Maria teleported back to Gaia using the waygate that was still opened inside of Death’s temple. It was being guarded by many of the Death Knights that served the church and they didn’t allow anyone other than Maria to approach the gate. It would be pretty bad if an NPC passed through the gate and arrived on Gaia but it wasn’t like Death would just let them through. Only Maria would be able to use the gate and those that received Death’s permission.
As for the others, they wouldn’t be able to move through it as a barrier would stop them. Maria didn’t know this and neither did any of the priests as they only listened to her orders and just assigned guards to prevent people from getting too close.
Once she arrived on Gaia, Maria flew straight towards Discordia and when she got close, she used [Blink] and teleported herself to Gaia’s Temple. When she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Gaia, who was there, along with a few other players who had successfully converted to her faction, was greatly surprised.
“Woah,” Maria lightly exclaimed as she looked around and saw the somewhat bustling temple.
It had a much better look now that people were coming and going with a few NPCs around as well.
“I guess you’ve been busy, huh, Gaia?”
Maria said towards the statue of Gaia that she had teleported in front of. The statue was actually Gaia’s true body that was in disguise. The players would normally be able to contact her by just praying to the statue and hearing her voice but no one had ever seen her, including the NPCs–all except for Maria, of course.
“How long are you going to continue being in that form? Should I kick you before you come out?”
“H-Hey, isn’t that the player, Maria?”
“Who’s she talking to?”
“That statue…right?”
“Anyway, who cares about that, I want an autograph!”
Maria ignored the people around her and was about to raise her leg and kick the statue that was actually Gaia’s body before a voice was projected into her head, [Okay, okay! Stop! Let’s talk in the chamber at the top of the temple!]
She looked around before seeing that this place wasn’t a good place to talk before saying, “Fine.”
Maria teleported to the room that Gaia was talking about before the ‘statue’ similarly disappeared with a flash of light before it was immediately replaced with another statue so it only looked as if it was glowing for a moment.
“W-What was that? And where’s Maria?”
“Aww, I missed my chance!”
Maria and Gaia appeared in the secret chamber on the top floor of the temple together and Maria began looking around. The Goddess had at least decorated the place a bit so there was a comfortable-looking chair nearby which Maria gladly took for herself before she looked up at Gaia who was still standing and asked, “You were calling to me so urgently, did the war already start?”
Gaia wasn’t going to answer Maria’s question right away and say something else instead but she only let out a sigh after seeing that the girl was already making herself comfortable.
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“Not yet, but it will soon. The individuals that are coming out of the portal who have gained the ability to summon the Gods and Astrals from the Void Sea are growing more and more numerous as the days pass.”
“Hm.”
“It’s only a matter of time before the first battle breaks out. We have to prevent that.”
“It’s just the first battle, what’s wrong? In my opinion, I think we should let both sides wear each other down before making our move.”
“That’d be nice and all, Maria, but you’re forgetting that both sides have players. Whittling down their numbers today won’t matter since they’ll just come back to life the next day.”
“Ah, that’s true…”
“We have to stop the first battle from breaking out entirely. My body can’t take any more impact from a battle between the gods and astrals.”
“So if they don’t summon them, is it alright?” Maria asked.
Gaia thought for a moment before nodding, “Yes. As long as they don’t summon the gods and astrals, it doesn’t matter how much they fight.”
“And if they do, we just have to punish them, right? I guess telling you to start expanding your forces was the right thing to do, huh?”
“Yes, your insightful suggestion was splendid. Now, I have many players in my ranks that are willing to help out with my cause and I’ve gained more new believers while the old ones are coming out of hiding,” Gaia said,
“And it’s all thanks to me~”
“Yes.”
Maria hummed happily after Gaia admitted to that and praised. She was slouching earlier for a moment but soon sat upright and said to the Goddess, “Anyway, don’t worry about the summonings. Just give me their locations and I’ll call out Bahamut, he’ll send them packing back to the Void Sea!”
“B-Bahamut?”
“You know him?”
“...No, I’m unfamiliar with the name, but are you his contractor?”
“Yup, and don’t worry about his power. He’ll definitely have more than enough strength to beat down on any number of gods and astrals that come at him!”
“I-I’ll take your word for it, but just in case, I’ve sent a few of my followers into the Void Sea so that they can obtain summons of their own.”
“That’s fine, I won’t be here forever so you’ll need their help in the future.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
Maria stood up before gesturing towards herself and said, “For now, you can just rely on me until your followers come out so that they can start taking care of things on your behalf. Just give me the locations and I’ll teleport over right away and end things in a jiffy!”
“Thank you. I’m counting on you then, Maria.”
*DING*
Gaia has issued to you the quest: The Goddess’s Shield! Will you accept? Y/N
The prompt was a bit surprising since this was the first time that she received a quest from Gaia where she could actually choose to accept it or not.
Note: This quest is linked with your Main Quest: Gaia’s 3 Fiats!
With that small note at the end of the system window, it was like the choices given to her were completely irrelevant since she would have to take the quest regardless if she wanted to or not. There was just no way that Maria would even deem of entertaining the thought of failing her quest, Gaia’s 3 Fiats, because the penalty was just completely absurd and too hard in her opinion.
She would lose 10 levels, stats worth 5 levels, and skill ranks probably worth tens of more levels on top of all that. Her character would basically become crippled at that point and it would take a very long time for her to recover. The reward of the quest still remained hidden but judging by how difficult it has been for her since the start of the quest, it was highly likely that the rewards would match the difficulty.
Maria couldn’t wait to see what she’d get after all of this so she quickly tapped on the [YES] button.
“Alright, Gaia, point me in the right direction and I’ll get to work!”
Gaia scratched her head before smiling wryly at Maria. Although she did appreciate her motivation, unfortunately, not even she knew where the fight or summoning would even take place.
“I appreciate all the energy and eagerness, but you have to calm down, Maria. Not even I know where the battle will take place–at least, not at the moment.”
“Hm?”
“I won’t be able to know until they actually start trying to summon the gods and astrals to this plane. For now, I want you to just remain on standby.”
“Oh…sure, I guess…”
“Just remain at the temple or in the city so I can contact you quickly. It took me a while to connect to you when you were off-planet…”
“I won’t be going anywhere this time,” Maria said as she looked a little annoyed that she wouldn’t be able to fight right away. She had been looking forward to fighting since back on Vanhal, her subordinates adamantly requested her not to make a move until they fight against the Blood Lord.
Maria began slouching again as she crossed her arms in her chair and said, “I guess I’ll just have to stomach with the boredom while I wait…just make sure you don’t keep me waiting for too long. I want to fight!”