Nate continued to smile up at the two Greater Divines as they hovered in the air. The looks on their faces were studiously blank as they surveyed the instantly repaired damage to the hotel. Taunting them had been intentional and Nate had more than one reason for doing so. Inviting more attacks against him and Kiri was just one. The other, and arguably just as important, was mostly meant for Worldhammer. They were on his world after all. Fifth Scale was his demesne and that meant the forces that he could bring to bear would no doubt be enough to swarm Nate and Kiri.

Nate was reasonably confident he could get them off world if the worst came to pass and they were mobbed by numbers they couldn’t defend against. After all, he had Arikanvil’s portal rune up his sleeve. But that wasn’t the outcome Nate wanted to achieve. The ideal outcome was that the factions of the Heartlands would continue to throw small groups of Lesser Divines against them, which effectively let Nate and Kiri farm Divine Energy. Then let them compete in the World Reaping. And there was one reason Nate thought they would restrain themselves.

“Amusing little demonstration, Nate of the Risen Sun Sect,” drawled Worldhammer, his tone indicating that he didn’t for a second believe the Sect’s name was a real one. “What were you hoping to prove?”

“I thought that would be obvious, Worldhammer,” countered Nate. “I was showing you your hopes weren’t misguided. The same with your compatriots. It’s why you came, isn’t it?”

Worldhammer showed nothing but Chairman Kalim of Flux Industries was not similarly inclined.

“Groping for clues are we?” sneered the black armoured Kalim.

“I don’t need to grope. It’s as clear as a sunny day. You wanted to see how we fared because you’re hoping to judge our ability to evolve to Greater Divine. After all, letting your subordinates enjoy the feast might strengthen your faction, but not as much as if you were the one to slay us. And for that we would need to either be incredibly foolish, or we’d need to evolve to Greater Divine. Free hint, we’re not foolish.”

Nate smirked at the pair, taunting them.

“Now you have your answer. We’ll get there, and when we do, I am looking forward to the battle that will follow.”

He was lying, of course. Kiri was probably looking forward to such a battle but Nate was not. He just needed them to believe he was. Needed them to be patient, to bleed their factions against him without forcing him from the Heartlands before he had gotten what he came for. And for that, he relied on the same emotion that he so despised, carefully stoking their greed from a small fire into a roaring flame.

When Worldhammer smiled slightly Nate knew he had them. Kalim seemed less inclined to submit but whatever competitiveness existed between the two wouldn’t allow the Chairman of Flux Industries to take a backseat to Worldhammer.

“Don’t die,” agreed Worldhammer. “I too am looking forward to the confrontation.”

Chairman Kalim simply snorted before vanishing in a black blur. Worldhammer floated up into the sky and night stilled.

Nate didn’t drop the act, wary of anyone still watching him as he turned to Kiri and Wulfgar. The latter was gawking at him.

“Did you just pick a fight with the guy who owns this world?”

Nate just smiled before focusing on Kiri, “How did we do?”

“Couple of hundred I think,” Kiri answered as she sorted through the remains. “A few Low-Divine Artifacts. There is a little in the Orbs as well but we’ll lose some of it converting it to our own Paths. Then there is whatever they released when they died. Do you want a more accurate count or we just going to split it?”

“Just split it,” replied Nate. “Three ways.”

“Hold up, lad, I think you two need it more than I do. And I didn’t contribute as much. I don’t need your pity,” grumbled Wulfgar.

“Take them but don’t use them yet,” stated Nate unequivocally. “We’ll talk more about it later.”

Nate had every intention of helping Wulfgar develop a Divine Vessel in the future, even if the man's own ability to divest himself of a Class Core was highly unlikely any time this century. The ability to hold more Divine Energy though would be a game-changer for the fourth evolution Divine and that alone would make him a more powerful ally. And Nate suspected they were going to need allies.

Still playing the part of arrogant scion, Nate moved to collect his due from their takings and put the Divine Energy to good use.

*************

Perenthia had listened when her Nascent Mind told her she should go for a walk. Even before she’d set foot out the door she knew she was walking towards her beloved. Her Skill had warned her where to stop and she had even invested some mana in Probability Manipulation to make it less likely he would notice her. She knew he had some form of sensory Skill because every time she considered getting closer to him, Nascent Mind warned her that the probability of her beloved Nate noticing her would skyrocket. And she wasn’t ready to be noticed. Not yet.

She was still learning about him, about his likes and dislikes. About his ‘friends’ and how to get rid of them. The alchemist was easy. If Perenthia made her disappear, she sensed he wouldn’t care. An appropriate reaction to the removal of the ‘help.’ The other two were harder, each for a different reason. The old bodyguard's absence would be noticed if he had a random accident. And it seemed like he had some life-saving measures as her Probability Assessment was indicating that an accident in the combat tournament was unlikely to take. Waiting for the Reaping was her best option then, and her Nascent Mind agreed. Besides, Perenthia was nothing if not patient.

The other one, his supposed sister, was a bigger problem. A problem that Perenthia was struggling with to the point that she’d been pulling her hair out, forced to use alchemicals to regrow it. After all, she had to look her best in case her Nate noticed her by accident. Kiri, that was the sister’s name. Perenthia had been running the probabilities for days. She’d even used Probability Manipulation to make sure the girl faced a Seed in her first fight. Her Nascent Mind had warned against it but Perenthia had needed something, anything, to try and get more information. Because that was her first problem.

Fated Confluence was ultimately an information gathering Skill, feeding off the remnants of thoughts and memories as all individuals constantly communicated with the Spiritual Realm. There were items, Divine Artifacts, even Skills, that could limit or control that communication but almost no one in the Lesser Divine strata used them. Why would they? The idea that there was a Lesser Divine that could make effective use of such stray and fragmented thoughts was preposterous. So preposterous that her Father had created a seal on her Class Core that would prevent anyone from exposing her secret.

And yet, this Kiri was somehow doing so. With less information available from Fated Confluence, Probability Assessment and Nascent Mind were struggling to come up with an accurate picture of the obstacle to her beloved that was his sister. Worse than that, what little her Skills had managed to garner kept pointing to one outcome. The girl just wouldn’t die. No matter what Perenthia changed, the probability that the girl would survive seemed to be a hundred percent. Even when Perenthia attacked directly, which would see her beloved forever out of her grasp, she failed to remove the problem that was the sister.

Perenthia found her hand straying towards her perfect pink locks and had to forcibly control herself before she tore out more hair in frustration. Thankfully, she was distracted from her morose thoughts as the assassins made their move. Flux Industries, she noted with a snide smile. She watched the battle unfold from a distance, hidden in the empty room that probability had guided her to. As she watched, she felt some of her ardour for Nate dimming. Certainly he was amazing, but perhaps she had put him on too high of a pedestal in her mind.

Revealing that he was a second evolution Divine was admirable, but her interest had been in his Reality altering Skills and so far all he seemed to be doing was summoning some obscure forms of Spirits and Teleporting himself around. Was that all he had done that evening in the restaurant? Did he simply teleport the mana away? Nascent Mind was disagreeing with her thoughts, but even its voice was relatively quiet on the matter. It could be wrong after all.

Her disappointment and boredom continued to mount and when he summoned a Gravity Spirit she felt her heart begin to drop. Was he just some Spatial Mage that could summon Spirits? Had she been wrong about him? Was her interest all for nothing?

The battle wrapped up a moment later and she prepared to leave, radiating dejection, when Nascent Mind warned her to stay just a little longer. She sensed the two Greater Divines before they arrived. They left ripples in the Spiritual Realm with their passing. Worldhammer and Chairman Kalim. She had no interest in either of them and prepared to ignore Nascent Mind when she heard his words.

“There’s no need to fight, gentlemen. Life Imitates Art.”

Then Reality changed. Everything that had happened was undone. Shattered wood and destroyed trees became perfectly shaped walls and artfully sculpted greenery. The only remnants of the battle were the dead Lesser Divines and a few injuries and blood on his companions.

Her heart bloomed back to life. Her Nate was perfection made form. Life Imitates Art? He paints Reality. Magical and breathtaking and her perfect other half. She mentally screamed her thanks to her Nascent Mind as she drank him in. She had to have him! She would have him! Together. Forever and ever!

*************

Vicoli, Disciple of the Void, watched from between the gaps in space where almost nothing existed. Almost nothing, because he existed here, but also other things. Stranger things. The baby Heralds of his so-called Master dealt with the assassins efficiently. What Arikanvil was doing sending second evolutions into The Heartlands, Vicoli had no idea. But, it wasn’t his job to know. He was just supposed to watch, and anything that lowered his debt to that old purple bastard was something worth doing.

Taunting the Greater Divinities and leaning on their greed had been a wise decision and Vicoli found himself, for a moment, enjoying his fellow Heralds’ antics. As for the Reality Manipulation he had witnessed, of that he cared less. Certainly, it was impressive. A rare achievement and skillset, but then, so was Vicoli’s. He found it hard to care that much.

Slipping through the spaces between everything he continued his silent vigil, watching the pair as his own debt slowly ticked down. Because here, in The Heartlands, he had to be very careful. He was known and if he revealed himself for even a moment, he would be forced to flee and that just would not do. Any chance to remove his debt to the God of Space had to be taken to its fullest.

*************

Nate drew in the Divine Energy from the Orbs, the material of the Class Core dissipating as part of the process. There was a certain amount of energy lost in conversion, but that issue affected Nate far less than Kiri. All Divine Energy was Conceptual in nature, and therefore even if Nate had to reduce the truths inherent within to keep it from overwhelming the idea of Concepts themselves, it meant he lost less energy in the transition.

As the energy flowed into him, suffusing him with its golden motes that reflected the truths of Reality, he bound them to his body, changing himself in the process. Piece by piece he was turning himself into an artifact of the Divine, a pillar of Reality, and with it, his control over the same.

Over an hour later he was finally done and he brought up his Status to see the improvements.

His Divine Vessel was now halfway towards his initial goal that would let him comfortably handle any Seed the Heartlands could throw at him. At the same time, the Sands of Erosion continued to tick down and he was concerned that if he wasn’t ready to face Greater Divines by the time it expired, those same Greater Divines would realise the danger and throw all of their forces at him and Kiri to overwhelm them.

Kiri had just finished her own session and looked over at him, “What’s the plan with Wulfgar’s equipment? Last time you created a Regalia it let everyone know within a pretty large radius. You start throwing around that kind of power on Fifth Scale and I have no doubt we’ll get attacked by more Lesser Divines than we can handle as they sense an opportunity.”

“I agree,” muttered Nate. “Which means I need to do it somewhere people aren’t looking. Somewhere no one is going to notice.”

“And where is that?”

“Inside my Regalia.”

Kiri thought about it for a second then snorted, “That’s going to make it more expensive, isn’t it?”

Nate knew she was referring to the Divine Close Rune on his Regalia that would let him seal the inside. She was right, but that wasn’t what had Nate concerned. To do what he intended and completely close off the Regalia he would need to be inside of the space within. Which meant Kiri would need to keep it secure for him while he worked. The second issue was that using so much Divine Energy inside the Regalia might influence his Regalia or Divine Paint. The final part was that he was going to need to spend a heap of Divine Energy raising his Blood Sigil to Divine.

Still, none of that was going to stop him. He had every intention of being prepared, and those preparations included making sure he had another competent ally to stand with him. The cost, he felt, would be worth it in the long run. A preparation for the future. But first, he needed more Divine Energy. And tomorrow, he was going to get it. The second event for the Crafting Tournament was gearing up to take place and Nate was going to have to come up with a new creation to impress the judges and seal his entry into the World Reaping. Fortunately, with some inspiration from Jemima and his split mind doing the planning, he knew exactly what he was going to create. He couldn’t wait.