IGIWS: FIRST DRAFT: Ch.318 Raise an Army.

High in the sky and sitting in the clouds was one of the new gods on Tertius, Paul, who was busy channeling Primordial Essence to the west for his brothers to use against the Dark Elves. Normally, some of their followers' prayers and tributes would allow the three to gather the essence, but since Michael and Joseph were in another goddess's territory, this slowed down the flow of their followers' Primordial Essence. So, to combat this issue, Paul would stay over the land to gather the needed essence for his brothers and send it their way once a battle was imminent. At this moment, Michael and Joseph were busy sending their divine energy and primordial essence into their human avatars, known as the Paladins. Paul was making sure his brothers were supplied with the power to kill the heretics and save the souls of the humans before they succumbed to the blades and magic of the Dark Elves, which turned those souls into more Primordial Essence.

'These elves have become too powerful and must be destroyed.' Paul thought to himself as he continued to channel the essence and primordial energy for his brothers to use.

'We can't have these elves become strong enough to take our followers from us. And I won't allow these creatures to become false deities! Creatures born from Deities of Chaos must be purged from this world! If only those old fools would understand and help us! Then we can save this world from the Ether and Mana!' Paul cursed in his mind as memories of talking to the founding Deities of Tertius flashed through his mind.

***

Back then, Paul and his twin brothers were second-generation deities from another world. All they knew from the start of their time in their first world was to liberate it from the deities of Chaos and Tempus, and then use their followers to bring about an era of purity. But the endless war brought destruction to the world, and their followers were dying in the hundreds of millions. And after thousands of years of fighting, the world was becoming uninhabitable. With the world's death, Paul, Joseph, and Michael left with whatever Primordial Essence they could gather from their followers and escaped the dying world. It was hard to tell where another habitable world would be due to the growing strength of the Void, which swallowed up many of their fellow deities as they battled the endless attack of dark matter. But somehow, Paul and his brothers managed to evade the void and ended up in a new world, Tertius.

At one point, they thought they would have to begin the creation of a new planet, but they used too much of their Primordial Essence during the war against the chaos deities, and they would have been valuable to other deities if they used up whatever essence they had left. So, the trio agreed to find a world already created by founding gods with a sentient race, take over the minds of some humans, and try to gain new followers. It was a long shot, but one day, as they continued to fight off the dark tendrils of the void, their prayers were answered when they came by the planet of Tertius. They would have preferred it if the planet was only sentient race as humans, but they only had enough Primordial Essence to continue to fight off the void for another thousand years at best. So, sharing a planet with other races from the Deities of Virtue was the best they could hope for.

When surveying the planet, fate smiled upon them again when they found a Deity of Tempus, Fjorik, with human followers that weren't entirely devoted to him. Paul and his brothers were lucky because they had enough Primordial Essence left and the fact that this deity was already losing his following. That was because this deity's chosen followers were in a constant battle between the Orc tribes to the south and the monsters in the west. Made it easier for them to find the perfect vessel to begin spreading their worship within the Kingdom of Chalced. The Three Gods gave the Prophet to do minor miracles of healing to those who converted and prayed to them.

Before long, the Prophet began to gather a fervent following, attracting disciples who would become the inaugural paladins of the Divine Three. With their unwavering dedication and newfound strength, these devoted warriors rallied behind the Prophet, leading to a swift and decisive overthrow of the Chalced Monarchy. In this turbulent upheaval, the former deity Fjorik found himself powerless to intervene. As the echoes of revolt resonated throughout the land, the Divine Three solidified their presence in the realm of Tertius. Their influence quickly spread, transforming the neighboring kingdoms into an unbreakable Holy Alliance, united under their sacred banner.

Fjorik's pride towered over him like an impenetrable fortress, preventing him from reaching out to Iyomelka or the other ancient deities who had coexisted harmoniously for centuries. The chilling memory of a past conflict lingered in his mind; it was during the tumultuous second holy war between the chaos and virtue deities in the early millennia when deities from a rival pantheon had been whipped out when they tried to rid Tertius of this mysterious energy that came from asteroids that crushed into their world. That dark era had given birth to the complex tapestry of ether and mana that now flowed through the world of Tertius, turning some of their creations into monsters while also giving birth to Mana Veins that gave some of their followers the ability to wield powers similar to the Gods. During those times, he followed in his friend’s footsteps and tried not to interfere in his worshiper's conflicts. But when Iyomelka and his followers joined the demons in the war against the Angels and Humans of Neso Continent, he was mortified. His follow Tempus Deity, Iyomelka, wasn't happy that her followers joined the demons, but she didn't see it as her place to tell them how to deal with the invaders. Fjorik, on the other hand, tried to convince them to stay out of the war, but it led to his followers suffering the most out of all the human kingdoms on the Agon continent when the war was over, and the demons were driven back to the Faeo continent.

Many of the ancient human kingdoms fell during that time, and only one royal family survived the war, Prince Zendris Meredydd. The first human-demon hybrid on Tertius. His father somehow got a High Succubus pregnant, and the Demoness gave birth to Zendris. The Demoness raised the boy until he was 14. Zendris was very different from a typical human. He had the strength and speed of a demon, as well as the ability to use charm to lower his enemies' guard with his golden eyes. With no other royal left on the Agon continent, he was able to assemble a few noble families into the Fiafyr Kingdom, leaving the rest of the human lands to devolve into city-states until new noble families rose to prominence and slowly became new royals over millennia until they became the nations that are today.

So Fjorik tried to deal with these Three Virtue Deities by himself and after a few centuries of solitude and strife, Fjorik found himself increasingly isolated, his divine essence waning as he lost a multitude of devoted followers to the triumvirate of Paul, Michael, and Joseph, who had united to exile him from this realm he once called home.The few places in the Agon continent still had the old remnants of Fjorik's old idols, but the white luster was gone, and there were few that still tried to pray to the old God, but his presence was gone, and the clerics and priests could hear no whispers of his guidance.

With the God Fjorik out of the way, the Divine Three turned to influence Iyomelka's worshippers, but convincing them was harder due to it being run by a Matriarchy. There were clerics who were men within the Temple of Balance, but the High Priestesses were the ones who ran the Temple within the few kingdoms North of the Holy Alliance. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem as the Divine Three would have sent their Paladins to rid these women of their power, but coming to Tertius brought up an issue that the deities were unfamiliar with. And that was dealing with this strange phenomenon known as Mana.

What was so troubling for the three gods was the fact that they couldn't influence the flow of mana, and if a mortal was born with a Mana Vein that could absorb more Mana than the others, they could become Demi-God without their blessing. What made matters worse was the fact that they couldn't detect those people either, until the moment they started slaying monsters, which were abominations of the deities' own creations. This was troubling to the gods because these demi-god mortals could fight back against their Paladins, and they needed to use more of their Primordial Essence to keep them alive during the early days of creating the Alliance. The issue was that the two bordering kingdoms to the north, called Kartoll and Fiafyr, had too many of these Maja Warriors, and worse, these beings were called Mages, who could control the elements themselves.

One of the Kingdoms was small, but their Queen was a powerful sorcerous that easily pushed back their Avatars as if they were insects normally, Paul and his brothers would create an army of Paladins to outnumber such a being, but their followers could only regenerate so much of the Primordial Essence for them to use and they were limited on how many Paladins they could create. And when they selected a human to become a Paladin, they needed to have the weakest level Mana Vein possible so they couldn't become stronger without their blessing as they feared that one of their avatars would demand to become a god themselves, which could lead to the three of them being killed and replaced by another deity. And this was what their fear was.

So, they were in a stalemate of sorts when they couldn't invade Kartoll. Fiafyr had a surprisingly strong relationship with their Goddess, who wasn't happy about them coming to Tertius. The Divine Three tried a different strategy to spread their influence. They first reached out to the other Deities of Virtue that had followers on all the other continents and tried to rally them to their cause to rid this world of these neutral and chaotic Deities while also finding a way to destroy this mana and ether that was creating monsters and demi-gods.

Most of the virtuous old gods of Tertius empathized with the Three at first, but once they realized what Continent their followers were trying to cleanse was Agon, they quickly began to laugh at them. Things didn't get better for the Divine Three when they found out about these Deities' chosen method of creating their Avatars or, should they say, their "Chosen Ones." Instead of the normal proper method of creating a being who could contain the blessing of the Deity, they used their power to summon a soul of a fallen mortal into their world from another world to become their champion. The reason why they use this method is to create a mortal that can absorb Mana at a much higher rate than a naturally born mortal could, and these souls also have a very high chance of getting passive abilities that can enhance their physical attributes, which is also something that would never be given to a naturally born mortal. The only two downsides to this were One, they could only create one champion until they pass away, and Two, they could only summon a soul of a fallen when a universal equinox occurs, which opens a hole into the void and lets them pick from a large pool of souls from a different world.

Paul couldn't believe that these Gods of Virtue were fine with letting their chosen ones become powered by mana instead of their Primordial Essence. These mortals were unbeholden to the very gods that created them if they could wield the powers of the gods by their own will, and that was unacceptable in Paul's eyes. They demanded to know which deity came up with such an unholy practice.

Lynnic, The High Elf God of Rule, was all too happy to put these human gods from another world in their place and dropped the bombshell that made the Divine Three question if the Deities of Tertius were the real gods of virtue.

***

(200 years ago in the Floating Island of the Divine.)

Paul, Michael, and Joseph were staring down Lynnic and his twin sister, Alicia. There were ten other Deities surrounding the three newcomers who reminded them of their fallen comrades of the past.

"How can you all be so blind to the threat that this mana could bring?" Paul questioned the other Deities.

"No! It is you who doesn't understand the situation, deities of a manaless world... These champions are the only thing keeping Baphomet and his ilk from wiping out the rest of our creations from Tertius," Lynnic spoke up, looking down at these three arrogant Deities.

"Letting Mortals achieve godhood is dangerous. Who was it that created the Champions?!" Michael demanded, his anger rising.

The Old gods glared at the Arrogant Three. They reminded them of the old deities that had the same rigid principles about their creation, developing Mana Veins. They wished to rid Tertius of this mysterious force, but it turned into their undoing.

"Why, it was the Demonic God of War, Baphomet, who successfully discovered the ritual that allowed us to summon our chosen ones into our realms," Alicia informed the newcomers.

"Baphomet..." Joseph muttered in shock. "You are using a ritual from a Deity of Chaos!"

The older gods chuckled at the Arrogant Three's ignorance.

Lynnic had a smug look written all over his face. "Really, now... Where do these human gods get these ideas on lecturing us when using the ways of old has stalled their efforts to stop one Elemental Witch on Agon... How pathetic," he mocked the three gods.

Paul, Michael, and Joseph were seething at being insulted by a deity of the High Elves.

"You dare insult us? You will regret those words, High Elf," Joseph threatened Lynnic.

Another old God of a human race spoke up; his name was Oshun, the god of the humans of the North Eastern Continent, Neso.

"Tell us... How many avatars do you have on Tertius?" Oshun asked.

"We have 25 paladins and a Prophet," Paul answered proudly.

"And your avatars can't handle one mortal with a Demi-God Level Mana Vein?... How would they last against a summoned? I bet they would die within moments of facing a Champion," Oshun scoffed, shaking his head.

"We can heal them to full health with our divinity. It doesn't matter what injuries our avatar gets, they will live," Paul stated confidently.

"No... You will run out of Primordial Essence, and then you'll be thrown into the void," a god of the dwarves chimed in; his name was Bael.

"Listen to yourselves! You are tampering with a force that shouldn't exist for mortals! What if they find out that they don't need us? Or worse, what if they learn to create their own Avatars from this mana and surpass godhood?" Paul roared. "We need to join forces and rid this planet of these mortal abominations!"

The founding gods had enough of the Arrogant Three and wanted them gone.

"The Fates must have smiled upon you three to make it this far... But if you think you are more virtuous than us... Then you will perish just like our founding brothers and sisters of the past..." Oshun threatened.

"Don't waste your breath with these three, Oshun. If they are dumb enough to settle in Agon, then they won't last long once SHE summons her champion," Lynnic said.

"What do you mean? Who are you talking about?" Joseph demanded.

"You will learn soon enough... Your arrogance has blinded you to the true threat to all the deities here," Lynnic smirked.

"We will see about that, High Elf," Joseph sneered.

"Oh, I can't wait to see what Iyomelka does. I may despise her, but I'm not a fool to confront her without a plan. Which is something you three severely lack," Lynnic replied with a cold, condescending glare.

"We aren't afraid of a cowardly deity that is neither chaos nor virtuous!" Michael yelled.

The gods laughed out loud again as not even the Deities of Chaos dare to anger Iyomelka. She is the one Goddess on this planet who only uses her Primordial Essence when needed and she by far has the most. She could easily summon a champion and send you into the void with her overwhelming power and you will be nothing more than a footnote in her story.

Lynnic didn't bother speaking to the Divine Three and used his power to send the Three flying out the floating island. And ever since then, Paul, Michael, and Joseph decided that they are the true gods of virtue, and they have vowed to cleanse the world of its evil.

***

(Back to present day.)

Paul was finishing up sending Essence to his brother as they whatever battle ended.

'Haah... So these Elves refuse to die... This is taking to long. We can't have two Chaos Goddesses lurking about when we begin to convert Iyomelka's followers to our—'

Paul's train of thought was interrupted by his avatar, the Prophet.

'What now?! I thought I told that mortal to keep quiet until we are finished! This better be important!' Paul was annoyed.

"O' holy Three. Hear our prayers. We beseech you. Please grant us your holy protection. Help us, O' Divine Ones, and give us your grace. Amen," the Prophet prayed.

Paul sighed and got into character, "Your prayer has been heard, my child. Tell me what it is you desire?"

"The plan you wished for us to follow is being obstructed by a foul Dark Elf. Her presence is disrupting our plans, and her power is growing too fast. She has tricked their faith into praying to her Evil Goddesses and has the Crown Prince wrapped around her fingers. What should we do, Holy One?"

Paul frowned, 'What does mean? That red headed girl should have hypnotized the horny mortal into leaving that foul creature weeks ago!' the god thought as he turned his gaze northward.

He didn't dare fly into Iyomelka's territory anymore after he threaten her to join him and his brothers to deal with these non-human abominations within Agon, such as the Dwarves, Elves, and Beastkins. But he found out the hard way about how powerful she was when she sent him flying into the void where he had to battle his way back to Tertius. Since then, he's kept his distance until the Dark Elves are no more and then they can kill off Nils and Nebulus. By that time the Crown Prince should have impregnated her and then they could try to influence the child to rid the Temple of Balance from Fiafyr, weakening Iyomelka.

Once Paul looked into Iyomelka's lands the first thing that thought was odd was how much essence he needed to use to see though the walls of the buildings.

'Huh? Did that pathetic excuse of a Goddess finally decided to use her essence to hinder me? HA! It will take more than that to stop—WHAT!?' Paul eyes widened in disbelief when his godly eyes finally pierced the barrier, and saw into the Temples. Iyomelka's Idols had her sitting over the two Dark Elven Goddesses who were on the knees and the humans of Fiafyr were worshipping the three!

'No! No, this cannot be! Don't they know that they are being fooled! Why would Iyomelka help Deities of Chaos!?'

Paul was furious that a Deity of Tempus would share their glory with beings from the Chaos realm. This was sacrilege.

The God then looked at the Maldura Royal Palace. He needed to really strain his eyes and use up a large amount of Essence, but he was able to see through Iyomelka's barrier. But what he saw made his mouth gape in shock. There was the Crown Prince sharing the same bed with that dark elf and he was riding her like it was no tomorrow and the female dark elf was loving it. It was then that he noticed something else about this female, deep inside of her was a second heartbeat. When Paul focused on her abdomen he spotted the thing he never thought he would see. A pregnant dark elf.

"How is that possible? Those beasts shouldn't be able to conceive and even if they could it would never happen with a human!" Paul shouted and then his eyes went wide. "The humans aren't being deceive—"

It was then that Iyomelka appeared in his vision and before he could do anything his eyes caught on fire.

"BY THE VOID! THAT FOUL WITCH OF A DEITY ATTACKED ME!" Paul shouted as he looked away and used his divine powers to put out the flames and then healed his eyes. It took a minute for him to get his vision back.

'O' holy Three, can you hear me? I thought I heard you scream?' the prophet asked his gods in his mind.

'No... I didn't know that False Goddess has decided to deceive us by joining Evil. She must be stopped to save our brethren in the north! Gather an army and march them North! The ways of peacefully converting these heathens is over! They will not see reason or our ways, so we must bring the might of our Holy Armies and cleanse this world from the corruption of the Deities of Chaos! And we will start by purging their corrupt nobles and the Dark Elf. For it is the only way to being peace to the continent.' Paul ordered his faithful.

'We will bring the full might of our armies and crush the heathens! We will begin with a purge of the heathen nobles, starting with the Prince and his Dark Elf whore! We will burn the corruption from this land and we will save the people!' Prophet Paul agreed with his Lord.

'Good. And you and the Paladins will be given my full blessings. The paladins will have a surge of power from their talismans, and the people will be able to see them as the heroes they are. While you will be able to use my powers to purge everything in your sight. You will be rewarded greatly after the war is over.' Paul stated.

'Yes, my lord. We shall purge the corruption and save our brethren in the north. We will not fail you, O' Holy Three. By your Grace, I will succeed. Thank you for your mercy.' Paul said and bowed his head.

'Good. Now go, my prophet. And do not fail.' Paul ordered and then his vision returned to the mortal world.

***

Prophet Paul's eyes and hair stopped glowing. The principality all lifted their heads and looked at their prophet with awe and reverence as he turned to them.

"The false Goddess have deceived her flock. They have joined forces with the Dark Elf. This cannot stand. We must destroy the corrupted Prince and the Dark Elf, and then we will bring the might of the Divine Three to cleanse the continent. For it is the only way to restore peace." Prophet Paul spoke and the Sons of the Holy Order were filled with righteous fury.

"How long will it take to raise are entire army and bring them to the border of Fiafyr, my children?"

"It will take approximately two months, your Eminence." High King Rolmund Aguilar stated and Paul nodded.

"That's too slow... We need to be ready no later than a month. The sooner we can bring the heathens to the light, the better. But the Dark Elf must be purged from the world. For she is the embodiment of the evil that will lead humanity into ruin." Paul declared and the room erupted in agreement.

"It shall be done, Your Holiness." Prince Dreyand stated and he and the other members stood up.

"Now go, Children of the Three. Go forth and bring the might of the Holy Alliance to the heathens. And let no one stand in our way." The Prophet said one last time as the members bowed to him and left the room.

Prince Dreyand was the first to leave, followed by the High King and the rest of the royalty. They all left the room and headed towards the front gate of the Temple. They needed to go to their lands and gather every able body man to bring them to the war.

The Principality and the Kingdoms of the Holy Alliance would all send their troops even if it left their borders to the South open to Orc attacks. They would need to gather a massive army if they were going to stop the heathen Kingdom of Fiafyr's forces.

Paul stood in the Principality's Temple alone as his waited to hear anymore guidance from the Three while their armies were mobilized.