News spread across the continent quickly. Elves everywhere despaired as they heard that the royal capital, the city of nature, the greatest masterwork of elven craftsmanship, had been taken over by humans.

Waves of fear and anger spread through the continent, reaching even the demons, who were still conflicted on what to do. The Demon King himself advocated for the extermination of the elves and beastmen before turning against the humans, but his nobles advised otherwise.

At the end, when winter ended and a new spring burst forth, a new and more powerful alliance had been forged.

Elves, beastmen, and demons had banded together, even if loosely, to combat this newly arisen threat. The hundreds of thousands of elves that had fled onto the remaining elven territory and also towards the beastmen lands called for the retaking of their lands, but it was impossible to organize an assault yet due to all the logistics and political trouble.

Meanwhile, anger against humans spiked to an all-new height as the few remaining slaves were tortured to death or outright slaughtered. There were also many who escaped and ran for the rumored human heaven, and many of them successfully made the trip as they were helped by hidden spies within the allied territory.

In the newly-conquered human territory, it was a bureaucratic nightmare, but thanks to the massive amounts of efforts by Sacred Light's part, things still went smoothly as colonists spread out across the new lands and slowly began the long process of rebuilding. 

Holy Warriors went on a campaign through the territory to exterminate any pockets of resistance or dangerous monsters. Aided by the holy light of the Lord, their job was made much easier.

There had actually been several elves and even a couple dozen beastmen willing to defect to the human side, which Sacred happily accepted on the condition that they accept her 'baptism'. They took the deal.

After all, Sacred's campaign of genocide wasn't actually based on race. What she wanted was a world loyal only to her and her alone. At this point, it honestly wasn't even for the faith anymore, but simply because that had somehow become her ambition. 

While these few defectors faced intense discrimination, Sacred Light kept up their support as she encouraged their integration. If humans, beastmen, elves, and beastmen could begin a merging process, it would further the races as a whole, in Sacred's opinion.

Still, before elves were accepted, drastic things had to happen. As of now, those few defectors lived harsh lives, with even the church reluctant to support them. Nonetheless, Sacred still did it, as it was best to begin early rather than too late.

While all of this was happening, she was also keeping an eye out for anybody too powerful for her followers to take on. Almost all of the dragon race had already sworn themselves to her out of fear of annihilation, and even though she allowed them to not participate in the war, she had demanded that, when she inevitably won, they become her followers.

The dragons had been very apprehensive. As creatures with a hint of divine heritage within them, they could see that Sacred's baptism was something incredibly influencing. The moment the baptism was complete, any creature that underwent it would forever be under the control of Sacred Light. Of course, that control was basically always kept at next to nothing, but it would still forever forbid them from even thoughts of rebelling.

Nonetheless, the dragons, along with several other legendary and intelligent creatures, chose to undergo it after some of the more radical creatures chose to try their luck and attacked Sacred Light.

She didn't even have to move a finger.

Thus, she secured herself a new following. She would have to work out the kinks and details of their privileges and responsibilities as what she wanted to call as the Sacred Creatures, but all of that was work for another time.

Sitting upon her high throne, Sacred idly toyed with her wing, carelessly grooming it as she focused on other things. She'd picked up the habit recently, and it had helped her quite a bit to deal with all the stress her work was bringing her.

Sacred was trapped. There was no question about it, she'd completely trapped herself. She had taken on a huge responsibility upon her shoulders, and her pride and ideals forbid her from running away from them. However, that didn't mean it didn't stress her to the limit.

She was always at work. The only time she had for herself was spent desperately cultivating her almost finished domain or trying to study the necklace. 

As a goddess, she physically couldn't get tired, and yet, she felt as though her body was beyond exhausted. However, stress and exhaustion were nothing compared to the sheer amount of loneliness she felt.

Every time she turned, she could see herself surrounded by invisible souls. Every time she looked down, countless followers gave her their devoted and sincere prayers, thanking her for giving them such a good life. And yet...

She still felt alone.

Her domains had begun to fuse as of late, and she was beginning to discover her own godly path. She wouldn't truly find it until she at least became a true god, and it would likely be very difficult, but she could already feel the laws that her path set down upon her.,

Her light domain was one of both extremities. It contained immense destructive power, but also incredibly gentle healing. Her soul domain was much more mysterious, as it allowed her to do all sorts of things. Her screens were actually crafted mainly from it. As for her ruler domain, it allowed her a general... control over all living things.

Together, these domains set down certain guidelines for her to follow. She could go against them, but it would be against her very nature and personality to do so. And one such rule was the fact that she, as the supreme Goddess and master over countless lives, had a responsibility to help them, and to not be helped by them.

She simply couldn't forge a relationship of any kind other than that of a lord and follower with anyone unless she could truly view them as an equal.

When she first came onto the world, she held no need or desire for friendship or any of those disgusting things. However, as time passed and her workload and stress and desire for please, help me increased, she found herself wanting a true friend more and more. Someone she could share her trouble with.

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But it was simply impossible.

Slumping into her seat, Sacred let out a long sigh. She was thinking about things too much again and got depressed. Again. That was actually about the only disadvantage her frankly insane comprehension abilities and thought speed brought to her. She thought about things too much, and that was sometimes a bad thing.

Waving her hand, she banished the hundreds of screens that had appeared next to her. With her constantly increasing strength and ability, she could create almost a thousand of such screens and view them all at once, but she was starting to think that really wasn't a good thing.

Getting up from her seat, she stretched as far as she could, hearing the satisfying pops of her joints. With a thought, a large book appeared in front of her.

"Let's see... What's my next job... Ah, I have a meeting with the last dwarf king, then I have to do a routine check on the bureaucracy of the Golden Republic, then I have to control my priests are happy and doing their jobs, then I have to check the colonists are receiving everything they need... AAAAH!" She screamed, throwing the book at one of the walls of her palace. The book vanished before it could hit.

Holding her face in her hands, Sacred took deep breaths. "Fucker" She cursed as she whipped herself up into shape. Feeling one of the church teleports activating, she stiffened slightly before quickly vanishing and reappearing over at her throne, as nonchalant and casual as ever, her eyes returning to the gentle and confident, yet firm eyes she always had whenever she spoke with her followers.

Four priests garbed in golden robes with winged insignia on them entered. Like all of her priests, their faces had a winged tattoo that started from their foreheads and went down to their chin in a curve. They could hide it if they wished, but almost all of her priests chose to keep the tattoo as a sign of pride, only hiding it when absolutely necessary.

Reaching the front of the throne, the four priests dropped to their knees. With a lazy wave of her hand, Sacred called out a gentle "Rise"

After getting up, one of the priests stepped forward, having been chosen to be the one to speak. It was a common custom that Sacred heavily encouraged, after all, it would get chaotic if everyone tried to speak up at once. Thus, it was common courtesy to choose a speaker before each meeting.

"My Lord, the allied inhumans have begun probing our new territory. They've even tried to sneak attack one of the cities along the border, but thanks to Champion Helen's quick intervention, they were repulsed." 

Sacred smiled slightly. She'd taken a rather hands-off approach on the defense of the new lands, and had given the gargantuan task to a committee heralded by Helen, who was beginning to get used to being in command.

"Very good. How is the police force holding up?" Sacred asked, appearing as though everything was well even though her heart was somewhat anxious.

"Err... They're holding, but they're extremely understaffed. Thankfully, my Lord, your powerful Holy Warriors have cleared out all external resistance, and the police can focus entirely on keeping things orderly. Even then, however, they are in drastic need of reform and manpower..." The priest said carefully.

Sacred nonetheless heaved an internal sigh of relief. She'd worried the police would collapse, and that would create a whole slew of trouble. Nonetheless, now that things were beginning to truly get going, they'd have a much easier time, and there would be more manpower coming in.

Jade City had lost almost 95% of it's population, with the only people remaining being those who truly had fallen in love with the city and wished to continue living in it. Everyone else had been heavily incentivized to leave and go settle in new lands, which many did happily. Farms were beginning to be set up, mining operations were being planned, villages and cities were turning lifeful after some time of being ghost towns, and the various roads that had been carefully kept intact by the armies were being upgraded and put to use for the huge amount of commerce that would soon take place within the Golden Republic.

Sacred wanted to smile, but couldn't bring herself to do so. Thus, she settled for waving her hand randomly, yet with dignity. "Very good. Continue as planned, oh, and do report to the Grand Council that I am quite pleased with their work. Their idea of creating several smaller committees has truly paid off."

The Golden Republic's government was quite unique in its creation. It was extremely decentralized, with almost every department having its own councils and committees, but in reality, it was also extremely centrilized because everything was ultimately controlled by the Grand Council, which had the power to intervene in things if they saw them going off their course. Furthermore, every single person in the Golden Republic would do literally anything Sacred Light ordered, thus, when the need for things to be done now, bureaucratic work could be skipped thanks to Sacred Light, even if she rarely did so.

Bowing, the priests quickly scampered off even as large smiles rested on their faces. Meeting with the Lord was considered one of the greatest honors any person in the Golden Republic could ever obtain, no matter how short the meeting would be.

In fact, there had been several proposals going through the Grand Councils about organizing some government festivals in which Sacred Light would personally participate, but due to her current workload and the war, those plans were put on hold.

Once the priests had left, Sacred unhappily got to her feet once again before taking a stroll outside of her palace. With a glance at the book that had once again appeared, she could see that it was time for her to take a look at her divine realm.

As she was taking this small stroll through her home, Sacred suddenly felt a small tug within her mind. With a frown, she inspected the feeling and cast her vision down upon the mortal world.

There, she saw her favorite subject, Helen, absolutely livid. She was holding a middle-aged man by the collar, a sword held against his nether region. The man was completely pale, seemingly absolutely terrified.

With a frown, Sacred wondered what was wrong. The man was human, so it was strange for Helen to get so mad. Her full attention fell upon the situation, casting an invisible presence in the whole area.

Helen stiffened slightly before a horrifying smirk appeared on her face as she glared at the man with so much hatred in her eyes.

A thunderous shock run through the area as a sense of overwhelming fury fell down like divine punishment. Trees were flattered and the ground shook. The buildings and people were spared the wrath, but it was obvious the Goddess was beyond furious.

"You've fucked up now," Helen whispered venomously. 

"Helen." A voice came from the skies. "Give him to me." 

Without hesitation, she threw the man into the skies. Even as he screamed, a golden portal appeared and a pair of giant hands reached forward, snatching the man before dragging him back with them into the portal.

There, Sacred's eyes burned with fury. This man had been a high-ranking member of one of the higher councils tasked with keeping track of the education, making sure every child had access to it.

However, apparently, he had also been amassing wealth for himself in secret through blackmail and threats. How he had not been found out earlier boggled Sacred's mind, and she would be sure to thoroughly investigate. But, his biggest crime of them all was that he had kidnapped several children as hostages, keeping them so that their parents would obey him.

"I was in a good mood." Sacred said to the man who'd been stripped naked and bound to a large Christian cross. "But, you ruined it." She added, almost like an afterthought.

The man's mouth couldn't open no matter how much he tried, and he couldn't make any sounds. "Don't bother. I don't want to hear whatever excuse you have. Souls of Pain, feast upon him for the next ten years." Sacred said before walking away. The cross that had been floating in the air suddenly shot downwards into the Faith Ocean. 

Plunging inside, several hundreds of monstrous and horribly-shaped souls rushed at the man who couldn't even scream and began to slowly tear him to pieces, yet always healing him afterward.

"Helen." She transmitted down. "Good job. I wasn't expecting such a thing to happen until the war had ended, honestly, but it seems I have underestimated humanity's potential for evil." 

She could feel that Helen was still shocked at this event. From what she could gather, Helen had noticed a couple of the children she always played with whenever she had time had disappeared, and she'd tracked them down using a sensory technique. That was when she found the man, and after a nice little chat (beating), she'd found everything out.

Sacred cut off the connection when she saw Helen not being in the mood for answering. With a long, drawn-out sigh, she went back to her throne even more depressed than before.

And for the next several years, that would be where she would stay.