Chapter 84: False Gods

  Soren

  The Lord of Creeds, that's what he would call himself Soren concluded. Before this most recent pilgrimage, Vorn and Fera had been pestering him to come up with some sort of special title. While he had been putting it off Soren understood the necessity of such an assumed name.

  The things people called you had a way of affecting how they saw you. If they saw you in the correct light, it was only a little push to get them to have faith in you. From there it was an even smaller step before they had Faith to give you. Soren needed believers if he was ever going to achieve rank four and beyond. It was already beginning to happen among the people of the Final Peaks and given Soren’s status as one of the Creed children he had an advantage few other gods had been able to lean on.

  “Woodland Horde Go! Fury of the Underestimated!”

  Soren lazily returned his attention to the Challenge he was fighting. His opponent in the semi-finals was a brown-haired girl a few years his junior. Around the pair of them and the Challenge Arena their Dealers had generated was a conventional arena of clay surrounded by little free-standing roof structures that offered nothing but shade for the spectators who had even been forced to bring their own chairs or beanbags.

  Rushing forward to attack him was a swarm of tiny creatures one might find in a temperate forest. Rabbits, foxes, one might have been a wolf cub, squirrels, and a single badger. With a lazy sigh he directed his gaze to the numbers and runes above the horde monster.

  [Woodland Horde

  Resonances: Beast, Charm, Pursuit

  No Cost

  Power:0

  Vitality:0

  Can only be Manifested by playing the spell Defenders Of The Grove

  When Woodland Horde destroys a Creature it may attack again.

  When Woodland Horde is destroyed Manifest one Cute Critter for every thousand power Woodland Horde Currently possesses.]

  The Woodland Horde currently had 4000 Power and four Vitality, courtesy of the spell that had Manifested it, and four Beast Resonance Cards discarded from the girl's hand.

  ‘So much work for such a weak Card.’ Soren mused as the swarm of little woodland creatures assaulted his Constructed Crusader.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  [Constructed Crusader

  Resonances: Divinity, Wrath, Mechkin

  Cost: 1 Vial

  Power: 3500

  Vitality: 1]

  t was almost symbolic of this girl he was up against. She had worked hard, and played extremely well in all of her matches including this one. The thing was she'd had to play exceptionally every time or she would have been obliterated due to the sheer weakness of her Cards.

  It wasn't even just by Soren’s own standards either but by those of the backwater he currently found himself in. He didn’t really know how to describe her Deck beyond ‘kind of bad’. In the southerner's opinion she desperately needed to visit a trader and buy one of those Deck lists some sold, which included where one could hunt the monsters, and buy the spells.

  In Soren’s opinion if she had a stronger collection of Cards and he hadn’t been forced to enter into this quaint event, his opponent…What was her name? Oh right Kyera something, well whatever it was she would probably have won the entire tournament. Sadly for Kyera, she didn’t have a stronger collection, and he was here.

  “Artificial Divinity!” He declared as the Crusader was destroyed and the swarm of woodland creatures surged through the barrier to attack Soren himself. With a slight mental push, he called forth his wings and simply rose into the air above where the Woodland Horde could reach him. This resulted in a number of jeers from the crowd. As much as the people of Medius had loved him when he was among their number, they had cheered for his opposition in every match.

  Once the attack had finished and the horde had returned to its own side of the field the spell Card activated and why Soren even bothered to use Constructed Crusader in his deck became far more obvious to anyone watching.

  [Artificial Divinity

  Resonances: Divinity, Mechkin

  Spell

  No Cost

  Play any time

  Artificial Divinity may only be played when a Creature you control with both Mechkin and Divinity Resonances is destroyed. Search your Library for a False God Creature Card and add it to your hand.]

  Soren had already collected two False Gods; the mechanical marvels that seemed to have been created using Divinity Resonance and powered by their own version of Faith. They were fascinating monsters that no one truly understood the origins of. While of course weaker than the mightiest of heavenly beings the False Gods still represented a monstrously powerful Creature type and Soren hoped to build a Library variant based purely around them at some point.

  Finding more than the two he had converted into Cards from deep within the vaults of the Final Peaks would be a long and costly project, but as always Soren had time. Especially once he had completed his pilgrimages and helped the other Creed children reach their destinies. For now, he had the much simpler quest of searching his library for one.

  Feeling his consciousness move into the storage within the Dealer Soren ignored the brush of his god against his mind. The being dwelled within his Dealer, and could occasionally be felt drifting formlessly about when he accessed his collection.

  ‘There’ he said, selecting the card he sought. Outwardly Soren’s eyes ceased to glow blue and False God Apolonian was added to his hand, across the Arena from him Kyera was closely inspecting the Cards she had redrawn during her Second Creation phase. She had no chance of winning, of course, none of the entrants really had a hope of threatening a Walking God, but he had to admit he enjoyed the way they tried. It was both admirable and informative, after all even a god could learn new Card combinations and strategies.

  This girl though, she took a long time to take her turns. It was annoying, but at least it was all time spent examining the field and her hand not making weak quips or irritating small talk.

  Seeming to come to a decision Kyera finally played what had to be the stupidest Card Soren had ever seen someone willingly put into a Deck.

  I didn't have big plans for Soren in this book but as I write they are kind of creeping up on me...