CH910

Helori’s speech went smoothly, no new disaster there to justify either Ben or Abel’s presence but had a clear effect on all of her faithful who’d come to hear it. The crowd hung on her every word, just being in the presence of a goddess was a reward the vast majority of people thought they’d never get to enjoy and while there wasn’t much to be said beyond the need for people the world over to continue doing their best, coming from a deity it was enough, with Ben’s presence adding to those words.

Though not revealing himself or Abel as third tiers, he filled the role he was paid for, examining the souls of everyone who’d entered his range and giving them the applicable knowledge to help them grow and with some getting levels mid-speech, it only upped the atmosphere by the time it came to an end.

But that wasn’t what he cared about. Even though she wanted to resist, Ben was able to get a few more tests done on his sacrilege before she could escape back up to her realm, leading to one important discovery. Not only could he force a god out of a body they’d descended upon, he could trap them there as well.

With the implication being huge. He could be the one to decide how he’d approach any god if it came to it, able to choose for himself if facing someone in the mortal realm or a divine one was more beneficial to him in terms of conflict. Sure, it didn’t seem like he’d be able to force a god down from their realm to inhabit a body but that was a minor issue. From Ben’s own encounter with him, tied to the single time the grey had witnessed the deity, it seemed that the demon god Oaun preferred to inhabit flesh and if Ben was to kill him, that’s where they’d meet.

Meaning if it seemed most beneficial, he could either drive the god to his realm and take the fight there or else prevent that deity from escaping in the same way. He didn’t know for sure what would be better, one of the only ways he knew to kill a god was to do it while they were in a mortal but he’d need to experiment and plan for whatever the best method would be before it came to it.

But still, this is a nice little bump in my victory odds. With my current sacrilege level and assuming I get my connect awakened, I’d even go so far as to say I’ve got a 1.1% chance of winning!

…And I’ve depressed myself again. Okay, I’ll recalculate my odds as I level my sacrilege some more. Who knows, maybe by the time the third wave rolls around, I’ll be at a whopping five percent.

<MIND BREAK LEVEL INCREASED>

“Ben, this is psychotic,” Thera groaned in their backyard as they stood around, Abel laughing out at her reaction.

“No, it’s a meal!”

“It’s an experiment,” He clarified as he finished rigging up one of his clones, a tube going down its throat to constantly dispense a nutritional sludge while he added a choker to its neck. “And essentially harmless. Just a little practice for you, potentially a whole lot of strength for Abel, and some satisfied curiosity for me. Now, is everyone ready?”

“Yes!”

“Fine,” His girlfriend sighed, grateful that her aunt was around to distract Mora from the coming scene as Ben removed the divine crystal from his armband and slipped it into the choker, getting to watch as the clone body shifted and warped at the beastform skill was applied, taking characteristics of both the god and demon souls within to warp his copied flesh but showing no signs of consciousness, Ben still working on removing enough memories and experiences from its soul to allow it to be so.

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And immediately getting its arm ripped off for that fact, Abel tearing through skin, muscle, and bone before scarfing the torn limb down while Thera worked on enhancing the body’s digestive rate before healing it, beginning the process of regrowing that lost appendage, spending her mana to force the food it was being made to eat to become flesh while Ben for his part stared at Abel’s card, looking for the results of that test and letting out a low whistle when he got them.

“Across the board, your attributes just grew by about three hundred and thirty points. Jesus, that’s actually insane.”