Seven simultaneous castings. Each one targeting a different priest's detonation sequence.

The priests hit the edge of Finn's Error field and their carefully prepared sacrifices, the divine essence that was supposed to explode outward, instead imploded inwards, consuming them from within.

They died in bursts of light that never reached Finn, clearly showing the huge disparity in power.

Finn hadn't even deemed it fit to so much as glance at them. His attention remained on Solarius the entire time.

The Champion was still channeling something and building toward a final moment Finn could sense coming. The final hurrah that he had prepared was more dangerous to Finn than the petty display of the seven priests.

Finn waited with bated breath, his attention fully on sensing the slightest change despite the fact he kept using Solarius as a whetstone for his divine spells.

Until, finally… it happened.

A surge of divine power erupted from Solarius. Power that was not his, belonging to something vastly greater. The Champion's body began glowing with light so intense it hurt to witness directly.

Everyone in the square was driven to their knees. Even the Transcendents, with their concept-born resistance, struggled against the sheer presence trying to force itself into reality.

Mundane believers passed out entirely, their minds unable to process the magnitude of what was attempting to manifest.

In that moment, Finn clearly understood the nuances of what was happening before his eyes.

Perhaps because of his current divine state, he could sense what Solarius was attempting — trying to become a vessel for the Radiant One to descend — was unnatural.

There was a strain. An incongruent dissonance that Finn could sense.

This was forced. It wasn't something that should be possible by any means. Perhaps Champions weren't given the grace to serve as possession vessels for their God. That was likely a grace reserved for incarnations specifically.

It would explain why Solarius had emphasized whether Finn was an incarnation or not. It would also explain the shock on the faces of the now-dead priests when Solarius had come to that conclusion.

Finn frowned.

Solarius was definitely no incarnation. He shouldn't be able to do what he was attempting right now. But somehow, he was.

"Lord!" Solarius screamed with a voice that was now distorted beyond recognition by the divine power flooding through him. "Witness this heresy! Witness your Champion's defeat! Will you allow this O Radiant One?!"

The presence intensified. Pushing harder against the barrier between divine realm and mortal world.

For a slow, terrible moment, Finn thought it might actually work.

The Radiant One was right there. Almost through. Almost manifested.

And Finn recognized with grim certainty that if a true god descended, fully present… Even with his stolen Rank II divinity, he would die.

Finn couldn't let that happen.

Without hesitation, he activated [Invalid] and [Corrupt Input], pouring everything into those two chained spells without holding back.

He pushed till he touched the limit of what he could do at one time with divinity, burning half his remaining divine essence in this one massive casting. Targeting the mechanism itself. The divine law that Solarius was trying to break. The rule that said Champions can't become vessels.

He just made the act of Solarius breaking that rule, invalid. He forced the impossibility of it to become even more impossible. He pushed the odds from "nearly succeeding" to "catastrophically failing."

Reality shuddered.

The presence trying to descend, the Radiant One himself, pushing against the barrier, stopped abruptly.

It was a violent halt, like slamming a door on someone's fingers.

Finn had never used so much power of invalidation in his entire life. So this much was expected.

The effect was instantaneous and devastating.

Solarius's body, serving as the attempted channel, bore the brunt of divine anger. His skin cracked with light bleeding through. His eyes burst into flame. His scream was multilayered, his own voice and the voice of the entity that tried to descend, both expressing agonized fury.

But it was futile. The Radiant One couldn't descend. The mechanism had failed. The rule held. And slowly, inevitably, the overwhelming presence faded.

Finn felt it withdraw. He felt the anger behind that retreat, the rage at the interference, at the heresy, at this newborn Error divine who'd just prevented His manifestation.

Finn was still in a heightened state of vigilance, not at all believing he was free just yet. The might of the Radiant One that he had just felt, put a deep fear in him.

But as nothing happened, as Finn felt the presence actually fade into nothing, he frowned first in confusion, then in realization and relief after deciphering what had happened.

We're safe… at least for now.

Gods couldn't just descend anywhere, anytime. There were mechanisms. For all the great power divinity held, it seemed to also come with stringent clauses that couldn't be defied. Laws . Restrictions that even divine beings had to navigate.

Finn released a slow breath he didn't know he'd held. His attention was drawn to Solarius, who collapsed to the ground with smoke rising from his cracked skin.

Somehow he was still alive. It seems Champions were more durable than Finn had given credit. But it was a wonder whether such resilience wasn't a curse at times like this.

Solarius was alive, but he was totally and utterly broken. Spiritually, mentally, physically shattered by the attempt and its catastrophic failure.

The Champion, with dead eyes, tried to call forth his sword of light.

Then looked at his arm, which was no longer attached to his body.

He looked up at Finn with eyes that barely focused.

"Kill me," Solarius whispered. "Please. I failed. My God won't... I can't return… Just end it… End me…"

His other arm, which was still whole, moved toward his throat, divine essence gathering for one final spell. Self-immolation. A dishonorable death for a defeated Champion.

But the petty attempt fizzled as Finn invalidated the spell.

Finn crouched beside Solarius, divine Error radiating from his masked face.

"No," he said softly. "You're too useful to die yet."

Error-made bindings manifested around Solarius — conceptual restraints that made his divine power forget how to activate, made his body forget how to move without permission. They bound the fallen Champion like chains as Finn continued:

"You're going to teach us about Gods. You're going to teach us about divine hierarchies. About how this world's power structure works."

Solarius's expression livened at Finn's last statement, and a look of realization and curious horror crossed his features.

"About this world…?" he whispered. "You're the—!" he cut himself off before he said anything further. Then his eyes took on a fierce look Finn didn't know he still had in him.

"I'll die before I betray—"

"You won't die. And you'll talk. Not because I'll torture you. But because you're pragmatic. Strategic."

Finn leaned closer.

"And from the look in your eyes just now, you've just learned something about me that I think you know more about… Something that intrigues, yet horrifies you at the same time."

He pulled back, standing.

"You'll talk because you're curious. Because you want to understand what I am as much as I want to understand what you serve."

Solarius said nothing. But Finn saw the conflict flickering behind the firm, duty-bound conviction in his eyes.

Good enough.

Finn filed away the Champion's reaction for later examination then turned to survey the square.

Most of the mundane believers were unconscious, overwhelmed by the divine presences that had clashed. But a handful remained awake, sprawled on the ground, barely conscious, but aware.

His Error Vision highlighted them automatically. Seventeen people total who'd maintained consciousness through everything. Who'd witnessed the entire battle. Who'd felt both the Radiant One's attempted descent and Finn's prevention of it.

Their minds would be marked by this. Changed. Primed for belief.

The young priestess he'd saved was among them. Her eyes met his across the square, filled with awe and terror and desperate hope.

Perfect.

These would be his priests. His mouthpieces. The foundation of whatever came next.

Finn released a pulse of divine pressure, carefully directed at those seventeen conscious witnesses. Their eyes rolled back and they collapsed gently, sliding into unconsciousness.

Finn then turned finally to where the other Transcendents had been watching.

Thalia stood with Order radiating around her. Her expression was caught between shock, awe, and fury. Himothy stood, grinning despite the strain and implications of all they'd witnessed.

Deacon's golden eyes blazed in the usual fashion. A solemn look colored his face. But it leaned more towards hope, rather than dissent. He had helped Finn during his fight at the beginning, after all.

The others — Keeva, Tavian, Ailin, Osric and Yara — stared with varying expressions of shock, wariness, and calculation.

Finn felt his divine power beginning to wane. He'd burned through a significant portion of that 0.27% essence. Especially in his final massive casting of [Invalid] and [Corrupt Input] that had prevented the Radiant One's descent.

He couldn't see the exact percentage remaining — he lacked a Soul Register in this timeline, as he was no Ossuarist. But he estimated roughly half remained. Maybe less.

He needed to conserve what was left while he figured out how to replenish it through faith and belief.

His body began shifting back. The divine aura receded, though not vanishing entirely. The mask morphed into skin, melding into his face that was now visible for all to see.

He looked mortal again. Mostly.

But everyone who'd witnessed what just happened would never see him that way again.

Finn met Thalia's gaze across the square.

"We need to talk."

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