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Ascension
“Helm… HELM!” A humanoid voice sounded from the giant scorpion, but Helm’s avatar looked at the ominous clouds instead. His face turned darker the longer he looked.
Rafiniya felt a surge of might descending suddenly, causing her knees to buckle as she almost fell to the ground.
*Rumble! Rumble!* Silver lightning streaked between the ominous cloud, snaking around ceaselessly.
“This… It’s the descent of origin force… Someone’s gathering divinity to ascend,” Romese muttered, looking at the sky above the castle.
The giant scorpion roared, as vengeful spirits floated from up from its body.
“It’s him! Is he preparing to transcend now?” Rafiniya’s voice was hoarse.
“What’s happening?” It wasn’t just the opponents that were flabbergasted. Schliff’s mouth gaped wide open, and his eyes almost popped out in disbelief.
This was but a resurrection ceremony. Why was more divinity gathering now? How was an ascension attempt occurring right now? This wasn’t right!
Schliff roared in his heart, but in the next instant he recalled something and a murky shadow was cast over his figure. ‘It’s that golden crystal! There was something else within it!’
……
“Has it begun?” The conscients of several false gods had gathered an unknown distance away from the Tree Castle.
A golden aura was shining on Leylin’s body. He smirked as he looked at the waves of origin force, “Chester Potter. You walked out of flesh and blood, and have the rights to ascend. However, you’ve slain many civilians and their vengeful spirits are now chasing you. This is your sin!”
*Boom!* Right after Leylin spoke, many vengeful spirits appeared from the void. Their clothing made them seem like commoners from the Tree Castle. Their faces were now wailing in agony, their blood-covered hands pulling down Chester’s body.
“Our Lord! We will be with the Lord!” A faint, hair-raising hymn sounded from the void, growing louder as time went on. The vengeful spirits seemed to have crawled out of the underworld, wanting to pull Chester down with them.
“A demigod cannot withstand such sin,” Leylin was extremely well versed in this area, “If Chester Potter does not want to fall again, he can only advance to become a true god, and use his divine kingdom to bear the hatred and send them away for good.”
Truth be told, this was all within Leylin’s plan. However, Chester still had himself to blame. If he hadn’t wanted to perform such a large blood sacrifice to revive himself, Leylin would’ve been unable to make use of this opportunity to push him down. As it was right now, Leylin was merely lighting a pile of firewood on fire.
‘His divinity is in slaughters… This origin force will likely attract similar gods like Malar and Cyric who specialise in massacres… Chester Potter, I hope you can last a little while longer…’ Leylin thought apathetically.
There were some other things in the crystal Leylin had given Schliff, including some of his own comprehension of the law of massacres and a large amount of divine force in the domain. It would be enough for the demigod to ascend, egging him into taking that final step.
“Your Excellency Leylin… Your schemes can even cause the devils of Baator to tremble in fear. It seems like we’re lacking when compared to you…” Ukekelu said, and a puddle of black mud at his left shone brilliantly. All the demigods here were evidently fearful.
“This is something we decided on together,” Leylin said. He discovered the fear and isolation, but didn’t worry too much since he’d been open about this from the start. If these demigods wanted to ascend, they could only cooperate with him and bite down on the bait.
“I’ve already tested what I gave you multiple times. Are there any problems?” Leylin’s rebuke caused the demigods to turn silent.
Very soon, their attention shifted to the Tree Castle once again. Chester’s ascension would give them great benefits. Not only could they use this as a learning experience, they could also see the reactions of the true gods.
As for the pitiful Poison Scorpion Church, they just abandoned it. Without Leylin and the other demigods, this church was destined to be doomed if it could not escape the attention of the true gods.
In fact, Chester Potter’s resurrection was the last chance that the demigods were willing to give him. In exchange for this chance, test being used as a guinea pig to test the response of the true gods was a reasonable bargain, was it not?
*Crash! Boom!* Pale green lightning struck the horde of summoned scorpions, wiping them out. Chester Potter’s scorpion phantom flickered under the pressure of the origin force, revealing his original black-robed form.
“Argh… I am the Lord of Scorpions! I control the law of slaughter, and I WILL become a true god!” Chester Potter waved his arms, and a dark gold flame blazed from his body to fuse with his comprehension of laws. This was his divine spark as a demigod, the quintessence of his form.
Threads of the law of slaughter converged on the divine spark, runes spinning around it in a sphere as they nurtured it. Chester had given his everything into ascension.
“Our Lord Chester Potter… You are a star in the skies, wielding the law of slaughter. The fear of humans shall become your strength…”
“Our Lord Chester Potter… You will sit on the throne of your divine kingdom, where our souls will nest…”
“Our Lord Chester Potter… I am willing to give up everything I have, and carry out my mission on this earth. I earnestly pray for your glory amongst the gods, and pray that you last forever!”
Schliff prayed fervently, and with utmost sincerity. The other worshippers followed his lead.
The high-ranked wizard knew quite clearly that the Poison Scorpion Lord could not overpower the remaining demigods, and had been caught up in their conspiracy. He was left without any choice but to transcend.
His other worshippers had also realised this point. Right now, the only chance they had to live was to pray and aid Chester Potter in his transcendence. The worshippers of this false god were thus literally praying for their lives.
A surge of faith converged around Chester Potter, absorbed by his divine spark and nurtured into power in his domain.
Chester’s personal comprehension of the law of slaughter wasn’t great, and he lacked enough worshippers to ascend on his own. Even amongst demigods he wasn’t the strongest.
However, none of that mattered with Leylin here. Chester’s law of slaughter that had piqued Leylin’s interest was quite close to his own law of massacre. Converting between the two had been extremely easy.
With Leylin’s ‘aid’ from the dark, giving Chester some of his own comprehension of massacres, Chester had immediately met this requirement. He’d tried to smart, wanting to avoid Leylin’s comprehension and the enmity of the massacre gods that it entailed, but his efforts didn’t pay off. With the power of the lightning and origin force, and the prayers within, this event was made known to the entirety of the prime material plane.
Any existence that had crossed into the legendary realm fixed their gazes upon the area. They could see that a demigod was beginning to break through and become a true god. The sacrificial runes there told everyone of his identity.
The Poison Scorpion’s truename was Chester Potter. No matter what the mortals had named him, once his ascension succeeded, this name would forever be attached to him. He would even be able to sense some of what was said whenever his name was mentioned.
His worshippers would also gain strength from his truename. By just whispering and chanting his name, they would be able to connect to their god.
Chester had seemed to choose slaughter as his divine domain. The sacrificial runes floating around him read ‘the fear of mortals will become your strength,’ a clear indication that he was of the evil alignment. Just this fact was enough for all good gods to oppose him.
*Roar!* Right at that moment, a portal opened in mid air. A giant golden ape came tumbling out, straightening to stand up in the void. Its blood red eyes were locked onto the demigod in the lightning, as if looking at prey.
The God of Hunt— Malar!
‘As expected… Anyone who tries to ascend into a divine position related to massacres will face the hostility of the gods who wield it.’ Leylin shook his head, but doubt and confusion filled his mind. ‘What about Cyric? He’s the God of Murder, and he’s even more closely attuned to slaughter…’
……
At this moment, within the headquarters of the Church of Murder.
“Blasphemy! That false god is committing blasphemy against our Lord!” The pope roared at the surrounding slaves and clerics that knelt in a circle before him.
“Send out the orders: all legendaries are to cease their missions right now and move to attack the Poison Scorpion Church. Behead them on sight, I want to see the heads of every one of their priests before me!” The pope’s face was filled with malevolence as he issued his order…
Once everyone left, the pope knelt before Cyric’s statue, his quiet prayers tinged with helplessness.
Only he knew that this powerful god, the God of Murder, had gone insane. He’d even issued orders for internal conflict, and the upper hierarchy of the Church of Murder had already fallen into disarray.