CH857

Taking a moment to think and freezing the world around him as he did, Ben took in the situation he’d found himself in, feeling out his options.

It was obvious why they’d come, with some wanting to put some sort of stop to him now that he was the holder of a very unfortunately named third-tier sacrilege while others were there to his defense, with both groups mattering less than the opportunities they presented, letting Ben getting the chance to view hundreds of that world’s gods through the lens of his new power.

When he’d first awakened it to the second tier, one of the most immediate changes was that he’d found himself suddenly able to gauge the weak points of the gods around him. Not able to do anything with that information of course but having it available and that ability had only strengthened with his new awakening, with the instinct attached to it telling him something else. If he’d needed to, based on the abilities he knew he had, he could probably hurt them.

That in itself was a major change. As he currently was, without any practice he didn’t know if he could win but in a one-on-one or one-on-two situation he could definitely put up a fight, with a few of the truly weak gods not seeming like they’d be the ones to come out on top. If it came down to it and those who’d invaded the realm really wanted to try to somehow eliminate him, he could at least catch them off guard enough to kill one to make them suffer for that choice.

But as things stood, that was all he could do. What he needed was time to explore his new abilities to understand their strengths and limits if he was really going to put them up against the gods and he knew he didn’t have that. Even with the new extremes his mind could move at, he knew the gods around him could change their frame of reference when interacting with the world as well. Not the extent they could do it but that lack of knowledge meant he couldn’t start trying to test his new limits right in front of them, lest they took it as a threat.

So ultimately it looks like this needs to be settled peacefully-ish then. He accepted, letting a part of himself lower back down to the speeds the gods around him were currently existing at to listen to some of the screams and shouts that went up, with some more vocal than others.

“We’ve accepted this for too long!” Eneth yelled. “Because he’s shown some use we’ve given him pass after pass no matter what twisted skills he’s earned but now none of you can deny it! The system itself has named him as an evil god, what more do you need before we can finally come together to strike this blight from our world?”

“The system’s naming sense means nothing of a person’s character and while I do know that plenty of you are fools enough to not know that evil can be a rather subjective topic, there’s plenty of other interpretations to be made as well,” Anailia said in his defense. “Just look at all of us here! You in particular Eneth, don’t act as though you and I wouldn’t have fought to the last had we been born on the same world to leave the victor proclaiming the other as evil, our philosophies are far too different for there to have been any sort of peace that can exist like now thanks to the society we’ve built here! Ben has his own way of doing things but much of that has involved directly helping the world and now you’d see him die for his achievement?”

“An achievement that he wasn’t even trying for!” Myriad said in his defense. “Neither skill he awakened was what he was attempting to raise but the fact he still managed it is a testament to his talent! Besides, since it is a skill that can leave him in conflict with the gods, Anailia is right. No matter what it had been named, you all would have viewed him as such anyway,  thereby being the authority to make the world view him as such! If the system called him this it’s just as likely that it’s because you were all planning on labeling him as an evil god from the start!”

“Pretty words but that doesn’t change the point,” Olensia sneered. “Whether he meant to awaken it right now or not, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s been actively trying to anyway and what he’ll do now that he has it. Look at him and his constant demands, do you really think he’s not going to try for more now that he might be a threat to us? Something has to be done!”

“But what?” Ben asked, speaking for the first time and forcing all side arguments to drop as he tilted his head. “Tell me, all of you gods in such a rush to see me die, what exactly will you do? Kill me and ascend me to godhood instantly? I’ll tell you right now, before you can find a way to deal with me up here I’ll cause enough havoc to drain you all of as much faith as I can. Imprison me then? With the skills I hold, it would be interesting to see if you’re able to find a prison that can hold me, trying to break out could make for a fun little challenge. So then is the main option banishing my soul to hell? Who knows, maybe that will work, maybe it won’t, there’s only one way for you to all find out so who’s gonna be the one to take the plunge and try? Just remember, if you fail, I’ll know exactly who among you did it.”

He spread his arms out as he said it, practically inviting them while at the same time gauging each god in his line of sight, looking for any signs of movement or reaction as one he didn’t know spoke up.

“Don’t be so sure you can’t be contained until a real solution can be found, you’re-”

“Guiltless,” Ben cut him off, hearing scoffs that he ignored. “Look at how I’ve gained all of my sacrilege levels. The majority of them came from killing the forbidden gods and I got all of your approval to do it first and of the ones that didn’t come from that, I got some from destroying the tower of a careless god that’s not even alive anymore and by harming a demigod who threatened me and attacked the woman I love, along with making sure their church paid for it.  Hell, looking at it from that perspective, the only one of you I’ve ever really harmed is Eneth. Even Olensia and Duna, two who either got in my way, had believers who’ve tried to harm me, or have outright threatened me, I’ve only asked of them enough compensation to try and make sure they wouldn’t do it again so really, the only god among you who matters that I’ve done anything to to earn my sacrilege levels is my own, with my actions against Myriad getting me my first two and my last. Myriad, do you hold any of that against me?”

“Of course not,” His god scoffed.

“Then it seems the only one who’s been unfairly wronged by me doesn’t care. Now, I don’t know what the point of all of you showing up like this is, either trying to put me in my place or just posturing but it doesn’t matter. Hate me for demanding equality and fair pay from all of you, deny it how you want but it's obvious the biggest motivator behind all of this is your bruised pride for not having a mortal just absentmindedly obey you but whatever you lot are trying to get out of this by coming here to threaten my existence, I’m not standing for it. I am the apostle of Myriad and the world is richer for my work. Try to kill me if you want but the second you fail, I’ll make sure the planet knows just which gods decided to kill the man making the equipment that’s been saving lives each day.”

“You-” Eneth started, instantly cut off for a bigger shout.

“Me!” Ben yelled, revealing a fraction of his new mind to scream as much with his thoughts too and watching the gods before him flinch. “That’s right, let’s not play games! The last time I quit I was told you were all thoroughly informed of how important my work has been for the planet so let’s make this simple. If you’re here to threaten me into acting a certain way or behaving how you see fit then I refuse. If you’re here to extract promises from me about what I’ll do in the future or how I’ll use my skills or coming godhood then I won’t give any, and if you’re here just to make a point then here’s mine. Like it or not, until this war ends you need me and I’ve done no wrong so great to justify this reaction so let me make this clear. Go back to your realms now, or I swear before my god, I’ll become the evil one you seem to fear so much.”

“You think we fear you?” Olensia spat, a retort already on Ben’s lips that was stopped as a different god spoke up.

“Enough!” Phixth said firmly. “All of you, enough! We’ve spoken of actions that would divide the world before, we are not starting a war between us to kill a single boy! However you feel about him is not the problem right now, or have you all forgotten the state our home is in? Leave, all of you leave this realm and drop this matter! You all know there aren’t enough among you for anyone to stand for his murder so go back to where you were and focus on your work! Everyone, cool down before our next meeting or else the stress you’re all causing is going to leave me to quit too!”

An unexpected outburst from one who was normally among the calmer gods, there was grumbling but with it clear that those who called for Ben’s death were in fact outnumbered, they all left, one by one. Despite how some there felt about it, Phixth was right. No matter the demands behind it, a minority of voices couldn’t insist on the death of another god’s believer, let alone one who would be joining their ranks and once those opposed to Ben parted, those who favoured him slowly left as well, saying a few words of congratulations or at least giving him nods until there were only four remaining in the space, all eyes on the unexpected one who’d stayed behind.

Phixth, his face covered by his stone hands, took in a long, deep breath, holding it for just a moment before letting it slide out of him in a heavy groan and dropped his arms back to his side, acting like none of that or the previous outburst had just happened as he spoke.

“Apostle Ben, allow me to congratulate you on your achievement of being the third mortal to have awakened two skills to the third tier in their lifetime, no matter what controversies one of them might hold. While there’s sure to be more than a few complications surrounding this… Well, I’d like to believe cooler heads will prevail so if you could try to not let the rash reactions of a few of our more, shall we say, passionate deities affect your actions then I would appreciate your efforts to keep things slightly calmer for myself personally.”

“Ah, sure Phixth, as long as nobody tries to kill me then I won’t go out of my way to test the limits of my new skill.”

“Thank you. Then I-”

“Ah, but there’s one more thing,” Ben rushed to say before the other could leave, seeing the god’s energy instantly drop before he could explain himself. “It’s nothing bad, I finished my job with this so I’m ready for the next group but I was hoping you could arrange the one after to be on standby while we see if the changes in me will let me get through them even faster. If they do then we can work on getting the rest of the third tiers done and I can move on with my life.”

“Ah, if that’s all then of course, I’ll make the arrangements and let Myriad know.”

With his mind even more powerful than it had been, in theory it should have been even easier to finish any job so long as he was in a party with a mind user but he had something different in mind to test so long as a few other little experiments worked but all of that was for the future. With his new mental state he could feel ideas forming that he never would have considered in the past and he needed to test them all but as that god finally left there were three more in the realm, all looking at him with worry about what was to come.