[GATE: World Divers]

After calming down the furious girl...

Leah sat by the edge of the balcony's railing, cross legged and huffing furiously.

Han sighed and looked behind him.

A few debris and rubble greeted him and a few clouds of dust and smoke.

"Fine, jeez. I'll continue, just calm the hell down."

Leah scoffed and made her naginata disappear into a whirl of blue sparks.

"I am calm, now go on or else I'm seriously gonna put you in a hospital bed."

Han found a new comfortable spot on the statues broken head and tried remembering as much of the story as possible.

After a few short moments he finally readied up what ever details were left.

" Where was I again? Right, so after she found another new Relic to play with, she experimented it on a couple who were falling out of love. The church's people were here to witness the spectacular sight as the two were able to regain their feelings for each other, the people were ecstatic again since old Northridge was suffering from a dying population and needed to last a few more generation..."

After the success of the priestess power, she became the whole talk again.

She used the new relics power without taking any breaks, even when she said that she'll "Responsibly use it." The priestess used it relentlessly, the next generation there were enough for them to last further.

The priestess did not stop sadly...

Goddess of love, was then added onto here title, now that there were enough people overpopulation wasn't in their worried just yet. The relic that made people fall in love, made her more alluring and attractive in the eyes of others, that also meant for monsters as well.

The relic emitted an other worldly aura that even they couldn't even see their beloved priestess, they felt her presence. Her presence only grew the more people worshipped her, thus attracting monsters from beyond the walls.

It were a few hordes once every months, then two to three hordes every month, then turned to 5 hordes of monsters that raised in Class and sometimes even Rank.

Every month became a weekly occurrence, the walls kept being rampaged and attacked but the citizens were safe.

For now...

There were four walls that protected the old Northridge, the inner wall was made for those who were rich or had high status, like the Priestess for example and the king and queen.

The outer walls were those common people, the second wall was a bit more privileged people who were able to earn a living and if they are lucky, they'll be put in the third wall.

"Northridge doesn't have any walls though?"

Han looked at Leah and thought to himself...

"They were broken down probably, the new Northridge is already strong enough without the walls."

He yawned and laid down on the stones abnormally smooth surface and then continued telling the story.

"The city was no longer short of people, and they would soon get a new generation, the priestess was still young that time so she had all the time in the world to become addicted to her new toy. Eventually the the kids grew up and made children of their own, what a happy ending right?"

Han laughed and took out some food from his pocket.

Leah did not have the appetite and thought to herself for a few moments.

A comfortable silence finally gave way!

Han was actually just seeing if Leah, who was given an ending that didn't give her an answer, could figure out or atleast come close to it.

Leah glared at Han and closed her eyes to think some more.

' This slum rat, I swear I'm gonna beat him to a pulp! '

Han was just being a pain in the butt!

This story of a fake goddess in the North wasn't that big, especially for the rich who teach their children much more important history lessons like Subaru, the deity of the north from thousands of years ago.

There were other gods as well, the one in the South, the one in the East...

There were lesser deities as well, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest...

There were other beings that are more eye catching, only the fake goddess was popular with the slum rats of Northridge

She was the reason for their way of life after all.

Han took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he knew Leah would atleast figure it out. He put in some details that would be easy to guess what'll happen anyway, so there was no need to spoil the fun.

***

The Priestess.

Goddess of justice, truth and lies.

Goddess of love, affection and life.

Continuing the story it would go very badly, after the population of old Northridge was back to its state, they were able to function more properly and the elders of the previous generation will finally get their rest.

The Priestess, again, was no longer needed and she did not like that at all!

She continued to use the relic secretively and the more she used it, the more aura she emitted making people look at her affectionately, as for the monsters that dwell beyond the walls they feel irritated, attracted, and aggravated by this aura.

The monster attacks grew much more,more and more! It was to the point the cracks that appeared in the outer walls became much more worrisome, however it was still far from breaking and the kingdom even went to fix and reinforce it, it was all good...

Right?

Pfft! Nope not at all!

The population grew and grew and so did the monster attacks from behind the walls.

Apparently once the new generation grew up, they were not affected by the relic meaning they do not feel anything for the priestess.

They do not feel charmed by her but they still could not resist the pull of heart strings, so more families will be made and more children

That was the first generation of the Slum rats...

Leah got to a very accurate conclusion and sighed, looking at Han, she said in an even tone:

"Since you and your ancestors were born due to the Priestess relic, you were not charmed and brainwashed. But you still were not able to resist being pulled into a family."

Han nodded approvingly.

"She's smart, to think she'd get to an accurate conclusion. As expected of a daughter that's part of the Middle Clans." Han thought to himself and then flashed her an amused grin.

Seeing this creeped Leah out and then she continued:

" Very long after, the first walls broke and the people that lived in the outer walls were rampaged and killed. The survivors, how little or large, got into the second walls. Just an easy guess, the higher ups of the second wall were burdened by the rise of population and food grew scarce and resources plundered, and people went into fight or die. Crime became more frequent, stealing and illegal things I'm sure."

Leah paused thinking more again.

Han did not mind, he was rather amused and happy seeing someone learn of his ancestors history, a privileged person no less.

"How comforting..."

He muttered to himself wistfully...

***

Back at Northridge GAO headquarters, an elf girl is currently behind bars

' Not good... I won't be able to help master...'

She looked worried and frustrated.

Why and how did things turn out to be like this?

The door opened from behind the cells and she sighed once more. She got up and walked towards the bars, she scanned the woman up and down.

Eventually landing on a name tag:

"Raven"

Raven raised her eyebrow looking at the elf girl, she looked like a teenager, but elves in these parts don't look their age so she might as well be some old hag.

"What's your name and why do you have this mask."

She held up the kitsune half mask and showed it to the elf girl.

She smiled faintly and said in a cold tone:

"How about you let me go and take these cuffs off me, is this how humans treat their elders?"

"Cut the crap and speak!" Raven spat angrily and grabbed the elf girl by her collar, pressing her harshly on the bars.

She groaned and laughed

"Ha ha... Those two children, they're at the cathedral aren't they?"

Ravens eyes twitched and pulled her more firmly.

" What about the cathedral?"

The two other guards behind her looked at each other at this scene and suddenly one of their phones rang.

BEEP!

BEEP!

BEEP!

Three beeps.

Ravens face grew pale slightly, the guards also froze in place and terrified.

The elf girl laughs and then sighed.

"Sage, call me Sage. Now how about you bring me out of this cell and take me to the cathedral... Before anything else happens, and trust me there will be something happening."

Raven flashed her an angry looked and reluctantly pulled out the keys of the cell and the chains that were not making her able to cast magic.

"Do anything else and I'll feed you to my crows."

"Oh please, just because you're a Warden Rank, doesn't mean you can beat me."

She flexed her wrists and walked along with Raven and the two guards.

She looked awfully calm despite the situation happening.

Raven clicked her tongue and summoned her sword just in case and head up the flight of stairs, the headquarters were in a panick.

"You do know what's happening right?"

Raven asked annoyed and frustration written on her face.

Sage gave her an amused look and giggled, making the two guards blush for some reason...

"A Rift is about to tear open inside Northridge's and will cause havoc."

They passed a few doors and then exited the headquarter building and out on the open where the air can be felt...

The air was thin and was flowing to a single direction.

"You're awfully calm, Ms. Sage."

"Indeed, normally people would have been deathly pale, a natural Rift hasn't opened near Northridge for a decade now."

Raven lingered and watched as the elf named Sage looked at the sky with a smile.

"Unless it isn't natural, or is it?"

Sage turned her head and snatched the kitsune mask from her hands swiftly and hung it on her waist belt.

"Could a Rift be called man-made if it wasn't made by human hands?"

Raven was now more confused and mind boggled by her question.

What kind of non human could make Rifts!?

***

Back at the cathedral...

Han and Leah's communicators beeped thrice.

What's more is that it sounded loud for the both of them as well.

Han was confused as he joined late of becoming an GAO agent, while Leah who knew and read about everything there is to know was deathly pale.

"Hey what does this mean? And why is it so loud?!"

Leah looked at him unable to speak, only then did another voice come from afar just to Hans left:

" You are very uninformed young man."

" You..."

Only then did Leah finally was able to speak.

She recognized that voice, that face, that smooth black hair and the dark eyes that looked more like the emptiness of the sky.

" A Rift is about to tear open, and I believe our host has been waiting."

The man glanced to Leah's far right and only then did they feel the suppressive stench of a monster.

"Too late fool, the three of you are coming with me..."

The voice was deep and horrifying, coming from a large creature.

The skin was liked burnt charcoal and the voice sounded like a zombie trying to sing, at the same time there was another figure from a different balcony, this one more humanlike and possessed two things that weren't black like charcoal...

One was a scale and one was a charm wrapped around it's neck.

Before Leah and Han could even react, the space inside the cathedral morphed and everything was turned dark with the only light being from the man with pitch black robes.

"First time being in a Rift?"

He calmly asked, Leah and Han felt sick and we're viscously annoyed.

Han and Leah both screamed:

"Of course not damn you!!"

"I should've stayed a slum rat..."

And then their voices faded and the two shadow figures earlier followed behind.

The outside was in shambles, the cathedral shook and a blinding light flashed bright into the sky and for a moment everything went dark.

...

Just right Infront of the cathedral, a man with bluish dark hair and blue eyes appeared walking with a cane.

He couldn't walk any further than where he stood.

He wasn't strong or had the will power currently to resist a Rift's pull.

"I wonder... I've been dying to get my 50 Rift hops, what if I just..."

"Hold it."

A stern voice rang out from behind him and he turned around.

Oowashi was there, now fully armored and using gauntlets with spikes on its knuckles.

"You crazy old man, you do know this Rift is different right? You got a death wish?"

The man laughed and turned his face back at the cathedral, its surroundings looked like they were tinted black meaning the barrier was already formed.

Going in would mean not being able to go back out.

"This has something to do with the Priestess from centuries ago."

He said and took a few steps back and suddenly summoned a floating pillow...

What a weird item.

"Are the Gate Divers arriving?"

He asked and Oowashi then took out a tablet, giving it a good quick scan.

"The kids inside will die by the time they get in here..."

She lingered for a while then added:

"Well atleast maybe on the brink of death."

The man chuckled and then closed his eyes, he had a weird smile on his handsome face, that look could probably kill dozens of girls in just a glance.

Well looks don't kill so lucky them.

"They have a hard challenge awaiting them but they've got company, a non hostile one atleast..."

A vague memory opened up in his mind.

That same man was reported just several days ago from this agent named Raven.

- A demon? Doesn't matter, a god? Maybe. But I've killed many. No one is a match for me.

- What about the Deities of the North, East, and the South?

- Them? They wouldn't dare try to offend me, neither will I. If I did then Inner Grid would have collapsed a long time ago.

"Hahh if only I could enter the Rift... See it's destruction and it's entire world breaking..."

Wouldn't that be a sight?