The core of a hero. The energies that it gathered from growing stronger was taken from the planet itself. The heroes knew that by stealing it away, the planet that they were meant to protect would be compromised.

But that didn’t matter to Claude the Architect. In fact, that had been part of his entire plan.

Why let the planet control the power, when they could acquire it for themselves? Why let a higher power dictate their actions when they could become gods and make an ideal world?

If they could become the seed of life for an entire planet, then shouldn’t they take care of it? Shouldn’t they ensure that whatever happened to Earth would not occur under their watch?

Using the divine power that they held, Claude and his companions remade Leguardia in their image. Simplified and characterized – like a game world with stats. Parameters monitored and regulated. Power stemmed from the eleven remaining heroes, now deities – the basis of a new hierarchy of power.

But still, it wasn’t enough. Their powers would only serve to support the planet of Leguardia and nothing else. The true goal of saving Earth was still in the distance.

They needed the entire planet’s power to do so. It was a task that would span many, many generations, far beyond what they could accomplish in a single lifetime. But by gaining so much power, they had reached the level of godhood.

They sat in a higher plane of existence, casting off their mortal shells and passing the eons in a higher plane of amassed raw energy, leaving the task to ‘Apostles’ of themselves to carry out.

It was a simple adjustment. Rather than summon otherworlders elsewhere, heroes that were called upon drew from a piece of the eleven. But rather than bestowing these Apostles with set memories based on themselves, it was better to ‘grow’ them from the start.

Cities around the world become ‘hosts’ for raising Apostles from infanthood, granting some imaginary environment to cultivate these ‘chosen ones’ before they were needed. And thus, these ‘summoned heroes’ operated autonomously without the need for much direction. Only an occasional push in what was believed to be ‘in their dreams’.

These Apostles would grow stronger, fight numerous battles, and eventually, take the planet’s energy that they harvested and bring it back to their patron deity. And then, the cycle would start up once again. Repeating over and over again until they acquired the necessary energy to reach their end goal.

A countless number of lives, each one seeded by a deity, but approaching the world in different ways – that was the true nature of the summonings.

Claude the Architect would see himself as living many other lives – a soldier, a tactician, a manager, and even, powerless at times. With each cycle, it seemed like the possibilities of what he could achieve was endless. It made him smile to think that he was merely limited by what choices were before him, and not what he was capable of.

But even with the plan in motion and a steady progression of converting more divine energy, there was always a hang up in their plans.

The return of beasts from the planet.

Suddenly, the summoned heroes were beaten back, and some of them became possessed by dark energies, their cores turning purple and becoming what Leguardia’s people liked to call ‘demons’.

The Gods pondered over this sudden change, but there was no other explanation. The planet’s core was still resisting, and it was none other than Sistina who had disappeared and joined the other side.

With Sistina’s power, she could worm her way into the heroes’ hearts, change them, and convince them to abandon their foolhardy quest and embrace another side. Yet, the powers of divinity and the planet clashed within one body, distorting those that possessed a strong amount of both. As a result, many heroes ‘fell’ into a state of delirium, wielding a distorted power and turning upon their allies.

The ‘demonification’ of an Apostle was possible. And such a result bestowed spoils back to the planet’s core, even though it led to downfall. But power was power. The planet was weak to begin with, and there was no other way to regain its position against Claude’s well-crafted plan.

Mankind had grown prosperous and plentiful from the fruits of the otherworlders’ wisdom. The cities fostered ‘heroes’ that possessed far greater capabilities than ever before. And only by ‘borrowing’ these heroes and turning them into monstrosities of their own, could the new core of Leguardia sustain itself.

Cities were ravaged and civilizations destroyed by what would be known as ‘Demon Lords’. But history had a way of masking who they truly were – heroes corrupted by the voice of the planet. It was a truth far too ugly to be acknowledged, much less passed on.

The Gods had to do something about it. They could no longer stand by and watch as Sistina distorted their progress. But how they went about it was hardly uniform in support.

“We need to commit an Apostle for each one of us! Together, we shall take down the Demon Lord in one strike!”

“But are heroes enough? Could we not, bestow our powers unto them and bring about an end?”

“Divine powers, from all of us? What if they destroy the world instead?”

“Is this really Sistina pulling the strings? That makes no sense why she would go against us like this!”

The voices of the Gods bickered back and forth, mere conglomerations of energy on a separate plane. They had chosen to live in this form, as Leguardia’s overseers. And while their powers were vast, they had placed a limitation to prevent harming each other as a safety measure. Rather, everything was decided in the world below, like a game that they managed. Avatars moving like chess pieces under the whim of fate, with only windows of opportunity to guide them down the desired path.

And rarely, did they need to come together. Any sense of time since their last exchange was no longer perceivable in human standards. Before they knew it, several millennia had passed.

But because time no longer held meaning to them, the human feelings that they held had distorted as well. In particular, some held confusion as to why their previous companion, she who brought them here, stood in their way. Claude had never revealed the fact of his betrayal of her.

Hesitantly, the Gods decided to band together and bestow their powers into their Apostles. They possessed them and fought as flesh and blood for the first time in ages. The ‘Demon Lord’ had no chance. Sistina was powerless against their combined might. But they did not have the heart to kill their old companion. Rather, Sistina was sealed in a cavern on a lonely island.

Yet, she did not cry out in despair at her failure. She simply sighed like a caring mother to her children and spoke, as if waiting for this crucial moment where she could reach all of them.

“You know not the heart that guides you. Think again what you fight for.”

With that simple statement, Sistina was locked in a seal on a deserted island, cut off from the planet.

The Gods moved on once again, returning to the higher plane. But it wasn’t until a while later that Sistina’s words came back to haunt them.

Within a decade, signs of drought and blight ravaged the lands. The harvests grew sickly, the forests thinned, and the very ground that people stood on became fallow. It took a lifetime for one of the Apostles to pass away and detect such changes from below.

But by then, the inhabitants of Leguardia knew not what to do about their slowly dying planet. Aside from the multitude of sites that were crafted to host the birth of Apostles and the lands around which Sistina was sealed, the ground became so dry of mana that they were literal death zones. People became trapped and isolated. Hope waned for the Gods that saved them in the past. And instead, they turned to extremes as alternatives.

The Gods talked among themselves.

“The planet that we control now crumbles in our grasp.”

“There are those that curse our names, kidnap our Apostles, and force them into servitude.”

“Yet, we can do nothing to interfere within the lands around the seal. Our abilities wane from its proximity.”

In fear of the change to the planet, calling forth Apostles became a hesitation. And for some, they no longer wished to associate themselves directly with the summoned ones. Their voices all turned toward Claude the Architect, who had been silent the whole time.

“We proceed as normal. Our home was never this planet. Our goal has always been to restore the Earth, has it not?”

Perhaps, a countless amount of time had shaved away all humanity that Claude once felt for the fellow man, leaving nothing but the singular goal that he placed above all else. After all, the other gods never questioned why they were following him, only that he held their trust. Becoming a deity meant discarding the useless parts of themselves. Perhaps, Claude predicted that trust was an emotion strong enough to persevere.

Yet, each failed cycle, each crestfallen Apostle, they had a gradual impact on the Gods. Some shrank away and chose not to appoint more, leaving themselves out of the ordeal. Others became more disconnected with their Apostles, leading to drastic mutations of personality and environment.

Nonetheless, Claude didn’t bother with the details. Power still transferred from Leguardia to them. They continued to march toward their one goal. It was only a matter of time, far too long for the patience of man but insignificant for that of deities.

Claude would bide his time, until there was a chance.

Claude would stay on course, unless there was a change.

Claude would stay his blade, as long as no others would betray him.

As he met with the newest incarnation of himself, Claude the Chef, it seemed like the standard fare once again. That was… until he felt the presence of Cielle and Grendosa disappear from the higher plane.

It was that moment when Claude the Architect decided to break from his sleep and take a peek upon the world. He learned of it at that point – Cielle’s betrayal. The first to deviate from his plan. The first to lose his trust.

Refreshing himself of the possibilities available at this current world, he realized that the only way forward was to do everything himself. He no longer needed the others, just their powers. They had gathered the needed energy to restore Earth, and the final step was to combine it all into one entity.

‘Godfall.’

The magic that humankind crafted to forcibly bring down the gods from their safe plane of existence. Claude was thankful for such a trick. It kept him from needing to convince the other gods out of their hiding.

Rather, he merely needed to convince his Apostle to gather them all together and activate it. He smiled as Claude the Chef’s life whizzed before his eyes. Regardless of the time and place, his Apostles always had a knack for bringing people together. It was a natural part of himself. Something that he could count on.

And this time, he could rely on his last Apostle to bring an end to a desire that was held since ancient times.