The night after the battle against the Stormbound Choir was not silent. It was humming—alive with reverence, pain, rebuilding, and something deeper: fear. Liam's followers had seen the gods come for him, and they had seen him survive.
No one was ever supposed to survive.
Liam had broken a law older than the stars. A mortal had stood against the divine and walked away—not untouched, but unchained.
But the cost had not yet fully revealed itself.
---
[STATS – Updated]
Level: 37
Faith Points: 51,300
Followers: 22,460
Core Stats:
Strength: 117
Speed: 124
Endurance: 131
Intelligence: 129
Charisma: 98
Divine Energy: 2110/2150
Titles:
God of Wrath and Rebirth
Chainbreaker Ascendant
Pantheon-Exiled (NEW)
New Trait Unlocked:
Radiant Infamy – Your existence now echoes across all divine realms. Enemies of the gods recognize you instantly. +15% to intimidation and divine resistance. -20% chance of peaceful divine negotiation.
---
The city was quiet, but Liam could sense the change.
His people knelt longer when they prayed. They spoke his name with both awe and caution. Children ran in the streets wearing makeshift robes of red and gold, playing games of gods and demons.
But there was another side of it too.
There were those who wept at the altar.
Those who feared what Liam had become.
He stood in front of a shrine, watching an old woman light a candle.
She turned and gasped. "My Lord—"
"Don't kneel," Liam said gently, holding up his hand.
"You shouldn't be here," she whispered. "They'll come again. You've angered them."
"I know," Liam said.
"Then why stand in the open?"
Liam looked at the flame on her candle. "Because the gods always expect fear. I want them to expect fire instead."
---
In the war chamber, Rune paced furiously.
"They retreated too easily," the spirit said, her form flickering in and out. "That wasn't the Tribunal's full might. That was a test. A warning."
"They've judged him," Serenya added from the corner, runes glowing along her arms. "He's no longer a threat to neutralize. He's a virus they must cleanse."
Mira crossed her arms. "So, what now? We run again?"
Liam's voice was calm. "We don't run. We expand."
"Expand?" Kaelis asked, limping in on a bandaged leg. "We barely survived. I lost a wing, Liam."
"You didn't lose anything," Liam said, placing a hand over her shoulder. "You were reborn."
He opened his palm.
A new symbol burned into reality—an intricate fusion of angelic script and chaos runes.
> New Divine Edict Unlocked:
Domain Expansion – Flame of Reclamation
— Grants you authority to convert nearby hostile zones into divine territory.
— Radius: 5 miles per Faith Surge
— Buffs all allies within: +15% Strength, Speed, Endurance.
— Can overwrite weak demonic corruption.
---
Over the next two weeks, Liam began what would later be known as the Reclamation March.
He led his chosen—Mira, Serenya, Rune, Aldros, and a force of one thousand elite believers—into lands long poisoned by the cult's rituals. Villages that had known only fear awoke to gold-lit mornings. Liam walked through towns barefoot, unguarded, using only words and miracles.
Water turned clean.
Fields bloomed overnight.
Sick children rose from their deathbeds.
His power wasn't just wrath anymore—it was hope.
But not everyone rejoiced.
---
In the ruins of Velgroth, a village half-burned and still steeped in demonic ash, Liam stood at the center of a plaza, divine staff raised.
A faith surge burst from him in a wave of red and gold.
The very ground rejected the corruption.
> 5,000 Faith Points consumed
Zone Reclaimed: Velgroth (Formerly Cult Controlled)
+400 Followers
New Chapel Constructed Automatically
People wept. Women sang. Men fell to their knees.
But in the shadows, resistance stirred.
A dagger flew from a rooftop.
Mira caught it mid-air before it could reach Liam.
"You'll have to try harder," she snarled, scanning the roofs.
From the shadows emerged a man—his body covered in ritual scars, his eyes blazing with hatred.
"You are not a god," he spat. "You are a thief. A parasite feeding on faith."
Liam didn't flinch. "I am what they need."
The cultist sneered. "Then we'll purge them all."
He plunged a ritual blade into his chest.
Blood erupted—not just red, but blackened with demonic glyphs.
A gate tore open in the sky above them.
---
It wasn't just a portal.
It was a summoning.
Out of the gate crawled something enormous—a demon colossus, its body made of stone and sinew, dripping molten darkness. It stood nearly thirty feet tall, crowned with twisted horns, its eyes hollow pits that screamed with the voices of the damned.
> System Alert:
— Greater Demon Summoned: Vhol'tan the Reaver
— Threat Level: A+
— Faith Corruption Field Active: -20% Healing, -10% Morale
— Local believers in danger of falling into fear status
For the first time since the Tribunal's attack, Liam's expression darkened with genuine concern.
He turned to Mira. "Evacuate the civilians. Serenya—barrier. Rune, we're burning faith."
"What about you?" Mira asked.
"I'm going to show this beast what happens when you mock a god."
---
The battle was cataclysmic.
Vhol'tan roared, swinging a cleaver of bone that shattered buildings. Liam met him head-on, his staff glowing with burning light. Every impact sent shockwaves across Velgroth.
He cast Divine Chains to bind the demon's limbs, but Vhol'tan simply melted through them with abyssal heat.
Serenya's barrier cracked.
Mira struggled to protect villagers.
Rune yelled, "Too strong! We need to pull back!"
But Liam was already channeling his next power.
> Divine Command: Heaven's Core Breaker
— Focused Divine Beam infused with Rebirth and Wrath energy
— FP Cost: 4,000
— Damage Multiplier: x3 vs. demonic entities
The beam struck Vhol'tan square in the chest.
The demon screamed—a thousand souls echoing in its voice.
It staggered, then fell to its knees.
Liam ascended into the air, his aura blazing.
He spoke not in words, but in divine tongue.
The final strike wasn't wrath—it was judgment.
The colossus shattered into ash, its corruption burned out of existence.
---
Velgroth was saved.
But more importantly, a message had been sent—to both cult and pantheon.
Liam was no longer just a god of vengeance.
He was a god of territory, faith, and protection.
---
That night, Liam sat alone again at the edge of the reclaimed village.
Mira found him.
Her armor was dented. Her blade was bloodied. But her eyes?
Warm.
"You're becoming more than you were," she said softly.
He glanced up. "More than a boy chasing revenge?"
"More than that," she nodded. "You're becoming the kind of god people remember for centuries."
He looked away. "And if I forget who I was? If I become what I swore to fight?"
Mira didn't answer with words.
She reached out, took his hand, and rested her head on his shoulder.
"You won't. Because I'll be here to remind you."
And for once, Liam let the silence hold him.
---
End of Chapter 38