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 while looking at the girl and shouted to 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?"
"I said it before right? East is in the lead right now. If I get rid of her and join forces with South, there is no way for me to lose."
Evlin had a thought at that moment.
"Isn't that... Cheating...? Won't the other gods copy your idea and send their followers after you as well?"
"Maybe... But I will lose either way at this rate... Might as well try something out of the ordinary..."
"And there will be no consequences for us if the goddess of the East is killed?"
"I suppose her followers might start coming after you... But with my support, you will be safe. I can give you the power to protect yourselves. Like that Marcus kid... I can help you defeat him!"
"!!!" x 6
Evlin and the rest of the group reacted to these words. Marcus almost slaughtered all of them without taking a single scratch. If they butted heads with him again, they might not be able to escape a second time.
"This sounds too good to be true..."
Daren didn't look convinced.
"Why come to help us now?? Where were you when we needed help two-hundred years ago??"
"You didn't need me two-hundred years ago... Gods can't kill beings of the mortal realm. It's against the rules. You were entrapped, but never in real danger."
She then proceeded to point at the still sleeping Ria.
"But you needed me now, didn't you?"
Evlin understood the situation. They weren't being saved, they were caught in a trap. West had saved Ria, and now they had the obligation of repaying the favor. Evlin risked asking a question.
"... What happens if we refuse...?"
"... Then we part ways right now... And I will watch while you all get shredded by that Marcus kid..."
"!!!" x 6
So that's what she was planning. She was waiting for the group to encounter Marcus to understand the difference in power between them. None of them would dare to try to challenge him again in their current state. She was waiting for the group to be traumatized by this defeat so she could appear as a light of hope in their darkest hour. Saving Ria's life was just the cherry on top.
"You... Bird girl... You are the leader right? What's your answer?"
Bird girl? Evelin finally realized she was still fused with Sphinx and almost forgot she had two giant wings coming out of her back. She used recreation magic to return to normal.
"I need to discuss it with my team... Give us a second..."
"Take your time..."
Part 2
"So... What do we think?"
Evlin was staring at the group while absorbing all that information and trying to process what was the best decision to take. Keep it going as they were or become allies for the goddess of the west? If they just continued on, they would run the risk of meeting Marcus again and be killed by him. But if they allied themselves with this girl they would need to fight an entire country's worth of demons.
Both options were very scary. However if they joined her side, she would give them the power to face Marcus and the demons. But could they really trust the words of a goddess? The reason they were all in that situation was because of a goddess after all.
Evlin decided to simply listen to what everyone had to say.
"Daren, you look like you have something to say... What do you think?"
"I don't like this... I don't want to become another pawn dancing on the hand of another goddess just for her selfish desire... But you're the leader... I'll follow your call."
"I see... Auren?"
"... She saved Ria... I don't mind being her servant if she can keep protecting us..."
"... Lilith?"
"... She gave me my future sight ability... I don't think she is as cruel as the goddess of the east..."
"She said she didn't remember you..."
"Yes... But I remember her... I think this might be a good opportunity..."
"If you say so... Ash?"
"We almost lost the two of you in this last battle... If she can give us the power to survive another attack, then we may not have another choice."
"Gustav?"
"My goal was always to gain more power so I could join you on the battlefield. If she can do that to us, then I don't mind accepting it. We are fighting a battle against one goddess, not all the gods."
"Looks like the majority is in favor Daren..."
"Seems that way... But what about you?"
"Me huh...? I wonder... "
Evlin was really bad at doing business. Whenever she would find an offer that appealed to her she would just say "Yes!" without giving it too much thought. That taught her to always think twice whenever something seemed too good to be true. This girl was offering power, support, protection, all on a silver platter. There had to be a catch behind it.
She decided to try and get more information to make her final decision.
"What would we have to do exactly?"
"I need one of you to be my champion, the same way Marcus is for East."
"What would that mean...?"
"It means you would be mine forever... And by forever, I mean all eternity... You will be granted an immortal body and will be unable to age or die unless you fall on battle. You will become my weapon to use against the demons."
They would basically become another Marceus. Imprisoned by her side forever, fighting a never-ending battle against all demons. If they wanted to ally themselves with her, one of them would need to say goodbye to anything resembling a normal life.
"So what will it be? Do we have a deal?"
This deal with a goddess felt more like a deal with the devil. Evlin was not thrilled about being this girl's pet for all eternity, nor could she ask that of any of her friends. She decided to refuse the offer.
"I'll do it!!"
Or she was going to, but Auren stepped in and spoke for her.
"Auren?? What are you doing??"
"She needs someone to be her champion right? I'm the best option."
"What are you talking about?? You are the worst option!! You're the only one of us who has a chance of a normal life with Ria, and you want to throw that away??"
"... I'm just dead weight... I can't fight like you, Lilith or Daren, I'm not smart like Ashley, I cant share information like Gustav and I can't help us escape like Ria... I'm just a healer... But even that is useless when we have you..."
"What are you saying?? You just saved me right now!!"
"Yeah... Just barely... But Imagine what I could do if I could fight as well?"
"But... Auren..."
"Gustav... Is that ok with you? I know how much you wanted to gain power as well..."
"Auren... You are really sure about this...? You saw what happened to Marceus..."
"Yeah... I know... But I rather live the rest of my life alone knowing that I protected the people I love than watching you all die in front of me..."
"I see... If that is your wish... I'll respect it..."
"Thank you..."
Auren looked at West.
"I'm ready..."
"Very well... Starting today you shall be my champion!"
West extended her hand and started to release divine energy. It felt similar to the power that would come out from Marcus's blades. Less aggressive but more intense at the same time somehow.
"Waaaaait!!!"
The whole group turned their heads as a voice coming from an awakened Ria was released in the air.
She was standing on the sand with a glare on her eyes.
"Ria!!!"
Auren rushed to hug her but the moment he came closer she slapped his face leaving a red mark.
"Ouchh!!"
"The hell do you think you were about to do??"
"B- But you saw what happened... We need this power!!"
"And that's an excuse to simply abandon me?? You were going to gain an immortal body and leave me to age alone??"
"I- I... But..."
Ria turned her eyes towards the goddess and made her a proposal.
"This power... Can you give it to me too?"