“RU-” He wanted to tell everyone to run, but before could even complete the word, there was another abrupt change in the situation.

Gaia, their golden goddess, flew above before imposingly stretching out her brilliant wings and yelling out a demand with a single word.

“Yield!”

And like her voice was magic itself, Aeshma’s gigantic eyes that could easily be seen from their distance flashed with a golden light and he suddenly froze, his breath attack fading into nothing as if he had lost consciousness mid-attack.

‘Wha-’

Not giving anyone time to think, Aeshma’s oppressive sky-covering wings that had just been spread out to its limits, casting a shadow over the Mountain, folded behind his back with a snap. He then crouched down the lowest his body could go and bowed his head.

…?

Was he… prostrating himself?

The Crystal Dragon King looked at all of this with wild eyes, his chest still heaving as if he had just flown a thousand miles non-stop. His carefully crafted composure completely collapsed.

‘What… just happened?’ He thought with the most densest confusion he had ever experienced in his entire life. And wait a minute… was it just him, or had the faintly distinguishable intelligence in Aeshma’s eyes, that he had just gained, disappeared? They… looked a little duller and lacked the keen intent to raze everything to the ground that had almost held him ensnared.

He blinked.

Once… twice… and then slowly turned his head to what was no doubt the course of this stupendous change in the situation. But even with his intentions to keep his movements slow, steady and measured, his neck still twitched and his wings still jittered. A result of the absurd amounts of adrenaline he still had rushing through his veins and the phantom urge to flee that had not completely dissipated.

But he managed the movement nonetheless and there she was. The most beautiful dragoness he had ever seen, floating steadily in all her magisterial and shining glory.

He was stunned. Completely.

But… in that moment, he knew what he had to do.

He looked at the impossibly docile Aeshma, who’s ocean-like aura was receding like the tide, and then to his fellow Dragons who were either looking at the goddess or the abomination, with looks of shock that he was sure he was mirroring himself.

But he knew what he had to do.

Summoning confidence from who knows where, he yelled out with his loudest voice.

“THE HEAVENLY GODDESS HAS SAVED US ONCE AGAIN! MY FELLOW DRAGONS, LET YOUR HEARTS IGNITE AND PRAISE HER HOLY NAME! LONG LIVE THE GODDESS! LONG LIVE THE GODDESS! LONG LIVE THE GODDESS!!!”

Many faces were startled back into reality, but soon a chant had begun.

“““LONG LIVE THE GODDESS! LONG LIVE THE GODDESS! LONG LIVE THE GODDESS!!!”””

Eventually, even the Dragons below could hear it and began to pick up the chant, and like that, it didn’t take long for the entire Forest to shake with the name of their goddess.

Zeal and pure adoration zinged through the Crystal Dragon King’s body as he stared at the imposing figure of his golden goddess, his mind replaying the scene of a single word causing the berserk Aeshma to submit.

‘How Powerful! How beautiful! How dignified! Indeed, only a being like this could be a goddess! The goddess of all creation!’

His eyes shone and shivered with emotion.

…

Gaia almost rolled her eyes at the zealous praise of her people, but she had to admit, it did feel good. In her past life, she had been a rather introverted individual, even for her kind (Immortals) that would sometimes spend centuries or even millennia in seclusion. So she had never experienced praise like this before.

Of course, there were times that she would save a large group of people and they would praise her, but that was different. Not only would they have praised anyone else who saved them like she did, making it less personal and more of a transactional service, but the praises were certainly not as resounding as this one.

‘So this is how it feels to be a god, huh. Not bad~’ Gaia thought with amusement.

She turned around to turn them to calm down, but just as she was about to do so, her peripheral vision caught the sight of what seemed to be a white humanoid figure, hovering in the distance. So naturally she turned back to look at it, but when she identified who it was her pupils constricted greatly.

White robes, long white hair, unforgettable golden eyes…

It wasn’t easy to see from this distance and she was just barely able to make out the being’s features (even with all 3 of her cultivation paths boosting her eyesight), but these were features that she would never forget nor mistake for anything else. And she had a feeling the man knew that, seeing as he was close enough for her to detect but too far for anyone else.

Who else could it be, if not the man that turned her into a goddess, Eridel?

Gaia frowned for a moment, but she made a decision very quickly. The only decision, really. She turned around once more and began to speak to her people.

“Everybody…”

The chanting ceased immediately. Well, at least the chanting of the Dragons who were with her. The Dragons below were still shouting ‘Long live the goddess’, but it was fine since it wasn’t their attention that she was trying to grab.

She paused for a moment anyway before continuing.

“Everyone, the crisis that has befallen Aeshma has been averted.” She could practically see the Dragons holding back from praising her all over again, their eyes shining with barely restrained excitement. “Unfortunately, his ailment has caused him to lose his mind so in order to prevent him from causing further harm I had to forcefully take control of him, but eventually, his mind will be restored to what it was and the Aeshma you know will be back, this I promise you.”

That last promise was more for Calmilla. She wasn’t here to hear it right now since she wasn’t in the 4th Realm and wasn’t allowed to come for her safety, but she was still a close individual to Aeshma (the closest other than her) and she would hear of the promise when the Dragons went back.

“For now, I want all of you to return. I have some things to do but I don’t want to hear any of you saying bad things about Aeshma when I come back. What has happened to him is a tragedy and he should not be flamed for it. Go now.”

She could see some of them wince at the dismissal, including the Dragon King, but they listened to her without hesitation.

“Take care, great goddess.” The Dragon King said with a bow, then he turned around and said. “Let’s go!” Before they all flew down, ignoring the 15 peaks that were almost completely occupied by the giant figure of Aeshma, and disappearing into the distance.

Only when minutes passed and their presences had all disappeared, did a flash of golden light appear from her side, along with a very familiar sensual voice.

“Well, well, well~ If it isn’t Miss Gaia. How wonderful it is to see you! Ah, but as exhilarated as I am to see you- honest! I must quickly advise you to get rid of that smoke. Your people will all die if it descends any further.”