(Gavin)

"What?" I ask. "Wait – no! What?"

"What?" Michael asks.

Nothing works. I can't summon up the interface anymore, no matter how hard I try. I've still 'evolved' into a Timeless one, still have the changes to my body, but the amplification that comes from the Stats are gone, even if my base is still absurd. That's not going to be enough to face the Dragon! Not even close! I can't protect my people properly without the System, either!

What the fuck?

"What's-what's wrong?"

I look over to the Wolfborn, and find him filled with both awe and fear. Dammit! Being able to turn off the Aura of Power must have come from the System, as a reward. Same with revoking the changes to my body's outside, meaning my eyes, hair, and wings are out. I can tell that not just because of actually feeling my wings, which I quickly tuck as best I can behind me, with enough space for my tail to have some room, but because the constant itching feeling for putting them away is gone.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

"What happened?" He asks, trembling.

"Fuck!"

"Nothing to worry about!" A cheerful voice speaks up as a Divine Presence forms, and I look over to see…

Nies. Only… he's not Nies? He looks closer to being eighteen or nineteen than his usual ten-year-old self, and while he's still dressed in his normal red and black attire, he also has a broadsword strapped across his back, a mischievous glint in those crimson eyes of his.

"Run along to your Order, now," Nies waves a hand, and Michael vanishes. "Come on, Gavin! I've got just the fix!"

Suddenly, we're standing in a Divine Realm with literally hundreds of female Divine Beings. There's a giant bed near us, and I look at Nies with complete and total confusion on my face. No doubt about it.

"How, exactly, is taking one of them to bed going to help me with this, Nies?"

"Easy!" He exclaims. "The only way to nullify a Taboo Title's effects is to do something extraordinary! Like siring a god. Even if you aren't inside of the System anymore, you're still a Double Timeless One and Eternal! Because of that, the odds of you siring a Divine Being by sleeping with one is exceptionally high! So go on, Gav! Do it! Do the deed! I've picked six hundred of the greatest, bestest, most delightful she-Divine Beings with humanoid forms for you! Look! Even Ultarna's here!"

The cat beastborn goddess waves at me, and I groan, burying my face into my hands.

"It's okay," Nies rubs my back. "I know my sudden shift is a bit much to take in, but it's perfectly okay! You're not limited to just one, by the way – they're all gonna be willing. So have six hundred kids, if you want. Now, I know it's been seven years, so if you need a demonstration of how to produce babies, I'd be willing to-"

"No, Nies," I say. "I know what's needed, and it's not happening."

"But if you don't, you won't regain access."

"Is there another way?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Then I'm doing that."

"It could, potentially, take longer than nine months," he says. "This is the fastest way. Especially since the other way could literally take an eternity, and that's even risking not being able to succeed."

Is he trying to keep me from going the other route? He seems to really want me to sleep with a bunch of goddesses. Including his own girlfriend.

"No, Nies," I say. "I'm not doing this, I can't do this. The other way is better."

"Oooooh!" He says. "If you were into guys, just say it! Even male Divine Beings can birth children! All they really need to do for that is-"

"What?" I look at him in shock. Did he just-? "No! Nies, no! I can't! I can't have kids!"

"What are you talking about?" He asks. "You wouldn't even have to care for them."

"That's not the problem!" I say. "I can't have kids!"

"A Timeless One is pretty much guaranteed to," he says. "Heck, any kid you had with a mortal woman would likely be a Demigod, unless the mother was a high enough Species."

"No, Nies!" I say. "I can't have kids! At all! It's not possible for me!"

"What are you talking about?" He asks. "Or… do you have impotence? That's an easy fix! Sabriabriar! Get over here! He needs a bit of your-"

"No!" I snap. "Nies, I can't! It's not possible! I can't have feelings for others that way, can't get it up, can't get kids – any of it! It's not possible!"

"What are you talking about?" He asks. "You're a Timeless One, Gavin, of course you can! You just need a little bit of-"

"You're the Origin of Blood Oaths!" I snap at him. "I'm sure you're the Origin of the more powerful type of oath, too!"

"What, Soul Oaths?" He asks. "Yeah, but-"

His eyes widen as he realizes what I'm saying. A few seconds pass, probably as he reads the Soul Oath I swore, all those years ago. It prevents me from being able to have children ever again, so long as I have an heir.

And even if I've never met my son, even if I'm no longer Human, that boy is still considered my heir by the Soul Oath. And Soul Oaths are impossible to break. Nies once briefly mentioned to me that they were nasty things, and he hated them, because not even he and Twist together could alter or break one.

"Wh-wh-what did you do that for?" Tears well up in my patron's eyes. "H-h-how long ago did you do it?"

"After Alyssa," I answer. "I was thirteen! I did what I had to for the Kingdom I was so loyal to back then! But things were different in Kar! I swore the oath because I was thirteen years old and had had my world shattered by the arranged marriage! I wasn't acting logically!"

Nies waves his hand, and the horde of goddesses vanish as tears well up in his eyes.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"B-b-but-" he breaks down.

Then, he starts rambling about different things, about different possibilities, but then dismissing them. I know there's probably a lot more going on in his head, considering who and what he is. I'm only hearing the things that I can actually understand, no doubt.

I sit on the bed, sighing. He's not even noticing me at this point, just rambling as he tries to find a way to restore my System Access. From what he's saying – if he's not saying it to convince me of it, but because he genuinely believes it – then the other way really is nigh impossible for me to do.

It also seems like there is a way to remove my Soul Oath. Another Divine Being showed up to talk with him about it, but Nies is adamant that it can't be done. This Divine Being has taken on the form of a person, a man in his early twenties, with brown hair and green eyes, looking remarkably human.

"Why not?" The other Divine Being asks. "He'd be cured of that Soul Oath, and after being cured of it, he'd be able to-"

"No," Nies shakes his head. "To purify his soul would erase who he is."

"Indeed," a voice echoes through the room. Nahor. "While he'd be reborn, it would not be as Gavin. To purify a soul is to kill the person they were. Doing it would kill Gavin, even though the soul would remain and continue on in the mortal realm.

"Yes," Nahor continues, and I realize that the other god's eyes have widened, and he has an almost reverent expression on his face. Just who and what is Nahor? "The soul that currently exists as Gavin would continue, and yes, the new person would be powerful – even if not on Gavin's level – but he'd not be Gavin. Gavin would be dead. There is only one case I know of, one situation I know of, where a soul has been purified and the memories were preserved. And it is not something that can be forced, and nor is it something that can be worked towards.

"However," he continues. "Even in that case, the person the soul had been known as before that purification was killed, a new person taking their place – even if with the same memories. Their personality shifted with the change, and they became a new being.

"So to purify Gavin's soul in order to remove the oath," Nahor says. "Would kill Gavin, and someone else would be born. Yes, we could accelerate the new souls' identity's growth to bring him to adulthood quickly, so that he may mate with a goddess, but then, he'd likely need do the deed several times in order to sire the Divine Being with one, as he wouldn't be as powerful as the soul's current identity of Gavin."

"Wh-wh-what's the other case?" Nies asks. "Maybe we could-"

"No," Nahor interrupts my patron, and I sense that he's shaking his head. "Again – it isn't something that you can simply work towards. It would also still kill Gavin, even if it could be. While he'd retain his memories, he'd become a different person, and his level of power would still change.

"Besides," Nahor adds. "Were he to undergo that type of soul alteration, then he'd have no need to regain Access. In the first place, a soul purification would remove the Taboo Title."

"But if we don't-"

"It can't be forced or worked towards," Nahor interrupts Nies. "Period, Sein. It's impossible. And no, Gavin is not doing that other option. Were he to try it, he would die, and move on from this plane into the afterlife."

Looks like everything is leading up to me dying in some way. I can't protect my people this weak, though. Especially not if a Dragon like that is on its way. What can I do?

Nies and the other god leave me to my thoughts, and Nahor doesn't seem interested in speaking more. I can sense him still around for awhile, though. I'm not really sure how much time passes before his presence fades from the room.

At some point, it shrank, becoming just a bedroom, though there are no doors or windows. After discovering this, I just lie down on the bed and sigh.

Some of what he said doesn't make sense. What's the difference between dying and dying through a soul purification? The former sounds like it's actual death, and sends us to the afterlife, and the latter sounds like we just forget who we are, become weaker, and are reborn.

But there's got to be more to it than that, right?

No one seems intent on letting me leave here, and my teleportation won't allow me to, either. I suppose I needed a boost from the System to be able to enter and exit the Divine Realms at will. Then again, I was only able to go into Nies's at will, because of our link.

Closing my eyes, I attempt to teleport into his Divine Realm, but nothing happens.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I slam my head back into the bed, which breaks from the sheer force. I suppose my patron didn't factor in how violent I can get when I'm angry, and I really need to relieve some stress.

I'd attack the walls, but there's a good chance that they're the limit of this Divine Realm – I'm sure Nies created it specifically for getting me to mate with six hundred goddesses.

Attempting to speak with my patron – or any of the other Divine Beings I know or know of – fails me, which means he's probably blocking me, too. He's probably crying into one of his tigers, because of what's happened to me.

A presence forms near me, and I sigh, sitting up and facing the Divine Being who's appeared. She looks to be around ten, like Nies and the other Original Divine Beings, but that doesn't mean too much.

She's got brown hair and leaf-green eyes, and is wearing a dress of autumn leaves, with thin, golden markings on the little skin of hers I can see.

"Hello, Gavin," she smiles at me.

"Go away."

"Nies and the others," she says. "Likely don't know of another way – or at least, didn't think of it."

"What other way?" I growl.

"It takes something quite massive," she says. "To earn a Taboo Title. Shredding a Divine Being's soul is one of them. It's never been done before, but you've managed it, even if he was a weaker one. Not only that, but you scattered the pieces across the universe, based only a theory of yours. Quite nasty thing you've done."

"Are you here to mock me?" I snarl.

"No," she says. "I'm here to tell you that it's possible – only just so – that there's another way to nullify your Taboo Title with a Sacred Title."

"Oh, really?" I scoff.

"Yes," she answers. "If shredding and scattering a Divine Soul can earn you one, then would it not stand to reason that collecting the pieces of a Divine Soul and allowing it to restore grant you a Sacred Title? His soul will, eventually, gather together on its own, but that could take thousands – even millions – of years."

That's… I didn't think of that possibility.

"But how long would that take?"

"That depends on you, Gavin," she answers. "You ripped his soul into four hundred, eighteen pieces and scattered them as you did. While some might collect together naturally before you reach them, the others… might not."

I groan as I remember that I'm trapped in this room, then fall back onto the bed.

"I can't leave this room."

"Do you want to give this a try?"

"I have to be back at my Order," I say. "I need to-to protect them."

"I'm aware," she says. "So I suppose that means you should move fast, doesn't it? Do you want to give this a try?"

I doubt she'll let me return to my Order, but even if she did, what could I do? I can't protect them fully, even if I'm far, far above them. I need the System's boosts to compete with Dragons. So many of my Skills work only because of the System.

Which means that I need to regain Access – and that's before factoring in that only through the System can I become powerful enough to kill that Dragon and survive.

"Yeah," I nod. "I do."

"Excellent," she smiles. "I'll go present the theory to Nies."

"I don't think he's in a mood to listen to anyone."

"He'll listen to me," she smiles. "Or at least, not throw me into oblivion, like he keeps doing to Divine Beings who approach him right now."

"Uh…"

"Don't worry," she says. "They'll find their way out eventually."

"Why won't he do it to you?"

"I'm his wife," she answers, then vanishes.

An agonizingly long wait later, Nies appears, back in his normal form, riding a tiger with two more flanking him.

"Alright," he says. "We're giving this a try. But you gotta hurry, okay? And by that, I mean 'take your time'. I've, uh… don't worry about your world until you've finished. None of that asshole's soul is there, anyway, so my-so you don't need to worry about it."

You've frozen Eisnar in time, haven't you?

"Also," he says. "You're shit at soul magic, so Imma dump you with someone who's a prodigy at it. He's captured a fragment of the asshole's soul, too, so it's not like it'll be useless for you to go there. Good luck!"

Before I can talk, I find myself in a different bedroom, this one sort of cramped. There is a desk wedged between the bookshelves that line the walls, and there are even shelves above the desk… and the bed. Much smaller than the massive ones I'm used to.

Sitting up on the bed, his eyes filled with both terror and awe, is a man around eighteen or nineteen, as well as really, really skinny. He has dark brown hair and leaf-green eyes, and is somewhat pale as well. Only the moonlight illuminates his room, though I'm sure it's enough to reveal my form.

What does he think of my wings?