But of course, victory doesn't last forever.
There was triumph in a single moment and the next, hell ripped open inside their bodies.
Every Divine in the throne room jerked in unison. A wave of agony tore through the chambers. Bodies spasmed. Knees buckled. Even those who had could keep a calm composure were suddenly dragged to the floor like puppets with their strings severed. A dozen screams overlapped. Metal scraped. Divinity flickered uselessly like dying embers.
Anamorsia's eyes widened then narrowed. She was the first to find air again, forcing her trembling hands to move despite the backlash eating her nerves raw. With nothing but stubborn, vicious will, she pressed her palms to the cracked floor, Summoning the Aeterium-born Base Tether, Body and Soul Reconstruction. A wave of radiant golden spirals burst from her body, sweeping through the throne room like a cleansing hurricane. Every Divine's convulsions slowed down as she forcibly mended their bodies and forced their souls back into shape, bridging the tearing faults before they split entirely.
Asenane hissed through gritted teeth, clinging to her daughters' bodies with trembling fingers. Leon bit down hard enough that blood filled his mouth. Even Adelasta a tremor running through her jaw as she supported Anamorsia with an arm braced firmly around her waist.
The pain finally dulled but dread settled where agony had been.
Phaenora hadn't moved the entire time. She wasn't injured. She was petrified.
She was frozen in front of her floating holographic panels, each one flickering in glitch-like spasms. Her eyes were filled with a terror none of them had seen from her before. Adelasta saw it first.
"Phaenora, what happened?"
Phaenora didn't blink. She raised a shaking hand toward the holograms.
"They're gone."
Nobody understood. Phaenora's breath kept stuttering like she had forgotten how to control it.
"The... the Gecisia Levels. The Enlightenment Powers. They're.."
She flicked her fingers, forcing the holograms into full display.
Every Divine profile was corrupted. Every Gecisia Level was null. Every Enlightenment Power was empty. Every Divinity field was erased as if they had never existed. The entire throne room went dead silent in an instant. Elyonari's serene composure cracked.
"That is impossible. Divinities are tied to the soul. They cannot simply vanish."
Phaenora turned on Elyonari in raw panic.
"I KNOW THAT, ELYONARI! THAT'S WHY I'M FREAKING OUT!"
Her hands flew over the displays, pulling up readings, analysis windows, cross-referencing layers but each one came back the same:
[No Divinity detected.]
[No Gecisia structure found.]
[Systemic trace: erased from fundamental law.]
[Reconstruction attempts: FAILED.]
"They're not suppressed. They're extinct."
A ripple of horror hit the chamber. Shouts rose from the Dynasty members lining the wide hall, all clutching at their chests, staring at their hands, trying to summon what had always been the core of their lineage. Light refused to answer the angels. Demonic spells fizzled dead in the demons' palms. Pandemonium erupted instantly.
One by one, they realized. Their powers weren't sealed. Their powers had been erased.
EVERY. LAST. DIVINITY.
Phaenora spun, scanning the chamber desperately.
"No, no, no, no this shouldn't be possible! Even if we lost the Enlightenment bonuses, the Divinity itself should remain! The soul imprint should remain! The laws of Spheraphase literally require—"
Her voice died because something else shifted.
A laugh, dripping with blood and satisfaction was heard. Every head jerked toward the source.
The rift of Mopheria in throne room grew bigger. From that, a hand pushed through. A silhouette staggered out, who was a half-collapsed god with golden blood leaking from every inch of him like a shredded vessel trying to hold an ocean. He grinned. His voice came out like a rasp dragged across bone.
"It's… done."
The temperature plunged. Every Divine froze.
Adelasta's hand twitched toward where her Divinity should've answered instinctively. Miraculously, it was still existent. Anamorsia's knees nearly collapsed again from using her Overwrite. The broken god laughed harder.
"You fools! While you were busy killing the gods here, we were rewriting the fundamentals."
He lifted his head.
"Divinities, Enlightenment Powers, Gecisia Levels, they were all coded into Spheraphase's root. So we deleted the code."
Phaenora choked.
"You… WHAT?!"
The god staggered, bracing himself against the cracked air behind him.
"Mopheria does not fight fair. You kill our warriors, we break your world. Simple exchange."
His smile widened, blood dripping from his teeth. He spread his arms.
"Behold your victory. Every Divine in Spheraphase has been reduced to nothing but Enlightenment bodies with Divinity Rank but with no Divinity. You've all fallen."
Silence swallowed the hall as something tore open beside, dragging a stench like rotting seawater and burned sanctity. From that tear, seven bodies slammed onto the floor.
They were the Aquatic Goddesses.
They presided over the Sacred Trials. They were the arbiters who allowed Enlightenment to advance safely and made Divines advance. Now, they were sprawled like discarded dolls.
Their skin was waterlogged and peeling. Their divine organs suffered from extreme burns. Their limbs twisted at angles no living thing should bend. Their throats had been carved open, not cleanly, but torn, like something had dragged claws through them mid-scream. One still had her eyes open.
A ripple of pure terror ran through the Dynasty members. People staggered back, covering their mouths. Even the Divines who had witnessed Anamorsia obliterate an army of Divines felt their stomachs drop.
The god spread his arms wide in a mad glee.
"Lovely, aren't they? They were begging for death by the time I was done!"
Asenane gagged. Eldrigan stumbled backward. Elyonari clutched her chest.
The god continued to speak in complete madness.
"My father, Stephos, God of Flames, was slain by Lysameria, the Nexus of Oceans. She killed him to protect her son. So I repaid her generosity by killing her half sisters."
Stephos' son…
"All of you feel it already, right? The burning in your chests, the hole where your Divinity used to be? I erased Divinity from Spheraphase! Every Gecisia level. Every Enlightenment Power. Every Divinity is gone. You have six years, don't you? Then let's see how long you last without—"
That was the last sentence he ever spoke. Reality split like glass. A blade erupted out of his throat from behind.
The god choked, his words dying in a wet gurgle. Golden blood sprayed across the floor. Everyone froze because the hand gripping the scythe was feminine and trembling with barely-leashed wrath.
Narisva Starisnova.
Her expression was dead but her eyes were a full, spiraling galaxy. The stars were spinning in her irises like she held the weight of constellations inside them. Narisva didn't let him move.
"You killed them."
The scythe twisted.
The cracking of bone echoed like thunder.
"You touched them? You dared touch the ocean's throne? You dared dismantle the laws we've lived under since the Destras Cataclysm?"
Her fingers curled. Space warped. Gravity collapsed around her, drawing the god's body into a tight, suffocating pull.
"You think that because you stole Divinity from others, you can laugh?"
The god tried to scream. He couldn't. His vocal cords split. Narisva dragged the scythe upward, slicing him in half through the soul. She opened her hand and a black hole bloomed. It was no bigger than a fist but dense. The throne room bent toward it, pulling even the air.
The god—still conscious—was dragged in by his chest. His bones shattered. His Divinity shredded into ribbons. His final scream stretched, distorted and was swallowed by the singularity.
He was absorbed by the black hole. The Minor Deity was erased from existence. The black hole snapped shut. Silence fell so thick it felt like the world forgot sound existed.
Everyone stared at Narisva. Every Divine in the room looked up at her in horror because only one question existed now:
How was she still using her Divinity?
Narisva's scythe dissolved into cosmic dust, spiraling behind her like dying comets. Her chest rose and fell sharply. Her hands were shaking.
"If anyone even thinks… about asking me how I used my Divinity…"
Her stars flared.
"I will demonstrate again."
No one moved. Even Adelasta didn't dare comment. Even Anamorsia just stared in stunned silence.
The Dynasty members were in chaos, clutching their heads, trying desperately to stabilize themselves without their Divinities. Everywhere, Divines were slumped over, gasping, trying to summon even a flicker of power but nothing.
The Divinity system was dead. Gecisia levels were erased. Enlightenment Powers were gone. Only the base Seven Enlightenments remained, stripped of meaning.
And Narisva had just captured a Minor God in her soul. Not that the god would escape because Celestial souls are too powerful for anyone to survive in...