Two more years passed.
I was eagerly expecting the System anytime now but also dreading my periods again. I vowed to use one of the Perks refunded from {Exp Boost} on {Traceless Period}. It did more than what it said on the label. No blood, no cramping, no sickness, all for the low cost of one Perk. Better yet, it was rated as [Common] by the System. The ladies shopped smartly.
Wisteria treated me as nothing but a stranger nowadays. It hurt my heart to be ignored by her but that sorrow turned to seething rage when I learned she was perpetually tasked with cleaning chamber pots and other unsavory tasks. The girl was fading away. I ground my teeth at the feelings of powerlessness.
My days went by in the usual orphanage routine, until the fateful day when the head nun attempted to expel Wisteria. We were all in bed when I heard a commotion and by luck recognized the mixed-blood priestess begging for mercy. Jumping out of bed, I pumped my short legs as fast as I could, crossing the orphan wing and the inner chambers of the orphanage, an annex to the church building. I felt as if I was moving at a crawl. I invaded the church's vestry and crossed the racks of robes and other implements used in the worship of Zacheia. Some of the inner rites could make a dominatrix blush but I'll leave it at that. I burst into the main nave of the church and watched as Wisteria was unceremoniously dragged out through the front door and into a carriage.
"Nenandil!" I shouted as I raced down the aisle of pews. The fairy went forward, faster than me.
The head nun was standing by the door, smirking with arms akimbo, watching the honest priestess and a thorn on her side go away. The water fairy zipped past her and dumped a lot of MP into a {Flash Freeze} spell, borrowing a lot from Kel'Caldor's phylactery. She sagged with exhaustion, unable to use more magic for a while. The spell covered the street with a thick layer of ice and held the carriage in place. The panicked horses broke their hooves free of the ice and kicked the shafts binding them to the carriage, shattering the wood. They ran away and dragged the poor coachman a good length across unfrozen road until the poor man was able to let go of the reins.
"You little troublemaker!" The matron shouted at either me or Nenandil, I wasn't looking.
Reaching the frozen area, I had to move slowly over the ice. I heard a fight inside the carriage. My heart clenched. I was used to soar over land and sky and ocean at breakneck speed and now was slowed down by my what my stubby legs could do over slippery ice. I touched the door to find it locked.
I saw a big body moving inside, confirming there was someone in the carriage with Wisteria. I wondered, why wasn't she using divine magic? Desperate, I tried the door. It was locked. What the fuck was happening in there? "Don't hurt her!" I threatened.
Behind me, I sensed the buildup of Divine energy. Someone was casting a spell. Pushing against the door, I spun on the ice and halted by grabbing the carriage, now behind me. With a scowl, I faced the head nun and saw golden energy gathering in her arms. Nenandil darted and hid behind me. She was exhausted from the {Flash Freeze} and couldn't dispel the ice even if she had MP to spare. Being powerless sucked. At lesat she was level zero. Again I cursed myself for not having the System.
"You have overstayed your welcome!" The head nun screamed, furious. "Filthy beast!" The passersby were running from the scene. Her spell finished. "Divine Leash!" With the glowing whip at her hand, she approached me.
I snickered and pushed against the carriage, sliding on the thawing ice. Once I returned to the cobblestones, she whipped me. I grabbed the conjured weapon and it immediately vanished. I flicked my hand as if I was removing gunk from it. She was expecting me to split dead in two pieces. Instead, I bull-rushed the head nun and punched her in the stomach.
She backhanded me and I dodged. She'd overextended. Seizing that opportunity, I kicked her shins and pulled on her robes at the same time, throwing her over me. She fell on her face on the cobblestones. I jumped on her back and descended with my knee on her spine. It did some damage but she had levels and HP while I only had a half-dwarf teenager's body. It was nothing to write home about. That didn't stop me. I punched her ribs from behind like an enraged beast. One, two, four, eight, and more. I spewed every curse in the world while she shouted prayers that fell on deaf ears. This close to myself, no divinity would work.
She tried to rise, pushing against the street. Even on a spellcaster's budget of physical Attributes, she could lift me. I jumped up and kicked the nape of her head. She bashed her forehead on the cobblestones and I heard bone cracking. Part of my vision was blocked by a flashing message.
> EMERGENCY ACTIVATION. FAIRNESS PROTOCOLS LOADED.
>
> Congratulations. You are now a part of the System because you engaged in deadly combat.
She groaned, showing she was still alive. A flood of messages came up and I pushed it all away. I didn't need to read to know that I lost almost nine hundred Attribute Points to {Surpasser}. Since she was alive, I grabbed her by the hair.
"Call your cunt of a goddess here. She's already aware of who I am. Zacheia and I, we need to talk," I {Royal Ordered}.
I gave the head nun another kick for good measure and went back to the carriage. The head nun wasn't going anywhere with that concussion. Now with the System, I reached the roof of the murder boat in a single bound. My {Soul Shepherd} power latched on a soul. I felt it was Wisteria. A guy was running away from the open door of the carriage. Singing a single note, I brained him with a critical backstab Overcharged {Force Javelin}.
> You hit creepy runaway guy for 1,626,480 HP of damage (Base 150 x25 Skill x10 Overcharge x3.12 Backstab x1.6 Willpower x2 Fortissimo x3 Critical (Falsetto) x1.5 Affinity)
>
> For killing level 65 Creepy Guy, you gained 9,6M Exp (Base 193,405 x25 Fast Learner x2 Rank)
>
> This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
>
> You must pick an Exp allocation method.
Deftly jumping from the roof to inside the carriage, I found Wisteria's body. She had a lot of bruises and a stab on her left armpit that probably got her heart. A lot of blood dripped from the bench. I grasped the murderer's soul and brought him with me. I went out and back to where the head nun was still lying down. I'd felt the pulse of divinity and it seemed she'd tried to heal herself to no avail. Zacheia didn't grant the spell.
I rolled her on her back and pushed a minor healing potion into her mouth. Like a villain in a B movie, I talked to her, "I know you are listening, Zacheia. We have a lot to talk about. Come down here with your glorious fanny or I'm adding more temples to my collection. Yours."
No answer.
"You think your faith can go on without either temples or clergy? Well, too bad for you. Love goddesses are a dime a dozen. I can and will invite all of them to party here. You think my patron is bad? Think how wonderful it will be to catfight that greek tart with two husbands for your followers."
The streets became deadly silent as a blanket of divinity fell on the neighborhood and put all creatures in a deep sleep. I felt her appear at a safe distance. She was with what I called a "hollow avatar". There was little divinity in this manifestation and any damage done to her would only destroy what she brought. I didn't give a fuck. There was more than one way to skin a pussy.
"What do you want?" Zacheia's voice was trembling.
"Do you have any idea how fucked up this orphanage of yours is, you cheeky cunt? How this stupid fuck-head nun of yours was embezzling from your very fucking temple? What happens to the children that leave here with their 'masters'? Bloody hell, Zacheia. Are you from Earth too? How can you fuck up this bad to allow child trafficking under your very nose?"
"I-I wasn't aware," she trembled.
I roared so loud my throat became sore, "BULLSHIT!"
She whimpered.
"And what was that bullshit offer to put me in the fucking human ships that kidnapped the centaurs, when you knew damn well it would jeopardize my quest for the Unicorn King's heritage?" I asked with my voice still hoarse. It was regenerating, though.
"You would've saved your mother--"
"BULLSHIT! Again! By all that his holy, woman! Stop the fuck trying to lie to me, you cunt! And here's a fucking free hint, I'm really touchy when the subject is my mothers. If you see me this pissed, don't ever mention them. I wouldn't have the stupid [Heritor] racial modifier and wouldn't unlock the bleeding evolutions, you know that very fucking well. Hells, I probably would've been separated from my mother before they took her to the war. Damn you, Zacheia."
She started to cry.
I answered her whining with a belly chortle. "Are you fucking serious, woman? That might've worked back home when I was a man. Right now after spending centuries as this many women? You might as well be wasting prayers on the believers, miss."
She stopped with the crocodile tears in a flash. "Fine. What can I do to make it up to you?"
"Okay. Here it goes,"
> Divine Negotiator...
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I squeezed a point of [Diplomat] proficiency from my deal with Zacheia. The deal had several parts. First, I would bring Wisteria back to life and the Goddess would lay praise and blessings upon the [Priestess], promoting her to a [Saintess]. The patron [Saintess] of orphans. As far as I understood, that was fucking expensive. Second, she would put her "special curse" on everyone that abused one of the orphans they got from any orphanage anywhere in the world, if they were still living. Also expensive.
I got the right to {Assassinate} the head nun and Zacheia would raise her as a [Divine Revenant], a special and powerful undead focused only on a seething desire for vengeance. But her target wasn't me. It was everyone in the orphanage's bloody ledger that abused a child. She'd know how to find them thanks to one of the [Revenant]'s special abilities. Once her hit list had full checkmarks, she could move on to the afterlife.
The goddess would also keep my involvement with this incident a secret. To all effects I am still in my cot at the orphanage.
To counter all that, I would forgive her slights against me and fund a propaganda campaign to give Zacheia a new Domain. She would soon become the Goddess of Love, Arts, and Children. That would make every midwife, orphan, pregnant woman, and child give her faith automatically.
With the deal sealed, I slashed the nape of the head nun with the Unicorn King's spear and got another sweet dollop of Exp. Sasageyo! [1]
> For killing level 74 head nun, you gained 143,2M Exp (Base 250,671 x25 Fast Learner x3.38 Favored Enemy x3.38 Contract x2 Rank)
>
> You must pick an Exp allocation method.
I lost my breath when I found the nerf [2]. I should've read those notifications. I recognized that too late.
The body of the head nun shriveled and became mummified. her clothes crumbled to dust. The [Divine Revenant] was all but. She rose to her clawed feet and dashed away, to deliver divine justice and seek salvation.
I brought Wisteria back to life and became invisible.
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Rosebush, Windemere. The street in front of Zacheia's temple.
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Wisteria came back to her senses screaming. She felt her armpit burn but the pain vanished a moment later. Scared and crying, she wondered if she was dreaming as she looked around. She was in front of the temple, the carriage where... she died a few meters away in a pool of mud. She felt something near her and looked up to see her goddess.
Her heart swelled with many emotions. She felt joy, sorrow, regret, and saudade [3] for the children of the orphanage. She was faithful and felt bad for regretting her reward.
"Fret not, my child. You are not dead," the goddess's angelical voice sounded like delicate chimes and tiny bells.
"My lady. I'm not worthy," she groveled.
"Raise your head up, my [Saintess]. You are worthy. I decided to embrace not only the orphans but all children. Would you please help me?"
Tears rolled down her face. "It is my - hiccup - honor to - sniffle - serve, my lady."
"Stand up tall," the goddess took her hand and helped her back on her feet. "I, Zacheia, now declare you the patron [Saintess] of orphans. Receive my blessings, Wisteria. Know that before my eyes, you are worthy."
> Your Class was upgraded to Saintess (ultra-rare). You gained +1 to all Attributes. Your Perk progression is now 1 perk every even level. You have 3 Class Perks.
>
> You gained the occupational title [Saintess]. Your Soul Attribute is unlocked.
>
> You gained the Perks:
>
> * Saintess Magic (ultra-rare). You have a new resource called FP. FP is restored only when you pray and when the worthy pray to you to intercede for them before your goddess. FP is based on Soul. With [Saintess Magic] you can spend FP to create miracles. Always use your FP to further your goddess' goals or suffer dire consequences.
> * You gained the Perk: Commune[Zacheia] (ultra-rare): Once per week, you can enter a state of deep prayer and talk to your deity. Your deity will assign you tasks and review your actions. She may reward or punish you at her own discretion.
Wisteria didn't stop crying. Zacheia hugged her. The newly anointed [Saintess] didn't see the goddess winking at someone behind her.
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[1]: The name of Attack on Titan Opening/Anthem.
[2]: It will be discussed next chapter. But if you must know, these multipliers used to be 7.59
[3] A loan word from Portuguese. There's no single word in English to describe this feeling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade