Archive Of Potentialities.

Short story: Of Slime and Blood -- 6

As was the general understanding of most sentient beings within this universe, the gods were the custodians of their Homeworld and incessantly competed with each other for influence and believers.

But divine conflicts weren't limited to the acquisition of faithful believers, sometimes they took the form of more primitive - and effective - altercations.

The epoch of the Trialist Empire of Rhine has seen no occurrence of such a battle, much to the relief of everyone on the face of the planet.

But that was in danger of changing, or so the gods perceived the current situation.

In an amusing twist of events, the potential battle wouldn't be between gods of opposing sides of a single concept, nor would it occur between gods who coveted the undisputed faith of a single outstanding mortal.

This time, there were outsiders.

Their arrival had been unanticipated and unwelcome, they had appeared on the gods’ planet from nowhere they could perceive - a problem that reminded said ‘gods’ of their painfully limited cosmic awareness.

To add insult to injury, upon the intruders' arrival onto the planet, they had the nerve to threaten those who managed it.

This could not be left unanswered.

So they took action.

With the Sun god taking the initiative, a war was brewing.

But first, a confirmation.

They had decided to send a single clergy to ascertain just how dangerous these intruders were. Not in terms of combat power, but of ideologies and goals.

What were they trying to achieve?

What thoughts would their presence spread?

And unknown to these gods, their worst fears were being realized right at the very moment, under the witness of the despised Magia of the College of Magic.

A major paradigm shift was at hand.

.
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Martin Werner von Estreich never sank his fangs into College politics.

The Cadre wars, which had caused so much chaos within the Empire, had been on a low burn for about two centuries, and any careless involvement in his part might bring them back in full force.

He knew that, so he joined a fairly obscure school of thought within the College.

The school of Midheaven.

This way, his presence would barely touch the delicate power balance that had kept Krahenschanze from bursting into another long period of pure chaos.

But now, with the appearance of Rimuru Tempest and Luminous Valentine, and their subsequent identification with the Leizniz cadre - which was getting too powerful without any interference - that power balance was all but gone. It was only a matter of time before the Emperor had to turn his full attention to the madlads of the College once again.

And for the first time, Martin didn't shrink at the possibility.

He could sense it, a time of rapid development and advancement. It was right around the corner.

If he could get his hands on those two, he would spearhead this unavoidable progression.

But they had registered with the Leizniz cadre, and Martin himself had no cadre he commanded.

If it was a smaller cadre, usurping the chain of command would have been as easy as wiping out a city, but this was Magdalena von Leizniz.

A human so stubborn and willful that even death couldn't keep her away from reaching the peak of the College's hierarchy.