Jasmine felt like she had been floating in a void for ages. She was barely conscious, and the absence of anything tangible was overwhelming. Everything ached even though she was barely conscious. She could feel flares of pain from time to time, making her groan in discomfort. Her mind might as well have been moving through tar, as it was nothing but a heavy slog of darkness and dense thoughts.

  Suddenly, the world appeared around her. It was like a light had been turned on from one second to the next. She could feel herself tremble a little as she realised that she was still back in the most horrible place she knew. She had been here once before, underneath the orphanage. The room with the alcoves. She knew that each gateway would lead to another orphanage, she had heard the stories, though she had never thought that she would be seeing this place a second time.

  Above her was the goddess Celeste. Well, most others knew her as Armandos. Jasmine felt scared for a second, as the goddess had definitely been through a rough battle. Her cloak had been torn in multiple places. Her outfit looked like she had tried to walk through a tornado of knives. Jasmine could see the anger in the goddess's eyes, though her smile was kind and caring. Behind her, Magnus was standing. He looked just as roughed up, but he also looked like he had been caught sneaking cookies from the kitchen. Apparently, he had gotten quite a scolding for some reason.

  It was the third man that made Jasmine smile. The Scribe looked like he was about to collapse on his feet, though he had tied something around his eyes. Celeste felt bad for him. She had no idea what had happened, but losing your vision was never pleasant, even if the healers might be able to restore it. She didn't worry about him, though. She had seen him stop a horde of orks, so she was sure he would be okay. Besides, they had two gods in their corner. Surely, they would be able to aid her master.

  Jasmine tried to get up, but a sharp pain in her stomach made her lie back down. She groaned a little as she realised that a knife was still sticking out of her torso. Apparently, she had been stabbed. She definitely considered that a complication on how well things were going.

  Celeste looked down at the young girl, and Jasmine tried to smile.

  "I am going to remove the knife." The goddess explained, making the redhead groan a little.

  With a quick movement, Celeste pulled back the knife, and as they had discussed, Jasper poured an Endurance miracle into her body, allowing her to endure the bleeding that quickly followed. Neither Jasper nor Celeste really had any healing available. However, Celeste quickly sped up the local time for the wound, allowing Jasmine's own body to knit itself back together. It was clearly a painful process as Jasmine's cheeks were soaked with tears. Celeste hated herself for not being able to do more for the young girl, but what was done was done, and she would live.

  Jasmine slowly got up from her position on the altar. Her body felt sluggish and tired, and she could barely stand, but the old hand of her mentor slowly helped her get up.

  The young girl couldn't help but notice a massive hammer in the centre of the room, pulsating warmth and justice. She could feel the divine Energy rolling off it, though it was the fact that the room was empty of shadows that made her feel safe. Jasmine saw the multitude of archways and the long winding paths that were connected to each of them. She let The Scribe guide her out of the room. While there was no inherent sense of danger in the room anymore, it still brought back uncomfortable memories.

  Celeste and Jasper followed behind them. They didn't speak as they made their way out. Despite Celeste's powers ensuring that they wouldn't need to sleep while travelling, all of them still felt like they were going to pass out. Even Jasper, who quite literally could not get tired, realised that he was exhausted. The mental exhaustion of fighting against a god was intense and overwhelming.

  The quartet more or less passed out in the orphanage. None of the kids had stuck around after the main nun had been exposed as a shadow creature, and none of the squad wanted to walk around the city to find a place where they could sleep. For once, they all slept fully and soundly.

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  You have battled a self-made god and survived.

  You have added the first truly evil god to the pantheon of this world. By not killing him outright, you have only made him hate this world more and ensured that he will be an agent for change moving forward.

  You have gained 15 worship.

  Jasper woke up to quite a surprising message. He hadn't expected to see such a significant bump in Worship, though he was aware that they had pretty much kicked a demon-enhanced god in the butt. It seemed like there was quite the advantage to taking on a challenge that was probably impossible to surpass. Even so, he couldn't help but feel like they had been manipulated by the AI, forcing them to change location and ensuring that they interfered with the thieves guild. Had Raffael Moordet not taken Jasmine, they would likely have left him be.

  Jasper looked at the Worship available to him. He had 35. That would make some rather impressive changes to the world. With this much Worship, they could change entire nations, if not the realm. They could create some of those powerful artefacts they had been looking at.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Jasper looked over at Jasmine. The young girl had curled up against the blind man, and he held her in a protective embrace, like a grandfather protecting the last thing dear to him. The god couldn't help but feel his heart break a little. He wanted to ensure that Erik never got into a position again where he would have to choose between assisting Jasper and Celeste or helping Jasmine.

  Jasper could feel Celeste's breathing grow deep, followed by her pushing against him. It seemed like she was awake. He whispered in her ear as they came to their senses. "You know... Jasmine might be a good candidate for you... you know as a chosen."

  Celeste groaned as she woke up and deflected, seemingly not wanting to talk about the topic. "How long have you been up?"

  Jasper wouldn't let her get away that easily. "I am being serious. She might be young, but don't tell me you would ever want to separate the two."

  Celeste sighed. "But don't you think she should be Erik's replacement?"

  Erik cleared his throat. "You know... for a pair of divine, the two of you suck at being stealthy."

  Slowly, he stood up, letting go of Jasmine, who gave a whimper as she was woken up. "You should never give that kind of power to a child." The old man said, looking at them, even if he was blind.

  Jasper got up and slowly walked over to the old man, pouring some Energy into performing a small miracle. While he couldn't heal Erik's eyes, he could grant him Knowledge and Magic. The god did just that, pushing the knowledge of Mana sight into The Scribe's mind. Jasper even paused for a moment and tried to add the ability to The Scribe's powers.

  It was surprisingly easy, not even requiring any more Worship to do, as the ability was something so minor, apparently.

  Erik would still look like he was blind, but his mana sight would instantly have reached a point where it was equal, if not better, than his regular sight had been.

  While performing the miracle, Jasper thought over his response. "Erik, you are going to end up alone. I mean, you can pass on my gift, but as you said, you will be doing so to someone who is much less qualified."

  The God of Knowledge knew the counter to his argument before making it. The old man got a serious look on his face, even as his eyes were covered. "You know, for the god of knowledge, you are as dumb as a sack of dirt that has been kicked by a mule. Of course, they will be less experienced. That is the nature of human existence. You will never be as skilled as you would like to be, and you will never be as proficient as someone who has had more than one lifetime to learn. I do not wish to live forever. The burden of the divine is for the divine. I will gladly help you in any way I can, but please understand that even with your blessing, I am not eternal, and you will get someone new to take my place."

  Jasper sighed as he was reprimanded. "Fine, what would you have me spend my Worship on then?"

  While Jasper and Erik started to talk about what to spend the Worship on, Celeste knew exactly what she would like to spend her points on.

  She had been wondering why Raffael Moordet was able to teleport. The Goddess had to assume that it was thanks to the demonic intervention that he could slip into the shadows, which was probably done by taking a detour through the Demonic realm. She would have to block teleportation in some way, including this exploit.

  Celeste knew that Jasper might consider it a bug, but she thought of it more as using established mechanics in a way that hadn't been intended and, as such, an exploit.

  Celeste tried a couple of different iterations, but she quickly realised that the easiest way to solve the exploit would be to completely remove transfer between planes, or at least make it so randomised that it couldn't be done with any kind of reliability and then have some sort of system that could sort the souls of the people that died.

  The Architect of Reality was quite proud of her work. The plan was fairly simple. She hoped that she could implement the plane transportation randomiser for cheap since the world already seemed to resist rapidly transporting people. She would just be turning up that resistance. However, she would also implement a new element in the cosmos called "The Whirlpool of Souls".

  The idea was fairly simple. Souls would be sorted based on their faith and spat out at the top of the metaphysical Whirlpool. In contrast, souls without belief or who hadn't adhered to a divine dogma would be thrown into the void... She would admit that it still needed some work, but having a consequence for the people who didn't actively worship a god would ensure everyone could be expected to follow a religion, even if it believed in spirits.

  She started her work and poured her Worship into the feat, and much more slowly than she had expected, a pop-up started to crystalise in front of her eyes.

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  Creation of a new natural law

  Private message: Like everything must fall to the ground, following the natural law of gravity, something that is constantly pulling upon every living being, so have you decided to enforce one of your decrees. While Teleportation is not impossible, it will require XN power to perform, where X is the normal stamina requirement for travelling the distance on foot, and N is the distance.

  Please be advised that this has an impact on the death cycle and that anyone that dies will be forced to stay in spirit form on their current plane.

  Intent: You wish to prevent people from teleporting. This rule has already been enforced by the game system, but has been easily manipulated.

  Cost breakdown: Solidifying existing rule and patching all loopholes: 2.

  Total cost: 2 Worship.

  She accepted it with a smile before another one appeared.

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  Creation of The Whirlpool of Souls

  Private message: This would solve the previous problem of souls wandering the mortal plane.

  Intent: Creation of The Whirlpool of Souls. A vortex that is based completely on death energy, which will pull souls into it and deposit them on the correct plane depending on their life.

  Cost breakdown: Ignoring fundamental natural law: 8

  Assigning death energy to an area outside all existence: 10

  Logic that sorts souls based on pantheon dogma and how people have lived: 4

  Resistance from other gods: 10

  Total cost: 32 Worship.

  She accepted this one with grace as well.