Oda was waiting for them.

He sensed them gathering and had been expecting this.

It was several days ago that he realised what was happening. They had moved against him better than he expected. They had obfuscated their moves exceptionally well within their realm, which was an impressive feat in itself.

He feared this was part of his opponent's design to bring corruption to the world. The timing was too suspicious, and their actions were too coordinated. He sat at his desk, looking at the entrance to his office, where the other gods would appear. Outside the window, the view of the divine realm was silent, as if everyone were holding their breath. Tension was thick in the air, like static electricity building before a storm.

He was prepared to face them. He wanted to avoid this clash but knew he would have to deal with it quickly. He did the equivalent of a divine being rolling his shoulders. Even gods could feel stress.

He felt off, but he couldn't focus on that right now.

Part of his mind told him he had been feeling for a long time, but he had ignored it because of the importance of all the crises he was dealing with.

He ignored that part of his mind again. This unsettled him even more in some ways. A pressure was building in his mind.

He had to focus and stay on the task at hand. The future of the world depended on it.

He had to find the traitor and solve the problem of the void corruption affecting the world. As soon as he had headed off this little crisis, he would start to look to replicating the core he had created. He had to accelerate the timetable.

The core proved problematic, but he was confident that the others he would create would not be as independently spirited. He would choose those souls who knew less about living as a dungeon core. This would help in controlling them.

He never took his eyes off the doorway.

They were coming.

Nictor and Xandus expected Hackyon to be slightly surprised, as she was a neutral goddess.

So, it began.

He rose and began speaking. "Fellow members of the divine…"

"No, Oda!" Nictor cut him off, which made him frown. "We are here to ask you to step aside and allow us to reveal the reason for your actions."

The god was customarily reserved, and this outburst was strange. Oda controlled his expression, but the pressure in his head was building. He opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off once more.

"No words, Oda! What you were planning with the dungeon cores is too dangerous. We cannot allow it to continue. The threat of the one already in place is enough." Nictor continued.

What danger? Oda was momentarily thrown off guard. The pressure was still building like a heartbeat in his head, causing his temper to flare. How dare they challenge him so!

"What danger, Nictor? What I have created will protect the world." His voice was no longer calm. The insolence!

"Or destroy it!" Nictor snarled back. "What were you thinking?"

The other two were holding back to see what would happen. Oda was getting angrier, and the pressure was becoming distracting. He was being attacked for trying to save the world.

"The cores, if broken, become new void breaches! I am amazed that the only one created has been able to survive against the corrupted attacking it." Nictor was furious and no longer trying to hide it.

His words hammered into Oda. What was he saying? The core would not become a new void breach if shattered... or would it?

The pressure in his head was thunderous now, driving his anger and causing him pain.

No! His plan was sound; it would work.

Was it wrong? Had he endangered the world and its linked planes?

No! Follow the plan!

What if I am wrong?

No! I shall see this through!

It felt like a dam had broken in his mind.

The pain became all-consuming, drowning out everything else.

## ## ## ## ##

Oda was quiet, and his face was distorted with confusion.

Something was happening. Nictor had chosen to lead the attack on Oda. The reversed god hoped this would distract him enough to reveal something. The other two were ready to step in to aid him if things went bad. Beyond, six more members of the pantheon were gathered to support them.

They were not taking any chances.

The revelations of the danger the core represented if broken have shocked everyone. Oda was known for his calm demeanour and mesh to post all problems, so the creation of something so blatantly dangerous was something that they never expected. The evidence was damning as soon as they investigated further, which meant that he knew what he was doing. Something else was influencing him.

The heads of the two courts had walked amongst the other members of the pantheon and elicited allies from within and without. They slowly revealed to the others what they had discovered, and with that, they formed a faction capable of overthrowing Oda if needed.

Typically, they would have faced more significant opposition, but his words and actions over the last few years had turned many against him. They had begun to doubt his leadership and his plans.

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It did not take long for them to be convinced enough to stand with them. Now that they were ready, they moved against him.

As the three pantheon members stood before its head, they saw for the first time that their worst fears were not even close to the truth. Something was terribly wrong with him.

But what was it?

He got up and started pacing around, muttering to himself and seeming to be debating their words. Part of him stood firm in his choices, while the other part questioned everything he had done.

The three divine beings pulled back, giving him space and looking at him with confusion and fear.

This was not what they expected.

They looked at each other, trying to understand what was happening, but whatever had started was now spiralling faster and faster. Around them, the divine realm, represented by the Mantal of Oda, the god of balance, began to twist and distort.

Confusion and fear turned to alarm.

Outside, the other gods gathered and began to react as well. They, too, felt the change and asked for instruction.

"Hold all the others back for now," Nictor said to Hackyon.

"What is happening?" Hackyon asked, the fear evident in her voice as she sent the message.

Nictor looked at Xandus without answering. She had said nothing during the entire encounter, even as she gazed at the other god with her glowing eyes. She was using her abilities to try to map out what was going to happen. Her look of fear, stress, and concentration did not inspire confidence in him.

He turned back to Oda, whose mutterings had increased in volume and had become almost a rant.

His whole divine aspect was now in chaos. All semblance of balance was gone as two aspects of him were now openly at odds. He was undergoing some form of change, and for the first time in countless millennia, Nictor was at a loss.

"Nictor, he…" Xandus screamed but could not finish what she was about to warn him of.

Oda stopped placing and then….. Flickered.

It was in that flicker that the god of death, darkness, and endings witnessed his own.

Oda was fully revealed at that moment. In a way that most gods and goddesses never were, all would want to be. What he saw there horrified him.

Void Corruption.

Oda, God of balance and the guardian of time, was void corrupted. And the corruption was now dominant.

The corrupted Oda turned his attention to them, his face twisted with dark purpose. His laughter heralding the end of times.

"Hackyon, summon them now!" Nictor yelled as he attacked. He had only a brief opportunity to move against the other god.

The divine realm erupted into war.

## ## ## ## ##

The effects were felt across all planes and realms almost simultaneously.

What happened put Adrill's Folly to shame.

It started with the priests, clerics and paladins of Oda screaming as their connection to their god was broken, or the void took most of them.

Madness followed.

Everywhere Oda had a temple, blood flowed. Many were changed as the void corruption warped their bodies, driving them into insane killing rampages.

The others were affected differently. All lost their divine powers, crippling them, but some stood and fought against the madness, defending who they could.

In the Minoar lands at the great Temple of Balance, the last uncorrupted paladin fought a desperate last stand against his former brothers as they sought to slaughter the supplicants.

In the old human imperial capital, the godless priests died, preventing the corrupted from leaving the temple and entering the city as the innocent fled. They had no weapons and fought with whatever they had at hand. The former high priest was using a large candlestick as a mace, holding back his corrupted priests as the young trainee priests were fleeing.

Far away in the Holy City, where the most prominent temple to Oda was found, fire and blood were spreading. The last uncorrupted were fighting using sacred items as weapons.

Examples of desperate bravery. Few in number, desperate sparks of resistance across all races and lands. They could not hold it back, but they raged as the dark came for them.

They were being overwhelmed, fighting and dying to stop the madness, buying time with their lives.

Then, it spread beyond.

The other churches and temples were on alert, but they were still caught unprepared. The monarchs, nobles, and other powers had no warning.

Madness and slaughter descended on them.

In its wake, void corruption spread like never before.

## ## ## ## ##

Ranus heard the muffled explosion through his open window.

He looked up from the report he was reading, a confused expression on his face.

"What was that?" He asked himself. Then he heard the distant screaming.

Within seconds, he was on his feet and at the window. Smoke was coming from the temple district. The door to the meeting room was thrown open, causing him to turn, ready for danger. The two guards assigned to protect the building ran in.

"M'lord, something is happening…" The first started but was cut off by a louder and bigger blast in the distance.

"I can see. Naru, get my armour!" Ranus walked purposefully through the room, pulling his sword from its wall mount.

The screaming was growing louder as well. As well as the sound of battle.

## ## ## ## ##

Gran was with his team at the Temple of Ilinia to collect Mags.

They had been in the dungeon a few times but had accepted a job that would take them north for a few weeks.

They were prepared to leave the city but were still waiting for Mags. Outside the building, they met a few other adventurers, and a few conversations took place.

Then the screaming started, and the first explosion was heard further in the district.

His team and the others were suddenly on alert.

"We defend here," Gran ordered. He knew the importance of this building and needed more information. Several of the others rushed off to see what was happening, but Gran knew the importance of waiting.

## ## ## ## ##

Thrum and his team were in the market arranging supplies for their next trip into the dungeon.

They were close to the temple district, and many priests and acolytes were going about their business.

The screaming started, and panic spread.

Soon, they were fighting for their lives as the twisted appeared. They fought to save who they could

## ## ## ## ##

Minvar and her team were leaving their people's trade mission when the first explosion echoed.

They never hesitated and ran towards the screaming.

## ## ## ## ##

The Adventurer's Guild was in Chaos.

It had been packed with adventurers, as always. Some were looking for work. Others seek to be added to the list to enter the dungeon. The rest just hung out, talking and bragging.

When some suddenly screamed and changed.

The building became a brutal battle for survival. The Guild leaders in the city leapt into action. Albrot stormed down corridors, fighting the corrupted as he found them. Elian rallied the fighters in the main room and began organising the combatants.

Averance walked like death through the twisted slaying all around her.

As she fought, emergency messages began arriving like a relentless rainstorm. So many were coming that the air above her was simmering with different colours as the spells clashed with each other. It was not just happening here but everywhere, it seemed. She made a choice. She pulled a message crystal from a pocket and activated it.

"High Guild Master Averance speaking. I am activating war protocols for the Adventurers Guild on Kyber. The twisted are emerging in all locations. All adventurers are called to action."

Her words were transmitted to all guild buildings on Kyber. The adventurers not already in combat were mobilising. The High Guild Masters of the other lands sent similar orders shortly after. The other Guilds were soon following suit.

Monarchs, nobles, and lords also raised their standards.

The world was rising to the fight. But not fast enough.

## ## ## ## ##

Oda's temples were located in nearly every population centre.

The death total was escalating.

The twisted had broken out of them. Fighting broke out in the streets, shops, and homes. There were no places of safety.

You had to stand or run.

Both were dangerous.

At first, most ran, but now more were standing. The twisted were still changing, and the corruption was spreading. At least they were facing a slowly organising resistance.

Across the world, magic began to flare more and more as teleportation magic was used to send the strongest available to where they were needed. It was costly, but those sent were desperately required.

The followers of the gods suffered first, but they were the first to draw the line.

The churches and temples mobilised in a way never seen before. Every priest, cleric and paladin was called on.

They all sensed the same thing: the divine gods were locked in battle, a terrible sight.

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