Ceren found himself in the middle of a dark void, purple fog vaguely drifting around his feet.

"Wha—Is this?" He spinned around extending all kinds of sensory spells to try to figure out what had happened.

"Do you know what separates the gods from those who merely strive after divinity?" A voice sent ripples trembling through the floor underneath his feet.

He looked around for its source, but it seemed to come from all directions and he couldn't manage to find a speaker even with his enhanced senses.

But he knew better than to let his guard down, raising defensive spells around him and reaching out with his spark of divinity to see if he could break through whatever magic bound him.

"Magic gives mortals a taste of the divine, which is yet limited by the strength of their souls. Demigods surpass their limits by consuming soul fragments of deceased deities, reaching a power above magic, the divine spark."

Ceren activated the divinity he had spread out around him, pouring his magic into a field that began crackling with golden energy, hoping it would pierce through the voice's realm.

"But just as mortal magic cannot hold a candle in the face of the power of divinity, so too do true gods hold a power over the half-measures of the demigods."

Ceren felt sweat beading on his temples. Nobody had ever told him about this. Was this a bluff? But then why couldn't he break through the void around him? Was it an illusion? But if it was his magic should've pierced through that regardless. If gods held a power above divinity, then why the hell was it called divinity!?

"Every god has a domain, and the power of a domain rests in one word. Authority."

A figure suddenly appeared above him, seated on a throne of skulls. Under her feet was a sluggish flesh demon, seemingly asleep. At the left leg of her throne a small gremlin, its eyes alight with envy as it looked up at her, on the right leg a chibi-like demon, gnawing on the skulls of the throne. On the right armrest a mini succubus, eyeing her fondly as it touched her breast. On the left armrest a red imp holding a red trident, eyeing him with wrath. On the top right of her throne there was a small skeleton eyeing the jewels in her skeletal crown greedily. On the top left was a porcelain doll-like figure with bat wings, looking down at him with disdain.

She lifted the skeletal staff she carried, and when it touched the ground each of the figure's eyes glowed a sharp purple and suddenly turned to lock onto him.

Then with one voice the eight figures spoke. "Our words are law. And the law shall be carried out."

Behind him he heard a loud grinding noise, and his face paled as his senses told him what it was without having to turn to look.

A large stone gate grew out of the ground, scribed across it in large characters was written "DEATH."

The voices continued to speak as Ceren began wildly throwing out spells only for them to dissipate into nothing two feet in front of his face. "Wait! Please! We can talk about this!" He tried to plead with the divine figure. "I can be on your team, we can face the other gods together!"

"All beginnings have an end. All stories reach their conclusion. The soul that rose from the ether returns to the ether, all payments made in full."

The eight pairs of eyes seemed to focus on him even further, their gazes piercing his very soul.

"The day is upon you and none shall gainsay. Death has come. The fox has caught the rabbit. The waters have reached their ebb. The sun has sunk beneath the horizon. Your soul shall vanish upon the seas of the ether. And the echoes of your consciousness shall fade into the nothingness from which they once arose.

"These are our words. And the law shall be carried out."

"No! Please, have mercy!" He pleaded, falling to his knees. "Anything! I'll do anything!" He sobbed.

The gate behind him opened, and green strands of smoke began reaching out of the swirling portal behind the doors, twirling around his limbs to drag him in.

"NO!!" He screamed. "NO YOU CAN'T, PLEASE!!! AHHHHH!!!!" He continued screaming as he struggled in vain against the green strands of smoke that curled around him all the more firmly, dragging him steadily towards the doors, before with a final cry he vanished body and soul behind the swirling portal, the doors slamming shut with a loud clang, leaving the void suddenly silent.

***

"Ah! That felt good." Noe appeared on a hill outside of Ceren stretching her arms, casually. "It always feels so good to send pricks like him into the ether. I haven't done something that fun in ages."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Noe froze. "Endra! When did you get here?" She turned guiltily towards the seventh floor guardian and ruler of the Kingdom of Undeath.

"Oh, just about the time that I heard a certain someone decided to throw away all our premeditated plans in some petty desire for…hmm, what was it, Mistress? Vengeance? Satisfaction?"

"It wasn't like that!" Noe folded her arms indignantly.

"I had good reason for moving our schedule up ahead. And we've let this boil of a city fester on our land for too long."

"Oh? And just what were those reasons? Surely they're so brilliant that they negated the need to inform me of them? Surely it's that this specific timing is so divinely inspired that you couldn't take a few minutes out of your day to have let me know about them in advance? Because surely our Lady wouldn't be so petty as to think that it would be better not to inform her chief advisor because she was afraid of being scolded ahead of time? Hmmm?"

"Haha, yeah! That's exactly what it is. Divinely inspired mmhmm." Noe nodded.

Endra sighed. "So? What do you intend to do with the city? Surely you wouldn't—"

"Well I was gonna—" They started at the same time.

"No, you go first." Noe gestured.

Endra narrowed her eyes, but continued. "The vampires would like the city alive. We've been running short on blood, and it's been hard to acquire while surrounded by our allies."

"Ah. Right." Noe nodded. "That sounds great, way better than devouring the whole city with a cloud of undeath turning the city into a cool ghost city. Yep."

Endra sighed. "Do you wish to aid in the suppression of the last of the city's defenses? Or have you already had your fun?"

"I'll help! I'll help!" She sighed, and let her silliness drain from her. "Besides, it'd be stupid to lose anyone in subduing an already defeated city. I'll look over our troops to make sure nothing goes awry."

"Very well, Mistress." Endra bowed, finally showing a slight smile.

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