Chapter 297

At Ben’s prompt declaration, Myriad could only sigh. “There’s no point, and for a number of reasons too.”“Cool, you can explain them to me after you teach me then,” He said, ignoring his god’s resistance. “Look, realistically I don’t think I can do anything to help, but I have to assume that they’re either hoping that they can make their way to this universe, that the gods here can somehow prolong the life of their star in their universe, or that we can somehow use our knowledge to help them break whatever cosmic speed limit they’re under, and of those three ridiculous options the first is sadly the most realistic, no matter how absurd it might be. I at least want to know what’s being worked with here.”

The floating cube before him just gently shook, giving off an air of exasperation before doing as his apostle requested, and before Ben’s eyes he watched mana form between them in ways he’d never seen, with a level of detail and care he didn’t think a mortal could replicate.

Not only did he not understand what he was seeing, he didn’t even know how to express most of it in words. There were occasional bits that seemed based on ways magic was cast he understood, with touches here and there resembling various enchanting systems as well, but in the end even then he couldn’t be sure he wasn’t just drawing conclusions that weren't actually there, with his mind just trying to make sense of what little it could. Worse than that though, the scale of it just kept growing as he struggled to capture what he was seeing in his mind until it towered over him, an intimidating mess that he didn’t have the slightest clue of how to dissect.

“Uh, do you think you could present it in a book for me the way you did your blueprints?”

“I’d have to understand it to have any hope of doing that Ben. Besides, I could show you my blueprints because they were made by mortals. This is magic made by and for gods… Presumably at least.”

“Why presumably?”

“The few gods that used it in the past bought the method from different void gods that traveled through their system, and even then it wasn’t stated that any of them were its original creators. Frankly, none of us up here knows where it came from or how it works, we just accept the fact that it does.”

“That’s… mildly horrifying actually.”

As far as the thousands of gods of this world were concerned, they had access to a spell that let them reach across realities, something the grey hadn’t truly managed after untold thousands of years, and they were using it despite not knowing anything about it.

“Okay, there’s no way you guys haven’t looked into it at all, you must know something.”

“Maybe some of the magic gods do, but there’s nothing I can tell you about it.”

At that Ben grinned. “Well well, isn’t it a good thing a goddess of magic and knowledge agreed to answer any of my questions then?”

“There’s no point,” Helori told him bluntly as soon as she understood what he was asking. “I can’t even begin to describe how nonsensical the idea is that this could be used to bring millions of people to this reality. Aside from the mana cost, which to be clear is astronomical, it’s also powered by faith. Multiple gods burned centuries of it to just get the two hundred summoned we have to work with. Even if every god this world has puts themselves to it, we could maybe, MAYBE save a few thousand. Admittedly it’s better than nothing and considering how much the greys have done to try and help this world we’ll happily put in the effort and take the hit to what reserves we have if the world survives, you also have to account for how much we’ll all lose trying to defend the world with the invasion on the horizon. Best estimate is that if we survive everything to come we might be able to save a hundred or so.”

“And that’s nice and all, but I was asking you to tell me what you know about the spell, not tell me why it’s pointless, so if you would?”

“Ugh, fine, it is an interesting enough topic anyway and it does no harm. From what the few of us who’ve taken the time to look into it on a deeper level have been able to figure out, it essentially has a number of parts, though all of them are massively complicated in their own way and bleed into each other on a level we don’t quite understand. For that matter, it’s not even clear which sections of the spell do what, but anyway, we have the part of the spell that opens a hole in our universe, the part that acts as a tether for the god leaving it, letting them access faith and mana even after passing the threshold to use, the part that hides us from any stray outsiders and protects us from the primordial chaos that exists between realities, the part that identifies life-supporting universes, as well as some of their properties, then the part that opens up those realities and the part that brings us back after souls were collected. Honestly, there’s probably more too, but it’s beyond complicated. I don’t think a single god on this world could have created a spell that houses just one of those aspects independently, at least not at the level of elegance this one has, so where it came from is a tantalizing mystery.”

“Alright, I think I got most of that, but what are outsiders?”

“Exactly what the name says, things that exist outside of the universe, or should I say things that exist in the chaos between universes? Either way, they aren’t much trouble for us, but from what the gods who’ve gone outside of the universe to collect souls have said it seems some realities are swarmed with them trying to get inside. Of course, from what I’ve heard the few times smaller ones have made it into this one have been world killers, but there’s nothing we can do about that.”

“...You know what, I think I’m just going to ignore that and focus on the rest. So can you tell me anything about how different sections of the spell control what parts?”

“At most we have theories and none of them are simple. Are you sure you want to spend months of your life learning things that could be wrong?”

“Hey, I’ve got you as a teacher now, might as well put you to use,” He said with a laugh as he stared up at the absolutely massive spell before him, trying to take it all in. “So teach away.”

Ben opened his eyes as they made it to the town of the Sobek, with Thera seeming in better spirits after their depressing conversation with Quilith thanks to the long drive.

“Already ignoring your girlfriend,” She tisked playfully. “Am I just a convenient shoulder to sleep on?”

“Ha, well am I just a convenient pillow during our hunts then?” He asked back, watching her face begin to twinkle as she turned away.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“Really? I mean sure, you’ve only woken up ahead of me a couple times, but given how often it happens you must have noticed-”

He was quickly brought to silence as she threw her hand over his mouth. “Gods above, enough. I’m never sleeping around you again,” She muttered, mortified by the conversation. She was uncomfortably aware of the fact that whenever they had to camp out for one of their hunts that there was a better than not chance that she’d end up laying on him at some point and she’d been more than happy to pretend that it only happened on days she woke up first. Having it made clear that it obviously wasn’t the case was going to leave her embarrassed for a while.

“Ha, it’s fine. Anyway, since we’re almost there you might want to keep your staff at the ready.”

“Oh gods, why?”

“Nothing immediate, just seeing how the last time went I feel like there’s a non-zero chance that someone might try to kill me.”

“Infinite hells Ben, you really didn’t hold back before, did you?” Thera asked as they saw the damage his statue had made when it fell, leaving him nothing to do but awkwardly chuckle.

He hadn’t been prepared for the scale of it either. Where the statue of Eneth had originally been there was now only a crater, the stone walkway it had been sitting on destroyed as deep violent cracks ran through it, expanding dozens of meters outwards, and that was still nothing compared to the damage to the church.

As the first church of the land, Ben knew it should have been strengthened by the faith of its believers, but if his experience with his jacket was any indicator, that faith only went so far. It was something that needed to be built up for centuries, with the more believers around to pray the better. He didn’t doubt that Eneth had exactly that, but it still didn’t seem to have been enough, with part of the front wall of the church collapsed, showing its interior lacking many of the accessories it had contained when he’d last gone in to give his duel.

Myriad asked to the casual thought with a shout that drifted through Ben’s head.

Ben thought as he chuckled, getting out of the cart as Thera parked it directly in front of the church, with a priest standing outside recognizing him and understanding exactly what his presence meant as his eyes lit up with fear and he ran into the church to get someone.

The statue weighed an outrageous amount, but he’d modified the designs from last time and had a rainbow mana crystal set up to pour mana into it, reducing the weight to almost nothing as he carried it over to the crater the last statue had made and activated the enchantments on it.

Unlike last time, when he’d needed to get a ladder out and struggled to carry it up, this time he went for a different approach thanks to the increase in his skills. He built the barrier enchantment that kept the statue suspended in the air to come out the base, lifting it into the sky when it was activated so the statue was hovering in the same spot as last time, even if the window they’d have to reach out of to touch it was now significantly less safe.

It was only as it stopped that the doors of the church flew open, with the apostle Felth throwing himself through them, his face crumpling into defeat as he saw the statue already up.

“Felth, so nice to see you again,” Ben said with false cheer. “Just got all set up here. I hope you saved the bits of the last statue as per our agreement, I’d hate to have to charge you the material cost.”

“...Would someone be so kind as to grab the old statue while we talk?” He asked, looking like he wished he was anywhere else before turning back to Ben. “Once you have that you’ll take your leave, correct?”

“Felth, buddy, don’t be so cold. Don’t you want to chat? Catch up a bit?”

“Gods above, please just go.”

“Ha, fine fine, just a couple things to talk about on my end first,” Ben told him. “I heard about what happened with the statue. Absolutely tragic. I wish I could have predicted it would cause so much damage but honestly what can you do, right? But I have good news! My skills have improved since the last time so I was able to make it in such a way that it would cause maybe half as much damage if it came down. It took a lot of work but it should make things a little safer.”

Hearing Ben say that, Felth actually perked up. It wasn’t much, but he’d take whatever bit of mercy he could from the other man. He even let himself believe that maybe the apostle of Myriad was satisfied after the results of the previous statue falling, at least until he spoke again.

“The bad news of course was that not only was it significantly more expensive to make, but the mana cost has risen as well. Of course, I have an itemized receipt for you of all of the materials as well as accounting for the item’s rank. You’re gonna love it when you hear this buddy, I managed to awaken my crafting so I was able to get it all the way to upper rare! Isn’t it such a pleasure to have something of such quality being the first thing your believers see when they come here?”

Hearing those words, Felth felt something within himself break. He silently took the receipt as he looked it over with dead eyes and knew in his heart that if it fell again his church would be ruined. More than that, he knew that Ben would just bring an even more expensive statue the next time. Without knowing it, he and Ather had both provoked the wrath of a monster, and it was going to be Eneth who paid the greatest price.

He waved a few priests to go begin supplying the statue with power, not caring how structurally unsound the window they’d have to reach through was as a group of others dragged out the shattered remains of the previous statue in many crates and began loading them into his cart, only for the worst possible thing to happen given the situation. Someone told Ather they were there.

In an instant the demigod had thrown himself through the door, spear in hand and lunging at Ben with murder in his eyes as he came down on him, the power in his body closing the gap in an instant, but still too slow for Thera who’d only grew more and more prepared for someone to try and kill Ben with every word he said.

The stone path beneath them was already flooded with her mana and the instant she saw the demigod lunge she reacted, bringing up a wall of it in front of Ben and trapping all but Ather’s head in it as it shifted back to solid stone, the tip of his spear mear inches from Ben’s face.

Ather struggled and screamed as he tried to force himself free while Felth collapsed on the ground. He had a clear view of Ben’s face, wearing the same sickening grin he’d had both times he’d managed to bring things so deeply into his favour in the past and wanted to fall into despair as he watched the church he loved so dearly fall all the deeper into the hands of the devil before him.

“Ather, it’s been so long! You’re looking healthy,” Ben said with a friendly tone as he lightly patted the still-screaming man's cheek. “But your greeting leaves a lot to be desired, so tell me Felth, what are we going to be doing about this? Seems like the sort of thing you might not want spread so widely,” He said with a shrug, before seeming to remember something as he snapped. “Oh right, since you didn’t feel like catching up I didn’t mention it, but I’ve actually become good friends with the soundsmith Greed since we’ve last seen each other. Maybe you’ve heard of him, he’s one of the few people in the world with an awakened music skill. Anyway, I’m sure he’d love to compose a song about the beautiful friendship I share with your church-”

“Please, please just stop,” Felth begged with his head down, his card already outstretched in his hand. “Just take everything and go.”

Ben tapped his own against it, seeing the numbers on his rise as the one’s on the other apostles disappear completely and felt satisfied enough to let the matter drop.

“Well, I wasn’t going to see Greed again for a while so I’m sure I’ll have forgotten about it by then. Nice seeing you both, try not to let the statue fall again, I’d hate to have to come back so soon,” He told them, laughing as he and Thera got back on the cart and drove off, leaving Ather still trapped in the stone.

He was feeling more than satisfied from the encounter, even if Thera looked exhausted.

“So you absolutely must have gained a level of sacrilege doing all of that, right? There’s no way you didn’t.”

“Hey, I didn’t. You know I literally just got one and what it took to gain it. Bullying an apostle a little wouldn’t be anywhere close to bumping my level.”

“Sure, but it’s not like that’s all you’ve done. Breaking the trial probably has you well on your way to getting your ninth level and the statue falling must have done plenty too. No wonder Uliel attacked you when she saw you.”

“Haha, listen I’ve gotten all of the slightly more aggressive things I needed to do done so now I’m back to my usual sweet and gentle self, don’t you worry.”

She eyed him suspiciously but ended up just shaking her head. “So you’re done with everything then? Finally ready to go home to Stonewall?”

“I think so,” He told her as he went over everything he’d thought he needed to deal with, finding one final task as he did. “Actually, since we have to go through the gate anyway there’s one last thing I should probably check on. It’ll only take a couple hours and then I’m ready to hide out in Stonewall for the rest of my life.”