Chapter 127 – Dirty Work
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Erica had a reason for volunteering for the Grand Temple work team, and it wasn't to help Gordon set up beds and tables. No, sweet little Erica had a secret. She came to the Grand Temple to do something blasphemous and disgusting. Something so disrespectful to God that if anyone ever found out, she'd be locked up forever alongside the Sages of Taboo.

On her last night there, after the rest of the work team went to sleep, Erica silently navigated the Temple's maze of halls and passageways, making her way towards the center of its deepest chambers. The helpful little voice inside her head guided her to the innermost sanctum, the holy chamber of sacred light where her prize awaited her.

Inside a wide room made of stone, a colossal stone face with an open maw was carved into the wall, surrounded by a dozen towering statues of cloaked Sages. It was a horrifying face, a beastly face with humanlike eyes and flat teeth draped in a nightmare of shaggy fur. And inside its mouth, three orbs sat. Holy treasures capable of bringing human civilization to an end, ancient, glowing, golden balls of power. The God Vessels.

Erica pulled out a big, blue tarp out of her backpack and laid it out on the ground at her side, kneeling down on the floor to get a better look. She was excited and nervous. Her hands were trembling.

The massive stone statues began to creak ominously. Erica gasped in fear and looked over her shoulder. But the stone Sages didn't move. They simply stared back at Erica with stern expressions.

Erica slowly took a deep breath to steady herself, trying to fight the terror that rose in the pit of her stomach as sweat dripped down her face. Very, very gently, with the shamelessness of a thief, she grabbed one of the God Vessels with her bare hands and held it close to her body. It was hot to the touch, and Erica could feel her aura burning away in the face of the sacred light, her consciousness dissolving as the power drained away from her being. She was getting weaker and less stable by the second.

It took all of Erica's concentration to bring the God Vessel to the ground. Quickly, very quickly, she pawed through her backpack and pulled out a bag of jewels, then poured it out onto the golden orb in a colorful stream. Another bag of jewels. Then yet another. As she worked she whispered under her breath and chanted prayers to the Divine. She was careful to make her incantation slow, rhythmic and unhurried as though choreographed to the rhythm of a sacred chant, but she couldn't help herself from stuttering and stumbling over her words.

"Oh gracious God, I h-h-hope that you will... watch over me, and guide my heart and mind in the name of the Sages. Please place kind people along my pa... my path. I shall make the weak and humble among them your Chosen disciples. All of us need your blessing, Lord."

She hoped her prayer would be enough to prevent the wrath of God from striking her down for what she had done. After she said it, she waited anxiously to hear some sort of reply from the heavens, a vision, an earthquake, anything, but nothing happened. She breathed a small sigh of relief and scrambled to return the God Vessel to its proper place in Llamoomoo's mouth. She averted her gaze, afraid to even look at it. Standing up, she quickly rolled the jewel-strewn blue sheet into her bag and rushed to make her escape.

She had left everything just as she found it, and the God Vessels were full of such enormous power that no one would notice she'd siphoned a little off. Or so she hoped. At the very least, no one stopped her from returning home to Grandebelle with a huge haul of valuable loot.

Her collection of gems, newly imbued with the spiritual power of fallen Chosen warriors, would be a much better fit for Miss Planner's Soul Shell armor than the wimpy little artificial souls she'd made herself. They took far too much effort to create, they were pain to maintain, and their effectiveness was questionable at best. These gems were an order of magnitude easier to produce, required almost zero maintenance, and produced an output ten times greater than Miss Planner's fake little spirits. They were so strong that the rest of the Soul Shell's design could be simplified dramatically.

"Hahaha. Heh heh heh! Even Jessica's not crazy enough to do something like this. I wonder what she'll think when she sees these. The perfect, divine treasures to help her complete her masterpiece! Hahahaha!"

Erica became more and more excited as she spoke to the piece of Miss Planner's soul inside her mind, giggling with pure delight. She had been transformed into Miss Planner's shadow, her secret weapon, her unseen right hand, silently carrying out her dirty work in the dark.

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