"Oh, for fuck's sake."

"In his defense, you kicked ass so good that's hard not to get emotional about it."

Li-Ming pats Lorath on the back gingerly. "I'm not dead, man. It's fine. I did spend several subjective months being tortured, but that's not relevant to your life. I'll be fine. Stop getting emotions all over me, it's gross."

"Is not that I am not glad that you're back. But what now?"

Li-Ming tactically disengages from the hug and picks up the Soulstone. "Well, it seems like this stabilized while it was being used. So... figure out how to destroy it without releasing the Lords of Hell? Failing that, find somewhere really secure to hide it."

"There is an Elsewhere-attached world that does not have any actual population, if that helps."

"Also, our sorcery is a thing and some combination of various worlds' magics might do the trick."

"Yeah, I guess we can just set up defenses around it while you guys study how to get rid of it. And failing that, we can just launch the damned thing into the sun. That won't destroy it, but it'd make it pretty damn hard to find."

"We should go back to Tyrael and the others and tell the good news and all."

"Yes, let's."

She pulls Lorath with her as she heads down the stairs.

And the triplets follow them.

Tyrael awaits them past the gate. He falls to his knees with relief when he sees them. "Diablo is defeated?"

"Yes," Li-Ming says. "I have accomplished in ten minutes what you and the might of Heaven could not over the course of an infinity. You may thank me at your leisure."

"Ideally, by worshiping the ground she walks on."

"Anyway, how are the rest of the forces holding up?"

Tyrael seems too relieved to be offended. "The demonic forces broke with the death of their leader. They all felt it, and demons are a cowardly lot. We're still driving them back, but soon enough Heaven will be free of their corruption."

"We can help with that then. How do you think the angels are going to react moving forward?"

Tyrael sighs. "Truthfully, I do not know. It may be that they will attempt to push their advantage, launching an assault on the Hells to end the Eternal Conflict forever. It may be that they will retreat even further into isolationism. Even I do not know how to move forward from here."

"Hey, don't be a downer. It's not the end of the world. Thanks to this gurl." He makes finger-guns at Li-Ming.

Li-Ming flashes him a grin.

"Believe me, I am not trying to be a... 'downer'," Tyrael says. "My gratitude for your victory cannot be overstated. But we stand at a turning point. Heaven has been weakened, but in the coming weeks and months the Crystal Arch will replenish our ranks, and we will rebuild. And I believe I must stay here in that time, reclaim my place on the Angiris Council, and lend my voice to the proceedings as the voice of Wisdom."

"You're going to stop your fellow angels from fucking up. Got it."

"Not to diminish the impact of the end of the world, but the fact that you're now in contact with Elsewhere does make this a greater turning point than you might be imagining. Sanctuary is likely to be very different in a matter of just a year, and it might be unrecognizable in ten years."

He nods. "I will try to explain this to my fellow angels. I have seen the strange things your people can do, but they may scoff at the idea of humans bringing anything except chaos."

"We are pretty chaotic," Li-Ming admits.

"We are. But things did get better. I am confident that the changes will be for the best."

"Guys, the apocalypse was averted. Let's stop being philosophically depressing?"

"You're right. I think we should celebrate."