Chapter 91: Psychological Warfare

Rachel hummed, her provocative tone drawing his attention away from the frightened tulpa. "You know what bewilders me about you?"

Dionysus waved his hands to the crowd, an image of her appearing for all to see across the stadium. "By all means, enlighten the audience to my mystery!"

A vicious gleam lifted her illuminated eyes, with misfortune circling them. "Why would such a powerful ’lesser god’ be so terrified of a little tulpa or need the help of the Personification of Victory herself to feed his confidence? Are, heh...you trying to compensate for something by stripping naked, tying up, and impaling so many women? Hmm. Did Big Sis Athena do something to you? What does the crowd think?"

The man’s lips fell as laughter came from the throng, and even Conner couldn’t help a smile from across the stadium. "I’d watch your tongue if I were you," he snarled.

Rachel pushed herself away from the wall to stand up and face the 5th-dimensional god. "Make me." His fingers tightened against the railing, causing fissures to run down its length. "Hmm? I’m waiting."

Eostre’s feverish eyes snapped to Dionysus as he slowly rose to his feet and walked around her to place a hand on the tulpa’s shoulder, making her flinch. "The hubris. I could squeeze the juice out of her like a grape... Is that what you want?"

Ignoring the taunt, Rachel tilted her head to the side and grinned at the crowd. "A classic redirect? Oh-ho. I see! Heh. Don’t tell me...you can’t?!"

Mumbles and obscure sounds from unearthly entities rumbled across the levels as pressure cracked the stone underneath his feet for wine to bubble up. Eostre winced at the force he placed on her collarbone. Yet, Rachel felt none of it, confirming her suspicion.

"And now," she laughed, "you’re threatening me, a mortal, by...what—killing someone I hardly know and who’s, again, weaker than you? Wow. Someone is insecure. I can’t imagine your sister being so intimidated by someone so much weaker than her."

His fingers moved to Eostre’s throat. The woman’s eyes begged her to stop as a stillness came over the stadium; a mortal was challenging a god, and there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop her. To put the nail in the coffin, Rachel took his own proud declaration and flipped it on its head.

"I didn’t realize the ’Age of the Lesser Gods’ would be so sad. It’s really quite pathetic. Who would want to join such a volatile, insecure manchild of a god? Not me."

Locking eyes with him, after a few more seconds, a grin spread across his face, and he clapped both of Eostre’s shoulders with a roar of laughter, making the trembling tulpa jerk and close her eyes. Dionysus simply walked back to study Rachel like a fascinating specimen, ignoring the autumn-haired woman.

"You...are a worthy candidate for the crucible. Haha! You’ve passed my test." He clapped, shaking his head as many others around the stadium mirrored him. "Excellent performance, my darling animal!" He dismissively waved his hand, loosening Eostre’s bonds and allowing the box to restore itself. "We move to the next act!"

He gestured to a string of displays that showed what Rachel presumed were the ruins of a failing world. "In the Greater Seed that a legendkin or mythickin carries, there is a depth I cannot even fathom. Yet these Lesser Seeds, which form the basis of even more twisted humans, are mixed among the malnourished mythical and legendary Seeds. Which is truly greater? It strives to show the dichotomy between the gifts; will one overpower and consume the other, just like Kronos consumed his kin!?

"It stimulates the mind! These aren’t universes but dreams and figments of them—perhaps creation deities reject children, for all I am aware. Haha! Could you imagine? Yet, I can feel these broken universes seeking to be made whole... Who could have fashioned these Seeds? Certainly not Hephaestus, since even the weakest of these legendkin Seeds can bring mortals the state of godhood—beyond it! So many, many things to consider!" Dionysus roared to the crowd’s cheers as he continued to elevate his grandeur.

"And the hated Crystals that force conflict between deities and mortals alike. Scourges from the fringes of the Multiverse! An evil that stands in shade, yet opens the doors to so much lovely dissonance. So many questions! So few answers...which is why all of you have come to me; my champion has opened himself up to me in order to bring you these truths!"

Eostre didn’t look like she could stand any time soon. In fact, Rachel was sure if she could, she would have pissed herself or died from a heart attack from the murderous vibes alone that the chaotic lesser god had radiated; the wilting flowers in her hair and through the nature-based dress were significant enough to illustrate her terror.

"Are you done?" Rachel asked condescendingly, all while pondering the revelations.

Floating in the middle of the coliseum, the man motioned to a host of holographic screens that appeared above him. "Ah, but there’s even more you are missing! The rules, you silly hare; a child can understand them!"

Everything that Dionysus’ showy presentation illustrated, her own experience inside Anthony’s quest, mixed with Zoe’s insight into the System, all clicked together as the man raised his hands to show a lanky, skeletal-faced personage, more of a monster than man.

"You believe me to be compensating, Ms. Hare? Haha! Allow me to introduce...the former Arbiter of this fragmented world."

The alien entity’s black, oily skin steamed, reshaping it into a grotesque horror with leather-like tendrils flowing out of hollow cuts in its body. Full moons lit in its hollow sockets, and the world went from day to night.

Crimson steam blew out of its eaten-away nose, its ears thinning and growing. It opened its bony mouth and let out a low, guttural hiss that permeated the still air. "Usurper... A warning. Nightmares unending are nigh should you fail to perform what The Balance requires."

///SMENote///

How about a Power Stone Goal?

Every 200 Power Stones this week = +1 Extra Chapter

We could have the normal 2 Daily Chapters... Or +2 Extra Chapters Every Day. The power is in your hands! Or should I say Stones?