Chapter 1061: Further Complicating

After slaying the God of Fire Crickets, Sein remained in seclusion even longer than he had following his battle with the God of First Light.

This time, he shut himself away in his laboratory within Purgatory for a full one hundred years!

Throughout that century, Sein was utterly consumed by his experimental research, while outside, all sorts of monumental events unfolded across Faeloria.

More than sixty years ago, a greater deity was seen walking openly on the Prime Materia Plane. She was none other than Eluvira, the Goddess of Magic.

As the deity who harvested faith through the Weave, Eluvira had never aligned herself with any factions after ascending to godhood.

She remained one of the rare few with the strength to remain truly independent.

Her strength as a greater deity enabled her to resist virtually any adversary.

Yet, in this iteration of the Avatar Crisis, Eluvira descended to the Prime Materia Plane rather than remain in her divine nation.

Had even a greater deity like her been dragged off the altar by the Tablets of Fate?

With nearly all greater deities choosing to remain in the safety of their divine nations, Eluvira’s appearance on the Prime Materia Plane sent shockwaves through the others, stirring not only curiosity but more dangerously, greed.

After all, based on the Astral Realm’s power system, a greater deity was the equivalent of a Rank Six being!

Could such a being truly be brought down?

On most planes, the emergence of a Rank Six being often signaled the plane’s advancement to the status of a medium-sized world.

But in Faeloria, most were more interested in knowing the best time to kill a greater deity, and the answer was clear: there was no better time than now!

Eluvira’s strength inflamed the ambitions of many.

Those who had descended to the Prime Materia Plane did so in avatar form, meaning even greater deities were not entirely untouchable, especially independent ones like Eluvira, who were unaffiliated with any faction.

Under normal circumstances, no one would even dare entertain the thought of challenging a greater deity.

However, during the chaos of the Avatar Crisis, more and more began to consider it, especially the intermediate deities.

The moment the Goddess of Magic appeared on the Prime Materia Plane, it became unmistakably clear that the Avatar Crisis had reached its climax.

Though Sein possessed vast knowledge, countless trump cards, and the backing of the Purgatory demons, the two gods he had slain—and those he had marked as potential targets—were all classified as wielders of weak divine power.

While technically Rank Four beings, they were at most early-stage Rank Four—scornfully referred to by the Spider Queen as “weakened deities”.

Compared to a supreme deity, these beings stood three full ranks below!

Would Sein want to capture and study Eluvira, the Goddess of Magic?

Of course! But logic and caution kept him from making such a reckless move.

He was not eager to provoke even a wielder of lesser divine power, let alone a greater deity.

To underestimate others was one of the most foolish mistakes a person could make.

Sein had already struggled during his battles with both the God of First Light and the God of Fire Crickets.

Despite having many advantages, he had still paid a steep price in both encounters.

It was proof that hunting gods was no simple feat. If he were to fall to a wielder of weak divine power due to the slightest miscalculation, it would hardly be surprising.

Though the deities who had descended were all in avatar form, there remained a vast and undeniable gap between a supreme deity, an intermediate deity, a wielder of lesser power, and a wielder of weak power.

Take the Succubus Queen, for example.

Based on Sein’s assessments, backed by detailed data, she was an intermediate deity he had no hope of defeating. And this did not even account for the legions of demon lords that she commanded.

***

Eluvira’s appearance further complicated the situation in Faeloria, stirring unrest and prompting the deities to begin scheming against one another.

Thirty years later...

Information regarding the Goddess of Magic remained inconsistent, making it nearly impossible to distinguish fact from rumor.

Yet Faeloria was once again shaken by another piece of news: The lights of the Temples of Wealth had dimmed, and the followers of Aurelia, the Goddess of Wealth, could no longer communicate with her!

Aurelia was another unique intermediate deity in Faeloria, much like Eluvira. Both had not aligned with any faction.

However, unlike the Goddess of Magic, Aurelia remained unaffiliated for a different reason: her divine ability.

To fully realize her potential and one day ascend to the rank of greater deity, Aurelia needed to project her divine ability as far and wide as possible.

As a result, her temples could be found in nearly every sizable city throughout the territories of the Justice League, the Dark Alliance, the Wings of Nature, or even the sea gods.

The desire for wealth, after all, was not limited to Faeloria. It was a universal constant across many planes in the Astral Realm.

Like Eluvira, the Goddess of Wealth did not tightly bind her followers with doctrine or obligation.

In the money-driven creed of the Temple of Wealth, Aurelia preached a simple yet profound belief: everything can be bought with money!

Under ordinary circumstances, given tens of thousands of years, or perhaps even more, Aurelia would almost certainly ascend to become a greater deity.

After all, Eluvira’s success had already set a clear example to follow.

In fact, many deities speculated that Aurelia was nearly at that level already, given the sheer size of her following!

Many of Faeloria’s lesser creatures held multiple beliefs.

Only fanatics and truly devout worshipers remained loyal to a single deity.

In truth, the world was filled with pantheists and casual believers—those who worshipped several gods, shifting their loyalties to whichever temples offered the most favor at the time.

Of all the temples, the Temple of Wealth had long been the most popular choice.

Yet, despite her vast divine power and the countless temples built in her honor, the Goddess of Wealth had vanished.

Though the light of the Temple of Wealth had not been entirely extinguished, implying that the goddess had not fallen, it was clear she had suffered a grave injury.

Even her most devoted followers and high clerics had been unable to reach her, sparking fears that she had been captured or imprisoned.

Due to the sheer number of her temples, even the most devout followers were unable to pinpoint which one had sheltered their goddess during the Avatar Crisis, complicating all efforts to uncover her fate.

What was known, however, was that her major temples—scattered across the main continent—had been attacked and defiled by unknown forces over the past decade.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

In recent centuries, the fall of deities and assaults on their temples had become almost commonplace in Faeloria.

But no one had expected the Goddess of Wealth to truly disappear.

If she were to ultimately fall, she would be the first intermediate deity to perish in this iteration of the Avatar Crisis.

The last time something like this had happened in Faeloria was tens of thousands of years ago.