"He WHAT!??" Draugner shouted, spilling his glass of whiskey. He took a breath gritting his teeth. "When you say perished do you mean like, lost some of his incarnations, or do you mean, he's truly gone?"

"I can't be sure," Verena shook her head. "But you saw what happened to the boy, that's the ignition of a blessing, that only happens when the giver of the blessing perishes, plus can't you feel it? There's a sudden absence in the divine court, like one of the stars has winked out."

Morpha turned to them both gravely. "I've sent servants to investigate the condition of his city in the Lost Continent, and also sent messages to the members of the High Court, we'll have more answers soon enough."

"The Lost Continent…?" Draugner looked down, pondering. "That's Melphinoe's hunting grounds isn't it? Do you think she…?"

Verena frowned. "But she hasn't been active for more than a millenia, why would she…?" Her eyes flashed to Draugner's and they both paled a little.

Morpha looked between them suspiciously. "Whatever the case is, if she caused his death, she'll have to answer for it to the High Court."

"That b**ch?" Verena snorted. "She wouldn't come even if we threatened her with an all-out war. She's long spurned the Council of the Gods."

Morpha's expression darkened. "What do you mean? She's only one god, how much trouble can she bring?"

"Haha, you're too young, girl." Draugner shook his head. "Do you know why none of the other gods took Death's divinity when he fell during the Fall of the Gods?"

"No, why?" Morpha folded her arms, uncomfortable with being looked down upon.

"Because he wasn't killed! His domain consumed him! Has that wise mentor of yours even bothered to teach you our history? Without the battle against the ancient god of Death, the Fall of Gods wouldn't even be called such. Only three gods died in the initial clashes of the war, yet Death took out eight when he let his domain consume him. The remaining forces of the human pantheon had to flee back to our continent and were in chaos fighting amongst ourselves for the unresolved domains for millenia before we finally found peace again."

"I knew that," Morpha huffed. "I just thought he was a formidable foe. What you're saying this latest Goddess is the same?"

Draugner shook his head again. "It's not that the ancient Death god was so powerful, but that his domain was especially suited for killing us. She rules Death for godsake, what authority could possibly be more suited for killing? So if Ceren was truly wiped out in one go without us hearing anything about it beforehand, it's almost certainly by her hand. Nearly any other god, and they'd be battling for days, if not centuries."

Verena scoffed. "You underestimate authority, Draugner. Maybe you couldn't do that much with the mind domain, but Morpha could certainly snuff out a demigod like Ceren in a few hours if she so chose." She said this somewhat bitterly, given her own absence of a true domain.

"Not if he wasn't a big enough fool to keep all of his incarnations in the same place. Hunting strays is far more difficult than overpowering weaklings."

"Whatever, whatever," Morpha waved them both down. "The most important thing now is what we do next."

Draugner sighed. "We'll have to wait for the decision of the High Court. It's not really for us to decide." He lowered his head, but also gave a curious look to Verena as he did so.

Verena sighed and then grumbled. "Why'd she have to wake up now…"

***

"Wha..?" Will sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What happened?" He looked around.

"Will, mate! You're awake!" Shawn came over into the room and sat down next to him. "You feeling alright? Grace said you suddenly collapsed or something."

"Grace…" Will looked around. "Where is she?" He looked worried, wondering if some hidden attacker had struck at them.

Shawn just laughed. "She's sleeping, was up all last night, waiting by your side. We pried her off you when she drifted off."

"I…collapsed? Do you know why?"

"Nah, sorry." Shawn shook his head. "Kelichi took a look, but he couldn't figure out anything wrong with you, and his healing spells didn't have any effect either, so we decided to just let you rest."

"Weird… Status." He called, wondering if the system would tell him what was up.

[Name: Will Brown]

[Sex: M] [Age: 17]

[Lvl. 26]

[HP: 1100/1100] [MP: 1450/1450] [SP: 980/980]

[Class: Barrier Master]

[Skills: Protection lvl. 10, Barrier Magic lvl. 8, Increased Mana Recovery Speed lvl. 10, Mana Flow lvl. 2, Blade of Light lvl. 9, Light Step lvl. 6, Spatial Distortion lvl. 1, Fire Resistance lvl. 3, Wind Resistance lvl. 8, Physical Resistance lvl. 9, Cold Resistance lvl. 4, Mental Resistance lvl. 1, Spiritual Resistance lvl. 1]

[Titles: Hero of a dead god, Conquerer of the Howling Caverns, Beloved of a Hero, True Protector]

"Wh-wh-WHAT!!??" Will's eyes bulged out. He started patting himself down, as if he could somehow overturn the system's words with physical evidence. "N-no, it can't be, how could he…?"

"What?" Shawn looked at him concerned over his sudden outburst. "Something wrong with your stats?"

Will looked at his friend, blankly. "It says…it says my god's dead."

A clash sounded nearby and they both looked towards the door to see Grace standing in the doorway having just dropped a teapot. She blinked rapidly a few times. "H-how? I-isn't he a…a god?" She looked down horrified. "Is the demon king really that powerful?" She whispered. "Is that why…is that why they needed us?" Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes.

"Look, I don't know what's going on here any more than you two do, but are at least the rest of your stats ok? Did his death take you down with him? Is that why you fainted last night?" Shawn frowned.

"No," Will shook his head. "My stats are fine, only I've lost his blessing, so my barrier magic might not be as strong anymore."

"What was his blessing?" Shawn asked curiously.

"Just an increase in mana efficiency with barrier magic and also an increased ability to pick up additional resistances that can then be applied to my barriers."

"Wait, so will your resistances no longer apply to your barriers?" Grace asked, suddenly realizing the weight this might have on their party.

"Oh sh*t, yeah…" Will winced as he thought about his position in the party.

"Cheer up, mate." Shawn sighed, patting Will on the back. "We'll get through this together. Just got to get used to a few things is all. Could've happened to any of us, really."

"Right." Will said bitterly, lying back down. Grace and Shawn looked at eachother only for Grace to shake her head.

"We'll give you some space now. I'm…sorry Will, this really sucks." Grace pulled Shawn out of the room and then closed the door with a sigh.

"How are we going to compete now…?" She muttered to herself before turning away.

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