Capítulo 1176: Cetery
“This was a bit disappointing, but also quite a good sign! It would seem that the lightning gods are quite easy pickings for ” Faraday spun his staff around as he got a feel of the divine lightning he had just absorbed.
It ca in addition to what he already had in stock to begin with, so right now, he had access to a lot of divine lightning.
“I didn’t even use my signature cage. I guess I grew significantly stronger without noticing” he rested his staff on his shoulder as he walked back up to Loimos and his groupies.
“My bad for stealing the show, but I am sure you’ll get many more opportunities to impress your girls, ahahah! Anyway, where the hell are we supposed to be going?”
The divine storm had vanished, the lightning god was gone, and his temple in the distance was the only one left around. The others seed to have disappeared as soon as their fellow deity had been defeated.
Loimos didn’t bother to say anything.
The distant temple of white marble suddenly popped right behind the undeads, the entire edifice soon crawling with putrid vegetation as the architecture was taken over by the pure undead in the blink of an eye.
A large tree even took root upon its roof. Not a proper Lithitree, rely a minor Lithitree that shared only a minute portion of the powers of the real deal. But it served well to truly mark the area as now belonging to the Empire.
“We do not know as much as would be preferable to conduct a proper conquest. It is best that we find soone to inform us”
Loimos began walking in a seemingly random direction.
“Is there a reason why you aren’t just teleporting to the destination or sothing?” asked Maliah.
“This realm can accommodate the undead, but if you seek deeper, you will feel that the restrictions are aplenty. It is preferable to avoid any unnecessary usage of powers or abilities unless we are engaged in combat. There is a strict treaty of peace enforced here”
“Huh… Then why did this clown try to attack us? Are we exempt from the protection because we are invaders?” said One, and Loimos confird.
This realm was fairly well-defended. An invader was bound by realm restrictions not to attack, but non-invaders could attack them without repercussions. Though that problem faded away once an attack had been dealt, in essence, the divine beings were allowed a first-strike free of charge, and if they didn’t attack, they were basically untouchable.
Of course, Loimos could probably try to bend and shatter that rule, but the consequences on the realm itself were unknown, and such a pri realm wasn’t to be handled improperly.
The Empire had plans for this realm, and the Church of Death had done many preparations regarding its eventual conquest.
Naly, the ‘Divinity Program’. It involved not only training clerics who could use divine energy instead of just holy energy, but also the training and creation of new undead gods. Having control over the place where ambient divine energy was abundant was a great boon.
Although a few places where it existed had been discovered, the amounts were derisory for any serious usage. In comparison, there was so much that it was basically impossible to put a dent in the sheer amount of it.
Of course, there was also the idea of rearing divine beasts and such. They were technically not gods. The distinction was pretty much invisible, but the difference was that a deity was worshipped and only grew in power through such a ans.
Divine beings that weren’t gods did not gain much from being worshipped, and instead had to use their divine attributes in a aningful way, basically serving as agents for whatever they embodied.
There was also the prospect of discovering new, unique resources here, especially in so of the fad sub-realms that were claid to be attached to the Divine Realm in so way, such as the fad ‘Heavens’ that many worshippers were promised after death.
And of course, taking over the Divine Realm ant turning all of its inhabitants into undeads. In terms of sheer value, the Divine Realm was incredible. As such, Loimos was going to be especially ticulous.
It was unlikely that the gods as a whole would agree to submit or even see eye-to-eye with the Empire. So it would most certainly devolve into conflict, but whilst the total divine population was against them, it didn’t an that they couldn’t have allies.
After walking for a while, they arrived at another temple. Only that this one felt far more welcoming. It was made from weathered grey stone, surrounded by a graveyard of upturned dirt and old gravestones.
Amidst the land of mist-like clouds and brilliance, it certainly stood out like a sore thumb, and what was strangest was that it was still here. Other temples they had spotted had imdiately vanished without a trace.
Only this one remained in place, and the reason quickly beca apparent.
The owner of this temple appeared before the undeads.
“I was not told that the invaders were undeads… What twist of fate might have brought you here?”
It was a goddess dressed in a black dress. She looked fairly human at a glance, except that her left arm was completely skeletal, and her face was painted black and white with the image of what looked like a skull.
She was an undead.
Faraday pushed his lower jaw back in place.
“To think that I hadn’t even thought about the idea that fellow undeads would ascend to godhood in the past… And to think that there would be such a gorgeous goddess to be found in this realm!”
“Hey… Loimos… Is it really wise to let Adviser Faraday speak?” One said.
“It is fine”
“That’s fine?” Maliah echoed the sa sentint as One.
Faraday had literally already gone down to one knee in front of the goddess, and she was looking quite embarrassed about it.
“What is your na, Miss?”
“Hum… I am Vietna, Goddess of Ceteries… Well, one of them at least”
Faraday gently grabbed her skeletal hand, kissing the back of it. Or rather, he just touched it with his tallic teeth.
“Miss Vietna. You must be unaware due to the great silence, but down below, undeadkind has risen to prominence. We have conquered countless lands already, and conquered many realms as well! We have now co to the Divine Realm, intent on making it into territory for undeadkind as well”
“Would you be willing to assist in making sure that undeath rises to prominence? Naturally, you’ll beco a much-worshipped figure in the future…”
“Is that so…?” she looked at Loimos, clearly sensing sothing powerful about him. Frankly, even as an undead, she felt like she was too alive in his presence, and she was a goddess as well.
“Our Undead Empire is ever-growing. Undeath spreads without stops. All that lives is on its way to accepting the gift of undeath. Are you familiar with the Pale Lady?”
“The Pale Lady? I do rember eting a woman when I ascended to godhood. Is she a superior divinity?”
“She is Death itself, and the Mother of All Undeads”
“I see…” Vietna had only had a brief brush with the Pale Lady, a second-long encounter during which a woman she had never t before had done nothing but give her an embrace. It had been an unforgettable mont, and sohow, Loimos seed to reek of the sa presence, as though he too had been embraced, and more than once at that.
“So… It’s just good news? An age of undeath is coming? I can’t believe I didn’t know any of this!”
Vietna almost stumbled backwards.
“This is glorious! This is glory personified! Is there anything that you need? Should I call the other undead gods? Maybe I can get the gods related to death in general? So of them are livings, but I am sure they can be convinced…”
“We would like to know more about the Divine Realm”
“Very well then! Co on in!”
For a goddess of ceteries, Vietna was oddly cheerful.
Loimos also noticed that she wasn’t an undead in the sa way that most undeads of the Empire were.
It was like when he had t The Restless in the Soul Realm. She was an undead that had co to be through a different manner.
From the looks of it, she had actually been raised by a necromancer who had used death magic instead of death force.
Though it didn’t matter much, all undeads were unified by death. They were ultimately all equal as subjects of the Pale Lady.
It was probably why she wasn’t very undead-like. She used to be a mindless corpse who learned and grew a personality by imitating the livings around her. It was unclear when she had beco a goddess exactly, but it was definitely a very long ti ago, so undeadkind would have been rare.
“Alright, what do you want to know? I don’t move around much, but I know my fair share!”
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