Cardinal Dominic stood on front of the Emperor in his private chambers. 'This synod MUST be cancelled.' He said.

Jircniv's eyes narrowed, he was not used to being given orders by anyone but Ainz, and he found that he did not like it one bit. 'Must is a word not used with Emperors.' He said sharply.

'It is now.' Dominic replied.

'Even if I wanted to, and I don't, it is a temple affair, talk to them.' Jircniv said as he rested his head on a closed fist.

Dominic's gaze turned dark and brooding. 'I tried. But they're stubborn.'

'Because they saw what you didn't.' Emperor Jircniv said flatly.

'We all know of the massacre on the Katze Plains.' Dominic said sharply.

'That isn't what I mean. Its far worse for your argument than you can even begin to realize.' Jircniv said.

'What do you mean?' Dominic asked in a grave voice, the color already draining away from his face.

'I took the temple leaders of the empire with me in to the Sorcerer King's home.' He said.

'And he tortured them? He broke their will?' Dominic said expectantly.

'Worse.' Jircniv said. 'He convinced them, he won them over, he showed them not just his power to end life, but to save it, to build up great things, he demonstrated the ability to give humanity the golden age of existence that you in the Slane Theocracy have only been able to promise for the last few hundred years. He's able to do what you can't, and he doesn't require that countless people suffer along the way to get it.'

Dominic's pale expression didn't fade away.

'Tell me Dominic, do you think I am an incompetent, cowardly fool?' Jircniv asked.

Dominic sighed with exhasperation. 'In all honesty, no. I don't.'

'Am I the sort to throw away my people like trash?' Jircniv asked further.

'No.' Dominic said flatly, not liking the direction of this conversation.

'Then trust me when I say that I did not make the decision to become a vassal lightly. True I was politically outmanuevered, it left me no options at the time, and I did seek a way out after the fact...but the truth is, the Empire is better off than it has ever been, if he wanted us dead, he could do it, he hasn't killed anyone that wasn't directly in his way and unwilling to get out of it. I'm not going to interfere with the temples desire to form a synod to answer theological questions just because you in the Slane Theocracy are convinced this is some sort of long con. Besides, its better that this come about in an organized way than chaotically.' Jircniv said softly, with some sympathy in his voice.

'Tell me Dominic, how are your intelligence operations in the Holy Roble Kingdom going?' Jircniv asked, already knowing the answer.

'You're asking because you already know, aren't you?' Dominic asked sharply.

'Exactly so.' Jircniv replied. 'I know your entire apparatus in the Capitol was completely dismantled about three months ago. That probably means you don't know much about what has happened since.'

Dominic went from pale to ghost white. 'What...? We have had only fragmentary news from travelers. That Prart has come to the Black Justice faith, as did surviving priests and paladins there, that some of them have taken to wandering the roads in order to serve the people, but as bad as that is, I think you mean something else.'

'I suppose it is harmless to tell you this much...the former Paladin Commander has turned traitor, after she escaped the Capitol she disappeared for a bit, and then she started raiding and exterminating villages along the path South of Prart, she's targeting converts, I don't know what you did to get her to go that far, but if that was your goal, it worked like a charm, if nothing is done, she's going to get a holy war going. Do you think you can win it?' Jircniv asked.

Dominic looked horrified and angry at once, sacrificing peasants for the greater good was acceptable, but with Remedios acting the role of a rudderless ship going wild in a storm, that as a variable he couldn't control for, that was a complication. 'We are safe from his dread spell for the next few years at least.' Dominic said.

'And what about the others?' Jircniv asked.

'What...others?' Dominic asked softly.

'The Sorcerer King has mentioned that he has a half a dozen or so spells of similar destructive capability that he can use in the meantime. What will you do about those?' Jircniv asked.

Dominic's first instinct was to deny it, and he opened his mouth to do so, then closed it, then opened it again, desperate to deny what he'd just been told, desperate to say it was impossible, desperate to say it couldn't be, but for that monster, what did the word 'limit' even mean? He couldn't say it was impossible, no matter how much he wanted to.

Instead he said simply...'Shit.'

'Yes.' Jircniv said. 'And that is just what you have stepped in, and I won't have it tracked around the empire. If you choose to make a battleground of the Holy Kingdom in a proxy war against the Sorcerer King, do not expect me to throw my people's lives away over it. I don't know what the future holds, but I know for sure that one way to guarantee that we have no future is to get in the way of the Sorcerer King's ambitions. Don't throw your lives or the lives of your people away over dogma.'

'Only the faith matters!' Dominic said harshly.

'What good is a faith that only costs people their lives and gains them nothing?' Jircniv asked.

'The gods will answer that.' Dominic said, his voice retaining its harshness.

'Then ask Ainz Ooal Gown, he's the closest thing to that in this world.' Jircniv said tiredly.

'Blasphemy!' Dominic said.

'If the four or the six care about that, let them tell me themselves.' Jircniv said, 'It is my job to care for the happiness of my people, not for that of the gods, so which one to put first is an easy choice for me.'

Dominic growled harshly, 'You'll suffer beside this 'Pope Neia' for this.' He said.

Jircniv laughed. 'She defeated and captured Remedios Custodio, her Black Justice warriors were trained by the invincible guardians of Ainz Ooal Gown and are equipped with arms and armor that nearly rival the divine equipment of your best scriptures, and there are now hundreds and hundreds of them. I tried a few weeks ago to imagine what would happen if one of your fat little inquisitors tried to arrest her for heresy, and I tried to imagine what the outcome would be between your scriptures and the hundreds, and no doubt soon to be thousands, of Black Justice elites, and honestly...I laughed at the first scenario, and couldn't even imagine the outcome of the second. Your scriptures are supposed to be the pinnacle of humanity, but between the entire adventurerer's guild and the mysterious training the Sorcerer King has given to the Black Justice elites, well in just these last few years, your elites are now a mere thorn to be clipped off, even if you won a single battle, you'd be ruined by losses and unable to fight a second one, and that is assuming that the Sorcerer King doesn't send in support of his own, in which case he'll go over you like a horses hooves stamp down grass without even noticing. In another year, their elite units will surpass all but the best of the best of your scriptures.'

'The gods will give us victory.' Dominic said with determination.

'Your belief in that will only give ample work to grave diggers.' Jircniv replied. 'We're done here, return to the Slane Theocracy, tell the other cardinals that we have no intention of obstructing the temples, and we have no intention of rebelling against the Sorcerer King. The only thing I can do for you is promise that when your lands begin to get overrun, I will accept your peasant refugees into the Empire.'

Dominic did not express his gratitude as he walked out. Jircniv did not blame him.

In the Adventurer's Guild of E-Rantel, four months after the founding of Black Justice...

Pluton Ainzach looked happily as his eyes swept the training grounds, the enormous efforts of the Sorcerer King and his servants had created the largest training complex in the known world, it offered dungeons, forests, deserts, weather variations, confrontations under conditions of every kind with varying degrees of difficulty, all modular to prevent complacency. On the outskirts were where trainers were in every kind of weapon he knew of, experts from the Sorcerer Kingdom had been the first instructors, including a demihuman lizardman, but Adamantite adventurers sometimes earned tokens by doubling as instructors for younger and newer adventurers, and there combat training took place against individuals and teams, the training principle, so effective in its simplicity, that one can train ten and ten can train one hundred and one hundred can train one thousand, had been proven beyond doubt.

Now there were more adamantite teams in the Sorcerer Kingdom than there had ever been, nobody died before reaching their potential, and teams had begun to venture out with the best equipment possible, to make maps and make contact with others beyond the scant borders they knew of. They were truly adventurers, and Pluton could not have been more overjoyed to have been present to see it all begin.

Beside him stood Theo Rakeshear, head of the Magicians guild in the city, similar reforms had been undertaken for his organization two years earlier, with just as radical a transformation, and now potentials were routinely pulled from peasant villages thanks to a talent registry system that saw birth registration tied to it, so that anyone born where officials of the Sorcerer Kingdom worked, could be identified for magical ability and have a spot reserved for them when they came of age. While the first of those to be identified were still far to young, the facilities were already built and waiting for them, and all those who wished to be examined for that ability were given the chance for free, and so his guild's ranks had swollen, scrolls were made freely available and producing them for future classes became part of the learning process, practical application of magic saw a smaller but not less grand training area created for would be magic users, and today those interested in seeing the world were being matched up with adventurers to create a new crop of teams to venture out into the world. It was a dream come true for both men, and it was with awed silence that they stood and watched their dreams made real.

It wasn't until the teams broke apart for a break that they broke their own silence. 'I suppose you've heard the news out of the Holy Kingdom?' Pluton asked.

Theo nodded, 'I have, the cult of Ainz, they declare him to be a god, some say he is the god of justice, that is what their 'pope' says, merchants call him the god of trade, Fludur has called him to be the god of magic, and a sect of priests who broke from the worship of the six have declared him to be the god of darkness and father of Surshana come to the world to complete the work of his son and lead humanity into a golden age.'

'Some of the adventurer's have started calling him the god of battle, courage, and adventure, too.' Pluton said, 'What do you think old friend?'

Theo sighed heavily, 'I honestly don't know, I mean he's done more than the six gods ever did, and that is saying something, if he is not a god, he's close enough for me. A few Black Justice priests arrived here and bought some space to build a temple, they've started doing services already and the temple is being built up around them, its really quite a sight to see. What about you?'

'I'm to old to care much for gods or not gods, its enough for me that he's done amazing things and he's made my dreams come true, I'm happy in my service, and what more can I ask than that, I'm not mourning the loss of the young like I was, its good enough for me to say he's worth following.' Pluton said with a smile, 'Come, join me for a drink, we can toast to a bright future.' He clapped Theo on the back, and they walked back inside the training field office together.

In the adventurer's guild of Re-Estize, six months after the founding of Black Justice and the third fall of Prart...

Evileye shivered despite not feeling cold. 'Its bad, its very bad.' She said.

Gagaran didn't argue, 'I don't doubt it. I heard about the attacks on villages by Remedios, to think a paladin could fall so far, now rumor has it from the merchants that there are some shockingly powerful fighters among the raiders, to powerful to be simple rogue paladins.

Tia's face was dark, 'What do you think that means?'

Tina spoke up quickly, 'It means outsiders are infiltrating the Holy Kingdom and helping to hunt down Black Justice converts, and there are only a few places with powerful enough teams to merit that kind of rumor.'

'That means Slane Theocracy.' Lakyus clarified, rapping her fingers on the table, 'They're not above killing innocent people if it gets their way.'

'Are they really innocent though,' Gagaran asked, 'they are followers of the undead, who I remind you, killed almost two hundred thousand humans with one spell.'

'If what I hear is true, they're not even trying to determine who is who though,' Evileye tensed at what Gagaran said, 'look...I don't know for sure what is going on, all we have are rumors, but we've met both Neia & Remedios before, and none of these stories sound like any of them, plus we've got an offer from King Caspond to go down there and help protect people, as do a number of other teams, we have no other work right now, so I say we take the offer, we an find out what the real truth is one way or the other, and we'll see who we're really protecting, and from whom.'

Lakyus spoke up next, 'I don't like the idea of working for that undead monster, but we don't have any other jobs going right now and we can't eat ideals, we can take the job and see what happens when we get there. Besides, protecting people is what we do. Anyone opposed to taking it?' She asked.

There were no objections. 'Alright, then we set out in the morning, go buy whatever supplies you need for now, because we're setting out at sunrise.'

AN: Well I hope you've enjoyed this installment of the retrospective story, I tried to avoid some spoilers, but I did include a teaser or two about what you'll see in the coming stages of 'God Rising' and a hint about what the next side story will be that branches off from it. I'm really enjoying this process, and as always, I love reading your reviews, so please feel free to leave a comment on what you thought, including suggestions if you have any. :)