Chapter 94 - Now We Wait

A flash of light emerged in Tenshu Safe Village's main hall, and the group appeared. The sudden warp in space seemed to have rattled Misao and Shi, who woke up groaning.

"Ugh... what happened?..." Misao clutched her head, as if experiencing a headache.

Takumi, who was still in awe at such a precise teleportation ability, raised an eyebrow in confusion at this question. The other members of the group felt the same way, they stared at Misao and Shi, bearing worry and scrutiny in their gazes.

Misao sweatdropped, "Did we miss something?"

"Looks that way," Shi chimed in, "All I can remember is attacking that 'Diety'... after that, nothing..."

"..."

The team took worried glances at each other. Through their gazes, they portrayed the exact thoughts: 'leave it as is.'. Athena hadn't shown any signs of hostility since her arrival, so there was no reason to bear suspicion to her course of action. But to be completely honest, even if they harbored any suspicion, they couldn't do a thing about it... since Athena was obviously of the same power level as Gaia.

Lancelot sighed, "So what now?"

Another moment of silence came. The emotions everyone felt now were rather depressing. They had beaten Urusla, accomplishing their primary mission but now an even bigger threat appeared out of nowhere, sending them right back into that state of panic they had just escaped.

Shi and Misao caught on to the mood. After recovering from some fatigue of unknown origins, they joined the group in a sort of huddle.

"So that.... Gaia, is still at large?"

The group nodded, releasing a chorus of sighs after. At least with Urusla they had the slightest chance of winning, but in this situation that chance was none existent.

"I do not believe all is lost." Fairy Queen Shiva's words surprised the group. They looked at her, Misao asking what she meant.

Shiva then cleared her throat, "As I said before, I had a premonition of this world's destruction. From my perspective, it was set in stone... nothing seemed to be able to stop that occurrence. But the thing about a fairy's visions is that they usually act as a message, prompting us to find an entity to try and change it."

Each member raised an eyebrow. They bore expressions as if to say 'get to the point'.

"What I'm getting at is that the fact that we still live now, it means that one of us managed to trigger a set cluster of events, changing the future drastically. You see, the future is like a set of trees planted in a line.... if one is cut down, it will cause a chain reaction, toppling the other trees inevitably."

"But if a single tree is removed, at the right time and with the right method, the chain reaction is broken... and the end result is a standing tree at the end. In other words, a safe future."

Rounded mouths were the response to that explanation. The group realized that they shouldn't really dwell on the matter of Gaia.

They realized that all they could do now was wait.

***

Elsewhere...

"You're really going through with this?"

Gaia was breathing heavily, but not from exhaustion, but rather annoyance. He had his palm held outwards, aimed at Athena who sat cross legged with eyes closed.

Athena breathed out calmly, "You should know that when I set my mind to something, nothing can change it. Remember what happened a couple billion years ago in my realm?"

Revisiting his expansive memory, Gaia snarled. He huffed in anger before loudly clapping his hands together, before slowly separating them to create an even bigger ball of shadow. He growled before hurling it behind him.

Athena simply sighed before raising a single finger. A flickering light appeared and was flicked off in Gaia's direction, moving at a high speed before curling around him.

*ssssss!~*

That sizzle angered Gaia even more. He turned around to see only a small cloud of smoke where he had thrown the shadow ball. Athena had canceled out another one of his attacks.

"Is your anger clouding your mind? No matter how big your Death Sphere is... light and dark always neutralize each other. It's only been a few minutes and you're already in this state, I don't think you'll last the seven hundred years I anticipated."

"Damn you!" Gaia screamed, his form glitching for a second. "I liked you better when you were silent taking my rod! RAH!"

With that shout, Gaia pointed his palm at Athena's head before quickly clenching it. Athena still kept her eyes closed as black veins cascaded over her flawless skin, bulging a bit before her head exploded!

An upward shower issued forth, but it wasn't blood. Instead, it was a clear liquid which was shrouded in a white fog, sizzling. It was as if Athena's neck was bleeding liquid nitrogen.

"Ugh... You know that only because I was experimenting. Sex is another thing I love about human nature."

Athena's voice came from seemingly nowhere, causing Gaia to gnash his teeth. The skin on her neck began to stretch, twisting around before producing a new head, even more cute than the last. Athen then raised a palm of her own.

"Since you're so obsessed with getting rid of things that have 'outlived their purpose', I'll temporarily take a page from that book."

It was then that Athena's eyes turned pitch black, with cracks surrounded her lashes. A dark pulse then came from her hand, which then converged at Gaia's groin. The end product of this? An explosion of flesh and icy liquid, leaving a foggy area of destroyed flesh where his nether regions would be.

"Remember that I have control over darkness as well." Athena's voice slowly alternated between an ominous reverb and cute giggles.

The sizzling between Gaia's legs soon stopped. Although he felt no pain, his mentality as a male gave him great discomfort at such an attack. He calmed down and accepted the fact that Athena meant business.

After the crater in his groin healed, Gaia joined Athena in a seated position. He snapped his fingers, conjuring up a pot of tea and cups.

"Haaaaaa.... Fine, let's negotiate this..."

Athena smiled.