The only silver lining in this shit show was that none of the priests whose souls I checked were involved in diabolism. But now I had only one hour to finish the business that required my full power. Notably, the Item Box. The damn thing was so (Unique) that nothing I could think of would unlock it.

  Also, Nethe's MP was quickly draining with all the people I was keeping paralyzed. I released the commoners and contacted Lakerta.

  

  "Please!" She rolled her eyes at me. "My whole build is focused on defense."

  She coiled her tail in the [Snake Fortress] form and took an enchanted spear from her storage.

   I suggested.

  "No. That's for Snowdrop and you alone." She rebuked. "I'm okay. If they knock a single scale off my tail, I'm buying dinner."

  I mentally chuckled and let the Lamia do her thing.

  Still holding Barbara's hand, we went to the cathedral. Lots of [Priests] and [Bishops] in there to punish.

  We entered the gaudy and gigantic complex of temples. It was dazzling and rather beautiful. I could see how the building evolved, with new walls added to ancient ones. Hundreds of years were spent perfecting the forms and expanding the complex, with generations of people contributing to making something sublime. Perhaps I was hasty in my judgment from above.

  "[Appraise] says this is a [Goddess Tear]," Barbara commented. "The same thing people claim can be found at the bottom of the maelstrom. I feel a resonance with it."

  "Do you?"

  "It's crystallized," She explained.

  "I think it is a divine version of a [Mermaid's Tear]. You can keep it."

  We reached the first [Priestess], a Silk-folk. I was about to reach for her head when Barbara tugged my hand. "Wait."

  I felt concern and fear through our familiar-master bond. Also expectation, hope, and something sublime. "What is troubling you?"

  She raised a privacy ward by throwing four crystals around us. They hovered and drew a faint box around us. Barbara bit her lower lip, then looked at the Tabard I wore.

  "Give me one of these. They're [Subordinate Tabards], right?"

  "I have a lot of them here with me, but there's a trial to wear one."

  She nodded and clenched her hand around the [Goddess Tear]. "Do you believe I would fail this trial?"

  The answer was, never. The Tabard knew her soul. Without betraying my thoughts, I produced another Subordinate Tabard. She slid into it easily. The Tabard shrunk a bit to fit her small frame.

  Barbara smiled. "There. I'm accepted by Windemere's gatekeeper, right? Once more." I held my breath at the last statement. She stared up to meet my eyes and smiled. "I don't know if I'm committing a sin or a mistake but there's something I want to tell you," she confessed. "May I?"

  "Sure. I want nothing else but to hear what you have to say," I hedged.

  "I figured out who I was. In a previous life. Once I reached this conclusion, everything fell into place. My feelings, how everyone behaves around me, everything." I felt her guilt and squeezed her hand to reassure her. "I can feel your fear," she added. "Why would the Goddess of Creation and Wisdom would be afraid of?"

  I closed my eyes. It was a futile gesture, I had the equivalent of normal vision from any part of my body. Even the tiniest hair on my tails. I saw as Barbara summoned a floating crystal and lifted herself.

  "Can I guess out loud who I was? What's my role in this cosmic drama?" She asked inches away from my face.

  I could only nod. My heart felt small and I was waiting for Fate's punishment at any moment.

  Barbara touched her forehead to mine. "Is it wrong to love a monster? To love a Goddess?"

  Fate did manifest yourself but not to punish me. She came down to tell me I had scored another point in our game.

  "Kasumi doesn't know which sister she was back when we lived in the Empire. Though she hides it well, that still bothers her but I don't care. And now I have two [Goddess Tears] to play with. Something tells me I can get as many as I want out of you." She chuckled.

  I tittered along with her laughter. I wanted to kiss her right then and there. And do other things too. No, it was not wrong to love monsters. I didn't think the Matriarch banned bestiality. But in the same way I could sense her feelings, she could mine. Barbara closed the last inch and our lips touched softly. Inexperienced, she pulled away a moment later.

  "You can't give up this time because you are bothered, weakened, nor if you lack a goal," she said. "You must stay with me, by my side, until I die of old age again. My grimoire."

  I nodded.

  "And there's the third," She giggled and poked her tongue out and jested. "The Goddess' bounty is really infinite."

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. I felt the urge to teach her how to kiss. And many other things, in its due time.

  *

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  *

  *

  *

  When the Goddess reached her, [Priestess] Miranda was paralyzed and afraid. She knew all the sins the other [Priests] had committed, she herself was guilty of a few. The Goddess arrived and the clergy was due for a reckoning. The face the Goddess had when she reached for Miranda's forehead foretold what she would do to her.

  Then the Halfling companion holding hands with the Goddess asked for a respite, created a privacy ward that blocked only sound, and had a talk, a very intimate talk with the Goddess.

  Miranda thought she was witnessing a miracle. Never she would believe the Goddess to act so demurely, so bashful, so... fearful? She knew the scriptures. She knew the Matriarch to be different from the other deities. She knew the Matriarch always lived as a mortal among the people, and she chose to give up a life of bliss in the heavens above to be one with her people. But that weakness, that... softness was too much.

  The Matriarch looked like a maid in love. She even wept tears of joy as the Halfling [Wizard] talked to her. That caused Miranda to rethink her stance regarding the scriptures. The Matriarch no longer was a marble statue staring at the clergy, at the common folk from above. No. She was both a Goddess and a mortal, in one package. One who could look so sweet and bashful in front of her lover. One who would cry crystalline tears upon hearing sweet words of love like those the girl in blue must've told Her.

  > Your Faith Attribute has increased by 2.

  Miranda felt blessed by that sight. She'd witnessed a miracle and the System agreed with her. The [Priestess] also shed tears of joy. The Goddess was indeed just another maiden like her. One who sought love, who was capable of being afraid and elated and happy. One that could share a chaste kiss with her paramour. That was not a vengeful deity who'd descended to punish the wicked and carve the fear of the Divine upon the hearts of the survivors. No. She was a guiding light. A mother who would nurture but also chide when needed.

  Another crystal tear rolled down from the Goddess' eyes. What beautiful eyelashes she had. The Halfling [Wizard] joked and then...

  Goddess above, the Goddess almost devoured the Halfling then and there. Miranda felt powerless and entranced as she saw such a passionate kiss. The Goddess' tails moved and wrapped themselves around as if to hide Her love for the Halfling girl from outsiders. But they failed to block Miranda's view. Did the Goddess want to have her witness that? Was this a sign? No. Miranda thought about her previous epiphany.

  The Matriarch was surely enraptured by that sublime moment. If She indeed was as mortal as any other maiden, She didn't pay Miranda's presence any mind. The [Priestess] felt a bit of envy. She too wanted a lover who would kiss her so tenderly.

  Their faces were flushed, and their mouths held the most beautiful smiles. Their eyes sparkled. And a maiden's heart ached. The [Priestess] couldn't move her mouth but she prayed. She felt that by witnessing that moment most private, she was absolved. Miranda made a vow before the Goddess to repay the harm she'd done tenfold. She would dedicate herself to living the scriptures.

  And, Goddess's mercy, won't they stop kissing? It was like they'd been apart for centuries! Miranda felt weird in a very private place.

  *

  *

  *

  *

  We parted. I felt my cheeks on fire. The feeling of Barbara's lips and tongue on me lingered for a long time.

  "I'm sorry I wasted your time," she said looking away. "You only have an hour to do your thing. So go. Nethe won't remember this, right?"

  "No. But it will be written on their pages. That guy made sure of it."

  She made eye contact again and acquiesced with a nod. "That's fine. Reading about what happened is not the same as remembering. I still can't believe I was [Queen] Lorna. I read about her in the [Encyclopedia] but I still don't feel like that was me."

  "Does it bother you?"

  "No. Now, stop dallying. Chop, chop, do your divine job."

  She lifted the privacy ward. I reached for the priestess' head and checked her for sins. I pulled my hand away immediately. Then I released the [Priestess] from the paralysis spell. She prostrated herself.

  "I'm not worthy of your mercy, Matriarch. I surrender myself to your wisdom and judgment. I am ready to die after seeing such beauty. To my eyes, the rest of the world won't have any color from now on."

  Barbara gasped as she realized what happened.

  I grabbed the [Priestess] arm and pulled her back on her feet. "I heard your prayer, Miranda. Go, and do good on your vows."

  "Should I keep my silence?" She asked Barbara instead of me.

  The [Crystallomancer] squinted and looked away, blushing. "Some discretion would be nice."

  "I understand. I won't say a thing, ever. Thanks for your mercy, Matriarch. Blessed be thy name."

  "Get out of the temple. Seek the new [Pope]. Tell her to make you her apprentice. My orders."

  I set a Quest for the [Pope] as Miranda went on her way.

  Barbara hid her face against my chest. "She saw us!" She was struggling to breathe. "She saw everything!"

  My hand slowly stroked her hair. "Are we doing this in secret this time?"

  She shook her head. "I don't know. Let's finish this purge."

  We flew through the temple, my judgment of the clergy much more lenient for some reason. Yeah, for some unknown reason. The ones I didn't punish I urged to vacate the premises. Then the sick and infirm and the visitors, who were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once I got every living creature but Barbara and I out, we were cutting it close for time.

  I grabbed Barbara around the waist and floated without touching any surface. Then I wrapped the cathedral complex in a Force bubble to cut it off from the ground and made it vanish into my item box.

  We flew back to the square and my hour was over. Nethe took over but didn't change shapes. That would delay the discovery of what happened in the past hour.

  *

  *

  "You seem quite happy", I told Barbara.

  "You gave me three [Goddess Tears]," she whimsically and noncommittally replied. I feared I wouldn't get the true answer out of her. But if Barbara was happy, I was happy too.

  "Three? Weren't they supposed to be rare? What happened to prompt mom to create them?"

  "Secret!" She barked and then broke into a fit of laughter.

  I spent some more Divinity, noticing the worship of the people had already replenished what I spent. My Divinity pool was so tiny I had about a tenth of what I needed to ordain a single [Priest]. But I set a new rule for the clergy. They would now be bound by a vow similar to the one of poverty. Each [Priest] could only keep for themselves half of what they earned selling silk goods they spun themselves, sold at a fair market price. The remainder must be tithed to the Church and used for charitable causes, unrelated to the clergy's secular bonds. Doing otherwise was a sin. From that money should come their personal expenses and the purchase of anything outside the Church's common-issue goods.

  We reached the square where Lakerta was seemingly sparring with the [Royal Knights]. The [Prince] was up and running again and they were around the Lamia, trying to pierce her defenses but she just parried or blocked every attack. She seemed a bit winded but unharmed.

  "Are you done playing?" I asked them from above. "Or do I need to make another [Prince]-shaped hole in that wall?"

  The [Prince] looked up at me. "You murdered my aunt!"

  "Mixing religion and politics is a dangerous business. But you Auvani like your rabbits so much... here's some entertainment."

  After hoisting Lakerta up on a platform of Force, I dropped a few dozen thousand Al-Mi'raj on the whole square. But this time I took command of my summons and granted them bonuses from my [Leadership] Proficiency. That made each rabbit fight as if they were a whole tier above. The [Knights] were forced to leave Lakerta alone to avoid getting {Zerg Rushed}. The din of hundreds of horns scraping steel made normal conversations pointless.

  My bunnies were dying, hundreds per second. But they were giving the Auvani's elite warriors trouble. Especially because the summons could share damage with the others around them, and then take the full brunt of the killing blow, making the [Knights] DPS tank. Not Tank as in the role but, yeah.

  Half an hour later, the square ran red with blood. Most of the Al-Mi'raj bunnycorns were dead. That's when the [King] of Auvani decided to finally make an appearance.