?1146 The Hidden Marks.
They are prepared to die. But they are not foolish. They are also prepared to win. So when the entire kingdom of life froze by the divine Will of the god-king, they were prepared. The previous gods of darkness activated the marks that the rebels have on themselves.
The kingdom of life had frozen. The air itself became amber. Both the dust in the air and the soil in the ground had frozen. Nothing except the Origin gods could move at all because of the power that the tree father exerted on his domain.
The tree father was ready to fight but he had to stop when he noticed the activation of an external influence in his plane. Some people who had remained hidden from him before shone in his awareness.
But it isn't good news. These people stopped being hidden only because what was hiding them before had stopped doing so and turned its power into something else. Then pillars of darkness rose up from every rebel that had the mark on them. These formed thousands of dark pillars in the frozen kingdom.
"What have you done?" The tree father asked calmly.
Texira said with glee, "You have been handicapped."
Someone else buttressed his point. It was one of the previous gods of darkness and night. The translucent shadow said, "Those pillars are bombs. They will explode if I so will it."
This is the second thing that they have to rely on. They are immortal but immortality alone won't be enough to get what they want quickly. Besides, their immortality comes at a costly price. They would rather avoid that cost. So they bided their time and schemed. They aimed to target the weakness that all gods have no matter their power or situation.
The tree father might be able to use his full power here but he hasn't eliminated his need for faith. He will weaken once his believers have been eliminated. That's why they think he is lowly despite the fact that he is stronger than them. They can't respect him because of his weakness.
The tree father calmed down but he didn't release his will on his kingdom. He asked, "Why do you want to go to this extent? If you do this, then it will mean complete and total war between us. You will have no part to claim in this plane. I will not rest until you have been eliminated from the plane."
Texira was quick to gloat. "We know. But do you see us quaking in fear?"
The god of knowledge spoke. "We have offered you an olive branch of cooperation but you refused our good grace. We won't hold back now that it has come to this. You could have done this easily but you chose to be difficult."
All the phantoms of the Tree father said in exasperation, "Just get to the point already."
There's no way he will believe that the Origin gods are going to this extent just because they want him as part of their alliance. Even if it were so, there must be a benefit that they will gain if he joins that alliance. He wants to know what they truly want now that he knows what the hidden things are and how it is related to them.
She stated with a glare, "We want the secret to the demorgorgs. We want to know how you made them including the rune schematics."
He said to them, "It won't be of any use to you. It can only be created by a god and I am the only god. Your best bet is to make me create demorgorgs for you."
Texira sneered and said, "That is not for you to worry. We will solve that problem after we get the information."
The tree father's orange eyes burned brighter. He asked, "Is that so? What will I get out of this exchange?"
An Origin god was quick to reply, "Nothing."
She was corrected. "Not nothing. We won't blow up your kingdom. You will get that much from us."
He shook his head. "Then I am afraid that we cannot have a deal. I will only provide the information if you swear to leave the kingdom of life alone forever and to keep the secret of demorgorgs to yourself."
Texira was quick to correct him. "You are mistaken. This is not a deal. You do not have a choice. We will decimate your precious kingdom if you don't hand it over. That is both a threat and a promise that we will make good on."
His eyes flashed at that point. "It looks like this will go nowhere."
He has taken several steps back in this encounter. First, he gave part of the plane. He was also willing to give up the process to create demorgorgs. Demorgorgs are already obsolete. Legion can give it up in exchange for peace.
Most importantly, they won't be able to use the information without his divine power of order even if they manage to create a god to help them. That means they will need him after they get the information but they won't be able to do anything to him if they swear to leave his kingdom alone. So they will have to beg him if they want his help to create demorgorgs.
As it is, they refused to swear that Oath so he can't let them have the secret of demorgorgs because that will surely make them try to kill him. They believe that they have leverage over him because of the bombs that they smuggled into his kingdom. What's to stop them from using it after they get what they want?
Admittedly, the bombs will harm him, but this plane is not his only foundation. He has several other planes with a lot of believers. He is Celestial Supreme in only this one plane but he won't be harmed too much if they detonate the bombs. Even so, he can't allow them to trample over him. Not when a fight with them will benefit him.