What happened when one got all the [Sin Gems]?

  "What, they don't want me to get all seven of them?" Elizabeth asked, "I don't mind stopping short if that will get them out of my way, I only wanted to finish getting them since one of my [Skills] showed me the fact that they were seven of them."

  Also the fact that her Soulscape seemed to become more complete the more she integrated the [Sin Gems] into her Soul.

  “[Apotheosis].” Evangeline said the single word that made Elizabeth's worldview shake.

  "....Are you for real?" Elizabeth said flabbergasted, was it that easy? Elizabeth had thought that attaining that hoodie would be harder, but really? All she needed to do was fish the [Gem of Sloth] and internalize the other [Gems] that she was missing?

  That was….almost too easy.

  "Yes, now. Make no mistakes, this is usually almost night impossible to achieve," Evangeline said pushing forward Akira's image, "Take this one for example, he had a robust [Soul] as a [Hero], more so if he was one that had achieved his [Mission] and was enjoying the rewards from that mission."

  What was the point? Also, he didn't have a sturdy Soul; he had fragments of those that should have been his friends as a buffer to increase the stability of his [Soul], which was not the same.

  "He never quite manifested a [Gem Of Sin] while at school, it wasn't till he fought you that he finally manifested one, and it was that sole act of attempting to get more power to run away what served as catalyst, but even while he never actually manifested one, his [Soul] got twisted by the presence of it." Evangeline said as the picture of Akira crumbled in pieces and rotted away, Elizabeth liked that. She liked that very much.

  "Another example is this one, you may be more…familiar with him," Evangeline said pulling forward the image of the man who Elizabeth despised almost as much as Akira, the one who had started the whole [Advent].

  Not [The Stygian Bane], but one of his cultists.

  "[Nyctophagia], [The Bearer of Gluttony]." Evangeline said showing a picture of that man dressed as he had been, in a suit and a full face mask covering him, "He was known as a man who enjoyed torturing and then eating his victims, his [Power] was theorized to benefit in some way from it, but we know more, don't we Elizabeth?"

  Elizabeth of course knew more, since she had [Inherited] that skill, "He [Devoured] the skills of those that he defeated and increased his power, so while using [Gluttony] he increased his might and came that much more closer to [The Stygian Bane], turning more and more [Tainted]."

  Elizabeth didn't know why he would do such a thing, it was suicide to increase his own [Taint] like that, but then again, them cultist, what can you do about them, they are crazy. And not in the way that Elizabeth loved.

  "Exactly, he is a prime example of why having more than one [Sin] is rare," Evangeline said pulling the picture of another person, this one had a crazed look on his face and was covered in wounds, "This is one of the former confirmed bearers of [Wrath], and one that was defeated by [Nyctophagia]."

  What?

  [Nyctophoagia] had more than one [Gem of Sin]? But Elizabeth only got one?

  "After he defeated him, he [Devoured] him as you say, and….increased the power of his [Gluttony]," Evangeline said with a shrug, "Rarely they manage to make a second one, usually when they achieve so is because those are compatible among themselves, like [Envy] and [Greed]. Or [Pride] and [Lust], as you surely know."

  ….Yeah, Elizabeth knew just how compatible she was with Rossie…and with Rena….

  "I started with [Gluttony], intended or not, then took in [Wrath], so I assume at that point you people knew something was up." Elizabeth said, turning to Evangeline, "Is there a reason no one has said or tried to stop me?"

  "You also bear the mark of the [Hero], so if you could keep those under control we saw no reason to stop you from carrying on, besides the [Advent] made difficult for us to interfere with you, while we know for a fact that we interacted with you in first year." Evangeline said while summoning a grainy picture of Elizabeth standing among the Student Council, "We aren't sure what came during that event…The [Data] isn't accesible, we do know that you had the [Inheritor of The Akashic Records] title around that time, how it [Evolved] into your current [Hero] title is beyond our needs to know."

  …Yeah, that…was more of an Elizabeth separating from Akasha and moving more to being herself that anything, not that Elizabeth was going to say that!

  "So…I will undergo an Apotheosis the moment I pick all the seven [Gems]?" Elizabeth asked, "Is that why the [Galaxidae] and the [Nine Stars] are going to have a problem with me?"

  She kind of understood? Not really, neither had stood up to stop Papa and Mother. Why would they try to do so for Elizabeth? Was it because…No wait, that's it!

  "Neither [Framework] or [Oddyssey] ascended using [Sin Gems]." Elizabeth said, pointing out that fact, "At the very least, I know that [Framework] didn't have those things…[Oddyssey] may have been a wielder of [Lust]."

  Elizabeth knew Mother liked to gush too much over Magical Girls….If that woman ever committed a crime…Elizabeth would not even try to deny it.

  "...That is correct, [Framework] ascended following a [Divine Command] same as [Odyssey]..." Evangeline nodded at the first part, while grimacing at the second, "Or more like…she clung to [Framework] and stuck herself into [The World] 's Pantheon."

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  …Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at that description, she also thought that [The World] probably couldn't deal with Mother, she couldn't help but imagine her pestering day and night the unflappable Purple Haired Woman.

  "But no, picking all seven will not trigger [Apotheosis], it will be possible, but it can also be a means to pull down a [Deity], or even push forward someone to [Apotheosis]." Evangeline said, shrugging, "We aren't sure."

  "What?" Elizabeth wasn't quite sure if she had heard that one right, they weren't sure? "And even so, they will come after me? Are they nuts?"

  "Yes," Evangeline answered, "To be precise it isn't the whole [Galaxidae] and [Nine Stars] the ones that will go after you, as you are aware I am a [Galaxidae], but I will not go after you, and have even provided you the means to collect the last [Gem] you are missing."

  That was….true.

  "So who are those that have a problem with me then?" Elizabeth was getting tired of this going in circles.

  "[The Prophet] is the one that will make it so you become an enemy of the [Nine Stars], that woman wishes to achieve [Godhood] and come closer to the [Deities] she admires," Evangeline said summoning a picture of a woman clad in white robes, "As for the [Galaxidae], if you ascend, someone who wielded the title of [Inheritor of The Akashic Records], chances are that you will become someone who is important to [Akasha], and so they can't have that. For the ultimate dream of the [Galaxidae] is to be the [Guardian of Akasha]."

  "And since I would ascend and probably end with a [Divinity] related to that, I would end up being what they desire?" Elizabeth said unsure if her theory was correct.

  "Exactly," Evangeline said, confirming her theory.

  "So in a nutshell they want to stop me from moving forward since me moving forward would make it difficult for them to achieve what they want." Elizabeth nodded as she understood the root of the problem, "That is such a stupid reason to antagonize someone who has the chance to achieve the ultimate level of power they know."

  At least Elizabeth sincerely thought so.

  "The ultimate level of power they know?" Evangeline said asking back, dang it. The woman caught on her phrasing.

  "Yeah, not like there is anything above being a [God] tied to a [Planet] right?" Elizabeth said shrugging, she was aware of other degrees of power of course, but mostly because of her own personal experiences.

  Namely, she knew that she was moving towards divinity, she…just didn't thought it would be one that would be like this. She was aware that her own Soul was moving towards being something more.

  And she even had her own private [System] going on. It felt closer to being a World than a Goddess, even if her title within that space was of [Goddess].

  "Yes, that is correct." Evangeline said narrowing her eyes at Elizabeth, "Either way, that is why the [Galaxidae] are hostile to you, and why the [Nine Stars] will become hostile to you, but like I said, that doesn't mean that all of the members of both organizations will go after you."

  "Just like how those that are close to me within the [Nine Stars] will not come after us?" Elizabeth said thinking of Jenna, Lily and whoever Jenna picked up as extra teacher for them.

  "Yes, at the very least only the [Prophet] herself and [The Warlock] will become enemies, [The Beastmaster], [The Elementalist] and [The Tinkerer], [The Mother of Shadows], [The Monk], [The Sniper] are maybe, and [The Traveler] will not be an enemy." Evangeline said as she nodded.

  "I know [The Sniper] and [The Tinkerer] will probably not become enemies," Elizabeth said turning to Evangeline, "But why would [The Traveler] be an ally?"

  "Because you are the only one who can save him," Evangeline said summoning the image of [The Traveler], the same man she saw during her first year before she even meet [The Shadow Pact]. Only…this time he was screaming at the photo. "This was his last image on Zaanam; during [The Advent], he disappeared."

  …So?

  "I don't get why I would need to save him? Isn't his whole deal being a traveler?" Elizabeth asked, "I assume that his powerset was a space-related type or a teleporter? Couldn't he just…jump to safety?"

  Elizabeth had a hard time imagining Aura having that type of issue; if anything, she doubted that the girl would ever could be sealed or restrained again. Not after what she went through, Rossie probably had luck to confront her when she did, before she ever awoke as [The Maiden of Space].

  And that was Aura, someone who while she probably had fully embraced her own...Talent? Elizabeth was not sure how that had worked out; perhaps she crystallized her own talent into a [Gem]?

  She was supposed to be a wielder of virtue but ended up being corrupted by Elizabeth? Either way it was quite the interesting evolution, moving away from [Charity] to [Space].

  But that was also beside the point.

  "He can't, the evidence shows that there was never any living being called [Arthur Saintsworths], but there are evidence of someone that was called [The Traveler] of being within Zaanam," Evangeline said.

  Elizabeth had vague recollections of [The Traveler] using that name, really, that should have been her first warning about him, can't trust a Saintsworths.

  "So...[The Advent] erased his existence? Or it didn't?" Elizabeth said confused, "You can't exists and not at the same time, tried that once, it sucks."

  Elizabeth remembered how almost no one seemed to know of her, at least legally, she was saved since her identity somehow merged with Chloe and ended up as orphan though.

  "He was going to be erased, but saw the event coming and attempted to sidestep it as he does with most of the stuff that tries to attack him," Evangeline said putting a video of [The Traveler] fighting, or well, teleporting all over the place?

  At least it looked like that since the man was disappearing and reappearing at random, it looked Wrong to Elizabeth, but then again, she was barely starting to go into how Teleportation and Space Magic worked. So perhaps it was that?

  "What he attempted to do was not something that should be doable, when [The World] declares something, we obey," Evangeline said shaking her head, "Nontheless he had some allowance to work thanks to his previous achievements and his contact with [Framework]."

  That was interesting, the fact that Evangeline refered to Papa as [Framework] and not as Elizabeth's Father, even though she probably was aware of their relationship. Was there some reason for that? Elizabeth needed to check on that.

  "In any case, he managed to slip away from the link that joined him to Zaanam's Story. And in doing so, he split apart from the main [Story], but in doing so, he risked being obliterated; what is important is not that, but the fact that he is, was, and will be frozen outside the time strip." Evangeline said, "Not that it changes much for him, if anything he may be enjoying vacations right now."

  Vacations?

  "He is that kind of man," Evangeline said shrugging, "His work with [The Nine] and the previous iteration is the one and same, preserving the normal timestream, the fact that he pulled the trigger and did what he did is something that he probably regretted, but couldn't help and do. For what reason? Only he and those that he serves will know."

  So Elizabeth needed to ask Papa?

  That may be an awkward conversation to have, since they had left a few minutes ago, but then again, if it was that important then perhaps they would have told her themselves?

  Not that they ever said anything like that to Elizabeth, more like... most of the time they left her to her own devices to find out and discover these kind of things on her own. They were like that after all.

  "So? How is he still a member of [The Nine Stars] if he isn't part of Zaanam?" Elizabeth asked, "How do people even remember him? Or what do they remember of him?"

  "He always participated as [The Traveler]; he never revealed too much of his information to those around him; if anything, only very few selected people within the previous iteration of the [Nine Stars] knew of his real name," Evangeline said shrugging, "Not even the [Galaxidae] knew much of him, I know of him because of other reasons. Mainly that I was supposed to be your best friend."

  ...Yeah, that was not going to work out in the end.

  "So I am supposed to what? Save him?" Elizabeth asked, turning to the image of the [Traveler] who was screaming his lungs out, "Not like I know how to do it if he is... somewhere outside of Zaanam."

  "I know not how or what, but probably you will find the how soon enough," Evangeline said, pointing to her side as all the pictures disappeared one by one, and a new one manifested, a photo of Jenna and Lily waiting outside the building, "You are about to travel, and she will tell you more of it."

  "...I mean...I guess I would do it if Jenna asked me....but how does she know where he is? She left [The Twelve] during [Advent] right?" Elizabeth asked confused.

  "She knows of it because of who she is, she is now the [Guardian] of this planet, so she is aware of where he is, even if only innately, it will bother her enough to try and help him...that or kill him, since she follows after [Framework] the way she deals with it is hard to guess." Evangeline said turning to Elizabeth, "Have fun in your travels Elizabeth...should you require our help...or wish to become our friend we will always have our doors open to you..."

  Yeah...Elizabeth was not sure if she would ever become their friend, not after how weird this had been. "Maybe in another life," So for now Elizabeth answered as such and turned to leave, "Also...don't become too stuck up because of your powers, there is always someone more powerful."

  And on that note, Elizabeth teleported away, just like how she had guessed the wards and barriers set up in place did nothing to stop her, not while she was using the help of [The Maiden of Space].

  Really...the most broken of all of them was Aura at the end of the day, which was kind of funny in its own way...

  One of these days, Elizabeth would find out what the deal was with Aura, but for now...For now, she traveled towards Jenna and Lily. It was time to leave the MPI again...

  Man, they really had wasted too much time here.