“So, this is what it’s come down to,” Eneth sneered in the meeting around him, with word of what had happened that day coming when someone checked on Yuzu and found what was filling her thoughts, demanding discussion. “We all just sat by and let him be this entire time, and now here we are, a threat greater than any demon having arisen on our world.”

“Even if you’re a war god, you don’t have the sort of gravitas to carry the level of melodrama you seem to want to display,” Anailia mocked while Phixth worked to keep the conversation civil. “Ben is Ben, his skill, power, and ability to accumulate more of both is a known variable by now, with every little tantrum some of you want cause when you find he’s gained more accomplishing nothing else than wasting everyone’s time.”

“He can now desecrate souls themselves,” Eneth spat back. “God of evil and destruction is right, could there be any more horrible a monster? Something that could grow endlessly by taking what it wants from others, and yet even that is barely worth mentioning compared to what he’s become.”

“A blessing to the world,” Nare said, speaking for the crafting gods with an air of indifference. “Unless you think that our chances of surviving through the horrors of the next wave mean nothing.”

“No, what he is is an abomination,” Olensia responded. “A mockery of all that’s good in the world. Sacrilege at the sixth level, evil and destructive authorities at the fifth, and only going to grow further in the time left before the next wave. Hell, if we win, then he’ll keep growing too until something finally kills him, and then what do you think he’ll do? A thing like that, If we’re lucky, then he’ll stop at just ruling over us and forcing us to his whims.”

“Oh? Then what do you suggest?” Helori openly mocked. “Shall we all strike him down now and speed up his ascension? As if the level of power he’s already accumulated wouldn’t let him stand that high above us already.”

“And Ben has no interest in such things,” Myriad told them, the only one there looking more tired than Phixth. “He’s made it clear enough; he doesn’t want to waste away eternity with all of you.”

“And we’re just supposed to believe that?” Another god asked, one who ruled over hope yet felt none themself when considering the beast that would one day come for them. “You’ve seen how that horrible thing thinks. It could say whatever it wants to and we have no way of knowing what it really means.”

“Just like any other god among us then,” Jagal laughed. “Really, are we so dependent on seeing a mortal's thoughts that it’s the only way we can judge their character?”

“He shows his character every day,” Eneth scowled. “Every time he trains his horrible skills, he’s showing his character. You can say what you want, but enough of us see the truth. How any of you can insist a mortal can become a god of evil without being steeped in the concept is a madness far beyond me.”

“Then, what is it you all suggest?” Nare asked. “Helori already said it, we can’t kill him without bringing him here, so what? Do any of you want to try ripping his soul from his body to banish to hell? Not a single part of me believes such a thing would work, but you’re more than welcome to fail in it.”

“If we doubted it was possible back before he’d reached the third tier of his sacrilege, it seems foolish to even hope for such things now,” Anailia chuckled. “But we could always take the opposite approach, I suppose. Someone can bind a healing enhancement to his soul, and then all of us can spend all of the power we’ve been saving for the war to try and elevate him to the third tier in it and give him the same immortality as Rook. Sure, that would mean he’d have eternity to grow as powerful as he wants to in the mortal realm, but it would keep him from joining us up here in true godhood. With the only issue to that being that he can already come and go if he wants to fairly freely.”

It was plain that more wanted to respond, but Phixth held up his hand. “I understand the fears some of you have; perhaps they’re even justified. No mortal has ever accumulated such a level of power before, let alone in such a short time, and yet, we can’t let such concerns cloud our focus. However any of you feel about Ben and however you feel about his personality regarding his interaction with gods specifically, he has shown himself to be a valuable force against our greater threat. One boy, no matter how powerful, isn’t what we’ve spent millennia preparing for, not when the demonic scourge is finally banging on our door. Before being so quick to give him second thoughts about fighting by our side, consider what we’ve all lost. Monsters that feasted on the blood of our worlds have come to our new home too. Ben may be a calamity in the making, but from everything I’ve seen myself, he’s dedicated to the preservation of this world and the people he loves more than any poor feelings he might have with some of the divine. If we must keep having these talks for whatever peace it seems some of you need, then so be it, but will we be having them forever? The apostle of Myriad has become rather well known throughout the world, even if not many know his name or face. When the average citizen is well aware of his contributions and will only see more of them by the time the next wave ends, will any of you really want to discuss punishing someone who’s played such a large part in saving this world? Fear is alright, caution is alright, but rash reactions are not. In some ways we are rulers, but we are also guides, and if we stray too far from what the world views as right, then we could very well lose our position as both.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Looking around as he said it, all Phixth saw was a sharper divide. There were those who loved Ben, the passive gods, the crafting gods, even the knowledge gods, with others in the mix too, yet in contrast, there were just as many suffering through fear, hate, and revolution, and Phixth could see the number of them grow with each meeting. Only a few as willing to speak up as their vocal minority, yet an undeniable undercurrent that would have preferred it if Ben could somehow stop being a problem and, afraid that it would only grow more, he sighed before going on.

“I understand that the scope of this topic is one that only ever grows, but let's put a pause on this for now and reconvene at a later date. However anyone might feel about Ben’s newest power, he told Yuzu himself that he has no intention of using that aspect of his power, and as far as I or she could tell, seemed genuine in it. Take some time to sort out your feelings among yourselves, and we can return in two days, after everyone’s had a chance to accept what’s happened.”

Mostly wanting the break for himself, with so many meetings about Ben beginning to get to him after being forced to take the role of handling the explosive feelings of the other gods, enough of the rest were fine with it too, needing to consider what it would mean to them to share the heavens with a being who seemed to constantly accumulate more power as they all slowly parted, while unbeknownst to the majority, a far smaller meeting began.

“Madness,” Eneth cursed among the group within his realm, twenty gods there who either publicly or privately shared his fear of Ben, even if none of them would have admitted that fear of his power was the driving force. “Absolute madness. All of them, just waiting to let things be while that monstrosity only grows stronger.”

“If he doesn’t claim the world for himself while he still lives, there’s no doubt that he’ll take the heavens,” Olensia agreed. “It's too much power for any one mortal to hold, let alone one who only ever wants to get more. Abusing it is his nature, and all we’re doing is allowing it to happen.”

“But at this point, what else is there to do?” A different god asked, already in defeat. “They were right; it’s too late. Even if it would stop him from accumulating even more power, the way he’ll be able to wield both faith and divinity, it will put the rest of us to shame. Even with what drops he’ll have access to without a proper religious base, how much would we all have to spend in return to fight him here? Slay him now and we lose all of the faith we’ve saved to protect the world, or slay him after and not only will he be stronger, but we’ll have already spent swaths of our reserves on the demons. There’s no winning for us.”

The surroundings were filled with agreement and defeat, all of them feeling the same thing. They’d allowed the mortal to live for too long, and now it was too late. All they could do was hope that the others were correct, as insane as it felt, with only one among them voicing a different thought.

“No,” Eneth told them. “Killing him, banishing his soul, or trying to raise him to immortality so he never ascends, these are not our only options, no matter what the others may like you to believe.”

“Then what?” Asked another, seeing the wicked grin the question brought to Eneth’s reptilian lips.

“Simple, we trap him in a way that he’ll find no escape, not even in death. It will require work to arrange, and a trick he won’t see, but it's possible. The only problem is the reaction.”

“It could be a war among us,” yet one more god pointed out, getting a laugh for it.

“Oh, they’ll rage, but they won’t split into a war. Didn’t you see it? Even if many there held their tongues, plenty playing at being neutral feel as we do, and when consequences come, they’ll work to smooth things over in their relief. No, what matters is giving as little leeway for complaint as possible. We need to make sure as much value is extracted from him as possible before any plan is put to action, and we need to balance that with a need to do it sooner than later. If we leave it till after the war, then perhaps some will raise a fuss we can’t quell, but before it? No matter how few we are, our power is needed, and whatever misdeeds the others might imagine will be lost in the battle and endless cleanup after. Even if we show the demons that this isn’t a world to be taken, that won’t change how many will make it through, and that will be distraction enough until the rest of them forget about the life of a single rude mortal.”