The next morning, Laia packed her bag, shoving all her gold and the new legendary armor into it. She'd never been to the Supreme Overgod's palace before, but she'd heard it was the fanciest place in the entire pantheon—if he had missions there, they had to pay way more than the Chaos Sea one, right? She was already daydreaming about how much money she could make, when the overlords all teleported to her dorm, cleaned up in their best clothes.
"Hey, we're coming with you!" Kane grinned, adjusting his power armor. "We don't want you to go alone, what if there's trouble?"
Laia blinked, then nodded. Oh right, they wanted to go get free food again, just like last time. That made sense. "Sure! Come on! I heard the food there is super good!"
When they arrived at the palace, Laia's eyes went wide. It was made of white marble, with golden spires reaching the stars, and the guards were all Greater Gods, standing at attention. She'd never seen anything so fancy in her life. Wow, this place must have so much high-paying missions.
The guards stared at Laia, then at the overlords behind her—including the huge Chaos Lord, who was trying to hunch down to look less intimidating. They bowed immediately, waving them in without a word.
Inside, the throne room was even bigger, with a huge golden throne at the end, and the Supreme Overgod Orien was sitting there, a tall old man with white hair and glowing golden eyes. He stood up the second he saw Laia, and bowed deeply, so deep his head almost touched the ground.
"Laia Hayes. It is an honor to meet you. I have heard of all your deeds—defeating Valerius, clearing the Chaos Sea, taming the Ancient Chaos Lord. You are the most powerful god I have ever met."
Laia blinked, rubbing the back of her neck. Oh, he was just complimenting her work on the last mission, right? That was nice. "Uh, thanks?"
Orien waved his hand, and a whole stack of glowing resources appeared in front of her—top-tier realm expansion tokens, divine crystals, even a whole star core, the kind that could power a whole realm for a million years. "I have brought you gifts. I want to ask you to be the Guardian of the Pantheon. You can have all the western lands, all the resources there, and I will pay you ten million gold a year, just to protect us. Is that okay?"
Laia's eyes went so wide they almost popped out of her head. Ten million gold? A year? That was more money than she'd ever dreamed of! She nodded so fast her head almost spun. "Sure! That sounds great! I'll do it!"
Orien let out a huge sigh of relief, then sat down, and waved for the servants to bring the food. A whole feast appeared on the table, roasted meats, fancy desserts, all the stuff Laia had only ever dreamed of eating. "Great! Now, let's eat. And... there is one more thing. There are a group of rogue gods in the western border. They've been raiding our villages, stealing our resources, and I can't stop them. They have a whole army, and they're too strong for us. If you could defeat them... I will give you another ten million gold. As a bonus."
Laia's eyes went even wider. Another ten million? That was even better than the Chaos Sea mission! She nodded immediately, shoving a whole roast chicken leg into her mouth. "Sure! I'll do it! We can leave tomorrow!"
The overlords perked up, hearing that, their auras flaring a little. Rogue gods? They dared to cause trouble, right when the Overgod just became the Guardian of the Pantheon? They dared to threaten their god?
Kane nodded, already pulling up his starship schematics under the table. "Right. We'll mobilize the entire fleet. We'll wipe them out before they even know what hit them."
Torin grinned, cracking his knuckles so hard the whole table shook. "Finally, a real fight. I'll bring all the dragon clans. We'll crush their army in an hour."
Elara nodded, already weaving a little life magic under her sleeve, preparing the purification array. "I'll set up the wards, make sure they can't run away."
Orien stared at them, then let out another sigh of relief. Perfect. They were so motivated. This rogue god problem was finally gonna be fixed.
Laia, meanwhile, was shoving a fancy dessert into her mouth, doing the math in her head. Ten million a year, plus the ten million bonus, plus all the new refugees she'd get from the western lands... she was gonna be so rich, she could buy a whole planet.
She didn't notice, far in the western border, the leader of the rogue gods, the ancient War God Kaelen, had just gotten the message.
He stared at the report, grinning, cracking his knuckles.
"A new Overgod? Coming to fight me? Finally. Someone worth fighting."
He stood up, roaring to his army.
"Mobilize! We're gonna show this new god what a real war looks like!"