World Keeper

Chapter 531: Bittersweet Victory

Fleece was currently in a rather terrible situation, unable to focus her energy to change the nature of her chaos. The midget, or rather the halfling, kept pursuing her everywhere she went. If she tried to take a step back, the halfling would jump and kick her in the side of the head. If she tried to fight back and imprison the halfling in a bubble of solidified space, she simply stepped through it as if it weren’t there.

Every strike seemed to be aimed only at causing as much disorientation as possible while doing minimal damage. Of course, she knew why that was the case. She had overheard the catgirl goddess talking with the Keeper. She knew what was going to happen to her if she did not manage to break free of the halfling in time.

Desperate, Fleece activated a random teleport on herself. There was a risk of appearing in a hostile environment, but anything was good enough as long as she could survive undisturbed for just a few moments.

When she arrived, she surveyed her surroundings, and the color drained from her face. She had arrived in the one world where she absolutely didn’t want to be, where people would almost always die as soon as they appeared. She had arrived in Lorek, though thankfully she seemed to be in the ruins of some ancient city.

Are even the inhabitants unable to survive here? She muttered to herself, before shaking her head. She had other things to focus on.

Just as she started to focus, a knee impacted into the back of her skull, sending her tumbling forward into a broken wall. “Really? You tried to escape from the Goddess of Travel? I don’t know if you’re stupid or what.”

As the halfling said that, she placed her foot squarely on the small of Fleece’s back, mobilizing her own power. “Now, let’s go back.” She spoke in a fierce tone, and they were once again on the marble floor of the dining hall.

I wish that I could say I felt sorry for how Fleece was essentially getting bullied by Aurivy, but to be honest I had no pity for her. Rather, I turned my attention towards Terra. The others were already finishing up, moving to take care of the last force that the invaders had to muster, the God of Conquest.

“So… what is a fallen god?” This had been on my mind ever since she mentioned the term, though it was just now that I had the luxury to voice my confusions.

“Hmm? Oh, you mean like that girl? It’s pretty simple, really… a fallen god is a mortal that has ascended to divinity and made contact with the energy of chaos.” Terra turned to fully face me, perhaps as a way to prevent even herself from reading the book that was being written.

“You see, Dale. Everything has a balance, an opposing force. If divine energy stands above all of creation, then naturally there will be something which stands above all of destruction. That is chaos, an energy born by the betrayal of one’s own divinity. In its raw form, as the girl was using it, it can negate specific energy types. When refined, it can even destroy physical objects.”

“Because of the nature of chaos energy, fallen priests and black knights have been deemed as evil classes and hunted down as soon as they appear. That’s why those classes rarely have high levels. Especially fallen priests, as they have directly turned their back on their own god, branding themselves an enemy of the church.”

“This is all stuff I had prepared to tell you once you started to get curious about those two classes.” Terra said with a small grin.

“Okay…” I nodded my head, glancing at the book without looking at the words being written. “What about that ability? I had honestly expected to be facing a huge drain when you told me what kind of power you were using, but… I barely feel anything at all, and most of that is from Aurivy.”

“Hmm?” Terra blinked, before letting out a light laugh. “Oh, that. In truth, it’s because of how I set up the power. Without any of its restrictions or loopholes, a sealing technique of this caliber would consume about… let’s say one percent of my divinity just to seal a normal mortal. To seal another god… I’d have to pour in everything I have.”

“However, let’s go over those restrictions again, and you’ll see just how much they limit me… First, I require the souls of people familiar with the target. If it were you, the only people I could use would be Tsubaki, Dana, and Scarlet. Maybe even just Tsubaki. This means that I have to spend additional effort to kill multiple targets related to my intended victim. Thus, more energy expended that way.”

“Secondly, the loophole I left as a way for the person to escape. That is perhaps an even bigger restriction than the first one. Not only do they have the chance to escape, but in doing so they could obtain a pseudo-immortal existence. Only by killing everyone who learns of their story can they be sealed again.”

“Of course, if the story is spread by word of mouth, it could be altered and thus change the legend. Again, let’s use you as an example here. If you turned into a legend, you would immediately become vastly different than you are. This is because everyone knows about you, but nobody truly knows you. You would be influenced by every rumor and story you featured in.”

“Because of this second restriction, the ability becomes neither a perfect cage nor a proper path to power. The fact that it could lean in either direction causes both sides to balance one another, the price of the ability sharply dropping once again.”

“However, there is still a third facet of this power, which is what finally makes it as easy to use as it is. That is the fact that the trapped target will constantly relive their story, over and over. This experience will create insight, so if the person does get released at some point, there is the chance that they will be wiser or stronger than when they were initially sealed. But again, there is a balance here as well, in the possibility that they will simply go crazy in their imprisonment.”

As I heard Terra’s explanation, I couldn’t help but nod my head. Like she said, these restrictions were indeed very limiting. With the same amount of effort, it would be easier to just create a killing ability that consumes less divinity than the base cost. This power only existed as a special punishment for Terra, something she used when she deemed someone unforgivable, yet they had not earned the karmic punishment of eternal damnation.

There was a loud clap as the book behind Terra suddenly slammed itself shut. In the distance, Fleece was on the ground in front of Aurivy, her face swollen and crying. The halfling goddess stared down at her, watching as words began to appear on Fleece’s skin. Then, her skin seemed to break apart, forming sheets of paper that flew into the air and gathered in the book.

Congratulations! You have defeated the invading forces, and won the match! Below, you will find a comprehensive list of entities that had been sent, and their total point value for your victory.

999 Humans - Perfect condition, equipped with a multitude of powerful artifacts and skills. Value: 18,750 Points

1 Fallen God - Perfect condition, equipped with a multitude of powerful artifacts and skills. Value: 9,000 Points

It seemed that the others had finished taking care of the God of Conquest while we were talking and waiting for the book to be finished. Though, I was somewhat surprised that Fleece herself was worth almost half of the points of the rest of the guild combined.

At the same time, because this invasion actually took quite a while to finish, I was immediately assigned my next opponent that I would be facing in a little over one standard month. It was a name that I didn’t know, but I could ask for the details from Balu or Grimor later. Thankfully, this time I was not once again stuck with defending.

“Well, now that that’s taken care of.” Terra clapped her hands. “Let’s all head out. I’m sure that the real me already has somewhere in mind to store this book.”

I nodded my head, turning to look at Leowynn that was still in my arms. “Just wait a bit more for me, Leowynn. I’ll bring you back soon.” She simply looked up at me and smiled brightly, nodding her head.

Closing my eyes, I focused, cancelling Jonas’s domain. While everyone else vanished, Terra’s figure only seemed to flicker. My guess was that the real Terra had come down to replace her copy, going by the softer look in her eyes as she caught the book. “Hurry back, once you send those three outside back home. Everyone’s waiting for you.”

I nodded to her, reaching out to pat her shoulder. Once she left with the book, I turned and began walking out of the room. “Scarlet… let’s get to work on rebuilding your empire.” When I said that, the martial spirit blinked in confusion.

Dana laughed, clearing her throat. “Uhm, Keeper sir? That could be taken in a number of different ways. Please don’t play with the woman’s mind like that.”

I hesitated a moment, realizing what Dana meant, clearing my own throat as well. “I meant making more Martial Spirits with me. Gah… no matter how I phrase that it’s going to sound bad, won’t it? I’m going to let you use my ki to make more martial spirits, with Dana providing the spiritual energy.”

After my first attempt to clarify myself, Scarlet’s cheeks started to burn red. Thankfully, I cleared up the misunderstanding, and she let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you for your assistance in advance, father.”

Upon saying that, I shifted the four of us out of the base, leaving it empty. For now, at least. No doubt, Tubrock would soon arrive to begin studying it in detail. And, once we were gone, I ascended back to the Admin Room. My host was a deity of Lorek, and had more than enough ki to supply a great many martial spirits.

Once I arrived in the Admin Room, I felt someone latching onto me. Even before opening my eyes, I could tell it was Ryone. “She’ll be back soon.” I muttered quietly.

Ryone simply nodded her head against my shoulder. “Terra already created the profile for her, before leaving to take care of that book… she said you wouldn’t want to waste any time.”

I gave a light chuckle. “Well, she was right. All that’s left is figuring out what domains to give her. Take me to the profile.”

Ryone smiled, pulling back from me and taking my hand, leading me towards the living room. There, I could see everyone gathered aside from Terra herself. However, before I had the chance to sit down on the couch, where a space had been left for me between Aurivy and Irena, Terra popped into existence in the hall.

“I’m not late, right?” She asked with a grin, moving to join the group.

“Right on time.” I informed her, before placing my hand on the book. I did not want to alter Leowynn in any way, so I did not even bother to open the book and risk changing anything. I trusted Terra, especially in times like this. I simply connected with the Keeper system, and used the profile before me to purchase a custom companion.

I’d have to take some time to think over what domains to give her when she becomes a goddess, though. If we were to go by her domains in Vision Expanse, there would be an overlap with Tower as the God of Monsters. If we go by her demigoddess domain, she’d overlap with Keliope as the Goddess of Strength.

Now, an overlap wasn’t such a problem that I couldn’t accept it, but I wanted her to be special. We’ll see what she wants, first.

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