Gaia was stunned.
This entire time, she had been so sure that Eridel was after her technique and had been furiously scheming for the best way out, but this was what he wanted to talk about? Now of all times?
Was this a joke? Was he stalling for fun, knowing that he could obtain the technique at any time, or did he really have no desire to obtain the Limitless Soul Brand? There was no way he didn't know about it; the timing of his arrival was still too coincidental. Even if he wasn't aware that it was a Limitless Grade Technique there was no way he couldn't tell how special it was.
But instead of trying to obtain it, he wanted to talk about the Sins?
Something was clearly wrong, but what could she do? There was no way she would dare to mention the technique first. Instead, it was best to fully engage in this unexpected turn of events.
"...I'm listening." She spoke out, answering his question.
"Good, good, good. It would have been very saddening if you weren't." He said dramatically.
Gaia just stared at him. She was not in the mood to entertain his theatrics at all. Thankfully, all he did was sigh before continuing.
"Now I'm sure you're aware of the Sins and the great evil that they represent, but I think that you have greatly underestimated their innate might and growth rate. Otherwise you'd be running across the world with the golden birdy below, looking for all the help you can get."
Gaia's heart rate picked up. "Are the 3 Sins seriously so strong that the entire World needs to unite to defeat them?"
That was quite the preposterous thought. Especially since magic had only been introduced to this World a little over a century ago. How could such a world-class threat already exist?
"Well, Gluttony and Wrath need their time. But Envy? Yes. If not dealt with swiftly, the entire world really would have to unite just to survive."
"Then-"
"But since you and everyone else are incapable of stopping him at the moment, it would be wise to start looking for help in the other continents. Time waits for no one after all." He repeated with a broad smile on his face, as if he wasn't talking about the possible end of this World.
Gaia was silent for a while before she spoke again. "Why is this World so strange?"
Eridel kept smiling.
Whatever, she wasn't expecting an answer anyway. "I'm sure you're not here just to talk. What method do you have that can deal with the Sins?"
She didn't bother to ask him why he couldn't deal with the Sins himself. She'd witnessed too many scenarios that prevented people who were overly strong, like gods, from interfering in worldly affairs. Besides, even if he could intervene, she really doubted that he'd tell her the honest truth. It was really quite tedious.
"I thought you would never ask~, now listen closely...."
5 minutes later, Eridel had left… And not once had he mentioned the Soul Brand technique.
…
[Skies of Eridius]
Currently, Eridel was cruising through the skies on his way to his next destination using his favourite form of transport; a soft and fluffy cloud. He was laying on his side with his head resting on his hand, and using the other hand, he tossed a strawberry into his mouth and began to chew.
It wasn't the first time he had eaten since the creation of this avatar but it was still something he did very rarely, mostly because he didn't need to. But every time that he did so he found it quite enjoyable.
Unfortunately, this time, his mind was occupied with other thoughts, with the abnormal technique that Gaia had used being at the forefront.
Of course he had noticed it.
Although he didn't know the depths of its secrets, he could tell that it was a very special Soul branding technique. The memories that he had inherited from the golden orb possessed very few techniques but all of them were galaxy-shaking. The Evolutionary Blood Beast Technique for example was one of them. Actually, the EBB technique that he had passed onto the Beast as an innate skill had been incredibly weakened. There were many limits in that technique that the true technique did not have, and it was because he had many supreme techniques like this (provided to him by the golden orb), that he had been able to come to his own understanding of the various laws which inevitably helped him create all kinds of miraculous things, like the Monster race. Of course, the fact that he was an actual planet and had affinity with all Laws also helped but that was besides the point.
The point was that even with all of this knowledge and innate mental talent, he… could not comprehend the runes on the Soul brand that Gaia had used.
Eridel had a wealth of knowledge that could make countless Immortals like her lose control of themselves. But out of nowhere she had suddenly produced something like that? And with such relative ease too?
How could it possibly not attract his attention?
So without hesitation, he decided to speed up his plans in regards to the 7 Deadly Sins. All so that he could converse with Gaia and see how she reacted to his presence. It wasn't enough to watch with just his planetary vision, since he couldn't, or rather wouldn't, communicate with her that way. And no amount of looking would allow him to learn about the technique, so he had decided to conduct a test.
Her reaction to his appearance had been quite telling.
She already knew that he was far above her scope, which should mean that there was a chance that he knew of her technique or perhaps had better ones. But her reaction proved that she DEFINITELY knew that he didn't have a technique like that (or possibly had them in very sparse amounts), and that it was likely that he would do anything to obtain it.
The first time he had met her, he had appeared with the persona of someone who considered a galaxy like this a bathroom. A complete waste, so to speak. Which implied that his background was very, very high. And yet, she still believed without any hesitation, that he would harm her or ever worse, just for the technique…?
This meant 2 things. 1, that the grade of this technique was at the pinnacle, whatever the pinnacle was. And 2, that she knew that very, very well.
Interesting.
In the end, he hadn't spoken about it, opting to be nonchalant for the sake of relations. But he would be watching the interactions between her and Aeshma very closely. He might not have access to Gaia's Soul but he did have access to Aeshma's. If he saw something that he decided he needed, then he would…
Well, it was pretty obvious.