49 Midnight developmen (1/2)

Part 1

”W- Who are you...?”

The small girl that emerged from the light pillar floated towards the direction of the group and pointed at the fallen Ria.

”I can save her if you want...”

”!!!” x 6

”Y- You can save her???”

Auren managed to say while looking like a mess. The girl placed her finger that was pointing at Ria on her cheek and made a devilish smile.

”There will be a cost though... Is that ok?”

Daren glared at her concerned.

”What do you mean...?”

”I can explain but it will take a while... You all ok with making her wait? Her soul is getting weaker by the second.”

Auren started to hug Ria again and shouted her.

”It doesn't matter what the price is!! Just please save her!!!”

”You sure? There are no takebacks...”

”Please!!”

”Very well!”

The girl extended her hand and absorbed all of the blessed energy from inside Ria's body. Smokes of energy started to leave the unconscious girl and started to gather on top of the floating lady's hand, who proceeded to swallow it like a cookie.

”There, try healing her now.”

Evlin heard her saying that and looked at Ria one more time in Auren's arms.

”Auren!! Let's do it one more time!”

”Yes!!”

The two combined their powers again and started to try and fix Ria's body one more time. Once they were done, Auren laid Ria on the sand and tried to listen for heartbeats.

”...”

”Auren, do you hear anything?”

”... Yes!!”

It was faint, but her heart slowly started to beat again now that the blessed energy had been extracted. Ria was still sleeping but was starting to breathe again and her pulse had returned.

”She... She's alive... Shes's alive!!!”

The team started to celebrate and hug each other while crying over the fact that they almost lost their especial teammate. The only one who was not joining the fun was Lilith who kept staring at the floating girl.

”It's really you... Isn't it?”

The girl looked at her with a perplexed look.

”Do I know you...?”

”You are the little girl from back then!! The goddess who gave me my future sight ability!!”

”I did that? I see... Nice to see you again then... Miss... Er...”

”You... Don't remember me...?”

”Sorry miss... I'm over a thousand years old... It's a miracle I even remember what I had for breakfast...”

Evlin didn't know what was more surprising, the fact that a goddess had just saved Ria's life, or that gods even had breakfast. Regardless, there were a lot of questions above her head right now.

”Huh... Excuse me... Miss...”

”Oh hello, you must be the mage of recreation I heard so much about...”

”You... You know me?”

”Of course I know you dear! You're famous! The youngest expert-rank magician. The girl who knows the location of the living weapon. The leader of the blessed metal thieves. You gained quite a lot of titles over time.”

”Is... That so...?”

Blessed metal thieves. So that's what people were calling Evlin's group. She wasn't too fond of the name to be honest, but it's not like there was much she could do about it.

”Well... Thank you for saving our friend... We couldn't have done it without you...”

”No problem dear... But I still would like to receive something in return if you don't mind...”

”Right... The price... What can we do for you...?”

”I want you all to join my religion... And fight for me.”

”... Come again...?”

”Don't worry, I'll explain everything in detail... Your little group is trying to take down my sister right?”

A shivering feeling went down Evlin's spine.

”... ... ... That depends... Would that make you angry...?”

”There is no need to be cautious, child... Not all gods are fond of each other...”

”Really...?”

”Yes... In fact, you could say we are all rivals right now...”

”Rivals...? The gods are fighting against each other?”

”Less fighting and more competing... You see... Among the gods, there is one existence the rules all of us... The superior deity, the almighty being, we call it, the one above all!”

”I... See...”

”And every few centuries, we compete to elect who shall be the next one to rule all other gods.”

”So... All of the gods are competing right now to become the next superior deity?”

”Not all... There are many gods, but only four are elected to compete for such a position. We all are assigned a section of the planet to govern. Our names can't be comprehended by the mortal mind... But you could call us the gods of the east, west, north, and south.”

”So you are one of those gods competing in the election?”

”Exactly! I'm the goddess of the west, and the one your group is after is the goddess of the east.”

”I get it... So now you want us to work together so we can eliminate our common enemy...”

The goddess of the west dropped her smile and approached Evlin's face.

”Do not misunderstand me... You won't work with me... You will work for me...”

”... I... See...”

A cold sweat fell from Evlin's face. She started to worry about the idea of getting involved with this girl.

”You see... Every candidate needs to elect a champion among the mortal realm... Someone to do his bidings and show the others that his following is the superior one.”

”And how would they do that...?”

”By purging the world of all evil!”

Daren heard these words and gave an alarmed expression.

”So... the goddess of the east...”

”Yes... She's been on the lead for a while now... All thanks to her stupid living weapon... That Marceus guy has been killing demons non-stop for a long time now... At this rate she might actually win the challenge...”

”So... The reason she did all that... The reason she put turned Marceus into a weapon and put him on this quest... The reason she transformed us into statues for two-hundred years... Was all for a silly game??”

”Well... I guess it would look like that from your point of view...”

”And now you want to do the same thing to us?? Use us as a weapon to go around killing demons for you?”

”I would like that too, to be honest... But I have bigger ideas in mind...”

”Bigger ideas...?”

”You must have heard about the situation in the southern kingdom, right? How the place was completely taken over?”

”Yeah... What about it?”

”I want you to recover the place for me. If you do that, the south god, who is dead last on the competition right now by the way, will have no choice but to pledge his alliance to me.”

”You want us to help you get the support of the south god?”

”Yeap! I will also aid you in your little quest to kill East. If you do that, my victory will be secured against North, and I will win the challenge!”

”You will help us kill East?”