When Maria was ejected from the Realm of War, it meant that Bahamut would also go back to the Void Sea Realm. However, Maria’s death triggered not only Bahamut’s departure but also his [Tera Flare] skill that only activated when his Summoner was killed before his summon duration was over.
“Contractor…Grrrr, how dare ye kill my Contractor! This world shall face my wrath and burn!”
Bahamut disengaged from his battle with Chaos and flew higher into the sky. His body began to change as it transformed into a larger form that was closer to the one Maria had met in the Void Sea Realm. With a single flap of his wings, the clouds around him were blown away and so was Chaos who was pursuing him. Everyone on the battlefield below–the 3 factions’ players, Summons, NPCs, and even their leaders who were conducting battle farther away–had to stop their fights after being buffeted by the intense windstorm that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Everyone raised their head to the sky when they noticed a large shadow cast down on them before they all collectively heard what appeared to be a chant that was broadcast to them through the [World Announcement] which was then followed by a warning message.
{Let thy light shine upon this world and those who wield their sword against thee be purged from existence.}
*DING*
Warning! Warning! Warning! Dragon God Bahamut, the Primal of Destruction, has activated Tera Flare!
Bahamut released an enraged roar that could be heard throughout the entire Realm of War before all of the Mana in the air began gravitating towards him and a large Magic Circle appeared in the sky right in front and around him. Everyone could see that something bad was going to happen if they let this skill activate so they tried to attack Bahamut but he was too far up and even if they could reach him, an impenetrable magic barrier was protecting him from any outside interference so the attack couldn’t be interrupted.
This was a final attack that could only activate if Bahamut's Summoner was killed so it wouldn’t be a finisher move if it could be interrupted by just anyone. The death of his Summoner catalyzed the final transformation Bahamut could sustain in the normal plane as this ‘final form’ would be one that was infinitesimally close to his True Form that Maria met in the Void Sea.
Bahamut needed to be in this form so he could perform his most supreme ultimate attack but after executing the attack, he would naturally be ejected from the normal plane and return to the Void Sea. [Tera Flame] took only a few moments to charge up and once it was ready, Bahamut blasted the battlefield with a multichromatic flare that disintegrated both friend and foe on the battlefield while large energy comets began to rain from the sky as Bahamut had also cast his Ultimate Spell, [Meteor Flare], in tandem with his finishing Ultimate Attack.
Unfortunately, the Ultimate Attack and Ultimate Spell couldn’t differentiate between ally and enemy so even the Goddess Faction players, Summons, and NPCs on the battlefield were caught up in the attack. Many players, NPCs, and Summons were ejected from the realm by this attack. Both ally and enemy Summons that were sent back to the Void Sea Realm provided a ton of Aether to Gaia who immediately felt it flow into the planet which was her actual body.
“What happened?” Gaia wondered. It was great that she received so much Aether but it was worrying since something bad must’ve happened since she could feel the Aether she received also came from those Summons who were her allies.
Maria was currently acting as Gaia’s temporary Agent so every Summon she killed–regardless of them being friend or foe–would provide Aether to her. Gaia wondered what tragedy could have caused this and noticed that she couldn’t sense her temporary Agent’s life force anymore.
“N-No way…Did Maria…lose? That's impossible! How is she able to provide so much Aether if she’s not in the Realm anymore?”
Gaia couldn’t see what was happening in the Realm of War because she was concentrating on absorbing all the Aether her followers were providing to her so she couldn’t spare her attention to anything else.
“I hope…she and everyone else are alright…”
Usually, the ejected players would just return back to the headquarters of their respective factions but no one killed by Bahamut’s [Tera Flame] had appeared in the factions’ headquarter building. This was because the players who were killed by [Tera Flare] didn’t only get ejected from the Realm of War but they were also logged out of the game as a death penalty. A few players that were logged out became bewildered because the logout penalty would only occur if a player was killed more than 3 times by another player on the same day.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
A few people tried to log back in but they were given the death penalty notification. Since they couldn’t do anything, many just went to the forums and began ranting about Maria’s Summon.
[Anon151: I heard everyone killed by the dragon was logged out of the game as a death penalty. Can you believe that?
Polsi_11: Yeah, right. You only get the logout penalty if you die 3 times in the game. Nice try man.
ViralL0g: No, he’s not lying. I was participating in the Main Story Quest when all of a sudden, I was killed by the dragon–I think he was called Bahamut or something. Anyway, I was killed by its attack and it was only my first time dying that day but I was logged out!
Anon151: Is it a bug?
Random__Dooood: My friend was also one of the casualties. He contacted support and they said it was a penalty for being killed by Bahamut's Ultimate Skill, Tera Flame.
Polsi_11: Holy shit, is that even fair?
Anon151: Beats me. Can’t do anything about it at this point, but what’s funny is that I’m part of the Goddess Faction so I was killed by friendly fire.
ViralL0g: Oof, sad.
GoddessRulezzz: I know right, I’m also part of that friendly casualty list so I can vouch for what he said.
Bboby@: +1
FCzqr: +1 ]
The forums were going on about the Death Penalty and how every player from all 3 factions who had been killed received the said penalty. Many were a bit bitter because they believed that they didn’t deserve the 24-hour logout penalty since it was their first time dying on that day.
It was quite unfortunate for them since they just happened to be Bahamut’s targets. Speaking about targets, the main target of Bahamut’s [Tera Flare] was actually Hecate but this crazy girl through a very crazy stroke of luck…managed to survive.
“Agh, goddamn. I thought I was going to die,” Hecate said after she appeared in the skies where her Summon used to be.
The moment Maria's impromptu suicide skill, Sword Grave, had struck her, Hecate's HP had been reduced to 1 and the rest of the damage was automatically transferred to her summoned Primal, Chaos, due to her own passive life-saving skill [Life Share].
Skill Name: Life Share Level: 10 Rank: S Description: Connects the user with 2 other beings, sacrificing their life in place of the user when in danger. Passive Skill Effect 1: When any of the user's resources hits 1, consumes the resources of the connected being in place of the user
Effect 2: Automatically switches the locations of the user and the connected being when both of their resources simultaneously hit 1 Connected Entities: [Primal of Chaos] and player: [RightGuardian]
Hecate was relieved that she had survived, but it was rather unfortunate that her Primal, Chaos, had been killed due to Bahamut's ultimate attack not long after. When her Primal's HP hit 0 due to the effects of her life-saving skill after she was struck by Bahamut's attack, the two of them switched places which was the reason why she was now in the air while her summon was on the ground and currently dissipating as he was forced back into the Void Realm.
She gave a hard stare at the broken battlefield on the ground and began cackling in delight as she clapped her hands joyfully. Everything was lit ablaze by silvery white flames and there was nobody around anymore. Everyone had died or had retreated in fear from Bahamut's finishing move. There were no players, NPCs, Gods, Astrals, or Primals anywhere.
She noticed that she was afflicted with some kind of status debuff and quickly took out a golden-colored potion from her inventory and drank it. This golden potion was the legendary, Elixir, which cured all forms of debuffs, even curses from gods, astrals, or primals, and completely restored her HP, MP, and SP back to full. Once the debuff afflicting her was cleared, she looked up at the bleak sky and mumbled to herself with a smile, “Maria, huh… I look forward to clashing with you again in the future, my beautiful thorny rose~”
"Ugh..." Hecate groaned before handing control of her body over to her other persona, Ophelia, who immediately started complaining that her body was aching and hurting all over, “O-Ouch! T-T-This hurts…”
“L-let's get o-out of h-here…” Ophelia immediately cast a few healing spells on herself before disappearing with a [Teleport] spell.
Lizzy, Sky, and the two respective leaders of the Celestial Order and Pantheon all returned to the decimated battlefield and saw that a majority of their forces had been buried by Bahamut’s [Tera Flare]. All that remained of the battlefield now was a large molten crater that was still burning with a white flame. A lava pit had even formed at the center of the crater and the heat prevented anyone from approaching too close.
“B-Bahamut did this? Not even our own forces were spared,” Lizzy said.
“...Our Primals’ attacks and abilities typically don’t differentiate between friend and foe,” Sky said before she ordered Leviathan to use Tsunami to cool down the crater.
Even though it appeared to be completely devoid of life, there might be a few lucky players down there that could be saved. The typical reaction of a steam explosion caused by the waters from Leviathan’s [Tsunami] didn’t occur because the water was magically conjured so Leviathan could control its properties.
Once the crater was completely cooled down, Lizzy and Sky managed to find a few survivors. Naturally, they found some survivors from the enemy factions but they didn’t give Eos and Caedes the chance to rescue them. The two girls managed to rescue a few of their factions’ surviving players but many of them died afterward since they were afflicted by [Tera Flare]’s [Afterburn] debuff.
“What happened to Maria? Is she okay?” Sky asked after they returned to their faction’s castle on the battlefield. Thankfully, this was still standing since it was far away from the main battlefield. The other 2 castles, however, were a lot closer so they seemed to be crumbling by the looks of things.
Lizzy shook her head in response to Sky’s question and said, “She’s been logged out. I can’t believe she lost to that Hecate person.”
“She didn’t lose, Guildmaster Lisbet. Maria still defeated her opponent. Just look, I don’t see Chaos anywhere.”
“Yeah…but with this, I’m sure that we’ve won the war. The sheer amount of kills Maria racked up from that last attack should be more than enough to secure the necessary amount of Aether the Goddess needs to restore the planet.”
Sky sat down on the ground before sighing, “That’s great…I was honestly getting a bit exhausted from all the fighting…”
“Haha, me too…”