Inside the Papal Chancellery, a dozen men dressed in purple stood in front a tauren female, wearing a violet poncho of sorts.

"Your Holiness, declaring the Elf Princess a Holy Consort would give the elves too much power!" an older man argued with a creaky tone.

"And she even refused our last delegation, as well as the Holy Tithe." another man added, his face showing outrage.

"Enough. I will meditate and commune with our God. We'll convene tomorrow to announce my Divine Revelation." the tauren said in a gentle voice, with a hidden threat.

Pef coughed in sympathy.

"How about we commune right now?" he asked a bit amused.

The Pope and her Cardinals turned towards him in surprise. His face was quite memorable, for those of such high rank.

"Lord Pef! You have returned!" the Pope proclaimed and knelt in supplication.

Quick on her feet, the horned Pope.

Pef was pretty sure he never met the woman, although he had the glove at ready to check. He did free millions of her species though.

One by one, the cardinals knelt as well, although the last three waited for too long and were pushed down by Pef's telekinesis.

"You were saying something about Nellie?" Pef asked in a sterner tone, lifting the disgruntled cardinal in the air.

"... The Elf Princess claims that planet Mi'rilodor is your personal property and not subject to your Church." the man answered hesitantly.

Pef nodded and smiled. "Indeed. Arazmodel himself sold it to me. I have the contract right here." he said in an understanding voice, and took out the sale contract.

The thirteen religious leaders read the contract with wide eyes. "It is true! We never had historical evidence...til now, of course." the Pope whispered in a reverent voice.

"Also, adamantite chains aren't breakable. Even though I have reached Tier 4 now, I doubt I could simply break them. Cutting them is much easier though." Pef explained with a thin smile.

Thirteen pairs of eyes blinked in confusion.

"God! I mean... Lord Pef. But the breaking of chains...billions of people attested at being freed from slavery. Even if some lied, not all of them..." a smarter cardinal argued, doubting his god to his face.

"Freed from slavery, yes. But the demons used neck collars and magical vows, not literal chains. Only Arazmodel was chained with adamantite. It's very expensive after all." Pef mused out loud, while examining the office with his eyes, and other senses.

"Oh! Then we can keep the chains in scripture, only changing their meaning to metaphorical chains to symbolize the enslaving vows." yet another cardinal said with a slow nod.

Pef sighed and sat down in the nearest chair. Religion was too much trouble.

He took out the corrupt bishop and the stolen riches. Then he emptied a ring, forming a large pile of coins and gems.

"Some exaggeration will always happen in retelling, it's in people's nature, everywhere. However, corruption and stealing from my worshipers..." Pef said in a glacial voice, holding the culprit in the air by the neck.

In a minute, the force choke snuffed the sinner, and the former bishop kicked his fat legs one last time.

A couple cardinals blanched and dropped their rings to the floor, not daring to look at Pef anymore.

Pef scratched his cheek in deep thought. If he killed all of them...his Church would probably collapse or split into factions.

"What are you doing with all those riches anyway?" Pef asked curious.

Nobody offered an answer.

"Come now. Surely you don't just extract currency from the economy. Buying weapons, art, food, furniture?" Pef asked mildly, feeding them an easy answer.

A few cardinals nodded warily.

The Pope stepped forward and knelt in front of his chair. "Building statues and cathedrals requires money. So does hiring good architects, painters, sculptors. Even smiths and other workers. Though perhaps we lavish a bit too much..."

Pef shook his head. "No. Building things is good. Buying weapons and training expensive armies, very good. In general, spending is excellent. The more we spend, the richer other people become. However...the Church is not spending enough."

The tauren Pope was quite clever and saw how things were going. "I see, Lord Pef. We have indeed accumulated a large treasury. But if people become richer, their donations will be even bigger next years."

"I am a Soldier in the Veritas Legion. We value truth, faith and sacrifice. And I don't mean sacrificing others. People worship me because I risked my life for them. I fought that crazy Archdemon and killed him and thus liberated a dozen species from slavery. What did you risk?" Pef asked them with a wry voice.

"We will do better..." the Pope muttered raising her eyes.

Surprisingly, the seat was empty now. Their God has already left.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The cardinals eyed each other with suspicious eyes. Their God returning for a visit had never been part of their plans.

"He said... Tier 4? But that's only as high as an Archdemon..."

"Anyway, we have proof now. And evidence that God can carry people with him...like the ones from Rome claim."

"Spending...we have a divine command now. You heard Lord Pef." The Pope told them in a gentle tone, and left at a slow pace.

As Pef Blinked away, heading towards his wife...in his wake tremendous changes occurred.

Not at once, and not everywhere, but slowly things began to move.

In an hour Pef arrived in Rome.

The old refugee camp had grown, from a dirty wood town into a large metropolis of stone and metal, with a thousand more cities doting the continent.

Pef smiled widely, as he landed at a Legion fort.

"Commander!"

"Lord Pef!"

"Welcome to Rome, Lord Pef." an elf Major said politely, and pounded her armored chest. A glow of white and blue mixed in her aura.

"Nice to meet you." Pef replied and offered a handshake.

'Genome scan complete. Beotia Desale. Third generation since induction. Her grandmother fought the demons landing here.' the glove provided helpfully.

"The fort leader is in town right now." the woman said with a level tone.

"It's okay Beotia. Just let me know if there's anything important going on." he answered while holding out a cup of wine.

"I'm on duty...anyways. The Elf King is sick or perhaps dying. The Church is making some trouble. And...we need cultivation enhancers. If the Eyeless attack." the Major said with a doubtful eye towards the blood wine.

Pef smiled sweetly. "Drink the wine, Major. Now!"

With a grimace, the woman took the cup and gulped it. Orders were orders, after all.

In a flash, her cultivation rose into Emperor rank. "G-good wine, sir. We have 40 thousand Legion recruits and 6 million in the militia." Beotia muttered in a slight slur. The bloodwine was really potent.

Pef nodded and began deploying his last regiment.

His old Major, Merri was now a Tier 1 god, and could use some easy work here.

"Merri. Setup a forward base here, and garrisons for a thousand light-years. Ear to the ground for these Eyeless." he told Merri and handed him a storage ring with some more wine.

"By your command. What about this Church?" the regiment leader asked with a frown.

"Use them as you need. Buy pills and stuff to help the locals maybe." Pef added with a shrug, and vanished.

"What was that?" Beotia wondered with a confused face.

Merri shrugged and patted her shoulder. "Nice aura you have. Human parent?"

"Yeah. You have more of that strange wine?" the Major asked without ulterior reason.

Merri checked the ring and smiled. " A hundred barrels or so."

They soon became very good friends.

Meanwhile, Pef entered the elven lands and passed through their security arrays unnoticed.

There, he found Nellie and the old Duke beside the Elf King, both tired and wary.

"Hello, you two." Pef said in a soft tone, stepping beside the magic coffin holding the dying king.

"Pef!" Nellie exclaimed and ran to his side, her face already glowing with hope.

"I heard about your dad. So I came." Pef stated calmly, as he pushed his gloved hand through the magic formations and touched the Tier 4 elf.

'Oh. Soul necrosis. This guy is toast.' the glove said casually.

'Really? Nothing can save him?' Pef asked, quite suspicious.

'Well, I mean nothing we can do. Try a drop of that blood anyway.' the glove advised him sounding curious.

Pef shook his head and dragged the whole coffin into his inner world. It was resisting for a second, but then the resistance failed, and he had the Elf King safe inside.

Then he forced the elven jaw to open and inserted a drop of godbeast blood. Immediately, the king regained consciousness and sat up, while circulating his magic.

'Pef. You saved me.' the elf sent with a mind pulse, but without opening his eyes.

'Only the symptoms, father-in-law. Soul necrosis has no cure, that I know of.' Pef replied in the same manner.

'Then...how long do I have?' the king asked and strained to open his eyes.

They had black flakes floating in them, which didn't seem too healthy.

'A thousand years, maybe. If you don't strain yourself.' the avatar replied in a sad tone.

The king looked up, observing the large sky. 'You have dozens of galaxies already, just like she had. And still so young.' the elf sent, possibly remembering his dead Elf Queen.

"Does it hurt?" Pef wondered out loud.

"All the time, my boy. You take Nellie with you. Keep her safe." the king spoke with a grimace of pain.

"What caused this?" our hero asked with a frown. Something that could affect a Tier 4 God, might affect him as well, after all.

"Go to the mana well, at night. The Eyeless..." the king murmured and fell to sleep.

Pef nodded inward. He kinda wished he had his gun right now.