If I could have been the cost, I would have! It was my duty! She left without--

[ Thunder crashes, low and deep enough to rattle the entire building. That is the problem isn't it - that no one has seen her for what feels like an eternity. before, there was no one, and then there were a few, but none saw her true face. What do you do when even your reality feels distant and dreamlike, a fragile illusion. ]

That is not the duty of a god. I will not accept things as they are - will not allow the injury to keep me distracted from the goal. If I cannot create an art that can defeat all beings with one strike, then I will learn to strike twice.

[ for now, apparently, the answer is dig deeper. ]