As she floated in the void (this was an oversimplification, there was nothing to float in, or fall in, but the human mind needed some frame of reference to keep relatively coherent), Tanya could not bring herself to regret the fact that she had held to her convictions, that she had died without faith in Being X. Condemned to this fate, she merely regrated those that she left behind and that she never did end up getting that desk job. Then again, the asshole had freely admitted to manipulating things so that she would never have gotten her retirement, her safe position, unless she converted.

She merely hoped that the 203rd fared well, and that Visha in particular would have a good life. Those hopes and dreams were in many ways, all that was keeping a thin shell of sanity. It was total sensory deprivation after all, complete and total nothingness that would slowly grind away at her self until there was nothing left at all. In a way, a second death in every way that mattered, and one that she would resist and fight as long as possible as her last act of spite and defiance against the perfidy of Being X.

Which is why the sudden hand grabbing her and placing her in a seat across from what appeared to be a totally normal office desk was not really expected. Granted, she was also looking at a classical depiction of a grim reaper, a skeleton wearing what seemed to be black robes that almost seemed to be a business suit at the same time. "Tanya von Degurechaff, formerly Mitsue Shoyo?"

The tone echoed, as she looked at the latest guise of the thing that proclaimed itself a god. "Being X, I am not!"

The reaper held up a hand, and interrupted her, the tone dry and cool as a tomb. "Due to several irregularities in your case file, the entity you refer to as ten is up for disciplinary action. As he was already on probation, it will likely be rather severe. However, if you can confirm your identity so we can begin reviewing your case?"

She blinked, as the words hit her, as the setting came to mind, as the meaning of it echoed inside of her. This was... this was something familiar, something reasonable. Which was almost suspicious. "Yes, I am Tanya von Degurechaff and was Mitsue Shoyo before Being X..."

The reaper held up a bony hand again. "As part of his probation, he was stripped of the right to a name. Please just refer to him as Ten please, as that is his official designation." A file was taken, and opened, examined as the being looked at the papers inside. "As it is, I think I will get to the point. This is your mortality exit interview."

Something about that, she frowned. "Like when... ten," and the implications of the 'god' that tormented her being merely a number was chilling, "reincarnated me as an experiment and proceeded to do all he could to make me pray to him?"

There was contempt and scorn in her voice as she spoke, as she would never stop fighting, never stop resisting! "No, as it is, while he gave you more personal attention in the reincarnation process, that was inside of the bounds of his positions authority. Actively interfering with the living world as he did was overstepping the bounds of his probation. And then there was illegally sentencing you to the void, which for the sake of clarity requires either a panel of death gods to approve or for the mortal in question to directly transition their soul there themselves." There was the impression of silver reading glasses being adjusted. "Neither happened in your case."

She latched on to one important thing. "Death gods? So like him, you claim to be divine, an outdated and unneeded!"

There was a sigh, as fingers massaged the front parts of a skull. "Let me guess, your one of those that assume that gods are all powerful, all knowing entities that are," the creature was making air quotes now, "'Perfect' and 'Absolute,' correct? And also, requiring the faith of humanity."

There was annoyance in the figures tone and expression, but one that spoke of having had this sort of discussion before and often enough that it caused feelings of annoyance. At the same time? She reassessed herself, as this one... had not read her mind (or at least was not acting as if they had) and had been... reasonable enough so far. "That is a common perception of God, yes. Which ten has proven to not be entirely the case."

The skeleton looked at her. "That tends to be a belief in monotheistic cultures, and yes, the cult of reason and progress, like any other sufficiently entrenched dogma, counts." The skeleton placed its elbows on the desk, fingers locked with each other. "Mostly because it is simple and helps keep the philosophy, ideology or religion in power, often by being 'married' to a political power structure. The vast majority of us?" He snorted. "Those that last long enough know better. Granted, there are elements of the Celestial Bureaucracy and The Infernal Host that actively promote communism, but that is more due to its track record of easy mass sacrifices when the die offs and purges begin, rather than any utopian ideal, to use a personally relevant example from your file. As to the question of faith... why do you think that gods want human worship?"

She paused, as she looked at the being, her mind processing the information. On the one hand, the god was holding that any philosophy or school of thought with a sufficient amount of emotional investment was as good as a religion. Secondly, that 'divine' figures would sponsor communism, which rejected gods, entirely because they were counting on certain benefits that would result from those actions, indicating that 'gods' had reasons and logic for what they did, even if it escapes her. "From your words, and the fact that you use want instead of need, I would assume vanity. But, that is not the case, is it?"

Her stomach dropped out, as the being spoke. "To answer with a question, why does humanity want access to microchips and oil?" There is some irony there, as she gets it, or at least, as she thinks she does. "But, and this is what mortals don't get, is that so long as there is belief in a concept, enough faith that concepts exist even below the line of consciousness? That belief, that faith, is basically energy that can be collected and put to use. And yes, worship yields more belief, more faith and is directed at certain entities who get it directly instead of needing to paid from the same stream as everyone else. Now, you are likely going to ask why we don't interfere more directly with mortal affairs?"

She would like to say that the reaper was reading her mind... except he had referred to her file, and much of his tone and posture spoke as someone that has had this conversation before. And so, she nodded, wondering what convenient excuse that the so called god had.

"Firstly, there are energy requirements to interact with the mortal world directly, as there are different planes of existence and if the local energy levels are not capable of supporting a being whose essence is that of a higher energy level? Its trying to fit too much liquid into a container that is too small. Additionally, the harder the local physics are locked, the more energy is needed to act against them. You experienced something similar with spells, correct?" She had, even as that made... sense. It did imply that gods had limits, restrictions, and if they had those, why call themselves gods? "Finally, there are rules. And before you make comments about how convenient that 'excuse' is, from your file, I can see that you were a powerful mage. So, why didn't you just do as you wished and stomping on anyone that dared to get in your way?"

"What! That is not the same!" And it was not, as anger flared inside of her. "If I did that, I would be consequences!"

She paused, as the skull nodded. "Yes, its almost like we live in a society and that even for gods, there are consequences for our actions and people willing to act to limit things. But..." He took another file and handed it to her, as she reeled from the fact that divinity was just more of the same, that it was all that simple, but on a grander scale. "This is mostly a formality. The file contains all the needed information for your new posting." Her blood chilled, as she did not think she was getting reincarnated. "As it is, you are now an Heroic Spirit, one of the lower tiers of divinity. And okay, as the official Devil of the Rhine you are an infernal divinity, but that's just office politics."