Just as Maria was thinking about where to invest the Free Stat Points she gained from her level-ups, a gloomy voice interrupted her, “Child, are you finished?”
“Hm?”
Maria turned her head up and remembered that she was currently inside of Death’s Domain so the god’s incarnation was looming over her ever since she appeared here upon her login.
“Oh yeah, I forgot you were here…”
“F-Forgot?”
“Well, I completed my mission perfectly. I guess that’s all the time I get on Gaia, right?”
Death’s Incarnation nodded and replied, “Yes, with the world now completely healed, that little goddess has averted her world’s apocalypse and your duties have been completed. There is no more reason for you to be there anymore.”
“That’s fair. It’s too bad though, I got to meet my friends again on that planet,” Maria said with a shrug.
“Since you’ve received the rewards, will you be returning right away?” Death asked.
“Yes, but before I go, tell me something…why did you send me over to Gaia to help the goddess save her world? Last time, you wanted me to kill everything alive on that planet that was on the brink of catastrophe so why the sudden change?”
Death paused for a moment before replying, “That’s because the previous planet didn’t have a god or goddess present so there was no one to bargain with me.”
“Bargain with you?”
“Gaia wanted me to prevent the planet’s apocalypse which is something that I can do. Of course, she had to pay a price and that price was the lives of those foreign beings that were waging war on her planet.”
“Their lives, huh…so that last quest where she wanted the people of her faction to focus on killing those gods and astrals…it was to offer that Aether to you?”
“Yes, but near the end, she tried to renege on our bargain though everything was for naught because the war was inevitable. A foolish goddess, don’t you agree?”
Maria understood what Death meant by Gaia trying to renege on her promise. It was during her second quest where Gaia asked her to prevent the war from happening only for it to escalate after more players appeared from the Void Sea Realm. She also thought that the second quest seemed quite pointless though it wasn’t a problem on her end since it was easy to accomplish and all she needed to do was fight. There was nothing complicated about that and even when she couldn’t prevent the war, the quest was still deemed as successful because she was able to delay it for so long.
“Gaia was a little stupid and she was quite pitiful when we first met, however, why help her? Is Aether so great that it would make a True God such as you make a move?”
“True God? So you’ve found out about this…”
“Tsk, please don’t think that I’m stupid. It’s only natural that I’d find out about this, especially since one of the paths to my class advancement is a road towards Divinity.”
Death nodded and said, “So that is the path you will take. It will be one full of hardships, I hope you’ll be fully prepared before then because once you take that path, you’ll be released from my blessing.”
“Released from your blessing…does that mean I won’t be your Champion anymore?”
“Yes.”
“...Although I find that appealing, I can’t help but feel a little bad about it. Will I lose Calamity once I cease being your Champion?”
“...”
Maria sighed at Death’s silence as she took that as confirmation to her question.
“Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Anyway, move me back to Vanhal. I want to finish up my quests there and start my class advancement.”
“Alright, but let me give you a word of advice before you leave.”
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“Hm?”
“The Origin Devil Books that you possess, make sure you defeat all of the devils and absorb their Sins before tackling your path to Divinity.”
“...I already planned on doing that the moment I return to Vanhal. I need the skills and the power-ups to defeat Vampire Lord Siegfried,” Maria replied.
Death nodded before waving his hand and opening a portal to Vanhal. Maria quickly stepped through it just as she heard Death say something to her which was immediately cut off soon after.
“Oh yes, do be careful of that Nephil–”
*****
After stepping through the portal, Maria arrived back in her castle chamber in Heltania City. Ash, Carmilla, Alexa, and Raiju were immediately notified of her presence once she came back but they were busy at the front line of the ongoing war between the Dire and the Blood Faction.
Maria didn’t know how the situation had developed since she had left for quite some time after her previous return to Vanhal, so after quickly notifying her subordinates of her return, she immediately rushed toward the frontlines to meet up with her retainers. On her way, Maria was reminded that Death seemed to have said something to her about being careful of something but it was cut off mid-sentence so she didn’t hear everything.
“Be careful of something…I hope he didn’t mean the Vampire Lord but just in case, I should properly prepare for my fight against him.”
Maria took out the 3 skill books that contained the remaining Sin Devils that she needed to kill before saying, “I’ll have Ash and the rest helping me out, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. For now, I’ll have those 3 help me kill the Sin Devils and finish my preparations early.”
The 3 Sin Devils she still needed to kill were Gluttony, Pride, and Sloth. The skills she would receive from the three skill books were [Stockpile], [Death Sentence], and [Enervation] respectively.
Skill Name: Stockpile Level: 1 (0/2500) Description:
Stores 10% of any excess player resources such as HP, MP, SP, etc. into a sub-realm that can be accessed by the player at any time.
Permanent Passive skill. Cannot be dispelled or negated
Skill Name: Death Sentence Level: 1 (0/2500) Description: Applies a [Death Sentence] debuff on the target, if the target doesn’t dispel the debuff within 5 minutes, the [Death] effect will trigger, killing the target immediately. Mana Cost: 8000+(INT x 0.01) MP Note: Cannot be used against Boss-class monsters, Quest Targets, or certain NPCs Cooldown: 15 minutes
Skill Name: Enervation Level: 1 (0/2500) Description: Inflicts the target with either [Sleep] or [Stop] debuffs
Effect 1: 80% chance to inflict the target with [Sleep] debuff. The target will awaken after 5 minutes or until he receives an attack from any source
Effect 2: 20% chance to inflict the target with [Stop] debuff. Targets inflicted with [Stop] will have their actions restricted for 5 seconds and all of their abilities sent into Cooldown MP Cost: 5000+(INT x 0.01) MP Cooldown: 10 minutes
Each of the 3 remaining skills was great but what Maria was looking forward to were the upgrades she would gain from absorbing their souls and obtaining their Sins. Once she gathered all 7 Deadly Sin, Maria was expecting something to happen to her that would greatly increase her overall status and combat power. The preceding Deadly Sins that she had already absorbed had given her quite a lot of upgrades already so she was very expectant of what she would gain after obtaining them all.
“Ahh, I can’t wait. I better tell Ash and Carmilla to stop their advances for the time being since this takes priority.”
She immediately informed the two Vampire Dukes to meet up with her and stop their advances for the time being since there was something more important they had to do. The two vampires didn’t question her orders and immediately dropped what they did and told their armies to stop while they began flying towards the city where Maria had last rested before she had to return to Gaia. An hour later, Maria arrived at Bloodwing Fortress and was delighted to see Ash and Carmilla already in the fortress’s main hall ready and waiting for her.
“My Queen!”
“Your Highness!”
The two knelt and greeted her together. Maria nodded at them before taking her spot in the middle of the hall and sat down on the throne that was prepared for her before saying, “My business on the other planet is finished so now I can focus all of my efforts on my affairs here on Vanhal.”
“Congratulations, my Queen.”
“Congratulations, Your Highness.”
“Mhm, thank you. Anyway, I called you both back here to fill me in on what’s been happening since I left. However, before we do that, there’s something important that I need to do and I require your help, Ash, Carmilla.”
Ash stood up and said, “My Queen, please do not hesitate to ask for our help. Whatever it is, Carmilla and I will help you to the best of our abilities.”
“Yes, Your Highness, it is exactly as Ash says. Please do not hesitate and give us the order.”
Maria nodded and said, “Great, now let’s get to it then.”
She pulled out the skill book for [Enervation], or the Book of Sloth, and beckoned for the two Vampire Dukes to come closer. Ash looked at the black book and noticed the familiar design so he asked, “My Queen, is that one of those dimensional books?”
“So you remember it from last time, Ash?”
“Yes, but I thought we cleared that dimension already? Is there a need for you to go back?” He curiously questioned.
Maria smiled and answered, “I have 7 of these books, Ash. The one you and I went into last time was only the first, the Book of Greed. I’ve already entered and cleared 3 additional Books but I need you and Carmilla’s help with this one only to help me speed up the clear time.”
“I see, then we will aid you as best we can.”
“When we enter, I only need you two to deal with the minions that will appear. As for the devil, I’ll be taking care of them by myself.”
“Yes.”
“Additionally, we’ll be entering 2 more dimensions after this. Your tasks will be the same for the additional dimensions,” Maria said as she opened the Book of Sloth.
Death’s Incarnation appeared once again and just like the previous times, he asked if Maria wanted to enter into the book’s trial which she naturally replied with a ‘Yes’. This was only the second time Carmilla saw Death's Incarnation, but she still felt intimidated by it. It was hard for her to be like Ash who was already used to it.
Right now, Maria was weaker than her but only because of the level constraint that was placed on her. Carmilla was certain, however, that once Her Highness achieved the same level as her, she’d definitely be multiple times stronger.
“Alright, let’s head in. Remember, your jobs are only to take down the minions. No matter how dire things get, do NOT interfere with my battle with the Sin Devil. It is my trial and I should be the one to clear it,” Maria strongly emphasized once again before entering the book’s dimension through the portal Death’s Incarnation had created.
Just like before, only 3 people could enter the dimension so Maria had specifically chosen the participants this time to only be Ash and Carmilla. She did feel a little sad for Lilah, her fairy familiar, because for the Books of Lust, Envy, and Wrath, only she was the member that had entered alongside Maria.
She didn’t mean to replace Lilah but right now, she needed to pass through the trials Death had set for her quickly so she needed powerful attack-type helpers who could hold their own and repel the numerous amounts of monsters that appeared in the dimension while she dealt with the Sin Devil all on her own.