let's not waste any time now." Shiro chuckled as she stood up.
"Let's see, Miss Rin, I want you to organise everyone so that you can evacuate at a moment's notice should anything go wrong. As you are the leader, the responsibility is yours to handle." Shiro smiled as Rin was flustered for a moment before nodding her head.
"Of course your highness. I'll make sure everyone is safe. I swear with my life." She bowed.
"Haha sure but make sure you're safe as well. It's our job to make sure no one dies and it's your job to get everyone to safety while we fight." Shiro patted her shoulder before gesturing for her team to follow her while Madison gestured to the others.
Just as they reached the door, Madison raised her fist towards Shiro.
"Good luck down there." She smiled as Shiro chuckled.
"Good luck up there."
Bumping fists with Madison, the two teams went their separate ways.
As they were walking down the stairs to the underground lab that is built around the base of the egg, Shiro glanced over at Nimue.
"Fancy hopping in again? It's been a while." Shiro asked as Nimue shrugged.
"Sure. I'll keep an eye on your body just in case you decide to injure yourself heavily." Nimue said as she transformed into a stream of water that wrapped around Shiro's arm before disappeared.
"Ah about that, I also have that covered. Shiro, here's a rough summery of my new spell. While I do not like having to live test this, I might have to should the situation arise." Aarim said as she handed Shiro a small document about her skill.
The draw backs, cost, cooldown, description, uses and experiments she had done with it were all included so that Shiro could plan it out.
Giving the document a read, Shiro blinked her eyes in surprise.
"Interesting… We'll have to look at it once we head back. It's similar to my skill with time but rather than controlling time, yours is more controlling their state of being." Shiro muttered before storing the document away.
"Yep. It was something I developed while trying to help your friend. In terms of actually healing her though, I still think only you can do it but researching her body has yielded decent results for my research." Aarim nodded while creating a mana stick for herself.
"Did you model it after cigarettes? Pretty sure a pill would have worked." Shiro chuckled.
"Not really. When I work I have the urge to chew on something so I figured a stick would be better." Aarim replied.
"Fair enough then. Oh right, before I forget, Silvia when do you plan on tying the knot with Chen Yu? You two have been living with one another for quite a while now. I'm rather eager to see mini you." Shiro grinned as she haven't teased Silvia in a while, especially since everyone had been busy with everything going on.
Hearing this, Silvia coughed heavily as a blush appeared on her face.
"Well… I mean… We did think about it. But well…. Erm with everything going on we wanted to wait a bit before having a baby." Silvia stuttered as Shiro curled her lips into a grin.
"Oho~ So you want to wait till things calmed down before having a baby. But I happen to notice you never told me when you're going to marry unless you already have something planned." Shiro asked as Aarim perked her ears up in interest.
"About that. Cough… He already proposed. Since it happened yesterday, I was thinking of telling everyone today but I didn't think it was a good time with everything happening." Silvia said as she hid her face.
"Ara, so fast. Chen Yu is quite brave isn't he." Aarim blinked her eyes.
Taking off her glove, Silvia showed them the engagement ring on her left ring finger.
Seeing this, Shiro immediately offered her congratulation as she was the first person from the original party to get engaged.
Naturally, Aarim and Nan Tian offered their congratulations as well while Asmodeus stood by the side with a respectful smile.
"So when's the wedding? Is there an important date that you two have decided on?" Shiro asked as Silvia nodded her head.
"Yeah, it's only a few months away but we plan on having our wedding on the anniversary of when we first met." Silvia smiled happily as Shiro could see that her entire aura was full of joy. Seeing this, she couldn't control her smile as it was a nice feeling to see her friend so happy.
"I'll make your wedding grand then." Shiro grinned as she had planned on making it a big event in the city. After all, this is the wedding of one of her closest friends. She couldn't slack.
"Ah you don't have to. I might die of embarrassment!"
"Pft nonsense. Who doesn't know about you flirting with Chen Yu in public." Aarim laughed as they joked on their way down to the egg.
Meanwhile, Asmodeus couldn't help but rub his nose as he felt like a sixth wheel in this conversation.
