Chapter 435 - Shinoka Continent 2
While the bustle went on below her, Eva used that time to parse through the system prompts and skills for her True Goddess Form that she had yet to check since she acquired the Celestial Prime class.
｢System to Player Announcement
You have transformed into your True Goddess form. This is a fundamental change and your attributes, as well as your skills, have been swapped for racial ones only. Please check your status page for the changes.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
Your class has been detected to be Divine. Attributes will not be re-allocated, but additional attributes will be applied for the duration of the transformation. Your equipment and class skills are blocked, but Divine skills can be used in your True Form.｣
Luckily, Eva had gotten a glimpse of her character sheet when she began her transformation on the back of Luxia before showing herself to the world. Closing her eyes to recall the details, Eva was left speechless.
｢Name: Riveting Night - Rank 2 Divine Goddess
Str: 100
Dex: 100
End: 100
Int: 500
Spr: 100
Cha: 200
Lck: 100
Combat Skills: Divine Curse, Divine Following, Divine Blessing, Goddess' Wrath, Angel Army, Endless Mirage.
Non-Combat Skills: Celestial's Dignity (Rank 2), Element Regulation, Supreme Telepathy, Supreme Menticide, Supreme Channeling, Supreme Projection, Supreme Precognition, Supreme Retrocognition.｣
｢Divine Curse – Active Skill
Effect: Send out a curse that negates all buffs on enemies and turns them into debuffs of the same type. Cannot be dispelled.
Duration: Same as transformation
Cooldown: None.｣
｢Divine Following – Active Skill
Effect: Send out a divine pulse that forces all sapient beings judged to be neutral parties to become devout followers of the user.
Duration: Same as transformation.
Cooldown: None.｣
｢Divine Blessing – Active Skill
Effect: Grant every ally within range infinite stamina, mana, and complete invulnerability.
Duration: Same as transformation.
Cooldown: None｣
｢Goddess' Wrath – Active Skill
Effect: Call down a hail of fury on all enemies that dare to defile the Goddess' majesty. This deals 1,000% random damage to an Area Zone.
Duration: Same as transformation.
Cooldown: None.｣
｢Angel Army – Active Skill
Effect: Summon an army of beautiful angels to battle your foes.
Duration: Same as transformation.
Cooldown: None.｣
｢Endless Mirage – Active skill
Effect: Submerge any enemy with a weaker mind into a never-ending illusion.
Duration: Same as transformation.
Cooldown: none.｣
｢Supreme Telepathy – Passive skill
Effect: Communicate to the world with your mind.｣
｢Supreme Menticide – Passive skill
Effect: Enslave all psyches with your mind.｣
｢Supreme Channeling – Passive skill
Effect: Communicate with all spirits of the world with your mind.｣
｢Supreme Projection – Passive skill
Effect: Create a supreme avatar of yourself with your mind.｣
｢Supreme Precognition – Passive skill
Effect: Survey the future with your mind.｣
｢Supreme Retrocognition – Passive skill
Effect: Unearth the past with your mind.｣
Eva's lips twitched as she decided not to think about it too much. If she did, she might just end up screaming with frustration and ask the AI to nerf her. Unlike Draco who loved to shit all over balance as he greedily acc.u.mulated power, Eva was fairer and more thoughtful.
Such power with her Goddess Form at just Rank 2 was simply nonsense, especially the passives. In Boundless, understanding the power of skills was simple. The more general and vaguer the description, the more power/application it had.
And looking at those descriptions which used taboo words like 'all', 'world' and 'supreme', it was clear that the sky was Eva's limit. No, rather her transformation duration was the limit.
No wonder it was only 1 minute. Even 1 minute was too much time for her to cause some SERIOUS havoc. She might not be able to handle things at Rank 5 and above, but below that should be fair game, even at Rank 2.
Insane.
Luxia slowly dropped, taking Eva's attention away from her power and potential to the landing area. It was a courtyard in the middle of the palace, where hundreds of officials, servants, and elite samurai guards stood respectfully.
When Luxia landed, all knees kissed the ground and everyone slightly lowered their head. It wasn't their place to gaze at the visage of the Goddess Amaterasu, and given their culture, doing so would warrant them having their eyes torn out.
A little surprised by this treatment, Roma and Zaine brought the 'weakened' Eva down while Hikari followed along. Eva looked pale and weak, and the three ladies with her refused to look her in the eye due to her 'exemplary' performance.
Eva at least had the sense to be embarrassed, but still forged on with this path. After passing the various kneeling humans, a group of men - whose auras were so intense that the three ladies frowned due to being suppressed - appeared.
They numbered five. Four Samurai who wore red oni masks, white short-sleeved cloaks and black samurai armor that was smooth and compact. They reminded Eva of the legendary Ryuukeibi of Japan.
(Author's Note: Ryuukeibi literally means Dragon Guards. Also, their attire looks similar to Ryoma from Fire Emblem Fates.)
Eva inspected them quietly and became silent once she fully analyzed them.
｢Name: Ichi – Rank 5 Dragon Guard
Level: 250
HP: 5,980,000/5,980,000｣
｢Name: Nii – Rank 5 Dragon Guard
Level: 249
HP: 5,950,000/5,950,000｣
｢Name: San – Rank 5 Dragon Guard
Level: 247
HP: 5,900,000/5,900,000｣
｢Name: Shi – Rank 5 Dragon Guard
Level: 245
HP: 5,850,000/5,850,000｣
Their power was off the charts. In the middle of them stood a handsome middle-aged man in golden brocade robes that had the sigil of a Dragon, as well as the motifs of magatama.
He wore round-rimmed glassed and had sharp eyes that seemed capable of piercing through the veil of deception. While his body looked more like that of a scholar, his aura was just as tyrannical as that of the men behind him.
The difference was that Eva felt like his power was familiar. It felt like hers, and she felt a bond form between herself and the man who was most likely the Shogun. It was not a bond of equals, but one of a worshiper to their chosen deity, and Eva felt like she could either 'pass down' power to him or 'extract' power away from him.
｢Name: Nobunaga – Rank 5 Shogun
Level: 250
HP: 2,120,000/2,120,000｣
Eva's eyelids fluttered when she saw that 'ill.u.s.trious' name, and she wanted to groan inwardly. Of all the Shoguns she had to meet, why was it the most violent yet heroic of them all?
Well, Nobunaga and his entourage only gazed at the group of ladies for a few seconds before they also got to their knees respectfully. As much of a dictator Nobunaga was supposed to be, the culture of this kingdom would likely not allow even him to step out of line.
Otherwise, his own guards would abandon him. The Dragon Guards protected the Shogun yes, but they were not trained by the Shogun or the army, rather the Temple of Amaterasu.
With her Telepathy, Eva could hear the jumbled thoughts of the Dragon Guards. She could hear their rumbling of joy and ecstasy for being lucky enough to gaze at the Goddess in person and how willing they were to die for Eva.
Well, religion was a scary thing. Eva concentrated on Nobunaga and saw that his surface thoughts were the same, but Eva sensed something he was suppressing deep down.
Unfortunately, Telepathy and Psychometry were not the same. Eva only had a simple grasp of Telepathy thanks to becoming a Celestial Prime and recently using the Goddess Form.
It was similar to how Draco suddenly got better at using Telesthesia and Psychometry after killing Fruity with his Devil Form. Eva had spent too short a time to get a hang of anything else except Telepathy which was her most basic ability.
She could not yet perceive the emotions or hidden feelings of Nobunaga, especially since he hid his thoughts well. This made Eva's eyes narrow as she understood that something dark had to have been occurring in this empire that she was unaware of.
Since everyone was silent and waiting for the Goddess to speak first, Eva chose her words carefully.
"You have disappointed me, Nobunaga."
Eva said this to prompt the fellow to hastily explain himself so she could get a grasp on the general situation. It was a clever attempt, yet Eva was not prepared for what came next.
"You are not the Goddess Amaterasu. You are similar, but different. She never deigned to see me in person and not once did she refer to me by my personal name, but always by my apostle title." Nobunaga spoke neutrally as he raised his head to analyze Eva.
The rest of the people here sucked in deep breaths in shock and fury. How dare the Shogun doubt the Goddess? Were his dog eyes blind that he couldn't even see what happened in the sky above them?
Even now, Eva radiated a sure-fire aura of divinity, though it was not compelling to those above her Rank. But those at Rank 2 and below were shivering in awe and fear.
Zaine's face became dark and Roma's became menacing as her hair started to glow green. Hikari's eye flashed with anger as all Worldly Energy in the entire empire began to slowly swirl.
Eva simply smiled and calmed them down. "You're right. I'm not exactly Amaterasu and I never said I was."
These words shocked everyone as their heads whipped up, while Nobunaga's eyes also widened. In fact, he had taken a big risk defying her, because he had only been 10% sure Eva was lying.
After all, he could feel the power Amaterasu gave him reacting fully to Eva and he saw her manifestation and aura. Everything was 100% Amaterasu, so his only doubt was her unnatural behavior and her slightly different mannerisms.
For her to admit this, what could it mean? Then what the hell was she, because despite her saying this, everyone could feel her aura of divinity and the closeness of their bond.
Also, Eva looked almost perfectly like Amaterasu minus the green hair. Amaterasu always had long black hair, not Eva's short green hair.
"Then who are you?" Nobunaga asked with confusion.
"I am Amaterasu, yet I am also not. Perhaps I should say, that I am not the Amaterasu you know. I am her reincarnation, her soul, and divinity reborn in the case something great happened to her." Eva answered patiently.
This created a panic in the courtyard. Nobunaga shook his head in disbelief as he asked again despite the noise. "Does that mean our Goddess has perished?"
Eva shrugged. "Dunno."
The noise ceased as all eyes fell on Eva, not all of them kind. Eva just glared back calmly, forcing them to lower their eyes as they still sub-consciously believed that Eva was their goddess even if she might have taken another form. Perhaps she had done it, so their feeble human minds would not explode when looking at her?
Nobunaga spent some time with his eyes closed as he pondered over everything. When he opened his eyes, there was no longer distance, but respect and reverence.
"First, may I know your circ.u.mstances and name, fair Goddess?"
Eva was pleasantly surprised by Nobunaga's intelligence and wisdom. He had been described as a forceful dictator, but how could someone who united all Japan and defeated every enemy samurai be a twat?
"My name is Eva Morningstar. The three ladies are my sister-wives, Zaine Morningstar, a Royal Succubus, Roma Morningstar, a Mystic Controller, and Hikari Morningstar, White Dragon." Eva introduced them casually.
She didn't do this for effect, but confidence. With her True Forms, there was no situation she could not escape from, especially with her Void Form. Fighting to kill or defend was impossible, but escaping had a 100% success chance.
Hell, Luxia was right behind them anyway.
The following reaction was just as expected. All servants, officials, and guard shook at the line-up of women. A royal devil, mystic witch, and… an actual dragon?! Well, if they doubted Eva before, her words now solidified her position.
But wait… did she say… sister-wives…?
Seeing the confusion in their minds, Eva decided to enlighten them. "We are bound by a bond of love and trust with the reincarnation of Lucifer, the God of Dragons, Devils, and Demons."
After that, she briefly explained the Immortal Spirit and how players came to be, before she gave them an abridged explanation of what she and Draco were without divulging anything but the bare minimum.