Changing The World
With her grand cathedral lost to Richard’s hands, Runai’s contact with most of even her surviving worshippers was cut off. Only the strongest and most pious of them managed to reach her with their prayers, but to make matters worse, most of her clergy had been killed in the war. Even if Richard just gave back the cathedral instead of destroying it, she would take decades to recover at best.
The three goddesses were gazing quietly at the various battlefields, supported by the unwavering faith of their worshippers in the Crimson Dukedom. It was only a matter of time before they won this war, be it decades or centuries.
A formless wave of energy suddenly emerged from the void and quickly swept across the crystal sphere. Ordinary divine warriors were oblivious to its existence and continued their battles, while the valiant souls under the three goddesses momentarily stopped moving before devoting themselves to the war once more. The three goddesses stood up, turning completely pale as they immediately scanned the void.
“There was a law fluctuation,” the Goddess of the Forest said.
“Did something affect the laws of the plane?” the Goddess of the Hunt added on.
It was the Goddess of Spring Water that remained quiet for a moment, scanning the world with astonishment on her face, “No, not affect. Something changed the fundamental laws of the plane! I don’t know if this is permanent, but who could have done this?”
All three goddesses rose from their thrones sweeping through the void. The last time the laws had changed fundamentally was during the invasion of the astral beasts. As slaves to the plane, even the smallest difference could affect the pantheon immensely.
…
As the three goddesses wondered about it all, Runai remained silent. Below her divine throne was a mountain with an endless sea of petitioners and valiant souls, all prepared for battle in the name of their goddess. However, her normal stream of commands had come to a stop as her gaze shifted away from the battlefields to her own left hand.
The transparent wine glass that held golden wine cracked out of nowhere, the entire divine kingdom falling silent as they heard the soft shattering of flawless glass. Several precious gems in a massive ring started cracking as well, but none of it as the source of the noise.
That sound came from the crystalline walls protecting the kingdom!
The goddess looked away from her ring that was millennia old, looking at her protective walls that were now full of cracks. One piece suddenly broke off, allowing the energy storms in the void to enter and tear everything apart.
In the blink of an eye, a small section of the divine kingdom was ravaged by the storm. Trees, buildings, souls... everything was smashed apart. Runai stood up and bellowed in rage, timeforce flying towards the gap to mend the damage, but even as the wall was blocked off once more everything descended into chaos. Shattered rocks floated around in the sky, a full third of her divine mountain ruined with all of the valiant souls and petitioners there now dead.
She ignored the scene of destruction as her gaze swept across the entire protective sphere. There were minute cracks running through the entire length, not yet sufficient to cause them to collapse, but still an enormous threat to her very existence. This barrier was the most direct embodiment of her laws, and the cracks on it represented a subtle shift in the world. She instantly lost more than half of her battle might.
“It’ll be fine if it’s temporary.” Runai had only meant to think this, but amidst her shock she had actually said these words out loud. She immediately shuddered in fright; how could a deity allow such a slip? She also knew that the chances of it being temporary were minimal. Even if that were the case, however, it would take decades or even a century to recover everything; this was long enough for the three goddesses to breach her kingdom several times.
She sat down in dejection, heaving a long sigh.
…
There was an immediate breakthrough in the six battlefields. Runai’s army crumbled almost immediately, the tide of warriors from the three goddesses rushing across their disintegrating opponents and flooding to the other end like a tide. They quickly occupied all six portals.
One of the valiant souls of the Goddess of Spring Water raised his battleaxe and took the lead, rushing into the portal to enter Runai’s divine kingdom. The brave warrior was decapitated instantly by the guards on the other side, but more petitioners and valiant souls joined him and started pushing through. As they entered the plains below the divine mountain, they pushed Runai’s lines back ever so slightly until they reached a stalemate once more.
……
Within Dragon Valley, Nasia had just finished transforming the crystal platform into timeforce. Next would be the timeforce returning to the Eternal Dragon, who would then assess its worth and grant a blessing. Richard had fully expected that as well, but his eyes suddenly went wide as she pointed at the timeforce in the sky and pulled it straight into her body!
He had never imagined that offerings to the Eternal Dragon could be intercepted half-way. However, he quickly realised that something else was off as well. He couldn’t feel the Eternal Dragon or even a conscient nearby.
Nasia observed his reaction before chuckling, “Not bad, you can actually see the problem. No need to hide it from you, I offered those things to myself, not the old dragon.”
As she pointed to herself proudly, Richard couldn’t find the words to say. The reason one sacrificed offerings instead of absorbing them was that these offerings could only be broken down by the power of specific laws. Gods only accepted sacrifices of a special kind, while even powerful demons and devils would use sacrifices, but it always had to be in the realm that their laws could handle. The Eternal Dragon could do with almost anything because time was such a general and powerful thing.
Had she already grasped the laws of time?! Time and space transcended the myriad planes, being a fundamental building block of all of existence. Richard had spent a lot of effort on analysing laws, but even now he couldn’t work on higher-grade laws or even the fundamentals of a primary plane. His progress was in the laws of life of the Forest Plane and the more basic law of metals. There were things like the Godnest in the Resting Orchid Plane, the flame potion from Ferlyn, Sharon’s balance, and even the Doomsday Imprint that he couldn’t even begin with.
While Richard was filled with awe, Nasia’s body suddenly crackled as she grew a little taller. Her aura flared up as she suddenly reached sainthood, but moments later it faded back into obscurity as she stretched her arms, “Ahh, that was good, better than what I’d imagined. I still have some surplus, four or five more and I’ll hit the legendary realm.”
Richard just looked at Nasia and then the altar, then again at Nasia before returning to the altar once more. He was now certain that she had changed the laws of Faelor during the so-called ceremony, and the change was to the law of time. However, no matter how he looked at it, the altar was just a pile of stone that had nothing special about it whatsoever.
Thousands of years of experience had taught Norland that an altar was a bridge that linked both parties, its importance far more than just a means to make contact. Even back in the day, the broodmother had needed a goblin altar to absorb some divinity at first. He wracked his brains but to no avail, his blessings repeatedly telling him that this was the same stone and mortar he had used for the manors and nothing else.
Starting to doubt his own perception, he had to swallow his pride and ask the knight, “This altar…”
“Huh? Oh, that’s just a pile of rocks,” she said casually.
Then how had it broken down the damned platform? Richard felt his mind going blank.