Chapter 147

His inventory would be locked off until Wild Chains was clear again, but that was fine. He could wait. 

Right now, he decided it was high time to do something he’d never gotten a chance to- send a message to his Avium mother. 

He’d originally feared it wouldn’t be possible, but Luke from the Church of The Champion had told him that affinity planes were all connected. Since that’s the medium he sent messages through using [Meaningful], there was no reason for it not to go through. Whatever quarantine Avium was under, it did not apply to the affinities, likely because the demonic infection could not spread through Conceptual Planes.

So he composed his message. It’d been, what? Two weeks since he left Avium? That wasn’t too bad of a gap. 

Still, he should’ve said something to her earlier to confirm he was fine. He felt a pang of guilt, but such was life.

“Hey mom! A lot has happened since I left, but most of it I can’t talk about. You’ll be happy to know I’m MUCH stronger now, and I'm probably going to see you again the moment I decide to come back, because I’ll teleport straight to you. Until then, stay safe! I love you!”

It wasn’t much, but that’s just how it was. He wanted to tell his parents about his previous life in person, and without that one fact, everything else would be impossible to explain at worst, or nerve wracking at best.

*

POV: Fou Grrata

Fou sat on the couch, leaning into her husband's chest with his arm draped over her shoulder. It was deep into the night now, and they were quietly enjoying their time together. Things had become much more manageable now that Dei was confirmed to be innocent.

Well, not to the world at large, but to them. There was supposedly a lengthy process of pulling Oura’s influence away from… everything. And until that happened, he couldn’t officially be executed. For political reasons.

Still, it wasn’t impossible. Especially now that the other nine councilmembers were enraged. Justin was giving them live updates frequently, for their mental benefit, and it seemed Oura had made nine terrible enemies.

The other councilmembers were embarrassed. That they’d trusted Oura’s words, that a younger member had shown them up, and that they hadn’t stopped to think even once. Now that everything was out in the open, they burned with shame, repenting for their actions and hoping to make up for it by arraying behind Justin.

Not even a single one had taken Oura’s side, which was… odd to her. Fou had always been fairly emotional for a Gem Dweller, which is what Gor always said he loved the most. She was not as cold and methodical as others of her variant, but seriously, none of the Shamans had stayed loyal to Oura despite evidence? None of them let their hearts influence their actions? Once presented with the facts they just… switched instantly.

It was strange.

But good, in her case.

Despite that, it wasn’t as simple as killing the man. He refused to accept he was wrong, and was calling in favor after favor from people in and outside the gem dweller system to delay it all. 

He’d even committed a taboo- called forth a God. It was apparently to speak on his behalf to convey how dangerous Dei could’ve been, if Oura had been right. How it’d been better to not take the risk, and shut the case down. That’s how it’d worked last time this supposed creature infestation appeared.

That had backfired horribly for him. Gem Dwellers notoriously despised the Gods. It was just a part of their culture, and it’d opened a window for others to place themselves. Once Oura invited one in, and the entire case became public, many Gods started trying to speak up in his defense. Even if Gem Dwellers hated Gods, they could not simply ignore an army of fifty or more calling for a change in verdict. For a short time, it’d seemed like Oura would get off with a lesser punishment.

That is, until Aloran spoke up! It was the God of her boy! Aloran said that he’d met Dei, and there could’ve been no mistake that the boy was completely fine, when given a cursory glance. He’d cursed out a few of the other Gods and said something about respecting the Gem Dweller tradition. They needed to stay out of their politics or they’d lose long term cooperation from the Gem Dwellers, and the divine speakers had backed down.

It was supposedly quite the sight when a korgonda spoke in Dei’s defense against the various priests.

That’d concluded yesterday, and Oura was in a worse position than when he’d started.

It was so interesting to her. To hear of Dei so often, yet be unable to talk with any of the influences. What was Aloran like? What about the korgonda? That had to be the same one he always talked about. His little friend.

She wanted to meet him.

After. He’d worked his way into the Gem Dweller society at Aloran’s behest to help with Dei’s case, and he’d finish that before going anywhere.

Her happy musings were interrupted though when she felt something come through her Love affinity, and sat ramrod-straight, realizing it was Dei talking to her again.

This time, the message felt different. Much… fuller. 

‘He’s evolved the Skill that lets him talk to me!’

It was less like hearing his tone of voice through a wall, and closer to speaking with Dei face-to-face. She even got a… general picture of him. Not detailed at all, but she felt familiarity with the sender. If someone else gave her this point of mana, she’d know instantly it was from Dei.

“Hey mom!” he said with enthusiasm. He’d just received incredible news from somewhere, and that was bleeding through in his emotions.

“A lot has happened since I left, but most of it I can’t talk about.” He mumbled the last part of the sentence, feeling a bit… not guilty but a ‘I know you wouldn’t like what I would tell you, so I’m not going to tell you’ kind of emotion.

She narrowed her eyes, ‘What’s the boy doing now? Why doesn’t he want to tell me?’

Still, she kept deciphering the message. “You’ll be happy to know I’m MUCH stronger now,” he said with pride, and a general sense of his power came through, utterly shocking her.

He was far more powerful than her. Not just that, he was almost the same level as she was.

“and I'm probably going to see you again the moment I decide to come back, because I’ll teleport straight to you.” The first part was said happily, but the second slowly transitioned into uncontained bloodlust. He wasn’t going to teleport back to her simply because he missed her, though he did, he was coming back for Iora.

He hadn’t forgotten, and it seemed time hadn’t even remotely allowed the grudge to abate. He wasn’t just going to kill her. If he got the chance, he intended to torture her, just as she had him.

She let out a small smile, as she could only agree. Still, she was positive by now that Dei didn’t understand just how much he was conveying through the message. He likely just wanted to send a little letter, not reveal all his sub-intentions.

“Until then, stay safe! I love you!” the end of the message was filled with a longing for home, and a desire to see her and Gor again. Wherever Dei was, he felt out of place, and just wanted to be somewhere with people he could be honest with. Those who could understand him.

Below even that was a sense of self-consciousness. He was afraid they wouldn’t feel the same or accept him easily.

‘Silly. You’re still my boy.’

She happily shared the message with Gor. Justin had assured her the spies around their house were removed, and they had privacy once more. They spent the rest of the night talking about the message and what all the different meanings said about Dei.

*

The urgent things finished, Dei brought his mental speeds back down, letting time pass as he simply relaxed cross legged on the large marble bricked platform. Nothing else to do, he watched the crowds of people go by on the wide brick roads, entering and exiting the massive gate to the city.

Several looked curiously at the flying knights guarding a supposedly empty platform, but moved on quickly.

Others stared in shock and awe at Dei, clearly able to see into the spirit realm for one reason or another. He saw one mother with ghastly pale skin looking slightly emaciated point at him, and the child holding her hand simply gaped.

He waved at them, and the mother laughed and waved back, her daughter only doing so after getting nudged.

Something told him the duo weren’t unhealthy, despite their looks. They were likely a sort of sapient race with spirit-based racial bonuses.

It was incredible. Seeing so many different walks of life living together, all happy. And that was simply from what he could see outside the walls.

Alas, his break had to come to an end. From a distance, he saw a group of- no, a swarm of official looking people eagerly flying over the walls towards him. From a distance, he could hear them all talking over each other, forming some kind of buzzing cacophony of voices.

He was half tempted to swat one out of the air when they got close, just as a joke, but the intrusive thought was quickly strangled and suppressed by his self-control. That would not be funny.

He didn’t even know what the… forty… sixty… eighty… one hundred and eleven diplomats wanted, but they wanted it badly.

“Those are the currency-type priests… I don’t know what they want from you, but be careful. And don’t swat any of them” the truthteller said quietly in an encrypted message meant for him alone.

‘He has GOT to be reading my mind or something,’ Dei mused.

“Sir! If I could just-!”

“Sir! Listen to me and-!”

“Sir! I know you-!” 

They kept shouting over one another, none of them getting enough of a word out for Dei to see what they wanted.

Around the halfway point though, something changed in the swarm. Like hitting a brick wall, nine tenths of them came to an abrupt stop mid-air, stunned expressions overtaking them. The last tenth stopped as well, turning around and looking at their coworkers in confusion.

The swarm glanced around at one another shiftily, then back at Dei, as if trying to communicate something with one another.

The oldest of the bunch carried himself forward and turned around to face the others. “I’ve got the most experience, I’ll speak on our behalf.”

The swarm exploded once more, and the man seemed to hear all the words individually, motioning for them to quiet down then saying “I’ll propose the overarching deal, not mine specifically.”

The truth teller next to him looked aghast, trying to piece together why all the priests were suddenly on guard.

The old man was the one to clear everything up with the swarm arrayed behind him, crossing the last distance, clearing his throat, and saying,

“We apologize, one blessed by Greed, we assumed because you look like a warrior type that you would not understand the value of your faith, yet it is clear we were mistaken. All of us come here at the order of our Gods on behalf of the pantheons to see how we may… convince you to give us the faith stored within your chest.”

Dei wanted to laugh as he finally realized what they were talking about.

[Golden Voice and Silver Tongue

Beauty takes many purchasable shapes, so is there truly anything more gorgeous than the gleam of a coin? The affinity Greed recognizes a wonderful business partner in you.

• Greed affinity is 40% easier to learn and advance

• Greed affinity users and Greed derivative affinity users feel more wary around you

• Increases Soul presence]

It was an Achievement he’d gained after scamming Void, and it came back now to his aide. It was certainly a lot easier to talk with people who knew he wasn’t an easy target.

The second business-based Achievement would certainly make him a dangerous business proposition.

[Risky Business

You have scammed a higher power into an unfavorable deal

• Business and Business-derivative affinities are 50% easier to learn and advance

• Gain access to the [Value Sense] Skill

• Increases Soul Presence]

While it didn’t immediately make people wary about him, he didn’t doubt that its effect on his Presence made them even more afraid to try and deal with him.

The only thing to do now was to establish himself further. He sensed great hostility in all of the priests, and knew they wouldn’t simply allow him to walk away with all that faith stored within him. If he tried to leave with it, they would try and slay him to take it all.

He smiled, a direct approach was best. “I know what you’re thinking, that you will simply kill me if I don’t bend to the will of your hundreds of Gods, but I’m afraid it won’t work. I never did get the chance to introduce myself. Allow me to do so now.”

Reworking his greeting of Presence that Justin taught him how to do from what it’d once been, he blasted it outwards, though controlled it so that only his guards and the swarm heard him. It would not do to scare the innocents.

“I am Dei Grrata, a Slaughterer. I am the Voidwalker, the one Beyond the System’s Understanding, and the Harbinger of the Eclipse of Blood. I was born within the quarantine zone of the demon, but was given special permission by the System to leave. During my time out, my God has given me a holy quest to deliver a message on behalf of all the trapped Gods, and cart the response back.”

He hadn’t put every Achievement in his aura to avoid making it wordy, simply his most impressive ones. Still, half the people in the swarm were slapped to the ground by the force of his Presence, which made him remember another of his bonuses from his Achievements, specifically [Dreameater].

[Gain a Crushing Presence augmentation against any creature inflicted with The Dream]

Those that still stood quivered, and even his guards seemed fearful.

“I am not here seeking blood, but I will not be coerced out of the faith I harbor within me. I will spend some of it to make deals with your Gods, this is true, but I will leave with most of it. I do not claim to be able to defeat all of you, but many of you will die, and I will still escape.”

After all, they’d already said they couldn’t track what direction he’d come from using the Void affinity, which meant if he went  back to Earth’s dimension, they couldn’t stop him either.

He also was well aware of his power levels at this point. He was technically level two hundred, but he had layering Achievements that granted him increased thinking speed and physical abilities. His Slaughterer Achievement alone would mark him as someone capable of surviving their level five hundreds long enough to get away, and there was no possible way all of these businessmen were level five hundred.

Specifically because they weren’t in the quarantine anymore. These people didn’t live and breathe bloodshed, like those in Avium would. Back on his birthplanet? He wouldn’t risk something like this, because the power and level cap would simply be higher.

He knew he was powerful. He wasn’t divine yet, but his highest Skill was level 482, and rising. He was almost divine, in one facet at least.

The old man, their representative, looked like he’d aged another fifty years. Which is to say, he looked dead on his feet.

Still, he said “We understand, and apologize for any implications we may have had.”

Dei nodded, “You are forgiven. Now just to be clear of where I am, do all of you know about the quarantine demon?”

The businessmen backed off, needing to take a moment to breathe. It was the truth teller that sighed and stepped in. “Yes, we are aware. You’ve arrived at the Guardian Hub, a universe spatially neighboring the quarantine zone and keeping watch over it. This is the capital of the planet, placed almost directly on the seam between the two worlds. Though, I would appreciate it if you didn’t speak of the quarantine. Most of the population does not know about other worlds, and those that do are usually also left in the dark about what we are guarding. Speaking of…”

Turning to the crowd, he said “NONE of you are to leave this area until you are ALL placed under a vow of silence.” 

The truth teller, or the Captain as he was now thinking of this man as, motioned the surrounding guards to wrangle the swarm and extract what he needed from them.

‘Woops.’

Then, facing Dei again, he said “My name is Inyuden Toria, I am the head priest of the Magtrian, God of Guardians, and Warden of the Wall- which is what we call the quarantine barrier. It is my job to guard this city and its people, but also to ensure the demon never receives outside help or escapes. You are clearly a powerful soldier from beyond the wall, so I truly do hope we can cooperate. I would not want to cripple the forces containing the demon, as my job will get much harder if it conquers your planet. Now, what is this of a message?”

Dei nodded, “I was told by my God to bring it to the Cathedral, but I imagine that isn’t possible? I believe the spirit of the request was simply to get it to the proper Gods, as they need something from outside the barrier which I am not privy to.”

“It wouldn’t be… impossible for you to see the Cathedral, though we will have to ferry you there. As much as I want to say I can take the message for you, I would rather not involve myself in divine business and mess something up. Let me bring the proper forces together and notify the proper channels, and we will be on our way.”

Glaring at the swarm of priests, he said “That is what was supposed to have happened already, but it seems there was a bit of interference when your valuables were detected, so please wait just a bit longer while the actual paperwork goes through.”

Dei shrugged, then sat down again. He’d been waiting, what was a bit more?