Axec nodded in pride while Warshaw smiled triumphantly. Then the Shaman beaconed for her acolyte, who rushed up with so tools. They began building a makeshift altar inscribed with praises to the 9 Crowns.
Torko's body was placed on this altar and offered as sacrifice to the 9 Crowns by the new chief. This was to be her first sacrifice as the new chief, and its acceptance will affect whether she will gain the support of the gods or not.
Or that's how it should be if the gods were in power. But in a situation where the gods need the acceptance of mortals, they have no choice but to accept her sacrifice. Legion certainly couldn't refuse her sacrifice after doing so much or so little to put her there.
Torko's body was accepted. His body turned into golden dust and disappeared in front of everyone. The public display of the new chief making a sacrifice and the acceptance of the sacrifice made the number of believers in the 9 Crowns skyrocket imdiately.
Warshaw roared in excitent, "Praise be to the 9 Crowns. They have accepted our humble sacrifice. Praise be to the 9 Crowns."
Now that they have all seen the acceptance of the sacrifice, no one can say she is crazy anymore. And now that her chosen champion has won, no one can say her god is weak. So everyone fell on their knees and proclaid along with her the glory of the 9 Crowns.
Legion received a notification for the special offering.
-You have received 1 soul fragnt from Axec.
-You have received 45 Divine Energy from Axec.
They had received the sa amount of Divine Energy it would have taken to kill Torko on their own. It made them pleasantly surprised. What their angel told them about the use of soul fragnts as currency and material for forging divine weapons solidified their greed.
They thought to themselves, "It seems we will have to do more of these sacrifices in the future.
They have learned that while it is easy to kill any mortal, it is best to let their subordinates do the killing for them and then sacrifice the mortal to them. That way they would be able to earn divine energy instead of losing it. This knowledge ans that while this is the first sacrifice of an intelligent race to them, they will make sure that it won't be the last.
However, they are not blinded by greed. They understand that faith is a better source of divine energy. It is sustenable as opposed to the one-ti gain of a sacrifice. So they do not plan to sacrifice their believers. That is a fate for nonbelievers. Or non-believers if they want to punish them.
Thinking about it made Legion-1 say, "It seems one way or another, mortals are tools to gods. They will benefit gods with their faith or disbelief and with living or their deaths."
Legion-3 said, "I think it is ti to do our part to cent this show."
The clones agreed so they activated the plan they had prepared to prevent Axec's failure.
-You have used Minor Miracle.
-Acquiring available miracles.
-Please choose one.
1. Summon a bear. Cost 15 DE.
2. Summon angry eagle. Cost 8 DE.
3. Summon a pack of wolves. Cost 20 DE.
They planned to summon so animals to interfere in the fight. The animals are not to kill anyone. They are to just appear and disrupt Torko at a critical mont, which would lead to his loss.
Their intended choice was the angry eagle. It is the weakest one amongst them, but that also ant it would require less DE for them to direct it to harass Torko again and again.
It would be cheating, but they are gods, so anything they do is righteous. It is just right that they summon animals to kill or harm mortals who disregard their opinions. Even if it isn't right, they don't care. They are willing to do anything to achieve their goal.
Now that Axec has won, they don't need this interference. But they still choose to use a miracle to cent their power and influence in the tribe. However, they summoned the pack of wolves instead of an eagle.
The effect was imdiate. A pack of wolves rushed out from the forest and approached the tribe encampnt regardless of their fear. They howled to encourage themselves and to terrify their enemies.
Both of those agendas were achieved. The orcs in the square beca afraid and scattered. They were not running away in fear, though. Each one of them was running to grab their
weapons.
The attack of a beast is not strange to them, so they were preparing to fight. But Warshaw shouted at them to stop.
"Do not fear. This is a gift from the 9 Crowns. Do not fear."
So were about to rebuke her and call her senile, but then they rembered that the gods have returned, so strange things were bound to occur from now on. Even then, it took all of their restraint not to panic.
Their faith almost crumbled when the gate broke wide open and allowed the wolves to flood the encampnt. But then they realized that this too was strange, as the wolves were incapable of breaching their gate. Certainly not in the span of a second. It made them believe that this was another act by the 9 Crowns.
That belief was confird when the wolves ca to a stop in front of the square. The orcs and the wolves stood opposite each other, staring at each other. Both parties were terrified more than they let on. The wolves were probably the most terrified, seeing as they were practically dragged towards this location by an invisible force.
Axec was at the center of this gathering of orcs and wolves with Warshaw. She wanted to put so distance between herself and the wolves but she was led by the bosterous shaman toward the large wolf at the front of the pack.
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