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Celeste seemed to have never heard such words in her life before. Or maybe, not in such a meaning. Experienced people, parents, telling her what she did wrong, and that she still had a way to improve, somewhere to go after all of this.
She looked into her own hands filled with scars, as tears began flowing out of her eyes rapidly, she began to sniffly as she nodded.
"I understand…" She cried. "I'm sorry… I-I'll do everything I can…"
"You don't have to cry over it." Sighed my mother. "Ugh, now you make me feel bad, it feels like I made a child cry."
"Well we kind of did…" My father said.
"You are not making things any better honey." My mother looked back at my father.
"Celeste… Before we continue this conversation. I want to learn more about you. We… we want to learn more. Tell us, why did you do this? What brought you to do this? Each time I saw you before, I always thought you were a good girl deep down, maybe a bit wounded, maybe a bit scarred emotionally, but you gave off the feeling of someone good. It felt as if you forced yourself to do these things." Said Ninhursag.
"Well… I can tell you everything… But I first… I want to ask you something…" Celeste said.
"Go ahead." My father said.
"The other cultists… did you kill them all?" Celeste sighed.
"Not all." Said my father.
"We only ended killing those that we killed out of self-defense, but we mostly aimed to incapacitate them. We couldn't simply incapacitate them all easily either." My mother said.
"I… I killed two myself…" I said. "I was desperate and my mother's life was being threatened…"
"It's fine. I am not going to get mad at you or something Sylphy. You did what you had to do in your situation anyways…" Celeste said. "I am nobody to teach other about morals, not at all… Are the survivors here? Are they okay?"
"Yeah, we have interrogated a few, but most have severe memory loss. Have you lost any of your memories?" Asked my mother.
"I don't know, I will have to think about what I lost first, it would be better if you interrogated me first in that case." Celeste said.
"Very well…" My father said. "After the interrogation is done, you'll go on about your backstory."
"Alright… I am willing to do what I can." Said Celeste.
After that, Celeste was interrogated about several things. From the whereabouts about the organization, to the ones that granted them power, and everything else. She seemed to, unlike the rest, remember it all. It seems that the memory loss was tied to some sort of magic or effect within the divine protection of the gods, but because I destroyed these divine protections using the Curse, she didn't suffered the side effects.
In resume, she said a group of shady people showed out of nowhere. They said they were "apostles of the evil gods" and came from the Demon Continent, they held special magic items and were amazingly strong. They had a strong connection with the evil god of dungeons and abyss, which they used their divine protections to enhance the strength of the demons of Eastgrain who formed the organization.
They had the power to control space using special items named [Artificial Dungeon Cores], using such strange items, they were able to control the Dungeon Breaks and bring monsters out in different places or areas, provoking all the incidents.
"Abyssal Eyes…" My father said.
"This organization never existed before the Demon King died." My mother said.
"They said they also wanted you… They helped us and all just because you were in that city. The major target was you." Said Celeste.
"Us…" My father thought. "So that time Sylphy and Aquarina were attacked… So the Evil Gods are targeting us, those damned monsters…"
"To think the Evil Gods would be so fixated on us. They're unlike any enemy we have fought before. Stronger than any mortal, and we cannot even defeat them. The only thing we can do is ask the gods, but they're… I don't know, I believe they would not even care if we died at this point, they can always find replacements. We are mostly by ourselves on this." Sighed my mother.
"But we managed to fend them off at the end. Gods still cannot simply attack us directly. If we manage to destroy the Abyssal Eyes, then their way to get to us should be destroyed." Said my father.
"Only for them to make a new cult later?" Sighed my mother.
Celeste looked at my parent's concerned conversation, looking down into her own hands.
"I'm sorry… despite everything you did to the orphanage and even for me, I ended trying to betray you, and to even kill you… I wanted to kill my father, not you though, but… I guess my own stupidity let me be manipulated into doing their bidding anyways." Said Celeste.
"Well there's no way a kid like you could had ever defeated us anyways, the monsters and the true demons were the real threat." Said my father. "Yeah, you were simply used. You were perhaps only seen as mere little toys they liked to play with. If they have the power of the Evil God of Dungeons and Abyss, they can even summon true demons to cause completely destruction and chaos… if they hold such power, what is even stopping them from filling the world in darkness?"
"I… remember something." Celeste said. "One of the three members of the Abyssal Eyes that visited us and gave us everything… It was, I am sure of it, a human of sorts. He seemed to be a leader or something. I overheard him one day as he spoke with his colleagues."
"What was he talking about?" My mother asked.
"He talked about you… the heroes… As if he knew all of you." Celeste replied.
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