Blessed by Night

After Malachi sent her home, Sei immediately pulled out her phone and contacted Luna to inform her about everything that had happened at the mall and the fact that he was still on the scene.

Because gate breaks are wholly unpredictable and no one can be quite sure what will emerge, both girls were admittedly very worried and it was decided that Luna would suit up personally to check on him.

Currently, the two of them were standing side by side as they supervised the mall cleanup.

After the dungeon boss was defeated, the crack that they originated from finally closed up and the blizzard finally ceased to blow.

Despite that, the piles of snow didn't fade away just because the blizzard was no more and the mall still resembled a snowy mountain peak.

Luna was still replaying the testimony of the survivors in her mind, and she could barely believe what she'd heard.

"A gate break appearing out of thin air... This is insane." She mumbled as she finally freed her hair from it's braided appearance.

At her side, Malachi's face looked to be equally serious. "Luna... did I ever tell you what happened the night I got blessed?"

Surprised by this turn of events, Luna looked at Mal like she didn't understand where he was going with this. "You haven't... tell me about it."

"After I received all of my blessings, Raijin was seemingly worried about me becoming overconfident and warned me not to be complacent.

He spoke of worse things that lie beyond the gates, and I can't help but feel like these spontaneous breaks are only a harbinger of the worse things that will come."

"!..."

Luna looked to be struggling with this sudden revelation and it took a few moments for her usual icy composure to return.

"Do you believe that these 'worse things' will be limited to spontaneous gate breaks or could there be something else?"

Malachi did not answer immediately and instead held out his hand to produce a small golden flame.

He controlled the fire to melt the lingering snow around them while thinking hard about how to answer without scaring her.

"You know I usually like to be optimistic but... I'm honestly expecting the worst case scenario."

Luna nodded and took a moment to begin formulating plans.

If their world was going to be overrun by creatures they had no comprehension of, then that meant they needed to make sure that certain insurances were taken out in advance.

In the midst of her mental calculations, a sudden question surfaced in her mind. "Am I the only one you've told about this?"

Malachi nodded as he continued to absentmindedly melt the snow around them. "I had planned to tell you and all of the girls together, I wanted to prepare you for the idea that this life that we live now might all come to an end some day."

Sei, Aubrey, Aisha, Serana, he had intended to tell all of them quite a while ago, but he couldn't for fear of scaring them.

It may have been a selfish delusion on his part but Mal wanted the girls to enjoy mundane lives and problems for as long as they could before pulling the rug out from underneath them.

In a rare moment of boldness, Luna intertwined her hand with Mal's and gave him a confident and warm smile. "Thank you for telling me... Now at least you do not have to cary such a massive burden alone."

Mal smirked in response as he kissed the back of Luna's hand and earned a small blush from her.

"Burden, huh?" he said thoughtfully. "Maybe it was but... I don't particularly mind carrying things like that if it means my loved ones don't have to. What's the point of all of this power if I cannot protect them from the things that go bump in the night?"

Luna had expected Mal to say something like that, but she couldn't help but find his desire to help others rather sad in that moment.

"I understand why you feel like that Mal... I know how hard the past few years have been for you and your sister, and I know all of the sacrifices that you've had to make."

Malachi's eyes became a bit distant as he recalled those unpleasant memories of working himself to the bone as a method to make ends meet, all so that his kid sister would not have to worry about suddenly becoming homeless in addition to losing her parents.

"I have no doubt that when the apocalypse does come, you will fight alone on the front lines to defend this world and all that you hold dear.

And you will die, like an idiot." She finished.

"...You are just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?"

"I like to think I am, yes." Luna replied with a smirk. "Humans are social creatures by default, and we accomplish more when we all work together towards a goal greater than ourselves.

It can be easy for us to forget because of our powers, but we blessed are still human, Mal. That means that we can fall prey to fatigue, exhaustion, and even death due to overwork."

 Luna suddenly brought her hand up to Mal's cheek and tenderly ran her fingers across it.

"You may be special, but you have to learn to let others help you when you need it. You can be the quarterback if you like, but if you have no linemen to defend you then how are you ever going to win a game?"

"You watch football?"

"I'm a season ticket holder with the bengals."

"Gods you're hot."

"Please focus!" Luna chuckled and suddenly began pulling on Mal's cheek.

"You shouldn't try to carry all of the world's burdens on your own, no matter what the reason may be. You'll only make the women who love you worry needlessly."

"...I cannot say but... I do know that this is the first time I have felt like this in a very long time."

14:13

Mal suddenly stopped smiling as he looked at Luna with an expression of genuine curiosity.

"The women who love me, huh? That include you by any chance?"

The white haired beauty suddenly looked slightly embarrassed and Mal thought that maybe she was not going to answer him.

But after a few seconds, she parted her lips to give an honest answer.

"...I cannot say but... I do know that this is the first time I have felt like this in a very long time."

For a moment, the two simply stared at each other without speaking as they became unaware of the world around them.

It seemed like the two were going to close in for their very first kiss when they both became aware of an eerie silence.

All around them, members of immortal moon were staring at the two with expressions that ranged from 'OMG, really?' to 'it's about damn time.'

Embarrassed, the two quickly put a distance of five feet between each other and tried to return to some sense of normalcy.

"...Think they'll go all the way this year?" Mal suddenly asked.

Luna's expression suddenly became ugly as she immediately understood what Mal was talking about.

"Hell no. Burrow doesn't have enough help."

"Hahaha!"

-

Back at Malachi's apartment, Sei was seated comfortably on the couch while smiling at the scene in front of her.

After getting out of the bath, Anna declined Sei's offer to be driven to a medical facility and instead requested only an ice pack.

Once it was administered, she fell asleep on the couch next to a lightly snoring Serana.

Both girls seemed to be tired beyond belief, and Sei couldn't help but wonder when the last time she'd seen her daughter with a girl friend around her age.

'I should take a picture of this to tease her later...' Sei thought in amusement.

Pulling out her phone, she had just opened the camera and prepared to take a picture when her device suddenly began to vibrate and she received a phone call that she had been anxiously awaiting.

I been reading this new webtoon called ordeal and it's easily within my top 3 of all time. AnathaShesha