The Goddess and The Star (1)

[HP and MP fully recovered!]

I woke up the next day and noticed Nasoris wasn't in bed. I sat up and stretched then got out of bed. I walked out of the room and smelled food. I followed the scent and noticed a few maids cooking while Nasoris sat at her royal table.

"Good morning, Shin~" Nasoris waved. "Sorry, I am a bit of an early bird~"

Everything was lively. Everyone was running about and I watched them. They began to set the tables. As they set the table I got out of their way then Nasoris used a breeze to carry me over to her.

"This is an everyday thing?" I asked.

"Just about." Nasoris smiled.

We watched the maids and butlers finish everything. Once they finished setting up, a made brought Nasoris her breakfast on a golden platter. A butler brought my food on a golden platter as well. They opened it and revealed a divine meal cooked by the finest chefs.

"Wow, this all actually looks amazing." I said.

"As always. Oh, today we have much to do." Nasoris said.

"Like?" I asked as I began to eat.

"I have decided to go on a quest to seek out the Crown of Kafura. It's an accessory needed to compete the Kafura Uprising Set. One who wears the three items gains a form called the Dawnless Form. The form used by the legendary Kafura. Salatis wields the Crown of Kafura, but I need more information on him." Nasoris said as she picked at her breakfast.

"But why? You can only equip two spheres. A third would make no sense." I said.

"I know, but I am the only one of Old Eshean Legend who can wield these items. Kerbe and Kafura are dead. I'm the last of my kind." Nasoris said then finally began eating.

I could tell something was on her mind, but I decided to not press it. I knew sooner or later, it would come up.

~~~~~

Nasoris sat in the library and tried to find information upon Salatis and his stats and abilities. She studied long and hard to find out more about him. None of the books she was reading were telling her about Salatis outside of his lore.

I walked behind Nasoris and held her shoulders. "I think it's time to take a break.."

[Nasoris's Bond Percentage rose to 55%]

"I can't. Not until I find information about Salatis." Nasoris said.

"You're not going to find his stats or abilities in those books. He is male unit, unattainable through normal means. He is only a guest or boss unit in normal terms, but since we are no longer playing by the simple rules of the game...I know a way to acquire him." I said.

Nasoris looked at me. "Will we also be able to revive Kerbe and Kafura?"

"We might. I mean their Legendary Spheres still exist so that means we can still maybe revive them. They have to have domains like you do." I said.

"You'll need a key to get in. Like you have my key, the Breeze Domain Key. You'll need the Drought Domain Key, and the Dawnless Domain Key. I want to find them, but I don't know how." Nasoris said.

"We can awaken Raziya and Raset. Raziya should have access to the Drought Domain. Raset has access to your domain...meaning Salatis has access to the Dawnless Domain." I said.

"But that would require me to leave my domain, leaving it vulnerable for attacks from the Grand Order. I can't do my people like this.." Nasoris said.

"I won't leave it unattended. I can have some of my units guard your domain." I said.

[Nasoris's Bond Percentage rose to 67%]

"You would really do that for me?" She asked.

"Yes, I'd do anything for you." I nodded.

[Nasoris's Bond Percentage rose to 75%]

Nasoris stood up and smiled. "Alright, then let's head off to Kafura Palace. Raziya is held in the dungeon of the palace which is 10 floors down."

"Alright." I nodded.

~~~~~

"So you want us to watch over this domain with the guards? Sounds easy enough." Shelly said and nodded.

"I'll be happy to protect this domain~ As you know I love the Breeze~" Ophelia giggled.

"A task I will not fail~" Ayano giggled.

[Party has been unlocked]

[Yuki, Selene, Veria, Nasoris, and Wave have joined the party!]

"So we're headed to Kafura Palace huh. I'm guessing it's already that time." Wave said.

"Nasoris and I have come up with an agreement. I will help her revive Kafura and Kerbe in return she marries me and I obtain Moonbreak." I said.

"If all is settled, let us head out for Kafura Palace." Wave nodded.

[Mission: The Goddess and The Star]

[Objective: Reach Kafura Palace.]

Yuki looked at me and smiled. "So it's just gonna be us huh. We should bring more potions and everything."

"Right. I'll go buy some right now." I said.

"I'll go with you." Selene smiled.

I nodded and held Selene's hand as we walked toward the city plaza. We walked together to buy more potions and elixirs.

"You know, we are only a tower away from the final region of Soria. I'm excited for everything." Selene said and looked at me.

"Me too. The enemies have been a lot more challenging. It makes everything a lot more interesting. It's seems the enemies scale with our star rarity and levels now. We have to play it more careful." I said.

"I agree! I know with you, we will be safe." Selene smiled.

I chuckled and gently stroked her chin. "I will protect you all..~"

[Selene's Bond Percentage rose to 75%]

[Affinity Rank UP!]

[Selene Affinity Rank: Crush]

Selene pulled me down and leaned into me to kiss my cheek. "You better..~"

I smiled and nodded. "Let's go back to the others~"

"Okay~" Selene nodded.

We walked back to Nasoris and the others then we distributed the potions and elixirs. Wave then led us out of the city and along a path to Kafura Palace.

"Kafura Palace, the place Kafura long lived in before having to retreat into the Dawnless Ruins where he became the Dawnless God." Wave said.

"He was one of the three Titans of Kafura Desert, the Main God. Did you know he was supposed to have two forms?" Wave asked.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah but according to a few sources, it was scrapped during original development. He was supposed to have received a Duskless God Form as well for when he equipped a second sword that was scrapped. It was Moonbreak. Moonbreak was supposed to be a sword originally." Wave said.

"Then it was turned into a shield and was given to me. That's why Kafura received a crown instead. Sunburst was given to Kerbe as a unique weapon." Nasoris explained.

"The Dawnless Crown, or the Crown of Kafura... The crown should be in the Palace right?" Selene asked.

"No, Salatis has it. To appease Salatis we need Raziya and Raset. Raziya is in the Palace. Raset is also in the Palace, but she's been awake the entire time while Raziya has been sealed." Wave explained.

"If we want to awaken Kafura, we need the Kafura Uprising Set. Sunburst, Moonbreak, and Dawnless Crown. Next we would need Raziya, Raset, and Salatis. They need to be holding their Unique Weapons. Next we wait until sunset, since he's the Dawnless God, he never sees the Sunrise. If all is done correctly, a temple should appear in the Dawnless Ruins." Wave said.

"This is all different. That means we can actually recruit male units." I said.

"Yes. There is a Bond Meter with male units but the difference is, your Bond Meter depicts how much your parameters raise when they are in the party." Wave said. "You can still get Legendary Weapons and loot from their Backstory Mode, but romantic relationships are entirely impossible. For male summoners anyway."

"It's vise versa for women summoners also, but since male units are rather scarce there aren't many female Harem Summoners." Nasoris explained.

"I see. I have a strong feeling that I will be needing the Six Eshean Legends before I reach the Tower of Eshea." I said.

The Eshean Legends Batch was rather interesting. It released a hand full of powerful units, one of them being Dawnless God Kafura. This Batch of Six Units introduced everyone to Form Changes. Originally these units weren't obtainable through normal means. Their Sets allowed for different forms and the only way to recruit these units was by having their complete set and defeating them in battle.

"It would seem to be the case." Wave said.

We continued to walk forward then Wave stopped, causing us. I looked ahead then looked up. The sun was shining brighter and heard a roar. Sunburst began to shine in my hand.

"A Field Effect is up. Eternal Drought. This boosts the power of Fire Units by 100%, Weakens Water Units by 50%, and will cause Overheat Status to occur often." Wave explained.

"Gosh darn it! Why am I not surprised about this?" Selene sighed.

"All is not lost." Nasoris said then smiled. "I have a new Element, the Wind Element. It has it's drawbacks like Wind being weak against Fire, but I want to introduce you all to something called Elemental Fusions." Nasoris said.

"Elemental Fusion?" Selene asked.

"A process of combining two elements together to create an Elemental Effect. Examples of this are Fire and Thunder make an explosion happen in an area, Water and Earth will cause an Overgrow effect where all Earth Element attacks are boosted, Wind and any element will cause an Elemental Tornado to form, and.." Nasoris explained.

"I believe we got it." I chuckled.

[Nasoris's Bond Percentage rose to 84%]

"Alright, as long as you all are informed." Nasoris smiled.

Wave heard units singing hymns and got on guard. I got on guard as well. Yuki stuck closely to me and looked around. We heard rumbling then a burst of sand erupted in front of us. A figure stood on the top of the sand geyser.

The figure was a woman with tanned skin, long black hair that was styled in a low braided ponytail. She wore a black and red bra, a black and red hip belt with a full length skirt with slits on the right going up to the belt. She wore golden rings on her wrist and ankles. An energy stream came from the rings giving the image of ribbons.

The woman twirled around and created a sandstorm using the Sand Geyser.

[Warning! Warning! Mini-Boss Detected!]

Name: Drought Dancer Eiko

Rarity: Six Stars

Element: Fire + Earth

Weakness: Water

Resist: Thunder + Wind

Type: Breaker + Magic

Level: 50

HP: 23,000/23,000

MP: 1,582/1,582

ATK: 1328

DEF: 378

MATK: 1328

MDEF: 378

AGI: 529

LUK: 244

"Not only do we have to deal with Eternal Drought but we also have to deal with this sandstorm...They really don't want us at this Palace." Nasoris said.

"It seems like it's just this one unit." I said.

Selene walked forward. "I will be the one to strike her down."

[Passive Skill: Perfect Guidance, Activated!]

[Selene]

[ATK (1.5x): 568 -> 852

DEF (1.5x): 233 -> 350]

[Auto-Dodge active: 10s]

Selene got into her battle stance and noticed Eiko land in front of her. Selene lowered her stance then dashed toward Eiko. Eiko got into her stance then dodged Selene's spear thrust. She kicked Selene's stomach then fire surrounded her leg. She raised Selene up then slammed her to the ground with her foot. A fire explosion followed, knocking Selene away.

Selene landed on her feet and used a Dragon Boost then dashed toward Eiko then dodged her kick. Selene slashed at Eiko's leg then swept Eiko in the air. She twirled her spear around, striking Eiko with every twirl. She began to swiftly move around, striking Eiko with water energy, using Wave Rush. She struck Eiko with a staggering blow then hit her with a Dragon Crush.

She launched Eiko away then flew toward her and her eyes shined. Eiko landed on the ground then Selene came down with a powerful spear thrust, striking Eiko with a Wyvern Splash. A water explosion happened and Selene flew out of the explosion and the sandstorm ended.

[Battle Complete!]

[EXP Earned: 80,000]

[Level UP!]

[Selene: Level 35 -> 36]

[Veria: Level 29 -> 30]

[Level UP Points Earned: 7]

Eiko stood up slowly and grunted. She retreated.

[Eternal Drought Effect has been weakened.]

"So it's her who's controlling this field effect?" Selene asked.

"She's a contributor but she isn't the one controlling it. It's that dragon spiralling around the Kafura Palace." Nasoris said.

I looked at the dragon and heard it roar once again. I grunted as the sun began to shine brightly. "Yeah we need to take it down. Immediately.."

"I agree. Let's hurry." Wave said.

[Mission: The Goddess and The Star]

[New Objective: Climb Kafura Palace to defeat the dragon!]