CH926

In those first milliseconds, Ben did all he could, pulling the rest of the adventurers with him into his head to tell them what he’d found and how that was going to change their plans while also not bothering to call out to Myriad, instead directly sending a part of himself to his god’s realm and connected to him to force the deity’s perception of time up to match his own.

“We have an emergency.”

“We already had an emergency.”

“Okay, a worse one! I was wrong. Mostly wrong. Wrong where it mattered.”

“Ben, take a breath.”

“Foast isn’t under anyone’s control,” he told his god, ignoring that advice. “At least, not in the way I’d been expecting. He’s become a demon.”

“Alright, I need you to explain what you mean by that.”

“The thing he was out to hunt? He killed it. Easy, no problem because of course he could. He’s a third tier and he’s decked out in some of the best armour I could make! The problem is what he killed and how it integrated with him. God, does this explain where at least some of what I’d been assuming was PTSD was coming from and why he couldn’t get past the sorrow?”

“For my sake, please try to think and speak in a somewhat linear manner.”

“Foast absorbs souls,” Ben went on as he started to pace. “Everything he kills becomes a part of him, which normally seems pretty fine. I mean, as fine as something like that could be once you get past all of the pesky ethical issues that comes with it, but demons are different. They’re natural soul magic users and hell, I’ve seen firsthand what using their souls could mean! You remember the first time I tried using a demon’s soul with an enchanted beastform skill? It took control of my arm and tried to kill me and that wasn’t even for one of the sapient ones! Meanwhile, Foast has been killing who knows how many, adding them to his collective soul each time and basically slowly infecting him like a toxin building up that finally reached its tipping point! All of them, every demon soul that’s ever become a part of him has been leaving a strain on his mind and soul and then he went and absorbed one from a demon that was a contender for their soul magic of all things and, like with the demon and my arm, it took over but completely. It looks like it has access to everything Foast was as far as memories go but it’s absolutely the demon contender in control and lucky it, because it passed the step where it needed to awaken first and jumped straight to godhood!”

“Oh, empty skies,” his god muttered, the weight of what Ben was saying inescapable. “I have to ask, but are you sure?”

“I’m the greatest mind reader on the planet, of course I’m sure! Which just leaves what to do.”

“...Ben, I’ll set up an emergency meeting and inform the others, but there’s only one thing you can do.”

“I’m not killing Foast.”

“No, because you also have to seal his soul away or condemn it, whatever choice is easier on you,” Myriad told him, his voice showing an equal level of disdain for the idea that Ben felt hearing it. “We can’t have a newly ascended demon god on the planet, especially not one like that. If what you’re telling me is right, then even if he’s been taken over, he is Foast too and he is globally known. I don’t know how much, but he’ll immediately have access to faith and it might only get worse from there.”

“I’ve got other options to test out.”

“And how sure are you of them?” his god asked. “Ben, it’s in his nature to absorb souls of the things he kills and we don’t know how that’s going to present itself when he gets up here but if I had to suggest the worst-case scenario, if he kills a god then he’ll absorb and become that god too, gaining access to whatever faith and domains of power they have to make him immediately, substantially stronger. Maybe strong enough to kill more too, repeating the process. Getting their names and divinities and sources of faith from their worshipers, it would be a chain reaction where every kill would make him significantly more powerful to kill even more until no one up here would be able to handle him, and then what? This planet is left with a singular demon god of everything and the mortals of this world are left to see what that means for their future?”

“Don’t know, but I can tell you this. Sealing his soul isn’t a guarantee when he’s a shapeshifter. Sure, I can do my best to shove a soul crystal in him, he has some exposed bits of flesh around the far too good armour I made him that I’m already going to need to contend with but if he gets it out of him without me knowing and we kill him, then he’s instantly going to be your problem. That makes killing him a far worse choice than trying to find another way.”

“Which still leaves condemning.”

“He’s a third tier. I haven't even condemned anyone at the second, who’s to say it would work?”

“You’re the coming god of sacrilege, Ben, of course it would work.”

“And unless I completely run out of options, I’m not doing it. He’s been putting himself through hell for this world, Myriad, he deserves a chance to be saved.”

“The fact that he’s put himself through so much means that he would understand too,” his god said, continuing before Ben could argue anymore. “But alright. I trust you to do the right thing and even if it’s difficult, I really would prefer to see him saved too. So, what are you going to do?”

“Simple. Kill the demon and save the man, how hard could that be?”

---

“Foast, you won’t believe how happy I am to see you!” Ben grinned, putting on the best act he could while trying to keep the rest with him from looking outright hostile as he began his plan to save the shifter and already felt it struggle. “Were you called for this quest too?”

“Hmm? No, I haven’t heard anything about it?” he said, looking genuine. “What’s going on?”

“God, it’s a hell of a thing but multiple villages have gone missing,” he groaned, letting the happy look slip from his face while trying to force something more serious. “We were sent to investigate, there’s been other places across the planet where entire settlements have gone missing without any sign, but with how fresh these ones seemed to be we’re trying to see if they’re connected at all. Speaking of, group one and two, go report our findings to the guild,” he told them, with both being sent to relay the current danger. “They’ll want that report as soon as possible, no matter how small it is.”

“Small? Didn’t find much then?”

“God, I wish I had better news but it looks like they just fucking vanished. I mean, I’m not the best investigator but even the team I’m with couldn’t find anything substantial either. It’s a nightmare. I hope your last mission went a lot better.”

“Oh, believe me, it did.”

“Yeah? The armour I made you held up okay then?” he asked as he nodded at it. “Doesn’t look dinged up at all, did you even get a chance to test it out?”

“Oh, of course,” he said, wearing a grin of his own. “It was marvelous. To think that any item could… well, let’s just say that everything that tried its luck against it was quick to learn the value of such a thing and to think, you hold both the skills and knowledge to make more.”

The other’s eyes gleamed as he said it, forcing Ben to try and hide the way hearing that from a being who had the power to take all he had after taking his life made his stomach flip, instead giving a happy laugh.

“Well, you ever want to commission more, I’d be happy to accept from such a good customer.”

“I see,” the monster with Foast’s form said, his mind instantly giving away the very thing the beast wanted to hide. The fact that he knew that Ben and the others knew he’d been involved with what happened.

The demon who’d become Foast had needed a moment to process all that his senses had been telling him but once he did, it had been obvious. The subtle signs of tensed muscles in the people at Ben’s back, their bodies warming as their heart rates spiked with the anticipation of combat, subtle looks in their eyes that not all of them could completely suppress, but more than any of that were the smells. Fear and adrenaline both having their unique aromas to such a sensitive nose, and while how both would come off from various races across dozens of worlds was sure to vary, one thing was undeniable. All of it had been prompted by looking at him, and they were expecting a fight.

With that leading to the knowledge that he was before a mind reader as well. From the beginning, he’d done his best to hide his thoughts yet Foast had never known the depth of Ben’s skill but with the realization made he was sure that Ben had become aware as well, becoming the starting sign for the battle to come with Ben’s superior thought speed allowing him to move first, bringing up the ground beneath the other’s feet to take advantage of the one weakness the armour he’d made held by stabbing spikes up and through the man’s calves while at the same time he screamed out, marking the signal for the rest of them to follow the orders they’d been given.

“MOVE!”