“You know, now that I can see what you’re about to do, it’s somehow an even worse idea than I was expecting,” Thera sighed. “I wonder why I can’t fix whatever’s wrong in your head to make you like this.”

“Alright, kind of hurtful.”

“Yeah? And if things go as wrong as you’re expecting but I’m not able to cut off your arm in time, how bad do you think it will get?”

“...I mean, I still have absolute confidence that you’ll be able to handle things.”

“Sure, I’m just going to have to either cut off even more of your limbs or break a bunch of your bones. Just do it already before I change my mind about this.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Wasting no time, as he stood among the branches that filled his greenhouse, Ben held tight the crystal in his hand and the souls it contained before connecting to them, forging a link and pulling them both within his mind.

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Trapped since his death, the god Quox waited, aware enough to swear he’d have both his freedom and revenge.

Revenge against the gods of that world who’d spent centuries mistreating him, allowing him to starve all for the crime of saving himself. Revenge against Anailia, the conniving bitch who'd lied to him to strengthen one of her believers, and most important of all, revenge against the mortal who’d killed him, the little whelp who’d done it with such glee, all for whatever strength he could claim for himself.

For all of that and then whatever they’d been doing to him since. He could feel it, his divine shape being forced to change, bent and contorted to fill a vessel unnatural to him. How he didn’t outright kill the thing he was being put in he didn’t know and the few senses it held were weak but one thing he was aware of was the plucking. Like having scales ripped out one by one, only in a duller, more muted way but as the biggest sense of stimuli he had, not knowing when it would come made it all the more detestable. He was a god, as high as an existence could be and no matter what he’d done, he would not stand for the treatment he’d received.

“Rraaewa,” Came a groan of the monster beside him, his sole companion that he was all the worse for having as the demon at his side continued to make noise, with everything he’d been through shared by that same beast.

Both of them were dead, two souls trapped together for eternity until something could free them, with the question of what that would mean not something that could be escaped when Quox didn’t truly understand his state.

When a god was killed while descended onto a mortal then that was the end of them but their souls were meant to depart the mortal plane when it happened, disappearing like any other. His though had not, left trapped and contained and providing just the slimmest amount of hope.

What was a god if not a soul? Sure, they had shape and form beyond the ethereal but that was something they’d grow into themselves with time. In essence, they were spiritual beings and with that fact came hope. He hadn’t passed on, he’d in essence been ripped from the body that held him which came with the chance that if he could only get out, he’d be able to ascend to his proper place once more.

An ascension that would leave him surrounded on all sides by enemies but that was a different matter. As long as he could sneak off then he would live and even if escaping would mean he wouldn’t get to carry out revenge himself, he could at least take comfort in the fact that all he hated would still be doomed.

“Wow, it’s cute you can still feel so much hate and hope,” A familiar voice spoke around him, putting him on edge as the first thing beyond the demon he’d heard in years. “I wonder if you’ll still be able to feel so big after this?”

The empty existence around Quox changed, resolving itself into a vast space reminiscent of a barren realm, letting him perceive himself and the demon but more importantly, the one other, the sight telling him whose voice he’d heard as he growled out.

“You.”

“Me,” Ben grinned back. “Been a while, Quox. I guess I never saw what you originally looked like but you’re definitely worse for wear.”

He could see in the god’s memories how he thought he should appear but it seemed the time trapped within a plant had changed him in unexpected ways. Both the god and demon had created constructs within the mindscape he’d created but they were gaunt, a thinness not of starvation but instead looking stretched out. Small branches poked through their skin with the buds of leaves too and both had a small, green tint that came naturally to neither, enough to make him wonder if enough years trapped in a tree would turn any deity into a nature god.

Something to experiment on in the future. He told himself. For now, let’s see what will come of this.

He had more to say too but didn’t get the chance. As soon as he’d spoken the god lunged, reaching out to Ben in hate and rage to strike him with all of the strength he held, only for his clawed hand to be stopped on contact, powerless to do anything.

“Huh, so this is the god of growth and gain? Powerless to do anything against the mortal that killed you,” Ben taunted, getting the reaction he wanted as the god rampaged in his fury, trying to kill the mortal before him with all of the power he held but consistently failing, no strike so much as making Ben take a step back, let alone cause any true harm.

“Now, you may be an evil fuck who’s greatest feat is being so dumb as to accidentally help doom the galaxy even more than it already was but you’re also in luck,” Ben said through the blows. “You want your freedom? Well now’s your chance.”

It was enough to put a pause to the mad deity, freezing him mid-attack. “What?”

“Now, obviously I’m not just going to let you out,” Ben clarified. “You should know you’re trapped and no matter how much of an idiot you are, even if you don’t understand what’s currently happening you should see you’re still trapped and the only way you’re escaping is if you figure out how to use me to get out and you have until I’m too bored to keep giving you this chance. Of course, I really wouldn’t recommend letting me get to that point.”

“Or what?” The god scoffed. “You’ll kill me?”

“Oh Quox, you have no clue what a valuable resource you are to me,” Ben sighed. “Kill you? You’re never getting that sort of release. Your options are escape now or see how much worse than death things can get.”

Something about the way the mortal said it made the god believe for just a moment before breaking free of the feeling. Worse than death? He was already trapped and used in ways he didn’t understand, what worse could there be?

No, whatever would come didn’t matter because, in his hubris, the boy before him had made a mistake. He may not have been affected by the physical strikes but he was a child before a god. A fate worse than death? He was going to make that boy see hell, leave him begging for release right until the moment he reclaimed his freedom.

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“Seriously, are you done already?” Ben asked in disappointment. “It’s only been a month.”

The god didn’t answer, slumped on the ground in his defeat. Everything he’d tried had failed, not leaving so much as a scratch. The apostle before him was completely unharmed and left looking all the more terrifying for it while the god had exhausted himself, not having any faith to use in the first place but now feeling the mental strain in a far realer way than any since he’d first been killed, not even having the strength to reply as Ben crouched down to his level, offering a hand.

“Come on now, don’t be like that,” He tried to encourage. “Do your best and just try to possess me. Take me over and conquer me in mind and body. You can do it if you really put your mind to it, can’t you? The great god Quox didn’t betray the planet that gave him a home, only to amount to this, did he?”

Welling just a bit of strength, no longer from rage but a simple need to prove himself, Quox took hold of the offered hand and tried anything he could, entering the body or reading the mind it held, applying more mental attacks no matter how all he’d tried had already failed, only to get the same thing he’d had for every other day. Nothing. He didn’t know what the thing before him was, mortal was clearly not the right word for that monster, but he could do nothing to him. A beast fully immune to the touch of that weakened deity and grinning all of the deeper for it in the end.

So it looks like as far as god souls go, they’re harmless to me. Excellent.

Even if it wasn’t what he’d been hoping for, he couldn’t deny the power his combination of eldritch mind and evil god of sacrilege held. He still didn’t know how he’d fare against a proper deity in the world but in a mindscape against one who was nothing more than a soul, the difference was insurmountable.

“Well, I guess you just didn’t have it in you in the end,” Ben said in mock sorrow, shaking his head in a disappointment that the deity at his feet couldn’t even respond to. “A shame, an absolute shame but oh well, if we’re being serious then this really was the exact result I was hoping for and since you can’t do anything it looks like nobody is going to be mad about the results. Speaking of, let’s see. I told Thera to cut my arm off after ten seconds if it came down to it so I’ll just spend another four on my own tests and then keep going after I confirmed I’m fine with her but, oh, look at me, rambling to a sample like it’s a person. Sorry, let’s stop making you wait and get this started already.”

Quox didn’t know what any of that meant and he didn’t have the leeway to try and figure it out. Where there had been one Ben at first there were suddenly thousands, ripping him apart and filling the space with the sounds of his screams for months to come.

EVIL AFFINITY LEVEL INCREASED

DESTRUCTION AFFINITY LEVEL INCREASED

EVIL AFFINITY LEVEL INCREASED

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“One, two, three, four, five-” Thera counted out, stopping as Ben placed down the crystal he’d been holding and showing her his empty hands. “Well then?”

“I’m fine, looks like I’m immune to anything a god’s soul might try against me.”

“And did you at least get anything from this little experiment?”

“Oh, so much, just gotta wait to see if I’ll be able to get even more.”

With his and Quox’s perceptions of time being boosted to his maximum, Ben had, in essence, turned those short seconds into months within his mind to experiment with the limits of his sacrilege and he wasn’t going to stop. There were other benefits he’d been hoping for too among them, it seemed they’d just take slightly longer to confirm but it didn’t matter. In any mind space he’d create, he had all of the time in the world and feeling the absolute truth of that fact he once more picked up the crystal before fitting it into one of the many training bands on his arm, connecting to it again while a different part of him focused back on Thera and smiled.

“So, should we go grab our kid?”